Zardari directs Sindh govt to provide security, facilities to Aurat March 2020

KARACHI: Former president Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday advised the Government of Sindh to provide security and facilities to the upcoming Aurat March 2020, noting that his party, the PPP, stood strong with the rally.

"The PPP offers complete support to the Aurat March," Zardari said, adding that the party was a guarantor of women's rights.

"The mindset that women are weak and inferior will be defeated."

The Sindh-based party remained steadfast in the philosophy of former prime ministers and late party leaders, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, the latter of whom thwarted a cruel and merciless dictatorship, he said.

Benazir's was leading role for women, he added.

People needed to accept women's right to equality in the society, Zardari noted, adding that his daughters, Bakhtawar and Aseefa, represented women's voice and were their power.

'Reflection of democracy'

Earlier today, the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) threw its support behind the Aurat March and condemned the threats being hurled against the event's participants and organisers, saying marching and peaceful protests were included in the human rights of an individual.

The PBC said the Aurat March demanded that women’s right be turned into a reality. “Gathering of women at public places is a reflection of democracy,” said the highest elected body of lawyers in the country.

Also read: PBC condemns threats issued against Aurat March 2020

They also demanded the government to ensure the security of the participants of the march.

Late last week, 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, had 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 Pakistan had signed the Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

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

"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.

In addition, Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari — his daughter and PPP leader — had also expressed solidarity with the Aurat March the same day, writing: "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.

'Anarchy, vulgarity and hatred'

The multiple shows of support come after Advocate Azhar Siddique, a local lawyer, had filed a plea in the Lahore High Court seeking a permanent ban on the upcoming Aurat March. The rally, his petition had claimed, was a "misdirection and a failed attempt to raise grave issues commonly faced by women”.

Read more: LHC responds to plea against Aurat March, says cannot ban freedom of expression

The petitioner also claimed that placards carrying messages that allegedly "manifest anarchy and vulgarity" would be displayed by hundreds of women during the march. "There are various anti-state parties present who are funding this Aurat March with the sole purpose of spreading anarchy amongst the masses," he had accused further.

Siddique added in his claims that the march was "against the very norms of Islam" and that its hidden agenda is to spread "anarchy, vulgarity and hatred".

Aurat March 2020 will be held across Pakistan on March 8 to mark International Women’s Day.