Aurat March debates are never-ending in Pakistan where protesters gather around and demand to curb the deeply-rooted patriarchy in the country is associated with something scandalous.
Earlier, a doctored video clip went viral on the Internet in which a large number of women can be seen chanting slogans with the beat of a drum mentioning Almighty, Prophet PBUH, and other religious personalities.
Now after being falsely accused, organisers and supporters of the Aurat March Karachi are calling for an apology after the video was doctored to wrongly show participants raising blasphemous slogans.
“The Aurat March faces severe backlash every year. Our videos and posters are targeted and manipulated, spreading misinformation and maligning the March. This year, one of our videos was doctored and heinous allegations are being placed on us,” the organisers tweeted.
Here’s is the original slogan, here is our real voice 🗣
The Aurat March faces severe backlash every year. Our videos & posters are targeted & manipulated, spreading misinformation to malign the March.#AuratMarch2021#PatriarchykaPandemic#StopSpreadingFakeNews pic.twitter.com/piowxqMUEK
— Aurat March – عورت مارچ (@AuratMarchKHI) March 11, 2021
Sharing videos on social media, the March organizers called out the people who showed how the words of the slogans were changed. The fake videos were shared by some famous journalists which led to death threats for the organisers.
https://twitter.com/nighatdad/status/1370044690976890886
Netizens and famous personalities condemned the misleading videos using the hashtags #StopHateAgainstAuratMarch and #ApologisetoAuratMarch.
Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari tweeted, “Absolutely condemn the doctored videos of #AuratMarch done to incite hatred & endanger lives of more women. Know that it is a purposeful campaign & this pathetic, illegal (also criminal) intent to harm will not deter this beautiful & necessary movement #StopHateAgainstAuratMarch”
Absolutely condemn the doctored videos of #AuratMarch done to incite hatred & endanger lives of more women. Know that it is a purposeful campaign & this pathetic, illegal (also criminal) intent to harm will not deter this beautiful & necessary movement #StopHateAgainstAuratMarch
— Bakhtawar B-Zardari (@BakhtawarBZ) March 11, 2021
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has also condemned the campaign against the Aurat March saying an apology won’t be enough.
HRCP strongly condemns the deliberate, vicious campaign against @AuratMarch, incl. by sections of the media. Once again, allegations of blasphemy have been weaponised, this time against women who bravely drew attention to the harassment & sexual assault they had experienced. 1/2
— Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (@HRCP87) March 12, 2021
This is not just repugnant, it is an incitement to violence. We demand that action be taken against all such persons. A mere apology is not enough. Indeed, it is a matter of great shame that such a backlash has become a recurring feature of @AuratMarch. 2/2
— Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (@HRCP87) March 12, 2021
Jibran Nasir also tweeted about how several accounts deleted the videos after they were proved false.
Several accounts deleted their tweet sharing the doctored video of #AuratMarch slogans when corrected but many are refusing to do so despite being directly confronted with evidence. They are making themselves equally culpable of crimes of defamation, hate speech & cyber terrorism
— M. Jibran Nasir 🇵🇸 (@MJibranNasir) March 11, 2021
Despite the videos being the talk of the town, the doctored and misleading videos are still available online and no action has been taken against those who were involved in spreading the videos.
Doctored clip of Aurat March in Pakistan sparks outrage amid blasphemy accusations (VIDEOS)
