The World Briefly

March 08, 2023

A Weapon Called Honor

Pakistan

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The Lahore High Court gave a last-minute conditional go-ahead Tuesday to a rally in the city in northeastern Pakistan highlighting women’s rights and oppression, Urdu Point News reported, just days after authorities had banned the march.

Organizers and human rights groups decried the banning of the “Aurat” (“women” in Urdu) march as a violation of freedom of assembly, Agence France-Presse reported. On the court’s guidance civic authorities and organizers agreed to the march’s time and location, but attendees must refrain from making controversial comments on social media, the court ruled.

The “Aurat” marches have taken place across a number of Pakistani cities since 2018 on International Women’s Day on March 8 to bring attention to women’s rights in Pakistan’s patriarchal society.

But the marches have been controversial for religious groups and received criticism from them because of banners and messages that raise subjects such as divorce, sexual harassment and menstruation. Organizers have also been accused of promoting Western, liberal values and disrespecting Pakistan’s cultural sensitivities.

Organizers have frequently faced legal action to counter attempts to ban the marches.

Earlier this week, Lahore authorities said they refused to grant permission for a rally because of the “controversial cards and banners” displayed by participants in the march. They also cited security concerns.

Still, city officials granted permission for counter-protests “Haya (modesty)” marches, which call for the preservation of traditional and Islamic values.

Human rights group Amnesty International said the Lahore decision “amounts to an unlawful and unnecessary restriction of the right to assembly.”

Even so, many organizers said they will go ahead with the march as it is “our fundamental right,” according to the Quint, an Indian news outlet.

Much of Pakistani society follows a stringent code of “honor,” which institutionalizes oppression in the form of women lacking the right to choose their husband, having no reproductive rights, and no right to education.

Meanwhile, hundreds of women are killed in Pakistan each year in so-called “honor killings.”

Women have long campaigned for basic rights in Pakistan, where activists claim men perpetrate “pervasive and intractable” violence against women.

This story originally appeared in the March 08, 2023 newsletter, Second Thoughts.