Bakhtawar Bhutto throws full support behind Aurat March 2020 as PPP slams threats

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, a PPP leader and party chairperson Bilawal's sister, on Sunday threw her full support behind the upcoming Aurat March 2020 as the Sindh-based party in a statement slammed the elements threatening the event.

Taking to Twitter, Bakhtawar wrote: "I wholeheartedly support #AuratMarch2020. Voices should be heard, issues should be discussed, and rights should be protected.

"Any act of suppression will only make our voices louder and stronger. And for anyone who thinks otherwise #ThankyouNext," she added.

Prior to that, the PPP had termed threats made by "some elements" against the March 8 rally — coinciding with the International Women Day 2020 — as "unwarranted, uncalled for and totally unacceptable".

In a statement, PPP Secretary-General and former senator, Farhatullah Babar, underlined that the country's "constitution guaranteed freedom of association and freedom of assembly to everyone that could not be curtailed by any one by hurling threats".

'Within their rights'

"It [is] unfortunate that even some of those who claimed to uphold the supremacy of the Constitution were talking about using force to deny the right to women to peaceful assembly, peaceful protest and freedom of expression," Babar added.

Noting that the PPP was committed to upholding women's rights, including that to protest peacefully against oppression and discrimination, he said Pakistan had signed the Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Also read: Aurat March drops Urdu version of anti-rape anthem ahead of 2020 rally

"Women and their organizations in the country are within their rights to demand implementation of commitments made to them for ending all forms of discrimination," he said, adding that it was "unfortunate" that the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) had been dysfunctional for almost a year.

The NCSW's absence, he added, seemed to have "encouraged some elements to hurl threats to women demanding their legitimate rights and ending discrimination".

'Filthy mindsets'

The PPP leader urged the government to ensure that women were given all protection and that no one was allowed to take the law into their hands.

The highly-anticipated Aurat March 2020 has ruffled quite some feathers given that more than one petition had been filed earlier in provincial high courts requesting permanent ban on the event for being "anti-state" and "un-Islamic".

Related: The marches that ‘woke’ up Pakistanis

However, LHC Chief Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh had remarked earlier this week that no ban could be imposed on the freedom of expression. During the hearing, renowned lawyer Hina Jilani had said the Aurat March was being held to underline the importance of women in society.

"How is the petitioner at all related to the Aurat March," Jilani had asked, referring to Siddique. The event was "scheduled for Sunday and, therefore, would not impact businesses" either, she added.

After the hearing, she had told reporters and those who turned up to show solidarity that there was "no locus standi that the petitioner approached the court on this matter and interfered in our freedom of peaceful assembly".

Also read: LHC responds to Aurat March petition, says cannot ban freedom of expression

The lawyer had added that the organisers and participants "know much better than such people what decency is".

"These are filthy mindsets, these are dirty mindsets that see obscenity in everything. These are children and they are allowed to talk. These are the women, who, at this moment, are assets of this country.

"Such people, with their dirty mindsets, call it obscenity? We will not accept it! This is neither obscenity nor vulgarity and never was," she had emphasised.