Police briefly detained eight female activists, including dance artiste and Aurat March organiser Sheema Kermani, when they reached the Karachi Press Club to hold a press conference on preparations for Mother’s Day to be observed on May 10.
Police first took them to a nearby police station, but released them after intervention of high-ranking Sindh government officials. Holding a press conference after being released, Aurat March organisers announced holding a march at Sea View on May 10, and demanded that the government grant them permission.
They asked the government in what kind of democracy police arrest women holding a press conference regarding Mother’s Day. Sheema condemned the police action, claiming that female activists were dragged, manhandled and detained.
She demanded that the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party investigate the matter, pointing out that on the one hand women are being given presidential awards, while on the other hand, they are being detained.
She also claimed that police “gave us no reason for our detention despite the fact that we were peacefully coming to hold a press conference”. Aurat March organisers demanded that the state legally include domestic care and all the work performed within the home in the definition of “regular work”, and take it into account in all the relevant laws, including labour protections, social security policies and economic planning frameworks.
They demanded Women’s Right to Work as a comprehensive economic and social benefits programme for all women aged 15 and above. They demanded reduction in state expenditure, end of marital rape, abolition of all forced labour debts, and the complete abolition of the system of slavery in Sindh and other provinces.
They demanded the implementation of minimum wage law fully in all sectors, and fining any individual or institution that refuses to comply with it. They called for the implementation of the Home-Based Workers Act 2018, and for the Sindh government to make immediate arrangements to register workers and make the system functional.
They demanded that threats, harassment and violence against women and transgender persons that they face in order to obtain their inheritance rights be brought to an end. They demanded that compulsory, comprehensive, and age-appropriate reproductive health and physical safety education be provided at all levels of education across Sindh. They demanded that defamation be decriminalised, and the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act be completely repealed.
They demanded that the Sindh Reproductive Healthcare Rights Act 2019 be implemented, and that the federal government maintain the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018 in its original form.
