Pak woman wins honour

Islamabad

A little known human rights activist, Asiya Parveen Mughal, who is working against gender based violence and woman empowerment since last over a decade, won a unique distinction for the country when she was selected to be appointed by the Agency for Cultural Diplomacy (ACD) as their ‘ambassador’ for raising Pakistan’s image in a positive manner.

Tatjana Sehic, the President of the ACD is currently preparing project initiative in conversation with the UN Women Austria on UNSCR 1325 and the SGD 5. She wrote a letter to the Pakistan’s Ambassador to Vienna, Austria, Ms Ayesha Riyaz, inviting her to a special function where the formal announcement for appointing Asiya Parveen Mughal as the ACD Ambassador, and to receive the ‘ACD Award’ on behalf of her. However, Ambassador Ayesha Riyaz couldn’t attend the reception. Instead, the ‘Award’ was received by the Second Secretary of Pakistan Embassy in Vienna, Austria, Husham Ahmed along with his wife. The event was organized in Vienna, Austria, to mark first anniversary of the ACD.

Others who were selected by the ACD for the award include Megan Oteri from the USA, Ms Natalie Alison and Elke Freytag from Austria. 

Asiya Mughal after receiving encouraging response from the ACD, wrote a special report on the prestigious ‘Pakistan Day Parade’ event, focusing particularly on the ‘Fly Past’ presented by the Pakistan Air Force as well as about the representation of women in the civil and armed forces, which were part of the parade.

Ms Asiya Mughal Graduated in Law in 2004 and later did her Masters in Political Science from the University of the Punjab in 2009. She started her career as the Provincial Coordinator for the Punjab in an EU-funded project, ‘Strengthening Livestock Services Project (SLSP) during 2007-08. She has been associated with various non-governmental organization, the more prominent being the Family Planning Association of Pakistan (FPAP) Islamabad Region, the Medicine du Monde (MdM), ‘Aiming for Change Tomorrow’, (ACT) and the Justice Project of Pakistan (JPP). She also is a Member of a number of national and international campaigns like the ‘Nari Tehreek’ of Fauzia Saeed, the ‘Digital Rights Movement’ and many more.

She also is an Alumni Member of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD), based in Berlin, Germany. The ACD and the ICD are interwoven because of common interests in cultural diplomacy.