Asma Jahangir
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A brief profile
Born in Lahore on January 27, 1952, Ms. Jehangir had a prominent career both as a lawyer and a rights activist. After obtaining a law degree from the Punjab University in 1978, she started her career as an advocate at the judiciary.
She soon became a champion democracy activist and was subsequently imprisoned in 1983 for participating in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy against the military rule of Zia-ul-Haq.
She braved death threats, beatings and imprisonment to win landmark human rights cases while standing up to dictators.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, which she helped create, made its name defending religious minorities and tackling highly charged blasphemy accusations along with cases of “honour” killings.
“There was a time that human rights was not even an issue in this country... Women’s rights was thought of as a Western concept. Now people do talk about women’s rights — political parties talk about it, even religious parties talk about it,” she once said.
She often defended minority Christians charged with blasphemy, an offence that carries the death penalty. She was repeatedly threatened by the country’s militant religious right whom she criticised loudly and often.
Achievements
Ms. Jehangir served as president of the Supreme Court’s Bar Association and was a UN rapporteur on human right and extrajudicial killings. She was once on Time magazine’s list of 100 most influential women.
Confronting dictatorship
Pakistan’s iron lady was a fierce opponent of dictatorships
Asma Jehangir was the country’s symbol of human rights and resistance and a fierce opponent of military dictators for over four decades. She was also a vocal advocate of India-Pakistan peace and was part of several ‘Track 2’ delegations to India.
Ms. Jahangir has also taken up cases of missing persons and fought in the courts for their recovery free of cost. She played an active role in the famous lawyers’ movement in 2007 to restore Iftikhar Chaudhry as the Chief Justice of Pakistan. The movement later brought the fall of then President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
Of late, she had been critical of the Supreme Court for its ‘judicial activism’ and had also criticised the apex court for disqualifying Nawaz Sharif from the office of Prime Minister in July last year. She won numerous national and international awards for her struggle for the oppressed including the highest civilian honours Hilal-i-Imtiaz and Sitara-i-Imtiaz.
