The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by Amun Taraqqi Party (ATP) Chairman Muhammad Faiq Shah challenging the permission granted to organisers to hold Aurat March at F-9 Park. IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq declared the plea non-maintainable after hearing the arguments made by the petitioner’s counsel Nazakat Hussain Abbasi.Within the plea filed on March 6 it had been mentioned that Islamabad Deputy Commissioner (DC) Irfan Nawaz Memon had allowed the National Commission on Status of Women on March 2 to hold the march at F-9 Park on Wednesday (today).

The petition had asked for the DC’s permission to be revoked and that the organisers be directed to not violate the “injunctions of Islam [and] Islamic way of life while holding Aurat March”. The ATP chief had challenged the permission claiming that the march would “not only spoil the basic family structure of an Islamic state but also promote vulgarity”. He had further argued that March 8 also coincided with the “Holy day of Shab Barat” (a religious occasion observed by Muslims), implying that the coinciding events could for reasons unexplained not be observed simultaneously.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP