Sindh govt issues Aurat March NOC with conditions for participants’ clothing, slogans

KARACHI: The Sindh government has issued a no-objection certificate (NOC) to Aurat March for their gathering on Sunday near Sea View, but with 28 conditions, including restrictions on the content of slogans raised, it emerged on Saturday.

The march is planned for Mother’s Day (May 10, 2026), which is observed on the second Sunday of every May.

Last Sunday, Aurat March organisers in Karachi said they had sent a letter to First Lady Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, whose party governs the province, after there had been “no response” to their request to the relevant offices for an NOC. A press conference Aurat March had planned on Wednesday was also hindered by the detentions of multiple organisers.

Subsequently, South Deputy Commissioner (DC) Javed Nabi Khoso granted an NOC, dated May 8, to Aurat March Karachi to organise “Aurat March in commemoration of Mother’s Day” from 3:30pm to 7:30pm on Sunday at Beach View Park.

The NOC cited a letter of no objection written by the South senior superintendent of police (SSP) to DC Khoso on May 4, the day after Aurat March shared their letter to Aseefa. It listed a total of 28 conditions and restrictions that the organisers and participants were to abide by.

According to the NOC, Aurat March organisers are “bound to comply with all laws in force” and shall be responsible for the “internal cordon security of the participants”.

It further stated that “all participants/organisers shall ensure peaceful conduct” during the march.

The NOC prohibited “anti-state slogans, banners, speeches or activities”, as well as “anti-religion slogans, placards or objectionable remarks”. It also ordered that “no hateful, provocative, unethical or anti-social content shall be displayed on charts, banners or flexes”.

“Participation, support or representation by any banned outfit /proscribed organisation such as BYC (Baloch Yakjehti Committee), JQSM (Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz) shall strictly not be allowed,” the NOC read.

The district administration also ordered participants not to “wear objectionable clothing” or carry out “promotion for the LGBTQ” community, which includes transgender persons.

“No sectarian/objectionable activity/speech shall be allowed which causes or creates hatred amongst the various groups or may provoke or injure feelings of the people,” the NOC stated.

The district administration barred speakers at Aurat March from delivering any speech “against the ‘ideology of Pakistan’ or policies of the state”. It further prohibited speakers from speaking against the armed forces or spreading “hatred among communities [and] extremism”.

Aurat March organisers were further told to ensure compliance with law and order standard operating procedures (SOP) and to cooperate with law enforcement agencies and district administration throughout the event.

“No obstruction and disturbance shall be caused to the general public and traffic, especially thoroughfares/main arteries shall be cleared from any hindrance,” the NOC’s 12th condition read.

The NOC mandated Aurat March to strictly follow the Loudspeakers Ordinance and confine entry/exit points to one location.

It further told the organisers to have volunteers conduct physical searches of the participants and ensure they pass through walkthrough gates, alongside using metal and explosive detectors.

“Bomb Disposal Squad shall carry out technical sweeping of the premises and hand over the venue to the organiser, who will depute volunteers covering the backside of the stage entry/exit location and parking lots,” it said.

“Parking lots shall be established at least 200 yards away from the main venue and volunteers shall be deployed for smooth parking,” the NOC read, adding that vehicles entering the parking lots shall be scanned/searched thoroughly.

As per the NOC, Aurat March Karachi was “solely responsible in case of any mishap viz law and order situation, dispute of route/venue or any kind of security”, adding that it was to “face the legal consequences at own risk and cost”.

The NOC directed the organisers to “abide by the orders of the police officers concerned”.

It further told the Aurat March organisers to follow instructions from law enforcement agencies and the district administration “in letter [and] in spirit, who may change the route or venue, if required or may ask to wind up the programme before time”.

The organisers, the NOC said, were bound to brief the SSP and station house officer (SHO) concerned about the “complete nature of the event, regarding security and also share the list of volunteers”.

“No aerial firing and drug/alcohol is allowed during said event,” the NOC stated, warning that the permission could be cancelled “without assigning any reason”.

‘Refusing to cede whatever little space remains’

In a defiant statement issued later in the day, Aurat March Karachi refuted “speculations” that it had signed the NOC and accepted the terms therein.

“This is not the case. The NOC was issued to us by the government last night as directives imposed upon public assembly,” it said.

Aurat March Karachi noted: “We continue to witness political space shrinking year after year, alongside increasing state repression and brutality.

“In such conditions, movements like ours are constantly forced to think about how to continue building collective power without increasing danger for the very communities we stand beside, while also refusing to cede whatever little space remains to oppressive forces.

“The space we have built for dissent has come through years of collective struggle.”

The group said it would march against marital rape, the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) and defamation laws, and “all forms of patriarchal violence, including attacks on the right to protest and assemble”. It would also demand a social and economic security programme called “Aurat Haq-e-Mehnat”.

“And in case there is any confusion: Mera Jism, Meri Marzi (my body my choice) is our core demand. We invite you to wear whatever you like and feel comfortable in. We will continue to fight for our right to complete bodily autonomy and agency,” read the statement.

Referring to the condition regarding BYC, Aurat March Karachi said, “We reject the state’s labelling of groups and movements that are not legally banned as ‘proscribed’.

“As a feminist movement, we believe such rhetoric threatens constitutional rights, democratic freedoms, and the possibility of collective political struggle itself,” it asserted.

The group urged participants to wear “black tomorrow in solidarity with all those being systematically silenced”.

Affirming that it has always been a peaceful movement, Aurat March said, “We will continue to challenge patriarchal and systemic power until we see the complete dismantling of patriarchy.”

‘No understanding of how protests work’

Separately, Aurat March’s Lahore chapter said they “stand in complete solidarity with the volunteers” of Aurat March Karachi and raised objections to various restrictions imposed under the NOC.

Terming the restrictions “unjust, unlawful and oppressive in nature”, Aurat March Lahore said the list “severely limits the speech of organisers and participants and infringes on their right to protest”.

“The demand that no slogan be ‘provocative, unethical or anti-social’ bears no understanding of how protests work. Protests, especially those calling out power structures such as patriarchy, are bound to be provocative,” the group noted.

It explained that the decision to gather on Mother’s Day — an “otherwise sanitised and commercialised day meant to celebrate the unpaid labour of mothers without questioning the underlying exploitation” — was itself “meant to provoke us to think differently”.

“Societies do not change without provocation; discomfort is endemic to protests,” Aurat March Lahore said, asserting that prohibiting anti-state slogans or remarks against the “ideology” of the state was a “way to force self-censorship and extend the meaning of restrictions of freedom of expression beyond its Constitutional meaning”.

The group also slammed the Sindh government for choosing to “morally police the clothing of participants by stating that ‘no participant should wear objectionable clothing’”.

“It feels ridiculous to have to say this, but the state cannot dictate how people dress during and outside protests. Who gets to decide what is ‘objectionable’?” it asked.

Aurat March Lahore also took exception to the NOC barring support of the BYC.

“The restrictions are effectively stating that feminist movements can talk about women, as long as they are not Baloch women,” it contended, asserting that BYC was a peaceful movement with “legitimate demands”.

Aurat March Lahore further said that the NOC’s condition barring “promotion for the LGBTQ” community was “an attempt to restrict the participation of transgender and gender diverse communities who are the most marginalised amongst us”.

“Their gender expression is policed by society at large. To expect a feminist movement not to include them or raise these issues is to render it useless.”

The group also expressed concern over the demand to share a list of Aurat March volunteers, alleging it was “another blatant attempt to widen the net of state surveillance of movements and seriously compromises the safety of everyone involved”.

It termed the NOC as a “means to control and dilute the politics of the march”.