LAHORE: The leading human rights activist, lawyer and former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan, Asma Jahangir, passed away in Lahore on Sunday. She was 66.
The co-founder of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) was taken to a hospital after suffering from cardiac arrest, but she couldn’t survive.
“Unfortunately we have lost her,” Hina Jilani, also a prominent rights activist and lawyer said.
She has left behind a son and two daughters.
Family sources say her funeral prayers will be offered on Tuesday (tomorrow) at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore at 2pm, as the family awaits return of close relatives from abroad.
Asma’s daughter Muneezay Jahangir earlier said in a tweet, “I am devastated @ loss of my mother Asma Jahangir. We shall B announcing date of funeral soon. We R waiting 4 our relatives 2 return 2 Lahore.”
The Supreme Court Bar Association, Pakistan Bar Council, Punjab Bar Council and Lahore Bar Association have announced three-day mourning on the sad demise of Asma. Lawyers will not attend court proceedings during this period.
Born in 1952, Asma Jahangir studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary before graduating from the Kinnaird College. She did her LLB from the Punjab University in 1978.
Outside of Pakistan, Asma served as UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran. In 2014, she received France’s highest civilian award and Sweden’s Right Livelihood Award, for her decades of rights work. She braved death threats, beatings and imprisonment to win landmark human rights cases while standing up to dictators. The rights commission which she helped create made its name defending religious minorities and tackling highly charged blasphemy accusations along with cases of ‘honour killings’.
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi expressed grief at Asma Jahangir’s death, praising her contribution to upholding the rule of law and safeguarding human rights.
Jahangir’s supporters and former opponents alike took to social media to offer their condolences and express shock at news of her death.
“The best tribute to her is to continue her fight for human rights and democracy,” tweeted Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, adding she had met Jahangir just last week in Oxford.
Asma Jahangir was also an outspoken critic of the military establishment, including during her stint as the first-ever female leader of top bar association.
Jahangir was arrested in 2007 by the government of then military ruler Pervez Musharraf and held under house arrest. In 2012, she claimed her life was in danger from Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency.
Published in Daily Times, February 12th 2018.
