ISLAMABAD: Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Noor Ul Haq Qadri, has refuted reports that he has called for a ban on Aurat March, the country’s largest women’s rights event, saying he had no problem if women marched for rights granted to them under Islam.
The country-wide event known as Aurat March, using the Urdu word for women, has been attended by tens of thousands over the last three years to mark International Women’s Day on March 8.
In the past, the march has been threatened by the Pakistani Taliban and there has been an uproar in conservative circles over slogans used at the past three events, including “My body, my choice”, “My body is not your battleground” and “Stop being menstrual phobic”. Opponents say the event has an agenda to spread “vulgarity” and is anti-Islam.
Organizers have said they have faced a backlash including murder and rape threats.
On Thursday, a letter dated February 9 went viral on Twitter in which Qadri called on Prime Minister Imran Khan to declare March 8 ‘International Hijab Day’ in Pakistan. 
“There is no mention in my letter of a ban,” Qadri said in a local TV interview on Thursday, saying he had only highlighted the “vulgarity” that was spread during the march, which he claimed “made fun of” social and Islamic values.
He added that he did not believe there was any harm in women marching peacefully and “in a decent manner” for rights granted to them by Islam.
In his letter to the PM, Qadri said Aurat March organizers should “highlight issues such as non-availability of education for women, forced marriages, lack of protection for widows and orphans, women’s sexual exploitation, lack of provision of food for women and to provide suggestions and views to the government on these issues.”
“Nobody should be allowed to slander or ridicule Islamic rites, social values, modesty and chastity, the hijab, under Aurat March or any other title,” the letter read. “Doing so causes pain and suffering to Pakistani Muslims.”
The minister’s demand to celebrate International Hijab Day on the same day as Aurat March was widely interpreted as a call to ban the event. The issue remained a top trend on Twitter on Thursday and Friday morning.
Opposition senator Sherry Rehman called the letter “astonishing,” and asked Qadri: “What will you prove by banning the march of women?”

Rights activist Usama Khilji called the minister’s letter “an attack on right to freedom of association, speech and equality.”

Lawyer and digital rights activist Nighat Dad wondered whether the minister had ever penned a letter to the prime minister to condemn the killing of police officers by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a far-right religion political party in Pakistan known for violent protests.

Women’s rights activist Zoya Shabbir urged the federal minister to  “see Article 16 of Constitution i.e. Freedom of Assembly.”

Prominent politician and former senator Farhatullah Babar asked the minister to withdraw his letter. 

Sociologist Nida Kirmani observed that the “anxiety surrounding Aurat March grows every year among the gatekeepers of patriarchy.”