ISLAMABAD, 8 Oct 2022:
Hundreds of female athletes in Pakistan’s conservative Gilgit Baltistan (GB) participated in their first-ever regional sports event – amid tight security against strong opposition from conservative local clerics and religious organisations.
The three-day sporting gala, which concluded yesterday, was nearly cancelled after local religious leaders accused the GB government of “spreading vulgarity” by organising the sports event for women.
However, the name of the event was changed from “GB Women’s Fair 2022” to “Women’s Meena Bazaar” (meaning ladies’ market), a day before it commenced.
All men, including officials, were barred from entering Gilgit city’s Lalak Jan stadium, the venue for the event.
GB information minister Fateh Ullah said more than 2,000 girls from different schools and colleges competed in seven sports disciplines – including cricket, football and hockey.
“There are no healthy activities for the girls in the area, so they are facing health issues like high blood pressure and others. So the games are important for them,” he underlined.
The government now plans to hold it every year, he added.
“No man could enter the stadium because it was a ‘women only’ event keeping in view the local customs,” Ullah stressed.
The minister said women police were in charge of security inside the stadium, while regular security forces guarded it from outside, and the army was on standby for any contingency.
“There were no direct threats but local clerics and religious organisations had opposed holding the event which could have lead to anything.”
The minister revealed that conservative elements had come together to protest outside the stadium on the first day of the event, but local administration officials held talks with them to address their concerns.
“We assured them that the event will be conducted in accordance with Islamic values and local customs.”
The event also featured different food stalls and informational desks to spread awareness on environmental issues, climate change, mental and physical health, handicrafts and entrepreneurship.
Social media users praised the regional government for holding the event successfully and not bowing down to the pressure from conservative elements.
Noted journalists and civil society members shared pictures from the event and thanked the participants for making the country “proud.”
Pakistani society remains oppressive towards women, especially in the most conservative rural areas, and feminist activism is often described as vulgar and is subject to attacks by extremists.
Meanwhile in India, violence against the minority Muslim community is growing as the security forces impose increasingly brutal punitive measures against them, nonprofit Human Rights Watch warned yesterday.
“The authorities in several Indian states are carrying out violence against Muslims as a kind of summary punishment,” Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
By violating the rule of law, she said security agencies were “sending a message to the public that Muslims can be discriminated against and attacked.”
The statement comes after a video widely circulated by Indian media and social networks showed at least four Muslim men being tied up to a pole and beaten in front of a cheering crowd.
The incident took place on Tuesday in the western state of Gujarat, when police arrested a dozen men for allegedly pelting stones at a ceremonial dance during a Hindu festival, which was being organised close to a mosque.
The officers – who were wearing civilian clothes – allegedly beat up the accused on the spot in the Undhela village, instead of taking them to a police station.
HRW highlighted that authorities decided to open a probe into the incident only when the videos went viral a few days later.
The NGO directly linked prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party – in power both in Gujarat and the center – with the growing violence against Muslims, especially in provinces ruled by the party.
According to the group, in BJP-ruled states such as Gujarat, apart from violent repression and extra-judicial “punishments,” the authorities have also “demolished Muslim homes and properties without legal authorisation.”
One of these incidents took place in Delhi in April, when the authorities “used nine bulldozers and demolished at least 25 shops, vending carts, and houses.”
The demolitions were carried out after a BJP leader urged the municipal government to identify allegedly illegally constructed properties of those accused of communal clashes and “run bulldozers over them.”
India, a country of over 1.35 billon people, has often witnessed bloody clashes between Hindus and Muslims in recent history, in which thousands of people were killed and wounded.
Radicalisation among the majority Hindus has increased after Modi’s right-wing government first came to power in 2014, and human rights groups have flagged a disproportionate rise in attacks against Muslims.
– EFE