Asma Jehangir was no short of a superhero for Pakistani women who wanted someone with grit to show it to The Man. Be it the military’s overstepping, the popular autocrat’s absolute power or the sitting Democrat government’s chest thumping. She was ready to push them...
There is very little difference between Pakistani women and women who are crippled. Going by the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a “cripple” can’t move because they can’t but “an able bodied person who doesn’t move” will also remain “exactly where they are.” Just like the person...
I recently critiqued a political party called PTI for giving a known rapist a party seat and celebrating it with garlands, handshakes and photo-ops. A believer in PTI was offended by this take on a party that, after all, promises an end to status quo....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztQaZxdE1WE...
Quote in Japan Times: “It’s an honor-based system, and there’s nothing more dishonorable than the rape of a woman within your family,” explained women’s rights activist Aisha Sarwari. The men of the aggressor’s family must be shamed through the loss of their women’s dignity, Sarwari explained. “That’s...
When a woman in Pakistan gets into politics it is like she’s consciously decided to walk onto a bloody battlefield. There are only two outcomes. She will either be marred to oblivion or have to live with the ensuing media riot aimed to defame her...
I’ve been writing about the inclusion of women for over a decade with some of my fellow activists and now it seems like we have to pause, because we’ve perhaps preached to an unwanted foe – the Taliban. In producing a glossy glamouresque magazine called Sunnat...
PAKISTAN’S POPULATION BOOM Giving women more of a choice in the matter could help, argues Aisha Sarwari, a feminist activist who has previously written on population and women’s rights. “Access to birth control for women can be a game changer,” she told AFP. “Ultimately the impact...
A 400-year-old panchayat system is meant to protect only men. Men alone reap benefits from this system that operate out of the formal legal system of Pakistan. This is a system that proliferates male privilege. The same system made up of all-male village or tribe...
Of all the reasons why women should be included at all levels of policy-making, the fact that 800,000 children die in a year in Pakistan is the most critical one. This country thrives on knee-jerk reactions but has glacial speed when responding to catastrophes. Our family...