Political parties and civil society organizations arranged seminars and public rallies across Pakistan, including in the militancy-hit Swat district where a woman was publicly lashed by Taliban militants last year, to mark World Women’s Day.
The women’s wing of Pakistan’s Labour Party, the Labour Education Foundation, and women who work in brick kilns rallied in Islamabad and demanded an end to violence against women, according to a report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Express.
In the Swat District, female workers from different political parties, NGOs, and female students and their teachers staged a rally to observe the International Women’s Day, the report said. The rally was led by celebrated Pakistani TV actress Atiqa Odho and Sitara Ayaz, the provincial Minister for Social Welfare and Women Development.
It was the first women’s demonstration in three years to be staged in the Swat district where Taliban militants have killed several women, including a female singer and a dancer. The Taliban had also forced hundreds women to migrate to other parts of the country.
A walk was arranged in the Khyber Bazaar of Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province to observe the day.
In the image above, Pakistani women light lamps in front of the Karachi Press Club to mark the occasion and spread awareness about women’s rights. In the image below, members of the Women Workers’ Helpline organize a protest rally in Karachi, calling for security and economic justice for women.
Source: Roznama Express, Pakistan, March 9, 2010
