ISLAMABAD: While over 40 participants of Aurat March were released by the police on Monday, the leadership of the marchers, civil society members and rights activists held a press conference in which they criticised the administration for “manhandling and threatening them and forcing them to sign unreasonable affidavits”.

They held a presser in which they demanded an investigation into the incident and suggested that action should be taken against those responsible.

Dr Farzana Bari, speaking at a news conference at the National Press Club, said the march was held every year.

“We were aware that Section 144 was imposed in the federal capital, but civil society does not accept any law which is in violation of basic rights. You cannot take away our right to protest. Similar protests were held across the globe, but we were stopped by the threat that a suicide bomber had come and that it might blow up,” she said.

Talal Chaudhry justifies arrests, says deliberate attempt was made to create a law and order situation

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Secretary General Haris Khaliq said the Aurat March was a movement. “We don’t believe in the violation of the law, but with laws such as the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) and others, societies cannot run. We have seen a similar situation in Lahore, but civil society has been standing firmly against it,” he added.

“Yesterday girls were manhandled and beaten. They were taken into custody and shifted to a women police station. When their relatives and friends reached there, they were also locked up. Baton charge was used against the girls, their hair was pulled, and they were forced to sign fake affidavits,” he said.

Mr Khaliq said Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar and Sherry Rehman played a role in getting the arrested persons released.

It is worth mentioning that Sherry Rehman also reached there to show solidarity with the arrested women.

Mr Khaliq said the HRCP had demanded that the matter should be investigated and departmental action should be taken against those involved.

A lawyer, Kashmala, said she went there to ask about the protesters and requested police to allow her to meet them. “Three policewomen grabbed me and said ‘main tumhari wakalat nikalti hoon’. They also locked me in a small lockup in which there were around 80 persons. The condition of the toilet was bad and it even lacked soap,” she said.

One of the leaders, who was arrested on Sunday, asked why they had been informed a few days earlier that there was a threat and the march should not be held. She said even lawyers were not allowed to meet the arrested women.

“We were kept in a lockup and were not allowed to meet our relatives. There were girls aged from 14 to 73 years and all of them were manhandled. We were put in vehicles and shifted to the police station. Some of the girls faced health problems and suffocated as there were around 80 persons, including children, in the lockup,” she said. Another woman who was also arrested said there were over 70 males and females who had been arrested. She claimed that two women were pregnant.

A leader said she wanted to appreciate those who reached F-6 on a call given on social media. She said people were told to go to the Press Club as a press conference was being held there, and while they were going there, they were picked up.

Information Secretary of the PPP Human Rights Cell Tariq Mahmood Ghouri, while talking to Dawn, said even those who went to the police station to see their relatives were arrested.

“Later they were forced to sign an affidavit on which it was written that they would not indulge in such activities in the future. They had to sign it to get their daughters released,” he said.

Minister defends arrests

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry on Monday justified the arrests of Aurat March participants, alleging that a deliberate attempt was made to create a law and order situation.

Speaking in the National Assembly during the question hour, he said no NOC had been issued but an illegal assembly had been organised.

The minister was given the floor by Deputy Speaker Ghulam Mustafa Shah to respond to the protest by some PPP women members over the arrest of women’s rights activists, including office-bearers of the Aurat March, by the Islamabad police on Sunday when they were planning to bring out a rally in connection with International Women’s Day.

The PPP members, including Shazia Marri and Nafeesa Shah, were of the view that such police action on International Women’s Day brought a bad name for the country at the international level.

He said such marches in Karachi and Lahore had been called off and the same should have happened in Islamabad as well.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2026