As usual, the Aurat March, held by Pakistani women all over the country on International Women’s Day (March 8) created a stir amongst various circles. Social media went into overdrive as a number of the videos and posts, which have gone viral, aimed to smear the women’s rights movement. Ansar Abbasi and Orya Maqbool Jan, a columnist and a guest on TV shows respectively, routinely criticise the Aurat March movement. In another incident, images purportedly showed the French flag brandished at the Aurat March in Islamabad with social media users accusing participants of subscribing to a “foreign agenda” also went viral. Also, one has to look at how certain social media platforms are being used to spread hate and threaten the lives of people.

Source: The Express Tribune March 15, 2021 03:45 UTC