ISLAMABAD – A doctored video clip from Aurat March 2021, in which a large number of women can be seen chanting slogans in a unified formation, synchronized with the beat of drum mentioning Almighty, Prophet PBUH, and other religious personalities, has taken Pakistan by storm.
Soon after the dissemination of the edited version of the clip, a large number of netizens grouped together and came up with different trends including #Blasphemy and #DharnaagainstAuratMarch. Here’s the edited version:
https://twitter.com/MirMAKOfficial/status/1369702788578566145
Gathered for womanhood, the actual clip of the video includes the slogans of different ethnic populations like ‘Punjabi mangaay Azadi, Baloch bhee mangaay Azadi’. They also mentioned Prime Minister Imran Khan, journalist Orya Maqbool, defense analyst Zaid Hamid and other people known for their conservative school of thought.
Continuing with its theme of fighting against the patriarchy, they can also be heard chanting, ‘Tera Baap bhee daiga Azadi, Hum Lai kar rahain gay Azadi’.
Social activist and lawyer Jibran Nasir posted a video with a caption stating ‘the original video from Aurat March with correct subtitles exposing the malicious and nefarious propaganda against the March organisers.
The original video from #AuratMarch with correct subtitles exposing the malicious and nefarious propaganda against the March organisers. pic.twitter.com/SVqTpZ8BwZ
— M. Jibran Nasir 🇵🇸 (@MJibranNasir) March 11, 2021
Replying to the tweet of a social media user, who posted the edited version of the clip, Jibran wrote falsely accusing someone of blasphemy is committing blasphemy yourself. You’ve no excuse now. Please delete and clarify, he added.
On the other hand, Aurat March has issued a statement condemning the defamation campaign against participants of the march on social media as a large number of people had begun a smearing campaign against the march, inciting violence against the participants on the grounds that disrespectful slogans, placards were used at the march on the name of feminism.
Statement by Aurat March Lahore condemning slander against the march.#AuratMarch2021 #AuratMarchLahore pic.twitter.com/Mq0IFNTe6I
— Aurat March Lahore (@AuratMarch) March 10, 2021
Meanwhile, the internet remains divided over the issue with many calling for a complete ban on the Aurat March over ‘controversial’ banners and placards that apparently target religious figures – which is certainly not true.
https://twitter.com/TheHarrisSultan/status/1369771804986732545
This year, the rallies under Aurat March were organised in major cities of Pakistan, including Karachi, Lahore and Multan on the occasion of International Women’s Day with a focus on the crisis of care amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Aurat March 2021 aims to highlight bias in Pakistan’s healthcare system and patriarchal violence
