Remembering Asma Jehangir on Her 71st Birthday

Mahnoor Tariq

Celebrated lawyer and human rights advocate Asma Jehangir passed away on February 11 in Lahore at the age of 66. Jan 27 (today) marks her 71st birthday as Pakistanis remember the iron lady’s legacy.

Asma Jehangir defended tenants at Okara Military Farms, Baba Jan and his comrades in Gilgit-Baltistan, Hari women in Sindh, imprisoned political workers, women & student activists across Pakistan. A true voice of the oppressed and a nightmare for the oppressors. We all miss her.
— Ammar Ali Jan (@ammaralijan) January 27, 2023

Today is Asma Jehangir’s birthday. She throughout her life , supported the struggle of all oppressed people. I remember her last speech at Islamabad when she said “Pak without Pakhtuns ,without Bacha khan would be a narrow minded Pak “.@MunizaeJahangir
— Mati Ur Rahman (@MatiSayz) January 27, 2023

She spearheaded the fight for human rights in Pakistan for more than four decades and rose to become a symbol of resistance against military rule, the misconduct of the law, and repression of free expression.

In 2010, she made history by becoming the country’s Supreme Court Bar Association’s first female president. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an autonomous NGO founded in 1986, was founded with help from Jahangir.