Farida Afridi’s struggle was against illiteracy, cruelty and conservative anti-women practices.
KARACHI: Women’s Action Forum (Karachi) is deeply angered by the assassination of Farida Afridi by militants in Khyber Paktunkhwa.
As one of the founders of the NGO, SAWERA, Farida Afridi’s struggle was against illiteracy, cruelty and conservative anti-women practices. Her murder is meant to be a message for all Pakistani women who dare to fight against injustice and for their rights to retreat and be silent. Those who defend and remain silent on cruel and illegal practices such as swara through jirgas are complicit in murders such as Farida Afridi’s. The state is a colluding actor when it remains paralysed in the face of such acts of cowardice and crime.
WAF demands that the judiciary take notice and the government should act to prevent such anti-state and unconstitutional practices against women. WAF also calls upon all rights-based organisations to strongly condemn this killing. WAF honours Farida Afridi for her courageous work as a human rights campaigner. We will not be silenced and nor will we stop our struggle for equal rights and security of life and liberty for women, minorities and the poor of Pakistan.
On behalf of WAF,
Afiya Zia
Published in The Express Tribune, July 8th, 2012.
