Tell us a little about your foray into the field of activism, especially taking a stand for human rights. There isn’t one thing or one experience, which I can attribute to my stand for human rights. There is a series of experiences and opportunities, which enabled me to be a human rights activist. As a young girl, I was always bothered by daily life discrimination against girls, by the way people would cherish birth of boys, by the way society had given immunity to perpetrators of violence against women, and by the way women would be shunned for having an agency. In my own family, I saw girls dropping out of school so that they can be married off at really young ages. So it all started by taking stand for one of my cousin who was taken out of school so that she can be married to man double her age, though my stand didn’t change anything and she was married off, but that stand changed me forever, and I knew that we as women have to stand up for ourselves- there’s no other way to bring a full stop to these discriminations and abuse of women in the name of culture and religion. So, I started discussing the idea with my family, I was very fortunate to being born in family who believed in my dream and supported me. Me and my sister set up the campaign Aware Girls to reach to girls to understand their issues, and to brainstorm with them on making their lives better and on taking stand for their rights. Speaking up was an important part of my brought up. I was merely eight years old when my father was accused of blasphemy for being a progressive man, a man who believed in peace. We had to leave our village because we feared worst to come. Speaking up for your rights in patriarchal non-secular societies comes at a high cost, and parents who would speak the truth and speak up even if it was life risking raised me. Later, amazing women activists of Pakistan such as Bushra Gohar, Fouzia Saeed, and Zubeida Khaatoon mentored me. These women helped me to get equipped with knowledge, skills and tools for achieving my dream of gender equality. Without all these opportunities and mentorships offered, I wouldn’t have been able to be a human rights defender. How did Aware Girls and Seeds of Peace network begin? Who do you credit for unconditional support and encouragement throughout these ventures of yours? When my stand to prevent child marriage of my cousin failed, I felt helpless at the hands of society. Seeing my own cousin becoming a victim to child marriage and with no one saving her moved me. However, I was also determined to put a full stop to it, to bring an end to discriminations that girls face. So me and my sister Saba, started discussing our dreams with other girls and young women and we were shocked to meet with the response, to see how deeply rooted these discriminations are, and how even girls have internalised the discriminatory norms. So, I and Saba decided to start a campaign, which would reach out to girls and would make them believe in their own equal human status, their own rights, and would help them speak up for themselves. In 2005, I went to a Youth Leadership course which helped me improvise my campaign, so in 2007 we registered Aware Girls as a non-profit organisation to work on the economic, political and social empowerment of women and to build sustainable peace in the region. In 2009, we started Youth Peace Network to promote peace activism among young people, promote alternative narratives of pluralism and to prevent young people from becoming vulnerable to the agenda/narrative of militancy organisations. Seeing young people being recruited and becoming allies of the militant groups and militant ideologies was very hurting for me, however, I also felt that I have something to offer to young people. Since, I as a child used to romanticise “Violent Jihad” and had zeal for martyrdom; thanks to our prejudiced education system. When my father who himself was a peace activist came to know about it, he realised that he had to fight the same mission first within home so he started investing in our better education, critical thinking, and introduced us to new and different ideas and people; people of different faith and ideologies. It helped opened up my mind. The strategies of Youth Peace Network for countering radicalisation and preventing youth from getting radicalised are based in the personal experiences of the founders of the Youth Peace Network. From my personal experiences I’ve also come to understand how we can be more effective in preventing young people from buying into the agenda of militant groups. How instead we can help them unleash their potential for building prosperous communities and how we can build a movement for peace. Today Youth Peace Network includes more than 500 peer educators who reach out to around 3,000 young people every year, young people who would otherwise remain vulnerable to the narrative of militancy. We’ve impacted the lives of more than 10,000 young people at risk of radicalisation, creating a pull towards peace, changing their lives and saving the lives of countless more. How much, according to you, has Pakistan prospered in attaining peace and empowering its women from the time you actively began campaigning until now? When we started working in 2002, it was very difficult to influence policy makers for protecting women rights and to ask for pro-women legislation. Hudood Ordinance was intact, and even the religious political parties were aiming for Hasba Bill in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was very tough to speak up on the critical changes required in the policies and laws of Pakistan to protect women. Anyone criticising the Hudood