KARACHI, Pakistan — Reaction to Pakistan’s first women’s march was relatively muted, with criticism and condemnation from Islamist parties and conservatives, who called the participants “anti-religious” and “vulgar.”

This did not deter the organizers of the 2018 march in Karachi, the importance of which still resonates today.

What started as a single protest to observe International Women’s Day has become an annual lightning rod for religious conservatives across Pakistan, who have taken tougher attitudes towards women activists. Now, as women prepare to march in Karachi and other cities on Tuesday, powerful figures in Pakistan want the event banned altogether.

Women considering joining the Aurat marches, as they are called – Urdu for “women’s march” – have faced countless threats of murder and rape, as well as accusations that they are receiving a Western funding as part of a conspiracy to promote obscenity in Pakistan.

“The growing unease surrounding the Aurat March each year shows that the campaign for women’s rights has had an impact,” said Sheema Kermani, one of the founders of the march.

Opposition peaked last year when Islamist groups demonstrated in major cities, accusing the marchers of using blasphemous slogans – a crime punishable by death in Pakistan, the charges of which have prompted lynchings and murders. The Pakistani Taliban have ominously warned the marchers to “fix their way”.

The first Aurat March was organized by a small group of women from the port city of Karachi, who hoped to draw attention to the violence, inequality and other challenges facing women across the country.

“We held discussions and mobilized women in various communities, raised funds through small contributions from individuals, and wrote a manifesto to articulate demands for women’s bodily rights in Pakistani government and society,” said Ms. Kermani.

It worked. On March 8, 2018, the march drew thousands to the grassy grounds of Frere Hall, a majestic landmark in Karachi dating back to British colonial times.

He has also inspired women in other Pakistani cities, such as Lahore and Islamabad. Since then, the Aurat marches have taken place every year in major urban centers.

Analysts said the success of the first march made it a polarizing event in Pakistan, even as it advanced opportunities for women’s activism in the Muslim-majority nation.

“Young feminists who have been inspired by a series of global women’s marches have taken their rage against violence, the moral police and the lack of bodily or sexual choices for women and marginalized genders on the streets,” Afiya said. Shehrbano Zia, the author of a book on feminism. and Islam in Pakistan.

The girls brought signs proclaiming “My body, my choice” and performed an Urdu version of a Chilean protest song, “A rapist in your way,” which attacks rape culture and victim shaming.

“There was nothing subtle about their slogans and banners in the first march,” Ms Zia said, noting that the protesters had even pushed for LGBTQ rights, a bold move in Pakistan.

As the event grew over the years, the marchers began to raise even more sensitive issues, including abortion rights. Pakistan’s abortion rate is among the highest in the world; women who terminate their pregnancies often do so themselves, as many doctors refuse to perform the procedure for religious and cultural reasons.

Some Islamist parties have responded to the rise in popularity of the marches by organizing their own “modesty march.” In 2020, Tories filed legal petitions in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the Aurat marches. That same year, a group of students and supporters of the Lal Masjid, the mosque at the center of a bloody 2007 clash between Islamist militants and the army, assaulted protesters in Islamabad.

After last year’s march, opponents doctored footage to make it look like the marchers had used blasphemous slogans, then posted the fake videos on social media. A newspaper ran a front-page story that called the walkers prostitutes.

Pakistani Religious Affairs Minister Noorul Haq Qadri has spoken out against the Aurat march, saying it violates the tenets of Islam. He recently asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to declare March 8 International Hijab Day.

And some Islamist parties have threatened further violence. “The marchers spread obscenity in the name of women’s rights,” said Abdul Majeed Hazarvi, a Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-Fazl party leader in Islamabad. “If the government allows the march, we will use a truncheon to stop it.”

Kiran Masih, 46, a Christian nurse with two daughters, has joined an Aurat march for the past two years, bringing a sign that reads: “Save our daughters”.

“As a minority, we feel more and more insecure,” Ms Masih said. “In the workplace, we fear that anyone could harm us over false claims of blasphemy, and at home we fear that our daughters will be kidnapped and converted to Islam.”

Last year, at least 84 people were charged with breaking Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, and three people suspected of doing so were killed by mobs, according to the Center for Social Justice, an organization based in Pakistan. Lahore which campaigns for the rights of minority groups.

Aurat walkers have won victories. They have campaigned against the physically intrusive “virginity tests” often inflicted on women who make rape charges, and a court in the northern city of Lahore banned them last year. The government has also passed a measure allowing the chemical castration of convicted rapists, another demand of the marchers.

But increasingly aggressive opposition has left some march organizers in fear for their lives. Many have deactivated their social media accounts. Yet they are fearless.

“We were and are afraid, but we know that without putting ourselves in such a dangerous situation, we cannot bring about change,” Ms Kermani said.