Daily Times

The challenges faced by the Aurat March appear relentless. First, there is the constant demonising of the organisers coupled with unsubstantiated ‘foreign agent’ claims. Then there are the tedious patriarchal flag-bearers. Those self-appointed guardians of our moral fibre who — instead of being appalled by prevailing sexual violence, exploitation and abuse of children and other vulnerable groups — prefer to insist that, if left unchecked, the Women’s March will plunge Pakistan into chaos as Birkin-toting bikini-wearing feminists prepare to take over. All of which brings us to the challenge of media misinformation and the nuisance legal petitions.

In 2020, a petition was filed before the Lahore High Court (LHC) calling for an outright ban of the Aurat March. The usual tropes related to being ‘anti-state’, following a ‘hidden agenda’ and committing ‘vulgarity’ were churned out in the hope of securing victory to further suppress the already marginalised. The petitioner would have us believe that the gathering of the disenfranchised — to raise awareness of daily abuse and discrimination — was ‘against the very norms of Islam’, the concept of justice (adl) clearly lost on him. The petition was disposed of, as was a similar one filed before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) a month later. The IHC made it clear that under the Constitution everyone has to right to assemble peacefully and so the March went ahead as it did again earlier this year; however not without issue.

Karachi, as well as other cities across Pakistan, hosted the Aurat March 2021, coinciding as always with International Women’s Day on March 8. This offered a platform to highlight a breadth of topics, including: abduction, forced conversion, child marriage and gender equality. Yet for our aforementioned moral guardians, this proved a little too much azaadi. Thus, just days later, a social media disinformation campaign was unleashed. A fleet of doctored videos featuring footage from the March began circulating like wildfire across different mediums. Many even sported legitimate hashtags and logos, to add to the air of authenticity. Yet all shared a common distinction: chants and speech had been replaced with highly inflammatory words. Over the few next days, more malicious videos came trickling in while the voices of reason, such as the Aurat March organisers, activists and the odd news anchor, set about separating truth from fiction; setting the record straight for the umpteenth time.

If we are to significantly curtail this relentless juggernaut of vexatious litigation, including defamation, incitement to violence and to cyber crime, all at the hands of thirsty trolls — we must first ask why the agents of vile misinformation are not made culpable for their crimes?

However, those behind the doctored videos continued to intentionally and wilfully spread deliberate disinformation while levelling dangerous accusations of blasphemy, quite possibly gleefully anticipating the potentially bloody and fatal consequences. Regrettably, as we know, once the ‘b’ word has been uttered — the prospect of a murderous lynch mob is not far behind.

Since the pushback by Aurat March and other civil society activists, some of the proponents of this organised chaos have disappeared, deactivated social media accounts or else reinvented themselves, though no action has been taken against them. Yet as this door seemingly closed, so, too, opened another in the from of further legal petitions against the March organisers.

Earlier this month, a sessions court in Lahore dismissed a petition seeking a police order to register a case against those who had participated in the Aurat March. The judge duly noted: “The fact that the petitioner took offence from a vague slogan and labeled it as blasphemy reflects his own state of mind and pattern of thought. He has alleged a very serious offence without any iota of supporting material.” Yet the battle has still to be won. For a similar scenario is playing out in Peshawar, where the police have now booked the Aurat March organisers for blasphemy. A local court had instructed the registering of an FIR (First Information Report) in accordance with petition proceedings. A similar petition was also filed before a local court in Karachi.

The courts therefore have offered marginal remedy. However, if we are to significantly curtail this relentless juggernaut of vexatious litigation, including defamation, incitement to violence and to cyber crime, all at the hands of thirsty trolls — we must address some difficult questions. The first being, why are the agents of vile misinformation not made culpable for their crimes? This would likely serve as a deterrent. Yet no legal action has been taken against them, nor has there began any noteworthy gesture of support towards this end from governing powers; meaning no consequences. What is now required is a multi-pronged approach comprising of the courts and cross-party committees.

The remedy is always the same but simply depends on whether we have the appetite for change or prefer to remain mired in misogyny. While we ponder this, many of us say, roll on Aurat March 2022!

The writer, a member of the Law Society of England and Wales, is a lawyer and activist with an interest in equality and social justice