Aurat March rallies held across country

People from different walks of life on Tuesday participated in Aurat March rallies staged in major cities including Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, demanding equal rights and freedom for women as well as end to patriarchy.

The rallies were held to mark the International Women’s Day.

A large number of working women, students and social activists attended the rally held near Mazar-e-Quaid in Karachi led by Comrade Zehra Khan.

Law enforcement agencies blocked all the roads around the Jinnah Ground where the main procession started at around 3pm.

The Aurat March organisers have been arranging the event annually since 2018 in the city. All the four previous assemblies were held at Frere Hall.

After marching on MA Jinnah Road, they held a sit-in near Capri Cinema. Carrying red flags, posters and banners, they chanted the slogan of "Peace, bread and equality".

“We wanted to come in the middle of the city to provide easy access to all women,” said Sheema Kermani, one of the organisers. She told The Express Tribune that it was a successful march. “This is a bigger space than our last ones,” she added, saying there was always a threat to events arranged for the rights of women.

A transgender person said this was the only time their community met and told the world that they existed. “We are also victims of this society like these women here,” she added.

A similar Aurat March was also organised in Lahore. Carrying placards and posters inscribed with demands for women's rights, inclusivity and protection, hundreds of women gathered outside the Lahore Press Club to begin marching through the city’s famous Mall Road.

While emotive theatrics have been a part of the Aurat March for the last few years, this year there was an experiential art exhibit aimed at highlighting the intensity and frequency of street harassment faced by women in the city.

The art set-up was a booth one could walk through and experience the streets of the city in a woman’s shoes. It was aimed at making people understand how unsafe a woman felt walking through Lahore’s streets.

From Shimla Pahari, the march proceeded through Empress and Egerton Roads before continuing to Faletti’s Hotel on Mall Road.

Photo: The Express Tribune