Asma Jahangir obituary
Lawyer and human rights campaigner who fought for women, children and religious minorities in her native Pakistan
For four decades the Pakistani lawyer Asma Jahangir, who has died aged 66 after a cardiac arrest, led the way in the struggle for human rights – especially those of women, children and religious minorities. In doing so she deployed a sharp wit and a direct manner of speaking. But while her voice was appreciated by liberals who believed that the only way Pakistan’s civil society could progress was to improve its human rights record, she had powerful detractors who opposed her actions on the grounds that she was destroying the country’s traditional political and social fabric.
In 1983, as part of the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy, Asma, who had recently been called to the supreme high court, was among members of the Lahore Punjab Women Lawyers’ Association who publicly protested against the proposed law of evidence stipulating that the value of a woman’s testimony was half that of a man. Having been teargassed and beaten by the police, several of the protesters were jailed, as was Asma.
Undaunted, she continued to raise the profile of human rights by taking up the cases of the poorest and most helpless people, setting up – with her sister, Hina Jilani – the first centre offering legal aid in Pakistan, the AGHS Legal Aid Cell. In 1987 she co-founded the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, later becoming its chairperson, a position she held until 2011. Her work gained global recognition for fairness in defending the most underprivileged, as did her outspoken condemnation of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, leading to death threats against her.
Her attempt in 2005 to hold a mixed gender marathon in Lahore to highlight violence against women resulted in attacks by conservative Islamist groups in which the police were complicit, later confessing that they had been ordered to beat the participants and tear off their clothes.
Born in Lahore, in Punjab province, Asma was the daughter of Malik Ghulam Jilani, a civil servant who upon retirement became a politician, and his wife, Sabiha. She was the daughter of the Urdu literary editor Maulana Salahuddin Ahmed, and one of the few Muslim women at the time to be educated at a co-educational school. Later Sabiha set up a clothing business when the family’s lands were confiscated due to her husband’s political activism.
Asma’s own involvement in politics had its roots in her youth, when her father became a vociferous critic of the military dictatorship in the 1960s, leading to periods of imprisonment and house arrest, against which Asma and Hina protested.
After receiving her BA in law at Kinnaird College, Lahore, and her Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from Punjab University (1978), Asma was called to the Lahore high court (1980). She and her sister, with two other lawyers, then became the first women to establish a law firm for women; they also helped to set up a pressure group, Women’s Action Forum (WAF), which campaigned against discriminatory aspects of Pakistan’s legislation, notably the Hudood Ordinances, passed under the regime of General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, whereby women who had been raped had to prove their innocence or else themselves be convicted of adultery.
I first met Asma in 1989 when interviewing her for the BBC World Service to assess the extent to which Benazir Bhutto’s election as prime minister had lifted Pakistan’s glass ceiling. Asma’s answer was unequivocal: yes it had helped, because having a female prime minister meant that, despite continuing gender inequality, she and her colleagues could act with greater certainty that, in so far as was possible, they would be supported at the highest level.
When I was editing a series of essays in celebration of Pakistan’s 50 years of independence from Britain, by authors from both countries, hers was among the contributions. Her chapter was entitled Human Rights Are Women’s Rights, because, as she told me: “You cannot have human rights in a society if you do not have women’s rights.” She also wrote Divine Sanction? The Hudood Ordinances (with her sister, 1990) and Children of a Lesser God: Child Prisoners of Pakistan(1993).
She was president of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan (2010-12). In 2016 she was appointed UN special rapporteur for human rights in Iran.
We last met when she gave a memorial lecture at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, earlier this month to commemorate 10 years since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto; again she emphasised that having a woman as prime minister in a traditionally male environment set an example to all women that they could attain seniority in their respective fields.
Chief among her awards was the Hilal-i-Imtiaz presented in Islamabad in 2010; she was also an officer of the Légion d’honneur (2014) and the recipient of honorary doctorates from universities in Switzerland, Canada and the US.
Asma is survived by her husband, Tahir Jahangir, whom she married in 1974, a son and two daughters, and Hina.
• Asma Jilani Jahangir, lawyer and human rights activist, born 27 January 1952; died 11 February 2018.
