ASMA JAHANGIR

We are so resilient as a people. I have so much respect for their dignity and courage. I hope the world sees this side of Pakistan, one where professionals want a democracy. The spirit of our intelligentsia cannot be broken.

I have noticed encouraging signs in the fight against religious intolerance, and I am impressed by the outstanding degree of human rights activism in India.

I think I have lived enough in this country where I can say what I think is true and which is the voice of my conscience.

We never learnt the right lessons. We never went to the root of the problem. Once you start politicising religion, you play with fire and get burnt as well. Another lesson we did not learn is that Muslims are not homogenous.

Terrorism and religious extremism are huge challenges. They go hand in glove.

The interaction between human rights campaigners from Pakistan and India was a big taboo in the 1980s. When we started traveling to India to increase people-to-people contact between the two nations, we knew that we would face serious repercussions back home.

Everything is a risk in Pakistan: If you defend women, it's a risk. If you defend non-Muslims it's a risk. If you discuss religion, it's a risk. But you can't really sit there like a vegetable in your own society. And I'm committed to that society... and I feel I need to turn around and speak as I should.

When the Bangladesh war happened, people in Pakistan who did not support it were called unpatriotic. My father was in the jail at that time, and a lot of those who knew my family used to call us children of a traitor.

As a lawyer, many a time I took up difficult and sensitive cases dealing with minorities' and women's rights. Yes, I constantly receive threats, and to be very honest, at times it is very scary. But I have to continue my work.

We eat, drink, and sleep religion, but we do not do good.

However flawed democracy is, it is still the only answer.

Even when we talked about child labor, we were frowned upon. But then you know that you have to speak the truth irrespective of the repercussions.

When General Musharraf took over, the Bar Association was among the first of some of the institutions that said they would not accept the Musharraf regime.

In 1986, Pakistan got the blasphemy law. So, while we had just two cases of blasphemy before that year, now we have thousands. It shows that one should be careful while bringing religion into legislation, because the law itself can become an instrument of persecution.

Terrorism does not disappear with revenge tactics but through making justice and equality before law a reality.

There are some societies where women are not even allowed to drive a car, and that restriction is based in the name of religion and tradition. There are other countries where a woman can be punished if she does not cover her head.

I am certainly not a martyr kind of a person. I love my life. But if one has to, then there is nothing more nobler a cause that I can think of.

Women's rights was thought of as a Western concept. Now people do talk about women's rights - political parties talk about it, even religious parties talk about it.

To set a trap for a handful of promiscuous individuals, the Zina law has laid a minefield for women in difficult circumstances.

People send their kids to law school to uphold the rule of law - not to fight in the streets for justice and not to be beaten up.

I am so proud of Pakistanis and specifically of our lawyers for speaking out and getting their heads bashed in for a better Pakistan.

A really responsible court will never give an order it knows will not be implemented.

My family has equally suffered abductions, attacks and life threats, but I have continued my struggle for justice.

There was a time that human rights was not even an issue in this country. Then prisoners' rights became an issue.

In bonded labour cases, judges would ask me why I had brought those people to the courts who stank. 'You are here precisely for them,' I would respond.