From Abid Usman
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday wrapped up a petition against the holding of Aurat March, reiterating its earlier remarks that the gathering could not be stopped under the Constitution and directing the Lahore district authorities to speed up their decision on an application seeking permission to hold the march.
The petition, filed by Judicial Activism Council Chairman Azhar Siddique, had claimed “there are various anti-state parties funding the march with the sole purpose of spreading anarchy in public.” His petition also termed the march “against the norms of Islam” with a “hidden agenda” to spread “vulgarity and hatred”.
During today’s hearing, LHC Chief Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh said “under the law and Constitution of the country, the Aurat March cannot be stopped” but went on to add that the marchers should “refrain from hate speech and immorality”.
Earlier, the police department submitted a written response on the matter and said that the march will be provided foolproof security. But the police did remind the organisers that Lahore’s Mall Road was off-limits for public gatherings of any kind.
“Police has heard the objections on the march from various civil society members,” the reply read. It said objections did not concern the holding of the march but on the “banners and slogans used in the march”.
Reiterating his statement from the previous hearing, the petitioner, Azhar Siddiqui, told the court: “We never wanted for the Aurat March to be stopped.” Nighat Dad a digital rights expert and activist who is defending the holding of the march in court told the petitioner: “You wrote in your petition that the march is anti-state, which is a very dangerous claim.”
“Women are the beauty of our society. Then they talk about slogans like ‘Mera jism, meri marzi’ (my body, my choice). The perception in the world is that we oppress our women,” Siddiqui responded.
The chief justice asked how many participants the organisers were expecting to which Dad said they were expecting “at least four to five thousand people including men, women and transgender people will take part in it.”
“We are ready to give guarantee that no actions against the law will be take place at the march,” Dad said, after which guidelines for participants of the march were presented in court.
