Aurat March: Call for equality ruffles feathers in Pakistan.

KARACHI -- With International Women's Day around the corner, preparations for the 3rd annual Aurat March are in full swing across the country.

Aurat March 2020, organised by a diverse group of women, transgendered persons and gender non-binary individuals across class, sexuality and ability, hopes to collectively raise voices and engage in political action for issues affecting them and their communities in a public rally on Sunday, March 8.

Days before the rally, however, the idea of women's rights has ruffled the feathers of certain religio-political organisations, who have taken to the streets deeming the procession 'against the spirit of Islam' and calling for its termination.

According to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), a religio-political party, last year's Aurat March, which featured posters calling for women's autonomy over their bodies, was in opposition to the essence of Islam and thereby unacceptable in an Islamic republic. 'Slogans like 'mera jism, meri marzi' (my body, my choice) are vulgar expressions and an Islamic society like Pakistan has no space for such notions,' said JUI-F president Maulana Fazlur Rehman, directing his party to clamp down on the march.

Following Rehman's speech, his party leaders in Sindh have written to the police and local administration in Sukkur, advising them against permitting the march to occur. Various banners against the Aurat March have also been put up across the province, including megacities like Karachi, and the party's women's wing too has planned various oppositional marches of their own on the same day.

'Our burqa-clad women will also take to the streets and demand women's rights in the spirit of the Quran and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad,' revealed members of JUI-F and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).

Not bowing down

On the other hand, multiple political parties and members of civil society including women rights activists, writers and intellectuals have objected to JUI-F's stance on the march and have instead announced their support for it.

'We will not bow down or succumb to extremist pressures. The Aurat March will take place in Sukkur, Karachi and other cities of the province as planned and women will march for their rights come what may,' said Dr Arfana Mallah, a women's rights activist from Hyderabad.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, JUI-F Sindh secretary general Maulana Rashid Soomro said that they are not against the Aurat March or the independence of women, but it is the 'vulgarity'...