Asma Jahangir, lawyer, human-rights advocate and activist in the women's movement in Pakistan, passed away on 11 February 2018 at the age of 66, following a cardiac arrest. Her first tilt at officialdom was at 18 when she filed a writ of habeas corpus for her father who had been arrested by General Yahya Khan in 1971, for being a member of the Awami League. Since then Asma became an active figure in Pakistani public life. A founder of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (1989), she was also a founder member of the Women's Action Forum (Lahore) and served as the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Killings. Awarded the Magsaysay (1995), Asma was the author of Divine Sanction and Children of a Lesser God.
In May 2001, Jahangir was interviewed by the New Delhi-based author Ritu Menon. Following are the excerpts from the long conversation.
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Ritu Menon: Asma, was yours a family that moved to Pakistan in 1947 or have you always lived in Lahore?