Transcript:
- Few days ago, a women’s bicycle rally was scheduled to be held
- in Peshawar but it had to be cancelled because
- Jamaat Islami and JUI-F people threatened to protest against it
- They apparently believe that women riding bicycles
- is somehow a threat to their Islam
- I remember another rally was cancelled in 2005
- at a university in Gujranwala because of the same reason
- Asma Jahangir then organized a marathon in Lahore
- against the cancellation, and the religious fanatics
- It was a women’s marathon,
- though also attended by male activists
- The main point behind holding marathon was
- that these religious fanatics couldn’t be given the right
- to decide whether women can go out or not
- Pervez Musharraf was ruling Pakistan at the time
- Police did a severe crackdown on the occasion
- and many people were arrested at the marathon
- Asma Jahangir herself was arrested
- but the marathon went on
- It wasn’t stopped and it was a success
- A very strong message was sent against religious fanatics
- and people who try to dictate women’s presence at public spaces
- The same question was under discussion at the time
- whether women should be allowed
- to lead a bicycle rally or not
- But it was 2005 and now it’s 2019
- And if we’re still discussing the same question
- then we’re probably not progressing as a society
- in terms of women empowerment
- We need to get out of that phase now
- where we discussed whether
- women should have this right or not
- Women should have this right, and they have it
- Right to mobility is a fundamental right
- And it is not gender specific
- So we need to raise our voice against these people
- who want to obstruct women empowerment in the name of Islam