ISLAMABAD, May 2: The participants of a peaceful demonstration, held against discriminatory laws and the death sentence handed down to a rape victim, were manhandled by the capital police on Thursday.

The participants, mostly women and human rights activists and representatives of civil society organizations, were beaten and dragged by the police.

The demonstration, organized by the Alliance for the Repeal of Discriminatory Laws, was staged outside the Parliament House to express concern over the Kohat sessions court’s decision of stoning to death Zafraan Bibi on charges of adultery and acquitting the rapist.

Carrying placards and raising slogans, the protesters called for repealing the Hudood Ordinance and asked the National Commission on the Status of Women to take up the issue on priority basis.

“We were slapped, kicked, dragged, grabbed by the throat and pushed towards police buses; our Dupattas were pulled,” Shahla Zia, Aurat Foundation director, told Dawn after the rally.

“The incident has reminded us of the events of 1983 when women activists, who were demanding repeal of discriminatory laws, were beaten up in a similar way,” she said.

Farzana Bari of Patan, an NGO, said: “Unfortunately, the state was violating women rights by repressing these in a systematic way.”

Naeem Mirza, another director of the Aurat Foundation, claimed that the assistant commissioner (rural), accompanied by a police contingent, attacked the demonstrators, despite an earlier understanding that the participants would disperse shortly due to imposition of section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

“First they targeted the men, who were pulled off the kerb, slapped, beaten and dragged towards the police buses and jeeps,” he said. During the scuffle, shirts of many men participating in the demonstration were also torn, he claimed.

Witnesses, however, said the police gave up patience and beat up the protesters when they overstayed the agreed time.

Seeing this, the women participants intervened to resist the “physical violence” on part of the police, but they were also maltreated.

The police then took the protesters away in buses, first towards the women police station and then to the Secretariat police station, where the men were asked to sign certain papers, which they refused to do so.

“They let us go after a while when we tried to approach law minister Dr Khalid Ranjha, women affairs minister Dr Attiya Inayatullah and National Commission on the Status of Women chairperson Justice (Rtd) Majida Rizvi,” Mr Naeem said.

Dr Lubna Chaudhry, one of the protesters, said the incident reflected the general treatment on part of the state towards women.

The alliance has also submitted a complaint to the Secretariat police station SHO, demanding registration of a case against the police officials responsible for manhandling the demonstrators.

Endorsed by a number of protesters, the complaint stated that they could recognize the police officers who brutalized them. The alliance also intended to hold a press conference on Friday.

The federal minister, Dr Attiya Inayatullah, visited the office of the Aurat Foundation to condemn the incident and sympathized with the women activists, Mr Naeem said.

The organizations which participated in the demonstration included Aurat Foundation, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Sungi, Sahil, Savera, SDPI, Rozan, Christian Study Centre, Sach, Amal Human Development Network, Hawwa Crafts Cooperative, Pattan, The Network, PIPFPFD, Uks, WAF and IWWA.

Meanwhile, the People’s Rights Movement (PRM), in a press statement, condemned the police action against the protesters.

The fact that this incident has taken place only two days after the presidential referendum is extremely disturbing, as it reflects a dangerous precedent for the use of force against those exercising their right to dissent, the statement said.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the government’s claims about being committed to women’s rights are nothing more than rhetoric. Indeed, this action follows on the heels of regular actions against marginalized groups, including Kutcha Abadi dwellers and landless tenants, who have been waging a struggle for their rights.

The PRM called for immediate disciplinary action against the police officials and higher authorities responsible for ordering the attack on the demonstration. It urged political and civil society organizations to come together to resist ‘state repression’.

It is high time that people’s basic economic rights became priority of policy-makers. Moreover, those involved in struggles to secure basic rights, must not be harassed for expressing themselves, it added.