Karachi district administration issues NOC with 28 conditions for Aurat march

KARACHI:

The Karachi district administration has issued a conditional no-objection certificate (NOC) to Aurat March for its upcoming public rally with 28 conditions, including clauses on participants’ clothing and written text on posters, drawing sharp criticism from organizers, it was learned on Saturday.

The controversy comes after a press conference organized by Aurat March on Tuesday was disrupted due to the arrest of several organizers.

Southern District Deputy Commissioner Javed Nabi Khoso later granted permission through a NOC dated May 8, allowing the Aurat March to hold its event on Sunday from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Sea View. The event is timed to coincide with Mother’s Day, May 10.

Among the conditions set out in the NOC were a ban on “objectionable clothing,” a ban on the promotion of LGBTQ content, and restrictions on anti-state and anti-religious slogans, banners, and speeches.

According to the NOC, no “hateful, provocative, unethical or anti-social material” was to be displayed on hoardings, banners or hoardings, and no speakers were to deliver speeches against the “ideology of Pakistan”, state policies or the army.

Read: Police officers suspended following Aurat March repression

Participation or representation of any banned organization was also strictly prohibited. No sectarian activity or speech inciting hatred between groups or hurting public opinion will be permitted, and permission to organize the event could be revoked without giving reason.

Other conditions concerned security and logistics. Organizers had to recruit volunteers to screen participants, restrict entry and exit to a single designated location, and ensure vehicles entering parking areas – which had to be established at least 200 meters from the main venue – were thoroughly scanned.

Additionally, the NOC said a mine clearance team would carry out a technical inspection of the location, using metal and explosive detection equipment.

The loudspeaker ordinance was also to be strictly adhered to, while public traffic was not to be impeded, especially on major roads and key passages. The NOC also banned aerial shooting and the consumption of drugs and alcohol during the event.

In the event of an untoward incident or public order situation, a dispute over the itinerary or venue or a security issue, the NOC declares that the organizer would be solely responsible and would bear all legal consequences at its own risk and expense.

Learn more: Aurat March announces satirical ‘Misogynist of the Year’ awards ahead of Mother’s Day event

Organizers must also provide a copy of the NOC to relevant police officials, inform them of the full security nature of the event and share a list of volunteers, the NOC says.

He added that organizers should follow instructions from law enforcement and district administration, who may change the route or venue if necessary, or order the event to end early.

Social activist Mehnaz Rahman, associated with the Aurat March, said never before has a compliance notice been issued with so many conditions and restrictions, adding that Aurat March would soon release its official stand on the issue.

Reacting to the development, the group said in a social media post that its policy had remained unchanged since its creation.

“We continue to see a shrinking political space with each passing year, alongside increasing state repression and brutality. Under such conditions, movements like ours are constantly forced to consider how to continue building collective power without increasing danger to the very communities we live alongside, while refusing to cede what little space remains to oppressive forces.

“The space we have built for dissent is the result of years of collective struggle. We reject the state’s labeling as “proscribed” groups and movements that are not legally prohibited. As a feminist movement, we believe that such rhetoric threatens constitutional rights, democratic freedoms, and the possibility of collective political struggle itself.

The group said it would continue to grow alongside marginalized communities in both visible and covert ways until the day people could express themselves freely without being in harm’s way.

In a statement, Aurat March Lahore called the restrictions “grossly unfair, illegal and oppressive in nature,” saying the conditions severely limited the speech of organizers and participants and infringed on their right to protest.

The message said the requirement set out in the NOC that no slogans be provocative, unethical or anti-social, “does not understand how protests work.” He said that “protests, especially those that denounce power structures such as patriarchy, are bound to be provocative.”

Aurat March Lahore added that the general language prohibiting “anti-state slogans” or “state ideology or state policy” was deliberate, aimed at forcing self-censorship and extending restrictions on freedom of expression beyond their constitutional meaning.

They also pushed back against the ban on “objectionable clothing,” saying the Sindh government “also chose to control participants’ clothing.” He said “the state cannot dictate how people dress during and outside protests.”

Regarding the banning of a rights group, the statement said the organization is falsely described as banned, calling it a “peaceful, women-led movement demanding basic human rights.”

The requirement to share a list of volunteers was also condemned as “another blatant attempt to widen the network of state surveillance of the movements”. The statement added that anyone volunteering for a social movement or collective working for social change “should be afforded their right to privacy and we must resist this excessive state interference in our movement spaces.”

“It is clear as day that these NOC conditions have little to do with the safety or well-being of the public participating in the Aurat march, it is a means of controlling and diluting the politics of the march,” the statement read.

He concluded by saying, “If the Sindh government does not respect the unconditional right of Aurat March Karachi to march, then we will hold them responsible.