Civil society, rights bodies to hold condolence meeting for Asma Jahangir on March 4

Remembering the late rights activist Asma Jahangir, representatives of several civil society and trade union groups met on Tuesday and decided to organise a joint condolence gathering on March 4 in Karachi to pay rich tributes to the towering figure for her lifelong struggle for democracy, defence of human rights and rule of law in Pakistan.

Jahangir, a well-respected lawyer who created a significant space for women in Pakistan’s patriarchal society through a struggle that lasted four decades, died after a cardiac arrest in Lahore earlier this month.

A large number of civil society and trade union activists, representatives of various minority and youth groups and political activists came together at the Karachi office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) to discuss organising a combined and bigger gathering to pay tribute to Jahangir in recognition of the great services she had rendered for the people of her country.

Prominent among the participants included Uzma Noorani, Asad Iqbal Butt, Hussain Naqi and Badar Soomro from the HRCP, senior journalist Ghazi Salahuddin, Karamat Ali of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, Faisal Edhi from the Edhi Foundation, Moniza Imam from the Women Action Forum, Farhat Parveen from the NOW Communities, Nasir Mansoor from the National Trade Union Federation, academic Dr Riaz Shaikh, Sanjesh S Dhanja from the Pakistan Hindu Seva, Saeed Baloch from the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, trade unionist Shaikh Majeed, rights activists Qazi Khizer, Sadia Baloch and Abdul Wahab Baloch, and youth activists Abubakkar Yousafzai and Abida Ali.

Participants decided that all civil society and labour rights bodies, minorities and youth groups would organise jointly a condolence gathering to honour the HRCP’s founding member at the Arts Council in Karachi on March 4, and in this regard, several committees, including organising, logistics, coordination and media committees, have been formed at the meeting.

To show Jahangir’s tireless struggle, documentaries and photos would be exhibited at the condolence gathering, and prominent classical dancer and activist Sheema Kermani would perform to pay respects to her.

It was also decided that representatives from the vulnerable groups and communities in the Sindh province for which Jahangir had struggled would be invited to speak at the memorial gathering. “Sindh was also focus of Asma’s human rights activism. She campaigned against rights abuses and struggled for the release of bonder labourers and missing persons, rights of women and religious minorities,” Butt told The News.

The participants of the meeting also observed a one-minute silence for the late rights campaigner.