Organisers of Aurat March Islamabad have responded to the petition filed against them in Peshawar, saying that they are “utterly dismayed” with it.
“The Aurat Azadi March Islamabad is utterly dismayed at the order issued by a Peshawar Session Court judge on Friday afternoon under Section 22A of the CrPC through which a police station in Peshawar Cantonment has been instructed to file an FIR against ‘organisers and participants of ‘Aurat March’ held on March 8, 2021 in Islamabad,” read an official statement.
The statement further said that the order was issued after a petition was filed by a group of Peshawar-based lawyers accusing the organisers and participants of ‘blasphemous slogans’.
“The order was issued in response to a petition filed by a group of Peshawar-based lawyers that repeated the same vile lies against Aurat Azadi March Islamabad organisers which have circulated for more than two weeks. These lies, and the outrageous allegations of blasphemous slogans and banners, in particular, have been definitively debunked many times over,” added the statement.
Read more – Endangering innocent lives
Aurat Azadi March Islamabad also requested relevant authorities to call an inquiry and action against those who are spreading false accusations.
“Government officials including PM Advisor on Religious Affairs Tahir Ashrafi and Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry have clearly called for inquiries and action against the elements responsible for sharing doctored content online and spreading the false allegations,” said the organisers.
Condemning the act, the statement further said: “To accept such a vile and baseless petition is to subject women involved in any way with Aurat Azadi March Islamabad to unspeakable danger. Legal cases against AAM organisers/participants are untenable due to the complete lack of evidence to back up lies and propaganda. Yet to call for the police to lodge an FIR is to embolden elements that have, in the recent past, taken the law into their own hand and engaged in renegade violence against innocent men and women.”
“It is common knowledge that arousing religious passions in Pakistan is akin to issuing a death warrant, and the Sessions Court order is fanning the flames of a fire that threatens to engulf women who have committed no crime other than speak for their own and the rights of women, girls and oppressed peoples throughout this country, rights that are guaranteed by the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” it said further.
The organisers also said that they have written an open letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan asking him to take strict action against those who continue spread baseless lies.
“This is why we now demand unequivocal action from all relevant state institutions to ensure that this already alarming situation does not spiral completely out of control. In the first instance, we urge police, administrative and elected authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to recognize that the allegations that inform the court order under section 22A have been patently established as false and malafide. There is no basis upon which to lodge an FIR, and we demand protection from the authorities accordingly.”
