Police assaulted women activists, claims ex-MNA

Gillani says police tried to silence voice for Fata reforms; seeks apology from interior ministry

PESHAWAR: Women activists who were allegedly harassed and baton-charged in Islamabad earlier this week, alleged on Wednesday the police tried to silence their voice for reforms in the Federally-Administered Tribal Area (Fata).

Female activists, who were part of a march in the federal capital on Monday, said the Islamabad police assaulted the unarmed Pashtun women outside the Red Zone. They claimed the police attacked the activists in the last rows of the march, therefore, they were unable to record the baton charge.

“We were leading a peaceful demonstration in favour of Fata’s merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) but the police baton-charged Pashtun women,” Jamila Gillani, a former National Assembly member told a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club.



Gillani shared some pictures with this reporter showing assault marks on her shoulders and arms and broken nails. “I can show it to you since you are just like my sons but I cannot make it [the pictures] public,” she added.

Other activists, who accompanied Gillani at the press conference, said they would go to any extent to get justice. “We will knock every door where we expect justice and we will file an application with the Human Rights Commission as well,” Sana Ijaz told reporters.

Ijaz asked the interior ministry to apologise and bring all those involved in the baton charge to justice. “Those who ordered violence against peaceful women activists must keep in mind that this is a huge step, when Pashtun women leave their homes. You never know their force,” she warned.



When contacted, former Awami National Party (ANP) National Assembly member and human rights activist Bushra Gohar stated things were already negotiated but police turned violent in the China Chowk of Islamabad.

“What they [authorities] were thinking was probably that how come slaves [the Fata residents] take to the streets and this was simply the message they wanted to convey to tribesmen,” Gohar told The Express Tribune by phone.