Asma Jilani Jahangir (Urdu: عاصمہ جہانگیر, translit. ʿĀṣimah Jahāṉgīr; 27 January 1952 – 11 February 2018) was a Pakistani human rights lawyer and social activist who co-founded and chaired the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.[3] She was widely known for playing a prominent role in the Lawyers' Movement and served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief and as a trustee at the International Crisis Group.[4][5][6]
Born and raised in Lahore, Jahangir studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary before receiving her B.A. from Kinnairdand LLB from the Punjab University in 1978. In 1980, she was called to the Lahore High Court, and to the Supreme Courtin 1982. In the 1980s, Jahangir became an democracy activist and was imprisoned in 1983 for participating in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy against the military regime of Zia-ul-Haq. In 1986, she moved to Geneva, and became the vice-chair of the Defence for Children International and remained until 1988 when she moved back to Pakistan.[7]
In 1987 she co-founded the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and became its Secretary General until 1993 when she was elevated as commission's chairperson.[8] She was again put under house arrest in November 2007 after the imposition of emergency. After serving as one of the leaders of the Lawyers' Movement, she became Pakistan's first woman to serve as the President of Supreme Court Bar Association.[9][10] She co-chaired South Asia Forum for Human Rights and was the vice president of International Federation for Human Rights.[11] Jahangir served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion from August 2004 to July 2010, including serving on the U.N. panel for inquiry into Sri Lankan human rights violations and on a fact-finding mission on Israeli settlements.[12][13] In 2016, she was named as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, remaining till until her death in February 2018.[14][15]
Jahangir was the recipient of several awards including the 2014 Right Livelihood Award (along with Edward Snowden), 2010 Freedom Award, Hilal-i-Imtiaz in 2010, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Ramon Magsaysay Award, 1995 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, and the UNESCO/Bilbao Prize for the Promotion of a Culture of Human Rights. She was awarded an Officier de la Légion d'honneur by France.[16][17] Her prominent writings include The Hudood Ordinance: A Divine Sanction? and Children of a Lesser God.[18]
Her mother, Sabiha Jilani (1927–2012),[20] was educated at a co-ed college at a time when few Muslim women even received higher education. Sabiha also fought the traditional system, pioneering her own clothing business until her family's lands were confiscated in 1967 as a result of her husband's opinions and detention.[21]
Jahangir herself became involved at a young age in protests against the military regime as well as opposing her father's detention by then president, Benazir Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1972. She received her B.A. from Kinnaird College, Lahore and her law degree in 1978,[22] and her Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from Punjab University. She also holds an honorary doctorate from University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.,[23] Queens University, Canada, Simon Fraser University, Canada and Cornell University, United States. She was married and had a son and two daughters, Munizae Jahangir, a journalist and Sulema Jahangir, who is also a lawyer.[24]
In 1980, Jahangir and her sister, Hina Jilani, got together with fellow activists and lawyers to form the first law firm established by women in Pakistan. In the same year they also helped form the Women’s Action Forum (WAF), a pressure group campaigning against Pakistan's discriminatory legislation, most notably against the Proposed Law of Evidence, where the value of a woman's testimony was reduced to half that of a man's testimony, and the Hadood Ordinances, where victims of rape had to prove their innocence or else face punishment themselves.[27] On 12 February 1983, the Punjab Women Lawyers Association in Lahore organised a public protest (one of its leaders was Jahangir) against the Proposed Law of Evidence, during which Jahangir and other participating WAF members were beaten, teargassed, and arrested by police.[28]
The first WAF demonstration, however, took place in 1983 when some 25–50 women took to the streets protesting the controversial case of Safia Bibi. In 1983, Safia, a blind 13-year-old girl, was raped by her employers, and as a result became pregnant, yet ended up in jail charged with fornication (zina) sentenced to flogging, three years of imprisonment and fined. Jahangir defended Safia in her appeal and eventually the verdict was over-ruled by an appeals court due to pressure and protests.[29]They would say: "We [their law firm] had been given a lot of cases by the advocate general and the moment this demonstration came to light, the cases were taken away from us."[30] In 1982 Jahangir earned the nickname "little heroine" after leading a protest march in Islamabad against a decision by then-president Zia-ul-Haq to enforce religious laws and stated: "Family laws [which are religious laws] give women few rights" and that "They have to be reformed because Pakistan cannot live in isolation. We cannot remain shackled while other women progress".[31]
