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Among the lawyers and opposition figures rounded up, jailed or placed under house arrest is Asma Jahangir (sometimes spelled Jehangir), Pakistan's best-known feminist and human rights activist. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon issued a statement calling for the release of Jahangir, currently the UN's special rapporteur for religious freedom, along with the other political detainees. In 1980, Jahangir, with her sister, Hina Jalini, opened Pakistan's first women-owned law firm, which became the center of opposition to the infamous Hudood Ordinance pronounced by the last U.S.-backed Pakistani dictator, Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the man who hanged Benazir Bhutto's father. The Hudood Ordinance was trumpeted as a form of Islamization, but was, in essence, a declared war on women. Jahangir gained national fame defending a young, blind woman who was jailed after having been raped, charged with the crime of zina (extramarital sex). This was a common occurrence in Pakistan at the time, as were so-called honor killings, which continue today.Jahangir has survived a life of danger, yet her sense of humor has remained undampened. In fact, when I saw her speak at the Asia Society in New York some 10 years ago, the sense of humor of the Pakistani people was a trait she lauded in an account of her own national pride. The Economist, reporting on Pakistan's state of emergency, noted:
Over 500 lawyers, opposition politicians and human rights activists have been arrested. They include Asma Jahangir, boss of the country’s human-rights commission and a former UN special rapporteur. In an e-mail from house arrest, where she has been placed for 90 days, Ms Jahangir regretted that General Musharraf had “lost his marbles”.The terms of Jahangir's house arrest are said to be for a 90-day period. If the Bush administration really wants us to believe they care about the fate of women in Afghanistan, Pakistan and around the world, the State Department will demand Jahangir's immediate release, or risk making her case a feminist cause célèbre.--Adele M. Stan
