Daily Times

Asma Jahangir breathed her last at a time when Pakistan needed her the most. She picked the toughest of battles. From openly calling out the security establishment on its overreaches to extending support to the citizens who were failed by the country’s justice system and saying what needed to be said — she was at the forefront of all the important battles. In a country where difference of opinion and dissent of establishment is met with brute force, fearlessness like hers gives hope to marginalised communities and those who are too weak to speak for themselves. Given how deep-rooted misogyny is in our society, it was certainly not easy being Asma. She stood tall amid the misogyny and malicious campaigns aimed at intimidating her. She continued to hold a mirror for the powers-that-be despite all the labels thrown at her. It is therefore no surprise that even after her death, her enemies remain terrified by the values she stood up for.

As tributes poured in for the rights defender on social media after her death, a hate campaign was also started by those who opposed her ideals. But by abusing Asma, they ended up exposing themselves. Their reaction also showed our society is never ready to accept an outspoken woman.

Even in death, her legacy outshines her enemies. In a society where women are kept away from religious gatherings in the name of tradition, the participation of women at a funeral in large numbers is nothing short of an act of defiance against the patriarchy. I was at Asma Jahangir’s funeral along with several other women and most of us had never attended a funeral before. Just the way she had been fighting for equality all her life, Asma Jahangir empowered women even in her death. The elimination of gender segregation at the funeral irked many. Religious groups were enraged over what they termed as violation of Islamic principles. A local lawyer in Sheikhupura lodged an FIR last week against ‘mixed gathering’ at the funeral, claiming that the act violated Islamic principles and hurt the fragile religious sentiments of Muslims.

In a society where women are kept away from religious gatherings in the name of traditions, the participation of women at a funeral in large numbers is nothing short of an act of defiance against patriarchy

The fragile ego’s of insecure men is hurt when women defy societal barriers to do what they please. Pakistan’s patriarchs have been hiding behind religious traditions and societal norms to suppress women for far too long. And Asma was always the voice of sanity and knew how to keep the misogynists in their place.

Asma dared to say things many men were afraid of saying. Her death created a void hard to fill, but the least we can do is carry forward her legacy of equality and peaceful resistance against oppression.

A debate about the civil-military balance has been going on in the country for the past few years and civilian supremacy still appears to be a distant dream. Criticism of the security establishment is a red line that cannot be crossed. Those who dare to cross that line are declared anti-state agents. Asma was on the receiving end of the same because she did not shy away from taking the deep state to task over its overreaches.  When progressive activists critical of the deep state’s policies were disappearing mysteriously, Asma stood up for them. I met abducted peace activist Raza Khan’s father at Asma’s funeral. Asma was fighting the missing activist’s case on humanitarian grounds and had filed a petition on his father’s behalf at the Lahore High Court seeking his recovery. Raza’s father seemed to have lost all hope for his son’s recovery after Asma’s death. Like him, several other people whose cases Asma fought on humanitarian grounds feel no one else will stand up for them the way she did. This is why it is important to keep her legacy alive. We should not let hopes of the downtrodden die because that would be an injustice to her legacy. It should be stated in clear terms that no state institution has the right to use violence against its own people in the name of national security. Progressive activists of the country now have two options: cow down to intimidating tactics or continue the fight. And they owe it to Asma to choose the latter.

The writer is Assistant Editor, Daily Times. She tweets @AiliaZehra and can be reached at ailiazehra2012@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, March 2^nd 2018.