FRANKFURT: Friends and followers of Asma Jahangir thronged on the weekend to pay rich tribute to her eminent work in the fields of human rights and democracy development in Pakistan and other South Asian countries.
The event was chaired by Women Writers Forum president and Bonn University Professor Bushra Khalid Malik while Asma’s comrades including Senior Journalist Khalid Hameed Farooqi, Rights activist Cecil Shiraz Raj, Journalist Afnan Khan, rights activist Munawar Ali Shahid, poetess Ishrat Mayo, Activist Saleem Ahmad, Writer Tahir Majeed and Student activist Yusra Iftekhar also addressed the gathering.
The event was organised by President of Urdu-German Cultural Society Irfan Khan to introduce Asma’s unparalleled struggle for humanity to the German society and next generation of Pakistanis in Europe.
Bushra Khalid said that Asma was her inspiration and Bushra started the movement for women rights in Pakistan following the footsteps of the deceased activist.
She reminded that Asma was a towering figure parallel to the other great Pakistani women such as Begum Liaqat Ali, Fatima Jinnah, Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto and she choose never to give up to extreme threats and pressure from different sides in the country.
One of Asma’s colleagues Shiraz Raj mentioned that existence of humane characters like Asma Jahangir in the country predicted a bright future for the nation as we cannot see such activism and love for democracy in any other country across the Muslim world.
He added that Asma’s was a paradigm of engagement and she believed in connecting people and accept them; even when certain sections of the society choose to reject her. He said that Asma was face of democracy loving movement in the country, which was not a coincidence but reflected the collective strength of Pakistani society.
Shiraz stated that we should also not forget that Pakistanis are democracy loving people in essence and that’s why our literature, journalism, art or activism are speaking against the discriminatory policies of the state and the social ills.
Khalid Hameed Farooqi said that Asma never chewed her words against any dictator or undemocratic forces. He added that many people urged her to form or join a political party but she always reminded them that she believed in public politics and would abstain from being part of power corridors.
He mentioned that Asma strictly believed that the paradigm that was being imposed on Pakistani people by anti-democracy forces was actually destroying the country piece by piece and she believed in the necessity of fighting that indoctrination.
Afnan Khan mentioned that Asma taught next generation to carry on the principled struggle for rule of law in the country strictly through democratic norms and she always stood for constitutional rights of the people including the extremists who were first nurtured by the state during Afghan war despite Asma’s warnings and were now being condemned as terrorists.
He said that Asma’s life was a symbol of love for Pakistani people and humanity as a whole and her vision was to win equal rights for all citizens irrespective of their class, colour or creed.
He added that trying to walk into her shoes remains one of the greatest challenges that the activists were facing today in Pakistan, and we needed to work unwaveringly to compensate the loss that the struggle for human rights and democracy was facing after Asma’s demise.
Rights activist Munawar Ali Shahid narrated a number of incidents being Asma’s colleague in HRCP and shared her selfless love for poor and persecuted people of Pakistan. He said that her doors remained open for those who would be denied justice and nobody would dare defend them out of fear.
Ishrat said that Asma was a messiah for the persecuted communities in Pakistan and her struggle should be taught in school books to educate coming generations about her wisdom and bravery. Saleem Ahmed mentioned that Sindhi activists respected Asma like their mother because she would be only one defending their rights when the rest of the people would ignore their plight.
Irfan Khan stated that he felt really honoured to organise a tribute for such a great defender of humanity. He said that it was amazing to see so many heart warming stories coming from Asma’s comrades although it was extremely painful that she has left us so early.
Published in Daily Times, March 5th 2018.
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