Pakistan: How Khan crackdown imperils women in politics

As Pakistan's government continues to crack down on supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, female supporters say the government is using the unrest to create a hostile environment for women in politics.

Khan's arrest in May on corruption charges sparked violent protests across Pakistan, with PTI members and Khan supporters accused of vandalizing military buildings, including Pakistan's army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Since then, authorities have been targeting PTI officials and supporters, promising to punish those responsible for the unrest.

Khan claims more than 10,000 party members and workers have been arrested and accuses the government of trying to "dismantle" his party. The government denies these claims and puts the number of arrested at much lower. According to Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, 5,000 PTI workers and supporters have been arrested since May 9, Reuters reported last week.

PTI women speak up about crackdown

Amid the crackdown, a number of female PTI workers claim that their fellow party workers have been threatened, arrested, beaten and harassed.

Kanwal Shauzab, president of the PTI's women wing, told DW that she witnessed police brutality.

Shauzab said several female supporters who were peacefully protesting on May 9 were beaten and taken away by police. She added that one of her friends returned from detainment with bite marks all over her body, which she hid from her family members.

"She comes from a respectable family, and the entire family has been in trauma," she said.

Tehmina Faheem, district president of the PTI for the city of Abbotabad, told DW many women working for the PTI have left their jobs out of fear.

She added that if the workers show up at their offices, they will be identified by police, and could be subject to raids.

She said that female party workers who were running beauty parlors, marriage bureaus and other small business have lost their sources of livelihood.

"The fear of arrests and raids is so profound that they cannot go and work at their businesses," she said.

Fauzia Kalsoom Rana, an Islamabad-based based journalist and analyst, told DW she has witnessed how authorities raided the homes of PTI women, while harassing and bullying them.

"This has forced them to hide here and there, changing their location. What is more disturbing is that they are also being declared traitors and being pressured into leaving Imran Khan."

Yasmin Lehri, a Quetta-based activist from Pakistan's western province, said that although the authorities' actions were triggered by the pro-PTI unrest, the heavy response, especially towards PTI women, cannot be justified on any ground.

"The way they were kicked out of their homes and their families were beaten, and the way they were abducted, is condemnable," Lehri told DW.

She added that it is the right of every political party to stage peaceful protests, and that the police cannot violate human rights of political workers in the name of crackdown.

Wider impact on women's role in politics?

Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur, a PTI lawmaker, told DW that authorities are using all tactics to pressure women into leaving politics. He added that women in the PTI have proven more resilient than men, which he says has ushered in tougher treatment.

"PTI men are leaving the party, but women are still steadfast. A number of women have been in jail for over a month, but they've refused to betray Imran Khan, despite the fact that their houses were raided without any warrant and they were badly mistreated at the time of arrest."

Taimur asserts under the law anyone arrested should appear before a magistrate within 24 hours. "But our women remained in jail or police stations for days and weeks but they were not produced before a judge."

The PTI is seen as having brought a large number of women into politics, especially from middle, upper and sections of the elite classes.

The party also sent a number of women to parliament, and some of them also held important ministerial posts.

PTI district president Faheem said that women who are taken to jail or police stations are often maligned in Pakistan's patriarchal society.

"People taunt them saying cops must have done something with them," she told DW, adding unmarried women might not get marriage proposals, and married women could have their marriages ruined. This leads to men forbidding their wives or female family members from participating in politics, Faheem said.

PTI's women's wing leader Shauzab believes that politics requires a lot of mobility, and in Pakistan, "women are dependent on men economically and financially, even for mobility they are dependent on men."

"After this crackdown, they won't take them to take part in political gatherings," she added.

Government denies crackdown claims

Pakistan's government has denied that women are being targeted in the crackdown, saying claims to this effect are "PTI propaganda."

Punjab government spokesman Amir Mir said no women have been mistreated. He told DW that 300 women were identified for sabotage activities, adding 46 were arrested and 29 have been released on bail.

"Women were treated according to laws. Some of them were not allowed to meet relatives because of the laws," he said.

Muhammad Jalal-ud-din, a leader in Pakistan's ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance, told DW that the PTI is following the law in cracking down on both men and women who commit crimes.

"Laws are clear whether it is women or men when they commit crimes, they will be punished," he said, adding that since women were involved in attacking military installations they will be prosecuted and punished under the law.

"The PTI is spreading malicious propaganda. Arrested women are being treated according to the laws. No woman was tortured or harassed. It is all Imran Khan's propaganda to defame Pakistan," he said.

Edited by: Wesley Rahn