Thread by @HBhurgri

The Reign of Misogyny🧵
The fall of Imran Khan's regime has ended a long and terrifying nightmare women's rights activists had experienced since he came into power in 2018. His four-year tenure as a 'selected' Prime Minister who achieved the premiership through his usual antics 1

of 'ball tempering' has been put to an end through the No-Confidence Motion in the parliament. While Imran Khan's government was criticized for the lack of economic planning, inflation and the polarization of society, it also attempted to censor and damage the feminist 2

movement in the country through its religio-fascist and misogynist rhetoric. Imran Khan, once a playboy, is known for his anti-women stances. Benefiting from the prevalent patriarchal norms and backlash to the emerging feminist movement in the country, Khan had inspired the 3

new generation to view women's struggle for equality and freedom as the decline of the collective 'morality'.His second political gimmick was to delegitimize the grass-root feminist movement of Pakistan on a false pretence that it is promoting the 'western agenda' which will 4

eventually, destroy the 'motherhood'. Unfortunately, he did not limit his rhetoric to his speeches and interviews but ensured to put his ideas into practice by opposing the passage of the Women Protection Act of 2006 and the Bill of Protection of Women Against Violence 2015. 5

Interestingly, when he came into power in 2018, Pakistan witnessed the first wave of the contemporary and grass-root feminist movement under the banner of Aurat March. Aurat March brought women from all walks of life to the streets, demanding self-emancipation and freedom 6

from patriarchal, capitalist and imperialist exploitations. Soon this movement grew more vigorous and emphasized women's questions in mainstream political discourse. The feminist movement, led by young women, defied the strict patriarchal norms while indulging in political 7

discourse, questioning the state's economic, social, political, and foreign policies, something Khan or his predecessors were not prepared for yet.
Threatened by the emergence of Aurat March as a political entity, Khan's government provided shelter, protection and impunity 8

to religious groups and parties, which made several coordinated attacks on women's rights activists in online and offline spaces. From baseless accusations of foreign funding, pelting stones, petitions and threats of 'lathi charge ' to false blasphemy charges, Aurat March 9

organizers had to face state oppression in its most accurate forms. Under Imran's 'Reign of Misogyny', the district administration denied NOC and protection to Aurat Marches in all major cities. The organizers fought legal battles against false blasphemy cases and 10

survived hate speech by Khalil-Ur-Rehman Qamar, Orya Maqbool Jan and Ansar Abbasi. Many women rights activists were booked for defamation cases under draconian PECA law, while at the same time, PTI's media cell ran smear campaigns against women politicians and journalists with 11

impunity. Moreover, his own 'rape apologist' remarks have inspired his cult to overlook deeply-rooted patriarchy and shift the blame on women and their clothes for the rise of sexual violence against minors, girls, transgender persons and women, creating an uproar against his 12

anti-women narrative.
Despite the different narratives supporting and criticizing his constitutional ouster from the government, false cry of conspiracy, Imran Khan's fall has brought an imperative end to the 'Reign of Misogyny', which has no place in 21st century Pakistan. 13

Having said that, the fight for gender equality does not end with his fall, but we now have a responsibility to hold our leaders accountable when they use misogyny as a tool to gain populous support from the masses. Aurat March, despite the state-sponsored backlash, has 14

emerged as a strong political entity that will continue to thwart anti-women policies and rhetoric of political leaders through its bold yet ideological struggle for an equal & egalitarian society. 15

#IslamicTouch
#ImranKhan
#longmarchpti