Islamabad’s Kohsar Police have registered a case against 12 local religious leaders, including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – Fazlur (JUI-F) leader Majeed Hazarvi, for trying to disrupt Sunday’s Aurat [Women] March in the federal capital.
On Sunday, one person was injured after participants of the march in Islamabad were attacked by some men who shouted slogans and pelted them wit stones.
The rally was being held in a designated area outside the National Press Club when the incident happened.
Police had to intervene to control the situation before it escalated.
The first-information report (FIR) registered in the state’s name invoked Section 147 (Punishment for rioting), 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of a common object), 186 (Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint), and 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The FIR names 12 people, including Shabir Usmani, Maqsood Ahmed, Rizwan Makki, Abd Ullah, Waheed Qasmi, Rasheed Tauheedi, Liaquat Turabi, Nasir Ahmed, Asadullah Abbasi, Majeed Hazarvi, and Razzaq Haideri.
The report points out that leaders from various politico-religious parties and students from seminaries had illegally occupied the road across the National Press Club.
According to the FIR, the leaders incited violence against participants of the Aurat March, following which some people threw stones at the marchers.
The miscreants also tried to forcefully enter the premises of the march, it added.
Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat shared a copy of the FIR on Twitter.
On Sunday he had said that an FIR would be registered against those who disrupted the Aurat March.
“After an inquiry, people will be arrested. The Islamabad police worked very hard to ensure that situation stays under control, but few elements broke the law and they had no NOC [no-objection certificate],” he wrote on Twitter.
Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari had also vowed action against “those who attacked the peaceful protesters with stones, sticks”.
The Aurat March, as it has come to be known since its first iteration in 2018, was organised by Hum Aurtain – a feminist collective.
It has a manifesto demanding basic rights for women in each field of life.
For three years now, it has been organised to coincide with the International Women’s Day on March 8.
Last year, the holding of the rally led to a backlash against the organisers and participants for allegedly “violating Islamic principles” and “disrespecting women”.
This year, the Lahore and Islamabad High Courts received petitions seeking to ban the event all together, terming it “vulgar” and “against the principles of Islam”.
While dismissing the petition in the capital, Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah said: “It is important that you see the Aurat March in a positive light. On your own, how can you interpret these slogans?”
Lahore High Court Chief Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh had also dismissed the petition seeking to ban the march, saying: “Under the law and Constitution of the country, the Aurat March cannot be stopped”.