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Pakistan: Police officials involved in baton-charging Islamabad Aurat March participants have been suspended

Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 12 Mar 2023

Pakistan: Police officials involved in baton-charging Islamabad Aurat March participants have been suspended

File image by Nawab Afridi via Wikimedia Commons

Islamabad: Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has said the police personnel in Islamabad, who were involved in baton-charging the participants of Aurat March, an event held in different cities of Pakistan on International Women's Day, have been suspended.

The minister tweeted: " The police personnel involved in baton-charging the participants of the Women's March have been suspended. Moreover, other persons responsible for misbehavior are also being identified, and proper action will be taken against them too."

One of the march’s organisers, Punjrush, explained what had happened during the rally, saying that transgender persons were performing when police charged at the protesters, causing some of them to get “crushed”.

“Then they started pushing us so we started to push back […] and then they started fighting and we started fighting and it just got confusing,” she told Dawn News.

Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman also condemned the incident.

"It is totally unacceptable. Three officials suspended," she had tweeted.

She earlier tweeted, " I strongly condemn this violence and have sought an inquiry on the incident. There is no excuse for this. That too on Int’l Women’s Day. This is not what we fought for and will not tolerate it. Has been brought to the Interior Ministers notice."

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) also condemned the incident and tweeted: "The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)."