A man in Lahore was reportedly arrested after allegedly strangling to death his pregnant wife for using the Aurat March slogan ‘Mera Jism, Meri Marzi’ (my body, my choice).
Police identified the man as Allah Dutta, of the Shailmar area in Lahore. He reportedly became enraged after his 28-year-old wife used the phrase ‘Mera Jism, Meri Marzi’, a popular slogan chanted during the Aurat March meaning ‘My body, my choice.’
After the murder, the man reportedly tried to cover up his crime by staging it as an accident. However, he confessed to his wife’s murder during police interrogation, according to Geo News.
The couple married four years ago, and have four children together, in addition to the woman’s pregnancy.
Every year, the Aurat March faces backlash from religious quarters who view the movement as an affront to Islamic principles and female modesty. This year, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Noorul Haq Qadri wrote a letter to the prime minister requesting to ban the women’s march, as he claimed the event ‘ridicules, diminishes or minimizes Islamic laws, social mores, decency, or purdah or hijab.’
This year, too, as in previous years, the Aurat March in both Islamabad and Lahore had to be curtailed early due to threats of violence from opposing factions, including the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) in Islamabad, which had threatened violence as in years prior.
A dream
A slogan
Anything is reason enough to kill in Pakistan.