'Fix your ways': Taliban threaten organisers of Aurat March

We want to send a message to those organisations who are actively spreading obscenity and vulgarity, says TTP

ISLAMABAD:

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a banned outfit, on Friday threatened organisers of Aurat March who planned demonstrations to mark the International Women’s Day in the country, accusing them of blasphemy and obscenity.

The TTP statement followed a flurry of falsified images and video clips on social media that suggested participants in the March 8 protests had insulted Islam, which they strongly denied.

“We want to send a message to those organisations who are actively spreading obscenity and vulgarity in our beloved Pakistan,” the statement said, addressing the marchers.

“Fix your ways, there are still many young Muslims here who know how to protect Islam and the boundaries set by Allah.”

Read more: Tribune Fact Check: A flag, two viral videos and Pakistan's Aurat March

Religious groups held demonstrations on Friday in several cities to demand that the government prosecute the march organisers for blasphemy, and they threatened vigilante action.

Messages spread on social media, in some cases shared by journalists and politicians with millions of followers, included false allegations that the French flag was waved at the Women’s Day march, while doctored video and audio showed participants chanting slogans viewed as blasphemous against Islamic figures.

'Malicious campaign'

“Each and every one of these allegations are completely false and part of a malicious campaign to silence women from speaking out about their rights,” the Aurat March organisers said in a statement.

The Women’s Democratic Front, a leftist group founded in 2018 and one of the organisers of the march, said their flag - with red, white and purple stripes - had been misrepresented as the French flag, which has blue, white and red stripes.

Hassan Abbas, a security expert at the National Defence University in Washington, said the TTP statement should be a “wake-up call” for security agencies.

“[It is aimed at] creating fear, gaining the sympathy of religious radicals and recruiting extremists in urban centres of Pakistan,” he added.