Police in Pakistan’s Sindh province attacked a peaceful protest gathering called the Sindh Rawadari March on Sunday, October 13 in Karachi and arrested several activists and leaders of left parties, women rights groups and other civil society members.
The Sindh Rawadari March was organized by several left parties and civil society groups at the Karachi Press Club to protest rising religious extremism in the country and to demand justice in the extra-judicial murder of Dr. Shahnawaz Kunbhar last month. Rawadari means tolerance in Urdu.
The police baton charged the peaceful protesters in an attempt to disperse the gathering. Awami Workers Party (AWP) general secretary, Bakhshal Thalho, and senior trade unionist Nasir Mansoor, general secretary Alya Bakhshal, and several other members of the Women Democratic Front (WDF), and the Progressive Student Federation (PSF) were brutalized and briefly detained by the police.
We are proud of our president who despite a brutal crackdown continued to raise slogans for peace and justice! We will not stop until the end of oppression from the entire country! pic.twitter.com/1190aUsBOZ
— Women Democratic Front ناری جمھوری محاذ (@wdf_pk) October 13, 2024
The Sindh police also attempted to arrest Asad Iqbal Butt, the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), according to a statement.
HRCP is greatly concerned to learn that at least 37 protestors (including women) associated with the Sindh Rawadari March have been arrested by the Karachi police while attempting to hold a peaceful assembly to demand justice for the murder of Dr Shahnawaz Kunbher. The police… pic.twitter.com/8kiFxjClXY
— Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (@HRCP87) October 13, 2024
Butt and former chief of the HRCP Hina Jilani issued a joint statement on Monday claiming that those who took part in the March “were peaceful protesters” and demanded an independent inquiry into the police action against the marchers claiming that the right to peaceful assembly is a constitutional right.
Later an FIR was registered against the organizers for violating section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Pakistan which disallows large gatherings of people. The Singh government led by the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) claimed that section 144 was imposed in the province to prevent any breakout of violence. It accused the organizers of the march of deliberately inciting violence in the province at a time when the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was underway in the country, Dawn reported.
Several left and progressive sections condemned the police attack on Sindh Rawadari March. Women rights collective Aurat March proclaimed full solidarity with the organizers of the march and condemned the state’s repressive measures against the participants.
AWP issued a statement condemning the police brutality on its leaders and attacks on the peaceful gathering. It demanded immediate release of all those arrested and fulfillment of all the demands raised by the march. It also asked its workers across the country to organize protests in solidarity.
Several activists accused that the Sindh government was shielding extremist forces by attacking the peaceful gathering demanding justice and accountability in the rising cases of hate related crimes.
This is how the Pakistani state – and parties like PPP – responds to progressives who speak the language of peace.
They criminalise us because we resist the politics of hate while giving free license to those who weaponise religion.#SindhRawadariMarchpic.twitter.com/0tZsFXkdoi
— Aasim Sajjad Akhtar (@AasimSajjadA) October 13, 2024
Ammar Ali Jan, head of the Haqooq-e-Khalq party questioned the PPP’s progressive credentials and called the police attack on peaceful protesters demanding peace and tolerance in the country as “shameful.” Taimur Rahman, of the Mazdoor Kisan Party also condemned the attack.
This is comrade @BakhshalThalho. General Secretary of the Awami Workers Party and leader of the Left Democratic Front. See how he is beaten on the orders of the PPP.
He was protesting to demand the arrest of the murderers of Dr. Shahnawaz. https://t.co/hjl8ASR7rt
— Dr. Taimur Rahman (@Taimur_Laal) October 14, 2024
Dr. Shahnawaz Kunbhar was killed by Sindh Police in a staged fake encounter hours after his arrest in a case related to blasphemy last month in Umerkot. Sindh’s Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar later accepted that Dr. Shahnawaz was actually killed in a staged encounter by the police.
Pakistan’s Blasphemy law prohibits insulting Islam and Islamic figures. Conviction under the law can also result in the death penalty. Pakistan’s progressive forces have been demanding the law should be revoked as it has often been misused by the extremist elements to attack secular, progressive elements and religious minorities in the country.
In the last few months at least four people accused of blasphemy have been killed by mobs in different parts of Pakistan. In all those cases, the role of the security forces and the state have come under scrutiny.
