AAMI dismayed at order of Peshawar Sessions Court

ISLAMABAD: The Aurat Azadi March Islamabad (AAMI) is dismayed at an order issued by a Peshawar Sessions Court judge on Friday afternoon under Section 22A of the CrPC through which a police station in Peshawar Cantonment has been instructed to file an FIR against the organisers and participants of the Aurat March held on March 8 in Islamabad.

A press release issued by the Aurat Azadi March Islamabad said: “The order was issued in response to a petition filed by a group of Peshawar-based lawyers that repeated the same lies against Aurat Azadi March Islamabad organizers, which have circulated for more than two weeks. These lies, and the outrageous allegations of blasphemous slogans and banners in particular, have been definitively debunked many times over. Moreover, government officials including PM Advisor on Religious Affairs Tahir Ashrafi and Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry have clearly called for inquiries and action against the elements responsible for sharing doctored content online and spreading false allegations.”

“To accept such a vile and baseless petition is to subject women involved in any way with the Aurat Azadi March Islamabad to unspeakable danger. Legal cases against AAM organisers/participants are untenable due to the complete lack of evidence to back up lies and propaganda. Yet to call for the police to lodge an FIR is to embolden the elements that have, in the recent past, taken the law into their own hands and engaged in renegade violence against innocent men and women. It is common knowledge that arousing religious passions in Pakistan is akin to issuing a death warrant, and the Sessions Court order is fanning the flames of a fire that threatens to engulf women who have committed no crime other than speaking for their own and the rights of women, girls and oppressed people throughout this country.”