Thousands of women demonstrated in Pakistan on Wednesday for International Women's Day, despite attempts by authorities in several major cities to block the marches, which have been a source of high tension in the past.
In this very conservative and patriarchal country, the marches on March 8 - called "
Aurat
" (woman) - have been controversial since the first edition in 2018, because the participants do not hesitate to address issues that divide opinion such as divorce. , sexual harassment or menstruation.
provocative slogans
Each year, the most provocative slogans used by feminists arouse controversy for weeks and earn them violent threats.
"
The whole point of the Aurat march is to demand the security that is not guaranteed to women in this country and this society
," said Rabail Akhtar, a teacher who joined about 2,000 protesters in Lahore. .
“
We are no longer going to sit in silence.
This is our day, this is our time
,” she added.
City authorities had initially banned the march due to the risk of confrontation with a counter-demonstration, titled "
Haya
" (modesty) and demanding the preservation of Islamic values.
The organizers took legal action and a compromise was finally reached with the municipality, requiring that the location of the event be changed.
"
It is absurd that it is the same cinema every year (...) Why are they so afraid that women will ask for their rights
", remarked Soheila Afzal, a graphic designer.
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In the capital Islamabad, women refused to comply with the decision of the municipality to confine them to a park, where a woman had been the victim of a gang rape in February.
Hundreds of the women gathered outside the press club, but were blocked there by police and shipping containers, and prevented from marching.
Many of them brandished banners supporting Afghan women, subject to the liberticidal restrictions of the Taliban.
"
Before women were silent, but now they are on the streets talking about their rights and justice, and I think this is the change they have been waiting for,
" said Aisha Masood, 24, who works for a local NGO.
The organizers of the Aurat marches are accused by conservatives of promoting Western liberal values, and of disrespecting local religious and cultural sensitivities.
In 2020, Islamists threw stones at protesters in Islamabad, injuring some and forcing others to take cover.