In 1986 Jahangir and Hina set up AGHS Legal Aid, the first free legal aid centre in Pakistan. The AGHS Legal Aid Cell in Lahore also runs a shelter for women, called 'Dastak', looked after by her secretary Munib Ahmed.[32] She was also a proponent of protecting the rights of persecuted religious minorities in Pakistan and spoke out against forced conversions.[33] Jahangir campaigned against human rights abuses taking place in government and police custody in Pakistan. In a letter to The New York Times, she said that "Women are arrested, raped and sexually assaulted every day in the presence of female constables, who find themselves helpless in such situations."[34]
In 1996 the Lahore High Court ruled that an adult Muslim woman could not get married without the consent of her male guardian (wali). Women, who chose their husbands independently, could be forced to annul their marriages and the repercussions were highlighted by Jahangir, who also took on such cases (i.e. the case of Saima Waheed);[35][36] "Hundreds have already been arrested. This is simply going to open up the floodgates for the harassment of women and girls by their families and the authorities. The courts have sanctioned their oppression. Thousands more are bound to be affected by this."[37]
Jahangir demanded that the government of Parvez Musharraf work to improve the record of human rights domestically. Citing examples of human rights abuses, she wrote, "A Hindu income tax inspector gets lynched in the presence of the army personnel for allegedly having made a remark on the beard of a trader. Promptly, the unfortunate Hindu government servant is booked for having committed blasphemy, while the traders and the Lashkar-e-Taiba activists were offered tea over parleys. A seventy-year-old Mukhtaran Bibi and her pregnant daughter Samina are languishing in Sheikhupura jail on trumped-up charges of blasphemy."[38]
She was also an active opponent of child labour and capital punishment: "It would be hypocrisy to defend laws I don't believe in, like capital punishment, the blasphemy law and laws against women and in favor of child labor."[31] Asma Jahangir served as the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions from 1998 to 2004, and as the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief from 2004 to 2010.[40] In her capacity as a UN official, Jahangir was in Pakistan, when Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in 2007. In November 2006, she participated the international meeting for The Yogyakarta Principles as one of 29 experts. On 5 November 2007, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour indicated that Jahangir was among the judicial and political officials detained by the Musharraf government.[41]
On January 18, 2017, Jahangir became the first Pakistani to deliver the 2017 Amartya Sen Lecture at the London School of Economics, where she called for a counter-narrative of liberal politics to challenge religious intolerance. She added that there was a “large scale impunity” among those who commit crimes in the name of religion, and this has to be addressed at the national as well as the international levels, the rights activist said. “In 1986, Pakistan got the blasphemy law. So, while we had just two cases of blasphemy before that year, now we have thousands. It shows that one should be careful while bringing religion into legislation, because the law itself can become an instrument of persecution,” she added.[42]
In August 2017, Jahangir represented the families of terror convicts sentenced to death by military tribunals before the Supreme Court in Said Zaman Khan v. Federation of Pakistan. Jahangir asked order retrial in all cases in which military courts handed down convictions, including capital punishments, but the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the sentence of the convicts on 29 August 2017.[43]
Asma also spoke boldly against the five member Supreme Court judgment which deposed Nawaz Sharif from his premiership. She questioned why members of Inter Services Intelligence and Military intelligence were inducted in Joint Investigation team ferreting out corruption by Sharif's family and his close companions. She questioned how the Panama case five judges would have felt if members of the ISI and MI were inducted in Supreme Judicial Council, a body authorised to punish erring judges.[44] Earlier she had suggested that ousted prime minister would get no relief from Supreme Court but from coming on streets.
