Just days before the Aurat March 2026, something shocking happened in Karachi that has set the entire internet on fire. Seven Aurat March activists, including the legendary dancer and activist Sheema Kermani and Karachi City Council member Shahzadi Rai, were detained by police on Tuesday outside the Karachi Press Club.
The activists were simply trying to enter the press club to hold a press conference about getting a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for their march planned for May 10. Instead of being allowed to speak, they were arrested.
Videos of the incident spread across social media within minutes. Clips of Kermani being physically manhandled by police officers and pushed into the back of a police vehicle sent people into a rage. People could not believe that a 70-year-old woman, who has spent her entire life fighting for peace and human rights in Pakistan, was being treated like a criminal.
Activist and politician Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Jr was among those who spoke out loudly against the images of Kermani being handled roughly by police. Many others on X called the incident “shameful” and a “disgrace,” questioning whether the right to peaceful assembly even exists in Pakistan anymore.
People also raised another important point: Shahzadi Rai is a member of the PPP, the very party that rules Sindh. If even their own elected representative is arrested this way, what chance does an ordinary citizen have?
The activists were eventually released on the orders of Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar. However, the Aurat March organisers called this whole episode a “scare tactic” and made it clear they will not back down from holding the march. With the march four days away, tensions are running very high.
