The arrest and release of Aurat March activists in Islamabad sparked an online debate, during which Chaudhry Fawad Hussain shared his remarks. He questioned the organisation’s demands and motives and asked whether they stood with tribal girls, girl education and child marriage. He argued about the organisation’s formation and its stance on women’s issues in the country. On X, he wrote:
I am actually confused on what are demands and purpose of Aurat March fellows? Never heard their voice on 1) Afghan and tribal women issues including girls education 2) We don’t know their positions on women prisoners? 3) their stance on under age marriages? …. What this… https://t.co/yieQ8fZsuk
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) March 9, 2026
Netizens were quick to respond, reminding him of the Aurat March’s manifesto, which focuses on women’s rights across all segments of society. Responding to Fawad’s allegations, an X user posted that they carried placards about the same issues but were still arrested. They said:
Me and @MuzayyanAmin went to the March having playcards about Afghan women, their sufferings and also about the issue of education in Pashtun society but she was arrested and the cards were torn apart. Name those who brutalized the women or shut your mouth and don’t lecture. https://t.co/kKb8pbMEzj
— Majid Khan (@Majid_Momand) March 9, 2026
They cater for every woman of the Pakistani society, a user stated, criticising his stance. They posted:
a quick manifesto search would have avoided this tweet. aurat march talks about issues faced by women in OUR society not elsewhere. they were very vocal about manhandling of women prisoners. aurat march is always against underage marriages.
— hassaan (@bigsadcarousel) March 9, 2026
Adding that Aurat March releases its manifesto each year to highlight its advocacy, journalist Sabah Bano Malik posted on X:
They have multiple publicly available manifestos that quite literally address each thing you have pointed out. They share these manifestos each and every year across their social media.
— Sabah Bano Malik (@sabahbanomalik) March 9, 2026
She also posted:
8 years of marches, 8 years of public manifestos and release of demands, 8 years of public accounts on social media across platforms, 8 years of organizers also having public accounts sharing all this information and yet. And yet. https://t.co/r8uYyxqbps
— Sabah Bano Malik (@sabahbanomalik) March 9, 2026
Criticising the “what women want” attitude, a user posted on X and said:
Men love to use this ‘what do these women even want’ line because they don’t care to make the most basic effort to find out or actually ask women. Posting literal manifestos of what various chapters of Aurat March wants, which they literally put in writing before each march! https://t.co/zXYDqKK6T9
— Maria Amir 🍉 (@Beentherella) March 9, 2026
Another user added that Aurat March stands tall against men who victim-blame women by saying that men are not robots. They posted:
Fawad saab, the purpose of Aurat March is to stand against mindsets that excuse harassment and promote victim blaming like “men are not robots.” But I understand you only want to complain about why we don’t have bars in Lahore.
— Samra Nazeer (@samranazeer2) March 9, 2026