In December 2017, Jahangir called for a probe by a parliamentary committee to ascertain as to who was behind the recent Faizabad sit-in. She questioned “We need to know how the army became a guarantor during the agreement between the government and protesters. Why money was distributed among the protesters,”.[45]
On 5 November 2007, The Economist reported that "Over 500 lawyers, opposition politicians and human rights activists have been arrested. They include Asma Jahangir, boss of the country's human-rights commission and a former UN special rapporteur. In an e-mail from her house arrest, where she has been placed for 90 days, Ms Jahangir regretted that General Musharraf had 'lost his marbles'".[46][47][48]
According to Dawn "many people go ballistic every time her name is mentioned", adding that "a pattern: often wild, unsubstantiated allegations are levelled against her."[49] According to Herald "HRCP in general and Asma Jahangir in particular have also been branded as 'traitors' and 'American agents', trying to malign Pakistan and destroy the country's social and political fabric in the name of women’s rights and the rights of non-Muslims."[49] Commenting on her legal style, Dawn wrote that she used "calculated aggression, wit and sharp one-liners."[49] In the mid-1980s, the Zia-ul-Haq-appointed Majlis-e-Shoora passed a resolution claiming that Jahangir had blasphemed and she should be sentenced to death. She was found not guilty of blasphemy.[49]
Declan Walsh, writing for The Guardian, described Jahangir's career as "for almost four decades she has towered over Pakistan's human rights war." Adding that "she has championed battered wives, rescued teenagers from death row, defended people accused of blasphemy, and sought justice for the victims of honour killings. These battles have won her admirers and enemies in great number."[50] Abbas Nasir has described her as the "gutsiest woman that Pakistan has".[50] William Dalrymple, writing for The New Yorker, described Jahangir as Pakistan's "most visible and celebrated—as well as most vilified—human-rights lawyer", adding that she has "spent her professional life fighting for a secular civil society, challenging the mullahs and generals."[51]
Several conservative and nationalist commenters have written extensively against Jahangir, Ansar Abbasi and Orya Maqbool Jan have been critical of Jahangir.[52] On September 3, 2013, NDTV reported that US intelligence agencies had uncovered evidence of a plot hatched by Pakistani security officials to use militants to kill human rights activist Asma Jahangir in India in May 2012.[53] Jahangir has received numerous threats over the years due to her activism and human rights work[25][54] and particularly after defending a 14-year-old Christian boy, Salamat Masih, accused of blasphemy[55][56] and ultimately winning the case in 1995,[57] a mob at the High Court smashed Jahangir's car, assaulted her and her driver, threatening her with death.[58] Jahangir and her family have been attacked, taken hostage, had their home broken into and received death threats ever since, but she continues her battle for justice.[31][59][60]
When Jahangir undertook the case of Saima Sarwar in 1999, who was given shelter at Dastak after leaving her husband, wanting a divorce and later gunned down by her family in an act of honour killing, Jahangir received death threats for representing Saima in her divorce proceedings.[61][62][63][64] In May 2005 Jahangir announced that she would hold a symbolic mixed-gender marathon in Lahore to raise awareness about violence against women. This was following the revelations of cases such as Mukhtar Mai. Tensions boiled over, as Islamist groups and supporters of the political Islamist alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) armed with firearms, batons and Molotov cocktails,[65] violently opposed the race, and Jahangir received especially rough treatment from local police and intelligence agents, who began to strip off her clothes in public. Of this Jahangir said "A lot of people tried to cover my back because I could only feel it I could not see my back. When they were putting me on the police van, they assured that my photograph was taken while my back was bare. This was just to humiliate, this was simply just to humiliate me."[66] A police officer told Jahangir that they had orders to be strict and to tear off the participant's clothes. In addition she along with other participants was also beaten.[67]
Jahangir suffered from cardiac arrest in Lahore on 11 February 2018 and later died at a hospital.[70][71]
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Asma Jilani Jahangir (Urdu: عاصمہ جہانگیر, transliteration 'Asimah Jahangir, January 27, 1952 – February 11, 2018) was a Pakistani human rights lawyer and social activist who co-founded and chaired the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. She was widely known for playing a prominent role in the Lawyers' Movement and served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom or Belief and as a trustee at the International Crisis Group.
Born and raised in Lahore, Jahangir studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary before receiving her B.A. from Kinnaird and LLB from the Punjab University in 1978. In 1980, she was called to the Lahore High Court, and to the Supreme Court in 1982. In the 1980s, Jahangir became a democracy activist and was imprisoned in 1983 for participating in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy against the military regime of Zia-ul-Haq. In 1986, she moved to Geneva, and became the vice-chair of the Defence for Children International and remained until 1988 when she moved back to Pakistan.
In 1987, Jahangir co-founded the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and became its Secretary General until 1993 when she was elevated as the commission's chairperson. She was again put under house arrest in November 2007 after the imposition of emergency. After serving as one of the leaders of the Lawyers' Movement, she became Pakistan's first woman to serve as the President of Supreme Court Bar Association. She co-chaired South Asia Forum for Human Rights and was the vice president of International Federation for Human Rights. Jahangir served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion from August 2004 to July 2010, including serving on the United Nations panel for inquiry into Sri Lankan human rights violations and on a fact-finding mission on Israeli settlements. In 2016, she was named as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, remaining until her death in February 2018.
Jahangir's prominent writings include The Hudood Ordinance: A Divine Sanction? and Children of a Lesser God.
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