ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) dismissed on Friday a petition seeking an order from the court to stop the holding of Aurat March on the eve of International Women Day on March 8.
The lawyer of the man who filed the petition asked the court to ban the march, which is held to mark International Women’s Day. To support his claim that the march must be banned, he presented three slogans chanted at the march before the court.
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah said that if the march is against the law, there will be legal action against it. But there are a number of things happening in society that are against Islamic law, said the judge. The court hopes that the petitioner also approaches it for the enforcement of all these Islamic laws, he said.
Justice Minallah said the slogans being chanted at the Aurat March are the same as the rights guaranteed to them in Islam. Can we interpret them ourselves, he questioned.
He referenced a press conference on Thursday by organisers of the march and said they claimed that the rights they are demanding are the ones guaranteed to them in Islam. When they said this at the press conference, how can we interpret their demands differently, he asked.
Their press conference was covered by the entire media, he said. The chief justice asked the petitioner’s lawyer who put an end to the practice of burying girls alive. The lawyer replied that it was the Holy Prophet (pbuh).
In our society today, the birth of daughters isn’t considered a good thing, he said. “This is something to consider.”
We must look at the Aurat March in a positive light, said Justice Minallah. He asked how many women were given inheritance rights in Pakistan.
The petitioners had asked the court to “regulate” the activities expected to take place on March 8, 2020.
They said they feared some women would raise “offensive” and “obscene” slogans which they claim are “in violation of Islamic injunctions”.
In his order, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah said that those who intend to hold rallies have stated in clear terms that their slogans should be interpreted as an expression of outrage against the practices which deny a woman the rights given by the creator.
“The learned counsels for the petitioners were asked that, in view of the explanation of the proponents of the “Aurat March”, how they or this Court can give a different interpretation to the expected slogans,” the order said.
Islamabad High Court, however, said that it expects the Aurat marchers to exercise their constitutional rights in accordance with law.
Earlier in the day, the IHC had reserved its verdict in the petition challenging the Aurat March.
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