Ordinance would be labelled as infidel and a western agent/yahoodi agent. Today, in 2017, we see that the parliament is more pro-women. There are more women in the legislative bodies and governance structure of Pakistan, and we have many laws now protecting women rights, though we haven’t yet achieved the target, and yet have to pass many more laws for protection of human rights of women but the process has started. When we started working, it was a dream to see democracy thrive in Pakistan and now we see democracy thriving despite of the immense challenges. Today, young people especially young people of FATA are speaking up for their rights, they are speaking up openly against the cruel Federal Crime Regulation Laws. I remember very well in 2002, when social media wasn’t a thing, many people believed in the mainstream narrative that people of FATA are barbaric and they are happy with FCR, but today, thanks to the activism of young men and women we know that people of FATA want good governance. ‘To see a change in the lives of women and young people motivates me to continue my work on women empowerment and peace building, no matter how risky it is’ Tell us about your most memorable experience since you began your career. I was among the people who advocated for UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace & Security. We had invested a lot of energies in advocating for the concept for recognising the role of young people in peace building at the UN. Because of the advocacy, discussions in the UN started on the theme of role of young people in peace building. I used to go to United Nations to hear those debates in the Security Council. In one of those debates, Scott Atran was invited for a presentation in the Security Council to brief the member countries on what role young people can play in peace building. Since, it was for the first time in the history of Security Council that they had invited an anthropologist to brief member countries on an issue, I was interested in listening to the debate. I was sitting in the seats designated to NGOs during such debates, and when Scott Atran started his presentation, he started mentioning work of Aware Girls as a success story to the member countries of UN Security Council; as an example of why he believed youth can play a role in peace and therefore UN Security Council should make a framework to recognise the role of young people as peace builders. Scott didn’t know that I was also there listening to the debate, I instantly wrote an email to him and later we met. That moment was the most memorable experience for me, because it was a moment of realisation, a moment when your work started speaking for itself. You are the proud recipient of the International Humanist of the Year Award. Tell us about your experience winning this prestigious prize. What motivates you to actively pursue your campaigns? I received this award in the World Humanist Congress 2014 in Oxford; the congress was an amazing experience because free thinkers from around the world were there so I me the most amazing minds of the world. However, if I speak about what motivates me then of course it’s not the awards which I receive, it is the hope which I get from girls and women when I work with them. To see a change in the lives of girls, women and young people motivates me to continue my work on women empowerment and peace building, no matter how risky it is. I know one thing for sure, that any girl, any young person can choose a better fulfilling path for themselves if they are presented with the kind of opportunities I was presented with as a young person, and those opportunities changed my life. Therefore, it is my responsibility to create those opportunities for young people especially young women so that they can have a life, which they deserve as a human being, and so that they aren’t reduced to objects of patriarchy and extremism. You have also been awarded the Fondation Chirac Peace Prize. What according to you has been your biggest achievement until date? Establishing the Youth Peace Network I consider is an achievement because this a network of young people working on the issue of countering radicalisation and violent extremism by promoting alternative narratives of co-existence and non-violence, and by preventing young people from getting radicalisation, from becoming allies of militant groups and militant ideologies. Though radicalisation is a buzzword today and we all know in Pakistan that religious fundamentalism and violent extremism is one of the biggest threats to people of this country, however, even then it is very difficult to work on the issue of countering violent extremism because of the shrinking spaces for civil society. There’s very little support out there for working against radicalisation and violent extremism in Pakistan because working on this issue means challenging the whole system, which has let extremism thrive. My second achievement and the more recent one is establishing the Pak-Afghan Pul-e-Niswaan Baraye Aman. It is a network of women peace activists of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The network aims to bring together women peace activists of both countries so that together they can work in collaboration for building peace in the region, can work on countering radicalisation in the region and most importantly to document the experiences and impact of radicalisation on women in Pakistan and Afghanistan and to record women’s responses to radicalisation. I, as the chair of Aware Girls, have already conducted two exchange programmes of Pul-e-Niswan Baraye Aman, a delegation of 15 women visited Kabul, Afghanistan where they met eminent