• Mehnatkash Aurat Rally reaffirms commitment against war hysteria, religious extremism and gender oppression
• Civil society demands release of Imaan Mazari, Mahrang Baloch and other incarcerated women leaders
• Scores of women participate in Aurat Azadi March in Hyderabad

KARACHI: On International Women’s Day, members of civil society and a large number of women from all walks of life staged rallies, seminars and marches on Sunday, demanding an end to the ongoing conflicts in Iran and Palestine and a halt to the killing of women and children.

While the Aurat Azadi March was held in Hyderabad, organisers of the Aurat March Karachi had already announced that their annual event would not be held on Sunday and instead they would organise it on May 10, Mother’s Day.

The hallmark of the day was the Mehnatkash Aurat Rally organised by the Home-Based Women Workers Federation Pakistan (HBWWF) with this year’s central slogan ‘Working Women: Against War and Oppression’.

Participants of the rally, including working-class women, reaffirmed their commitment to continue playing a historic and decisive role against war hysteria, religious extremism, gender oppression, racism, economic injustice and dictatorship.

Carrying placards inscribed with their demands, red flags and portraits of Fatima Jinnah, Comrade Shanta Bukhari, Benazir Bhutto, Imaan Mazari and others, a large number of working women gathered near the Arts Council of Pakistan and marched on the Karachi Press Club (KPC), where their representatives delivered speeches.

They said that imperialist war hysteria and military occupations had pushed the world to the brink of catastrophic destruction.

A new colonial order is once again being imposed globally, and women, especially working women and children, are among the worst affected, they said, adding that at this critical juncture, a new movement for liberation has become the need of the time, aimed not only at achieving national freedom and sovereignty but also at establishing a society based on social, class, democratic and gender justice.

All speakers paid tribute to the textile women workers whose sacrifices and struggles gave birth to the tradition of commemorating this day. The struggle launched 118 years ago by working women of the textile factory for economic justice had evolved into a powerful international movement against political, gender, social and imperialist oppression, a struggle that will continue until class and gender exploitation were eradicated from society.

The rally demanded that the genocide of Palestinians be stopped and their right to an independent state be recognised.

The participants also demanded release of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and end to all economic sanctions and blockades against Cuba.

They also called upon the authorities to abolish all discriminatory laws against women, end harassment and hostile environments faced by working women in workplaces and eliminate gender-based wage discrimination and implement equal pay for equal work.

One of their demand was immediate release of all political prisoners, including Dr Mahrang Baloch, Imaan Mazari and Ali Wazir.

They also asked the government to reduce the petroleum levy instead of increasing petroleum prices.

Speaking on the occasion, HBWWF General Secretary Zehra Khan said that this year, International Working Women’s Day was being observed in a turbulent and blood-stained global environment.

She said the war-driven instincts of capitalist profit-making had shattered peace across the world.

She criticised the government of Pakistan for what she called aligning itself with “imperial powers across the oceans” while antagonising neighbouring countries, despite the fact that those same powers had their hands stained with the blood of Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Yemenis, Latin American peoples, and Iranians.

Asad Iqbal Butt of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) emphasised that democratic freedoms are being curtailed worldwide while imperialist wars had been imposed to seize resource-rich regions.

Nasir Mansoor of the National Trade Union Federation said that these wars were immensely profitable for arms merchants but bring devastating death, displacement and economic destruction for ordinary people, especially women and children.

Addressing the rally participants, Shaheena Ramzan, Saria Feroz of United HB Workers Union and transgender activist Kami Chaudery emphasised that Pakistan’s policies had dragged the country into bloody conflicts with which it had no direct connection.

The result was that a global war now threatens Pakistan’s borders, rising petroleum prices were deepening the economic crisis, and an impending wave of inflation would further devastate the lives of working people, they said.

Meanwhile, at a programme organised by the Sindh Suhai Organisation (SSO) at the KPC, civil society representatives expressed concern over social injustices faced by women and demanded an end to the ongoing conflicts in Iran and Palestine.

They also urged the release of detained women leaders in Pakistan, including Imaan Mazari and Dr Mahrang Baloch, and called for greater opportunities for women in education and employment, as well as an end to social discrimination.

Rights activist and classical dancer Sheema Kermani said she dedicates this day to the mothers who are carrying the bodies of their innocent children in Iran and Palestine.

Referring to the arrests of Dr Mahrang in Balochistan and Imaan Mazari in Islamabad, she questioned how long women would continue to suffer despite claims of democracy.

She said that in conflicts across the world, including Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine and Gaza, it is often women who bear the greatest suffering. She added that if women were given greater roles in governance, the world could become a symbol of love and peace.

Former federal minister Marvi Memon said that discrimination against women is not a new issue.

SSO chairman Dr Ayesha said that while the world celebrates Women’s Day, they are still forced to protest. She condemned violence against women in the country’s capital and said that women can create their own paths if obstacles are not placed in their way.

Professor Inam Shaikh, Dr Sorath Sindhu, Sajawal SP Alina Rajpar, Sultana Waqasi, Yasmeen Chandio, Latif Ibrahim, Junaid Ansari, Shehzadi Rai, Muneeza Ahmed, Amara Paras Dayo and Najma Maheshwari also spoke.

A one-minute silence was also observed to pay tribute to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and those who lost their lives in Gaza.

Aurat March

In Qasimabad taluka of Hyderabad district, many activists held a rally demanding all constitutional and other legitimate rights of women.

They carried placards inscribed with slogans encouraging women to speak out and actively participate in debates and struggles from women’s rights.

Speaking to them, their leaders urged women, especially those belonging to rural areas, to resist all attempts by anti-women forces to subjugate them and deprive them of constitutional freedoms.

The Women Action Forum (WAF) held a gathering, to mark the occasion, at the Khanabadosh Writers Café, on Sunday.

The gathering was attended by women rights activists, writers and political activists.

The participants later also held a rally within the premises of the Sindh Museum.

Speaking on them, WAF leader Dr Arfana Mallah said: “Our role models are women of Hur Movement launched in Sanghar against Britis­hers.

She said that women’s emancipation and equality were the only workable slogans and all other slogans were just hollow.

Haseen Musarrat Shah said that Sindhi women always stood against oppression and tyranny. She regretted that pro-women legislations existed on the statute but their implementation remained elusive. Marvi Awan noted that underprivileged women faced every form of tyranny.

In Larkana, a celebrated social reformer, Nayab Sarkash Sindhi highlighted the state of womanfolk in society, at an event organised by the Sindhi Adabi Sangat’s local chapter to mark the International Women’s Day.

The theme of the gathering was Today’s woman and our responsibilities’.

She said that women of Sindh have, throughout every age, fought with remarkable courage for their rightful place in society.

She affirmed that the divide between man and woman must be dissolved, for they are inseparable halves of one another’s existence.

Dr Pirh Sakina Gaad, chairperson of Gomi Bai Ladies Club and distinguished poetess and tireless advocate for women’s rights, speaking as a special guest drew particular attention to the plight of rural women.

Women must, in every circumstance, be adorned with the jewel of education, she urged, for without learning, a woman cannot move forward.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2026