Pakistani lawmakers claim women’s march was anti-Islam

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Provincial lawmakers in northwestern Pakistan have assailed as anti-Islamic women’s marches held earlier this month across the country to mark the International Women’s Day.

Lawmakers in the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa provincial parliament unanimously adopted a resolution on Wednesday denouncing the marches as a “shameless and un-Islamic act.”

The lawmakers included those from Pakistan’s ruling party of former cricket star turned Prime Minister Imran Khan and those from opposition parties, including the left-leaning Pakistan People’s Party now led by the son of ex-Premier Benazir Bhutto.

On the holiday, observed every March 8, Pakistani women carried posters demanding women’s rights, attacking Pakistan’s patriarchal society and celebrating being single or divorced.

The posters caused uproar on social media with conservative and right-wing religious leaders condemning them as immoral.

Women’s rights activists condemned the resolution.