Karachi district administration issues 28-condition NOC for Aurat March

KARACHI:

The Karachi district administration issued a conditional no-objection certificate (NOC) to Aurat March for its upcoming public meeting with 28 conditions, including clauses on participants’ dress and text written on posters, drawing strong criticism from the organisers, it emerged on Saturday.

The controversy comes after a press conference organized by Aurat March on Tuesday was interrupted due to the arrest of several organizers.

Subsequently, South District Deputy Commissioner Javed Nabi Khoso granted permission through an NOC dated May 8, allowing the Aurat March to organize its event on Sunday from 3:30 to 7:30 pm at Sea View. The event is timed to coincide with Mother’s Day on May 10.

Among the conditions set out in the NOC were a ban on “objectionable clothing,” a ban on the promotion of LGBTQ content, and restrictions on anti-state and anti-religious slogans, banners, and speech.

According to the NOC, no “hateful, provocative, unethical or antisocial material” should be displayed on graphics, banners or push-ups, and no speaker should make speeches against “Pakistan ideology”, state policies or the military.

Read: Police suspended for the repression of the Aurat March

Participation or representation of any banned organization was also strictly prohibited. Any sectarian activity or speech that incites hatred between groups or hurts public sentiments will not be permitted, and permission to hold the event may be revoked without giving any reason.

The remaining conditions concerned security and logistics. Organizers were asked to arrange volunteers to screen participants, restrict entry and exit to a designated location, and ensure that vehicles entering parking areas, which would be set up at least 200 yards from the main location, were thoroughly scanned.

Additionally, the NOC stated that a bomb disposal team would conduct a technical sweep of the site, using metal and explosive detection equipment.

The Loudspeaker Ordinance was also to be strictly followed, and public movement and traffic were not to be obstructed, especially on main roads and key passages. The NOC also banned aerial shooting and the use of drugs and alcohol during the event.

In case of any adverse incident or public order situation, route or venue dispute, or security issue, the NOC declares that the organizer will be solely responsible and will bear all legal consequences at its own risk and cost.

Read more: Aurat March Announces ‘Misogynist of the Year’ Satirical Awards Ahead of Mother’s Day Event

Organizers must also provide a copy of the NOC to relevant police officials, inform them of the full security nature of the event and share a list of volunteers, the NOC reads.

He added that organizers must follow the instructions of police authorities and district administration, who can change the route or location if necessary, or order the event to end early.

Social activist Mehnaz Rahman, associated with Aurat March, said that an NOC with so many conditions and restrictions had never been issued before, adding that Aurat March would soon make its official stance on the matter known.

Reacting to the development, the group said in a social media post that its policy remained unchanged since its inception.

“We continue to witness the shrinking of political space year after year, along with increasing state repression and brutality. Under such conditions, movements like ours are constantly forced to think about how to continue building collective power without increasing danger to the very communities we join, while refusing to cede what little space remains to oppressive forces.

“The space we have built for dissent has emerged through years of collective struggle. We reject the State labeling as ‘outlawed’ groups and movements that are not legally prohibited. As a feminist movement, we believe that such rhetoric threatens constitutional rights, democratic freedoms, and the very possibility of collective political struggle.”

The group said it would continue to build alongside marginalized communities in visible and hidden ways until the day people could speak freely without risk for doing so.

In a statement, Aurat March Lahore called the restrictions “clearly unfair, illegal and oppressive in nature,” saying the conditions severely limited the speech of organizers and participants and infringed on their right to protest.

The publication said that the demand presented at the NOC that no slogans be provocative, unethical or antisocial “does not understand how protests work.” He declared that “protests, especially those that denounce power structures such as patriarchy, will surely be provocative.”

Aurat March Lahore added that the broad language prohibiting “anti-state slogans” or “state ideology or state policy” was deliberate and aimed at forcing self-censorship and expanding restrictions on freedom of expression beyond its constitutional meaning.

They also rejected the ban on “objectionable clothing”, saying that the Sindh government “has also chosen to monitor the attire of participants”. He stated that “the State cannot dictate how people dress during and outside of protests.”

On the banning of a human rights group, the statement said the organization was being falsely described as banned, calling it “a peaceful women-led movement that has demanded basic human rights.”

The demand to share a list of volunteers was also condemned as “another blatant attempt to expand the state surveillance network of movements.” The statement added that anyone who volunteers for a social movement or collective working for social change “must be granted their right to privacy and we must resist this State overreach into our movement spaces.”

“It is clear as day that these terms of the NOC have little to do with the safety or well-being of the public attending the Aurat March; they are a means to control and dilute the politics of the march,” the statement read.

He concluded by stating, “If the Sindh government does not respect the unconditional right of Aurat March Karachi to march, then we will hold them responsible.”