women peace activists and peace building organisations and had the opportunity to learn more about women of Afghanistan challenging radicalisation and extremism. Then a delegation of around 20 Afghan women peace activists came to Pakistan and had the opportunity to learn about women’s peace and counter radicalisation movement in Pakistan. While we were developing the network and were organizing the exchanges we received immense support and mentorship from the women activists of Pakistan, I could see that every women activist out here was willing to come forward to contribute to the initiative and to strengthen it. They were seeing hope in us – the younger generation. Who has inspired you the most in the field of activism and who according to you is the most promising activist in today’s time in the field of human rights and women empowerment? I always look unto Dr Fouzia Saeed. Today she is the executive director of Lok Virsa. I came to know her when I was merely 18 years and had launched Aware Girls as campaign to speak for girls’ rights and needed long term mentorship to help me realise my potential and dreams. She was then the director of Mehergarh, which was a centre for learning. It is a human rights organisation co-founded by Dr Fouzia and her brother Dr Kamran Ahmad to strengthen human rights movement in Pakistan and to contribute to sustainable peace. It’s a very unique institute because it believes transformation begins within, and it helps people bring an inner shift for the outer peace in the world. Dr Fouzia became my hero when I attended the two-month summer course on Youth Leadership in 2005, which was organised by her. The course was magical and transformative. I entered Mehergarh as a young girl who had dreams and vision but lacked tools and confidence to achieve it. I came out of the course as a complete different person. Since 2005, Dr Fouzia has mentored and supported me and is always there to help me and to send me power. I believe Dr Fouzia is the most promising activist because of clarity in her thoughts, sharpness in her strategies for achieving her goals and her abilities to connect, collaborate and empathise are amazing. She is the women behind anti-sexual harassment laws in Pakistan, and the women who made sure that the government take serious actions to implement the law. Today as director of Lok Virsa, she is working for preservation of the folk culture of Pakistan, folk languages of Pakistan and while doing so she is contributing towards saving the diversity of Pakistan, which is very important for sustainable peace. Lok Virsa has been transformed to an open public space in true essence under the leadership of Dr Fouzia. She is also the author of two books, one is Taboo and the other is Working With Sharks. I can keep on writing about her. I wish we could clone a few copies of her, and Pakistan would definitely be a peaceful country. What is your vision for Pakistan? I have many dreams for Pakistan. I will try to summarise them. My vision for Pakistan is a country where sovereignty of the state lies with citizens and where national security means human security and resources of country are spent on the development and nourishment of citizens rather than on investment in wars. I want equality for all people of Pakistan. I dream for a day when children especially girls will be able to get high quality education in schools rather than learning prejudices and hatred. Giving children the ability to think freely and critically is the most important thing, which we are missing in our curriculum, be it a private school or public sector school. I envision a secular and feminist Pakistan, where people of all gender particularly women have freedom-Freedom to live their human rights and where people don’t get secure with the idea of independent, free, empowered women. I want a Pakistan, which belongs to women too, women they feel safe, they can access jobs, politics, and public spaces/services without facing any discrimination. Basically to make it simple, I want a Pakistan where everyone enjoys life to the fullest and have the conducive environment, culture, and legal frameworks for exercising their human rights. Achievements AT THE TOP OF HER GAME The legendary Gulalai Ismail is a Pashtun human rights activist from Pakistan and is the chairperson of Aware Girls as well as the Seeds of Peace network. She was on the Executive Committee of the International Humanist & Ethical Youth Organisation, and was a Board Member of the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights. In 2013, she set up the Marastyal Helpline to give advice and assistance to women at risk from, and victims of, gender-based violence. INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION For speaking on the subject of promoting peace in Pakistan and women’s empowerment at conferences internationally, Gulalai Ismail is the proud recipient of the International Humanist of the Year Award from the International Humanist & Ethical Union and of the Fondation Chirac Peace Prize. In 2009, she won the Youth Action Net Fellowship. In 2013, she received the Democracy Award from the National Endowment for Democracy, and was acknowledged as one of the 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2013 by Foreign Policy magazine. She received the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Award for Excellence in Development, under the theme of Democracy & Human Rights. STRONG ADVOCATE OF PEACE AND DEMOCRACY Gulalai also works for the Gender Working Group of the United Network of Young Peace Builders (UNOY), and is a member of the Asian Democracy Network. Published in Daily Times, August 27th 2017.