PESHAWAR: Scores of women belonging to different political parties and civil society organisations have criticised the Islamabad police for resorting to violence against women during a rally in the federal capital on Oct 9 for merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and demanded action against the officials concerned.

Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, Naheed Afridi, a member of Takra Qabaili Khwendi (brave tribal sisters), said that holding a peaceful protest was the democratic right of every citizen and subjecting the law-abiding people was tantamount to oppression.

She said that the tribal people, including women and youth, staged a rally in a peaceful manner in Islamabad to press the government for acceptance of their demands.

Ms Afridi claimed that a big contingent of police and personnel of law enforcement agencies had been deployed for obstructing them. She called it an irresponsible attitude on the part of federal government and police and demanded probe into the matter.

Call for probe into the incident

She regretted that despite passage of three days of the incident interior minister Ahsan Iqbal had failed to take notice of the incident.

Flanked by TQK members, including Ayesha Hassan, Sakeena Mohmand, Laila Shahnawaz and ANP’s former MNA Jamila Gilani, Ms Afridi claimed that several women had fallen on the ground and sustained injuries when the police took action against them.

She alleged that women protesters were also warned by the police personnel that they would face dire consequences if they proceeded towards D-Chowk. She also demanded of the Islamabad police to seek an apology from the tribal women for the incident.

Other women on this occasion vowed that they would continue struggle till merger of Fata with KP and abolition of FCR.

They said that they wanted their due rights and for this purpose the government should implement the reforms recommended by its own committee.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2017