THE magnificent obsession with the female form continues in our hallowed halls of power. This time it was the opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday who dredged up the issue of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s women supporters ‘dancing’ at the dharnas.

He was taking up the cudgels on behalf of his older brother, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, whose sensibilities have been similarly offended by the sight of the ‘daughters of the nation’ swaying to catchy music. Pandemonium ensued as PTI representatives in the House demanded that the maulana withdraw his remarks.

It seems that for the JUI-F, and others of its ilk, a perfect world would be one in which women are preferably neither seen nor heard, where they are no more than faceless, nameless repositories of patriarchal concepts of honour.

As far as this paper is concerned, one of the more positive aspects of the dharnas staged by the PTI (and, until recently, the Pakistan Awami Tehreek) has been the huge number of women who participated in them, regardless of whether or not they appreciated the music in a way acceptable to the maulanas.

Given that the public sphere in Pakistan is predicated upon the convenience of men, many women braved immense discomforts for weeks on end by dint of sheer determination.

Here, one could also recall the grit and resolve shown by the Baloch women who traversed 2,000km on foot across the country some months ago to bring attention to the issue of the missing Baloch. For despite the many egregious rights’ violations against women in Pakistan, their political participation appears to be increasing.

That is a fact that the JUI-F and other religious parties will, however reluctantly, have to come to terms with. It should really not be that difficult an endeavour, considering the number of issues that require the application of the same level of outrage they muster so easily at the sight of women refusing to conform to their misogynistic notions of propriety.

Published in Dawn, November 1st , 2014