Pride of the nation
By Umema Babar
The year 2016 will be boarding its train for departure soon. Like its siblings, it too brought happiness, success and tragedy for many. And while some are bemoaning the rise of far right in politics, the increasingly powerful and uncontrollable terrorism in West, Africa, Middle East and Asia, the frightening climate change and the loss of celebrities; for Pakistani women, this year was epic! Here’s looking back and acknowledging these superwomen of Pakistan who made the whole nation proud:
GULALAI ISMAIL AND SABA ISMAIL
The founders of AWARE GIRLS, Gulalai Ismail and Saba Ismail won the prestigious Chirac Prize for their services to maintain gender equality and peace building especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at ‘Conflict Prevention’ held in Paris in February 2016. They were awarded by former French minister Christine Albanel. They had won YouthActionNet Fellowship in 2009, Paragon Fellowship in 2010, Democracy Award in 2013 from National Endowment of Democracy and were acknowledged by Foreign Policy Magazine in 2013 as well.
FAYEEZA NAQVI
Fayeeza Naqvi in January 2016 was awarded the Global Humanitarian Award. It is the first ever Global Humanitarian Award for Women and Children’s Health. Fayeeza Naqvi with her tremendous efforts towards women empowerment and family planning made Pakistan proud globally. She is the Co-Founder and Chairman of the Aman foundation, established in 2008 and was also awarded by BNP Paribas Annual Grand Prix Award in 2015 for humanitarian activities of Aman Foundation. She is the founding trustee of the Aangan Trust in Pakistan which offers Education and Medical care for Girls.
NIGHAT DAD
Nighat Dad, a Pakistani lawyer and internet activist, was awarded the Atlantic Council Digital Freedom Award for 2016 and Dutch Government’s Human Rights Tulip award in 2016. She is the founder of NGO Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) which promotes free internet that is easily accessible to everyone and is unbiased and threat/harassment free, especially for women. She aims to strengthen HRD’s (Human Rights Defenders). Nighat was also included in the Next Generation Leaders List by the TIME Magazine.
MONA PRAKASH
Mona Prakash received Commonwealth Youth Award for Excellence in Education this year. This award is given to young people (aged under 30) working for the social uplifting and was given away by the Youth Affairs Director, Katherine Ellis, at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. Mona is also one of the three Pakistanis who have been Awarded by N-Peace award in 2014 by N-Peace Network, a network working on the advancement of women and peace issues. She has established a school in a village of Tando Allahyar for the promotion of Education and is the vice president of the Future Youth Group Hyderabad Chapter. She has also been awarded the Meritorious Award for Outstanding Achievement by Ministry of Youth Affairs and Habib University.
TABASSUM ADNAN
Tabassum Adnan, a Pakistani women’s rights activist from SWAT Valley, won the Nelson Mandela Award 2016. This courageous lady spoke out about domestic violence after suffering 20 years from a mental and physical abusive marriage and not just that she also decided to work and help out those like her in need. She established Khwendo Jirga, an NGO that works as a jirga which supports women rights with special focus on their security and right to vote. She was also granted the International Women of Courage award in 2015 for her efforts to get justice for women in Pakistan, the Human Defenders Award in 2013 and was also nominated for the N-Peace Empowerment Award in 2014.
SANIA NISHTAR
A Pakistan Cardiologists, Sania Nishtar, served as a Health Minister and is one of the six nominees for the World Health Organization Director General. She co-chairs the WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity and is also an author and an activist. She serves on the board of UN University’s Institute for Global Health and founded HEARTFILE in 1999 following many health promoting programs. She has received Sitara-e-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan. She won the First Global Innovation Award by the Rockefeller Foundation and in 2011, she was admitted in Medical Mission Hall of Fame in Toledo.
MARYAM ATTA MALIK
Maryam is a bright student who topped the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) across Commonwealth. She received Lincolns Inn Joan Denning Prize which is given to those who get an outstanding grade on the very challenging exam of BPTC.
MINHAL SOHAIL
The 21-Year-old Pakistani sports shooter Minhal Sohail in summers 2016 became the first ever female shooter who represented Pakistan at the Olympics. She competed in the Women’s 10m air rifle at Rio Olympics 2016 and she secured the 28th position. Unfortunately, she got eliminated from the competition for being 2.7 points short to qualify. She has participated in several Asian tournaments and won the 10m air rifle at the National Shooting Championship held in Karachi in May 2016. She started her career in 2012 and received her training at the naval summer camp. SOC films have started to document her for the documentary “Dream Big Pakistan.”
SHARMEEN OBAID CHINOY
Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy won the 88th Academy Award, her second Oscar, in the Best Short Subject Documentary category for “A Girl in The River”. It follows a story of an eighteen-year-old girl who becomes a target of honor killing attempt but fortunately survives. Sharmeen launched her career as a Filmmaker with her first film Terror’s children in 2002. She has won two academy awards, six Emmys and Lux Style Awards. She also has been awarded with “Hilal-e-Imtiaz” by the government of Pakistan. She also works as an activist and a journalist.
These are the real stories of wisdom, courage and action which do not belong to any super hero of movies but the real-life champions.
