Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, Minister for Religious Affairs, wants Prime Minister Imran Khan to prohibit Aurat March 2022, while also establishing March 8 as Hijab Day to demonstrate solidarity with Muslim women worldwide who face concerns of religious independence and human rights violations.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Qadri stated that Aurat March 2022 should be outlawed since they are frequently inappr**opriate, and that March 8 should be designated as Hijab Day to attract public attention to the physical and psychological abuse of Muslim women across the globe.
The allegation comes at a time when Hindu extremists supported by the Modi-led BJP government are harassing Muslim females in India and IOJ&K for wearing Hijab in colleges and universities. Qadri went on to say that Pakistan should petition the UN to intervene and stop the inhumane treatment of Muslims in India.
According to the Religious Affairs Minister, so-called human rights activists and groups held rallies under the name of the ‘Aurat March’ to highlight concerns confronting women throughout the world, but they ignored issues confronting Muslim women.
He went on to say that, rather than addressing actual concerns faced by Muslim women, the Aurat March ends up demeaning Islamic teachings for women. He said that Islam was a full law of life and that women’s rights were well safeguarded in Islamic countries.
The Religious Affairs Minister proposed abolishing Aurat in March 2022 and renaming it Hijab Day to show unity with all Muslim women throughout the world who face religious freedom difficulties. Qadri advised the government not to allow anybody to mock divine injunctions, particularly Hijab in the aftermath of the ‘Aurat March.’
The Aurat March Controversy
International Women’s Day (locally known as Aurat March) has been honoured since the 1960s; nevertheless, the celebration has been contentious in recent years with slogans such as “my body, my choice,” also known as “mera jism, meri marzi.”
Religious organisations regard these chants as ‘inappr**opriate,’ and they fear that the Aurat March is encouraging vulgarity throughout the country. These groups are regularly urging that the Aurat March be banned, and various petitions have been made in this direction.