Women groups condemn JUI-F’s campaign against academic Mallah

Various women rights groups have jointly condemned the levelling of false accusations against Sindh University academic and activist Dr Arfana Mallah by a religious party, and said that they strongly oppose the weaponisation of blasphemy and sedition charges that are repeatedly used as an instrument to silence dissenting voices in this country.

In a joint statement, the Women Action Forum, the Women Democratic Forum, the Sindhiyani Tehreek, the Sindhi Aurat Tanzeem, Aurat Haq (Karachi), Hum Aurtein (Lahore), the Feminist Collective, the Girls at Dhabas, the Feminist Fridays and Auat March have shown their concerns over attempts being made by the Jamiat Ulem-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) to lodge a false case against Mallah.

“We believe that this attack on Dr Arfana Mallah is a dangerous development, and targets not only Dr Mallah and her personhood but also the women’s movement in Pakistan. We see it as continuation of the coordinated attack and collusion by patriarchal forces within and outside the state, corporate and state media, and religious-political forces against all critical intelligentsia, student movements and people’s resistance movements across the country,” they said. “We also believe that this is a collective attack on the critical voices within the academia.”

The women rights groups said they stood together to collectively resist all those – within and outside the state – who attempted to attack or undermine the struggle for women’s emancipation in Pakistan.

“We also reject the state backing of the religious right that seeks to uphold patriarchal structures in Pakistan and subjects women to state violence and exploitation on a daily basis.”

The women groups also announced they would rise against the draconian colonial-era laws, the laws made by Zia’s military regime and the ruling elite, and the laws made under the pretext of the war on terror, which, they said, were continuously relied on to silence dissenting voices in Pakistan. “It is high time all laws that are continuously used as a coercive means to crush innocent voices were repealed. Pakistan needs democratic legislation that advances democratic values, social justice, equality and freedom of expression.”

SHRC’s concerns

The Sindh Human Rights Commission has also shown its concerns at the current reports regarding harassment, intimidations and vindictive actions against human rights activists, including Mallah.

A statement issued by SHRC chairperson Justice (retd) Majida Razvi on Monday said that the commission was considerably alarmed at the harassment of human rights activists across the Sindh province under the cover of blasphemy, particularly in the case of Dr Mallah, wherein reportedly police are being pressurised to lodge an FIR against her.

“Although the police have shown restraint in lodging an FIR against Prof Mallah, the commission finds this trend of settling ideological rivalries under the cover of blasphemy very dangerous for peace and security of the province.

“The commission, therefore, urges the authorities and all the stakeholders not to use the religious card to counter each other’s ideological differences.” Rather, the commission said, stressed the need adopting the path of dialogue and discourse in the interest peace and stability, justice and preserving pro-rights and humanitarian character of the province.