Asma Jahangir - Pakistan’s conscience
Written for Kindle Magazine, August 2011 issue. Rest in peace Asma Jahangir.
That sense of justice which needs to be done
Frail yet energetic with sparkling eyes, Asma Jahangir appears to be just another urban professional from anywhere in South Asia. However few men and women match her vigour, commitment and struggle for upholding and defending human rights. A trained lawyer and a compulsive activist, she is recognized as a global icon of resistance against arbitrary state excesses. Her thirty year career in Pakistan has entailed much toil, protracted struggles and her life has been in danger for many years now. For her stellar contributions, Jahangir was appointed the Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission of Human Rights in 1998. Since 2004 she has been the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief and currently she is the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Pakistan.
Under the brutal dictatorship of the Islamofascist Zia-ul-Haq, Asma Jahangir, together with other activists including her sister, Hina Jilani, was instrumental in setting up Women’s Action Forum (WAF). General Zia’s arbitrary and discriminatory legislation against women spurred a unique reaction from urban feminists of Pakistan which later served as a catalyst for anti-dictatorship public movements.
To protect women, children and minorities from the heavy handedness of a patriarchal state and society, Jahangir and her sister also set up the first legal aid organization of its kind in 1980. Later, this legal aid cell known as AGHS expanded by creating a women’s shelter called ‘Dastak’ (literally a knock on the door). Perhaps the most transformational contribution of Asma Jahangir has been providing leadership and direction to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan set up in 1987, which has now turned into the largest human rights network operating at the grassroots level and a major challenger to the rottenness of Pakistan’s post-colonial state apparatus. As the chairperson and the secretary general of the HRCP, Asma Jahangir has been critical without fear or favour. She has been critical of the military, the judiciary and the political executive and has managed to stay non-partisan in the factionalised polity of Pakistan.
Few activists in Pakistan risk their lives to protect the minorities under the odious blasphemy laws introduced by the colonists; and fewer refuse to leave the country when threatened by all and sundry. Asma Jahangir has remained consistent and unwavering throughout her stellar career. As a young lawyer, she filed a petition against the martial law of General Yahya Khan and her valiant struggle against General Musharraf has made her the enemy numero uno of the security establishment. Recently she has set another precedent by taking on the generals on national television and calling them ‘duffers’ and enablers of suicide bombers and terrorists. Above all, throughout her struggle in Pakistan, Asma Jahangir has supported Indo-Pak relations and openly criticized the skewed national security doctrines of the state.
Asma Jahangir is recipient of several national awards, including Sitara-iImtiaz (Star of Distinction) in 1995. In recognition of her services in the field of human rights, she was awarded the American Bar Association International Human Rights Award in 1992 and the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders and the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1995. She was also honoured with the Bernard Simons Memorial Award of the International Bar Association in 2000. She has authored two books: ‘Divine Sanction? The Hudood Ordinance’ (1988) and ‘Children of a Lesser God: Child Prisoners of Pakistan’ (1992). In 2011, she has also received the highest civilian honour from the present democratic government. She is on record for having rejected offers to accept offi ial posts such as judge of the Superior Courts and Minister for Law.
Pakistan is lucky to have an Asma Jahangir who represents the national conscience and a vociferous defender of citizen rights and public interest.
