Hazara woman from Pakistan named in BBC's 100 Women of 2019
Jalila Haider is a human rights lawyer providing free legal services to the poor
October 16, 2019
Jalila Haider, a Hazara woman from Pakistan, was on Wednesday named in the 100 women of 2019 list compiled by United Kingdom-based news outlet British Broadcasting Corporation.
Haider, who is a human rights lawyer, specialises in defending women's rights in Pakistan, and provides free legal services to women in poverty across the country.
Also read: Quetta blast: Hazara community stages sit-in for second day
She is also the founder of We the Humans, a non-profit organisation working with local communities to provide opportunities for vulnerable women and children.
According to the BBC, she is the first female lawyer from the Hazara community, and in 2018 she went on hunger strike demanding protection for her people.
Also read: A young Hazara woman: “We are used to the feeling of fear”
Taking to social networking platform Twitter, Haider expressed profound joy at being being named in the list, and said it was an honour for her to represent Pakistan on the list.
"Wow, This is an honor for me that I am among the @BBC100women list 2019 from Paksitan. I want to congratulate Parveen Ahanger @_APDP also to be the among the list. More power to the brave women of Kashmir," she wrote on Twitter.
Also read: Hazara girl from Quetta gets into Harvard on PD Soros fellowship
"Looking back into the past leads to the realisation that the politics of conflict, war and destruction is interconnected with Patriarchy. This is the time now that the world should accept the future as female," Haider said.
Other woman on the list include Precious Adams from the United States, Parveena Ahanger from Indian-occupied Kashmir, and Jasmine Akter from the Rohingya community.
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