The Curious Case Of Asma Jahangir

Never met her but due to my interest in newspaper reading from my school days (a habit inculcated in my personality by one of my school teachers), I knew about the political struggle of the lady from an early age. I have always been aware that she was among very few who raised voice against human rights atrocities committed by Zia Ul Haq, the most ferocious dictator Pakistan has ever seen to General Musharraf. In between she kept taking head on the so called democratic leadership of the country for their undemocratic demeanour.

To me the lady stuck to her ideology which revolved around liberalism and anti establishment and not personalities. That is one reason while she raised voice against Zia some 35-40 years ago, she was also seen giving all out support to political descendants of the same dictator and military establishment. People call it hypocrisy but I recognize it as adherence to her ideology which on one hand made her forgive people who even abused her but on the other hand lost support in many segments of the society.

How correct she was in giving support to political offshoots of dictators is something only time will tell but I will remember her for her lion hearted courage of taking military and democratic dictators head on.