.... in 1983 turned out in the streets of Lahore to protest the "Law of Evidence".
Dictator General Zia-ul-Haq ("Zia"), who had staged a coup against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and later hanged him, proposed the law which would in certain civil court cases equate the testimony of a woman to half that of a man's.
>> “Our protest had just 200-250 women. They had only papers in their hands, resolutions as we were protesting against the Law of Evidence. We wanted to submit an application in the Lahore High Court. That demonstration was met with the brutal force of the state. There was helmeted riot police, they baton-charged and tear-gassed us. The demonstration was forcibly broken up and women dragged and thrown into police vans and locked up in Kot Lakpat jail, Lahore.”
The happy epilogue:
The women were successful in repealing the law, and February 12th is now celebrated as Pakistan's Women's Day.
El pueblo unido jamás será vencido.
Dictator General Zia-ul-Haq ("Zia"), who had staged a coup against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and later hanged him, proposed the law which would in certain civil court cases equate the testimony of a woman to half that of a man's.
>> “Our protest had just 200-250 women. They had only papers in their hands, resolutions as we were protesting against the Law of Evidence. We wanted to submit an application in the Lahore High Court. That demonstration was met with the brutal force of the state. There was helmeted riot police, they baton-charged and tear-gassed us. The demonstration was forcibly broken up and women dragged and thrown into police vans and locked up in Kot Lakpat jail, Lahore.”
The happy epilogue:
The women were successful in repealing the law, and February 12th is now celebrated as Pakistan's Women's Day.
El pueblo unido jamás será vencido.
