The Women’s Action Forum (WAF) is a nonpartisan, nonhierarchical and nonfunded women’s rights group. Formed in Sep 1981 in KHI, its leadership is collective.
This year, Aurat March Lahore and @WAFLahore jointly call for Aurat March to be held on February 12, 2025, in celebration of the National Women's Day of Pakistan.
🔥AURAT MARCH POSTER REVEAL🔥
Jointly organized by @WAFLahore and Aurat March, this year's theme is “Feminist History”. In Ayela, the artist's, words:
The poster draws inspiration from historic feminist protests and pays homage to the pioneering efforts of early Pakistani 1/5
WAF Lahore finds itself unable to support the proposed 26th constitutional amendment, which poses an alarming risk to the future of democracy in Pakistan.
HRCP condemns the government's decision to proscribe the PTM, a rights-based movement that has never resorted to violence and always used the framework of the Constitution to advocate its cause. This extreme decision was neither transparent nor warranted.
The notification should be withdrawn and the PTM allowed to continue its peaceful advocacy. We also oppose former parliamentarian Ali Wazir's @Aliwazirna50 continued detention and urge the government to release him unconditionally.
This inaction has emboldened far-right elements across the province, allowing them to hold a rally in Umarkot and incite violence against local Hindu communities, creating a climate of fear for religious minorities.
WAF has expressed serious concern over the Sindh government’s inaction following the extrajudicial murder of Dr Shahnawaz Kunbher, who was accused of blasphemy earlier in September and subsequently gunned down in a police ‘encounter’ in Mirpurkhas.
1. Make the draft of the proposed 26th amendment public before presenting it in the National Assembly.
2. Ensure public input and debate on the draft by refraining from tabling and passing the bill hastily.
In the interest of transparency and to fulfil the requirements of a participatory democracy, the Women's Action Forum (Karachi, Lahore, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta) chapters call on all political parties to:
WAF believes that the actions of militants do not represent the genuine voices or aspirations of Baloch civil society and expresses solidarity with all those women—Baloch and non-Baloch—who have lost family members to violence perpetrated by state or nonstate actors.
The cold-blooded murder of innocent civilians cannot be justified at any cost, nor do such actions represent a lasting solution to Balochistan’s legitimate grievances against the state. Those responsible must be held to account in a court of law.
As citizens of Pakistan, all inhabitants of Balochistan must be allowed to exercise the same fundamental rights. The use of force by the state will not yield a solution to the crisis of militancy.
WAF Lahore is appalled by the recent wave of militancy in Balochistan that has left over 50 people dead, including at least 23 people who were forced out of their vehicles and executed by the BLA, reportedly because they were of Punjabi origin. 1/n
WAF Lahore expresses deep concern over the inordinate delay in appointing a chairperson to the National Commission on the Status of Women and fears that the appointment may be political rather than professional.
Joint Action Committee for People’s Rights, a civil society platform of 37 human rights organizations, is deeply concerned with the law-and-order situation, violence against religious minorities & rising economic hardships for the people, especially salaried and working class
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🔴 Press release
WAF expresses its deep concern over the escalating persecution of minority faiths and sects in the country, amid an uptick in faith-based mob lynchings, state-sanctioned desecration of religious minorities’ sites of worship and rising allegations of blasphemy.
Women Action Forum condemns the brutal attack on 24th May of a frenzied mob on Christian families in Sargodha that critically injured an elderly Christian, Nazir Masih, burnt his home, and looted his shoe factory as well as frightening other Christian residents in Sargodha.