Pakistan's Gulalai Ismail jointly wins int'l Reach All Women award for speaking against Taliban

[defence_analyst]

Reuters

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Two fearless Asian women who have risked their lives campaigning against religious extremism - one of whom was murdered last month - won a joint award on Thursday for their common courage.

Gauri Lankesh, 55, a outspoken Indian newspaper editor, was shot dead outside her home by unidentified assailants in the southern city of Bengaluru, at a time of rising nationalism and intolerance of dissent in the country.

“This award is a morale booster for people who want to write, and fight,” Lankesh’s sister, Kavitha, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. “It honors what Gauri stood for – that you cannot silence me.”

Lankesh shared the annual Reach All Women in WAR (RAW in WAR) Anna Politkovskaya Award with Gulalai Ismail, 31, a peace activist who has faced death threats for speaking out against the Taliban in northwest Pakistan.

Concerns about press freedom are mounting in India where journalists seen as critical of Hindu nationalists are often insulted on social media and women reporters have been threatened with assault.

“People are wondering if they should get into journalism at all,” said Lankesh’s sister. “There is an apprehension among people who want to do ethical work.”


Lankesh, the editor and publisher of a weekly Indian tabloid, was a staunch critic of right-wing, political ideology.

She often wrote about religious violence, the malaise of India’s hierarchical caste system and criticized the rise of hardline Hindu groups since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power in 2014.
http://nation.com.pk/national/05-Oc...-all-women-award-for-speaking-against-taliban

 

[N.Siddiqui]

The other joint winner an Indian social activist and writer Gauri Lankesh was killed in India few days ago, by the extremists there. Sad state of affairs...

DAWN also reported this..

KP rights activist wins Anna Politkovskaya Award

Gulalai Ismail, a Pashtun women's rights activist from Swabi, was awarded the Reach all Women in War (RAW) Anna Politkovskaya Award on Thursday alongside senior Indian journalist, Gauri Lankesh, according to a report by RAW.

Gulalai co-founded a non-governmental organisation, Aware Girls, with her sister Saba Ismail in 2002. The organisation aims to strengthen the leadership skills of young people, especially women and girls, enabling them to act as agents of change for women empowerment and peace building and to fight for their rights.

"Speaking out for our rights and speaking out against religious extremism is our fundamental right," Gulalai said as she accepted the award.

"While I receive this award, wars, gun violence, and genocides continue in many parts of the world. Refugee camps are becoming homes to millions of people. People are getting denied their right to self-determination. New brands of religious extremist organisations keep on emerging, with every new brand beholding much more severity of violence," Gulalai added.

"No matter how dark the world is, there is hope as well," she said.

"Gauri Lankesh... was killed for speaking truth to power," Gulalai said about an Indian journalist who was posthumously given the Anna Politkovskaya Award along with Gulalai.

Lankesh ─ a known critic of right-wing groups in India ─ was fatally shot by unidentified attackers in the Indian city of Bengaluru in September.

Before her death, the senior journalist had been found responsible in a defamation case by a lawmaker of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for her writing about Hindu nationalists.

"While I receive this award, India and Pakistan complete 70 years of their separation, and you are reminding the world again that even today we have similar hopes, aspirations and struggles," Gulalai said as she completed her acceptance speech.

Pakistan's teenage Nobel laureate, Malala Yuousafzai, who won the award in 2013, said about Gulalai's work: "Through Aware Girls, Gulalai is training young women to advocate for their rights. Her work is fostering the next generation of female leaders in our country."

 

[The Eagle]

Gulalai won award for speaking against Taliban (TTP). Indian journalist shot dead for the reason concerning India.

Prominent lines as follows:

“This award is a morale booster for people who want to write, and fight,” Lankesh’s sister, Kavitha, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. “It honors what Gauri stood for – that you cannot silence me.”

Concerns about press freedom are mounting in India where journalists seen as critical of Hindu nationalists are often insulted on social media and women reporters have been threatened with assault.

“People are wondering if they should get into journalism at all,” said Lankesh’s sister. “There is an apprehension among people who want to do ethical work.”

Lankesh, the editor and publisher of a weekly Indian tabloid, was a staunch critic of right-wing, political ideology.

She often wrote about religious violence, the malaise of India’s hierarchical caste system and criticized the rise of hardline Hindu groups since the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] swept to power in 2014.

So speaking against Taliban by Gulalai or Lankesh's stance as above, actually tells a lot of truth that I am sure, Sushma Swaraj and others will read with open mind.

 

[YeBeWarned]

Gulalai won award for speaking against Taliban (TTP). Indian journalist shot dead for the reason concerning India.

Prominent lines as follows:



So speaking against Taliban by Gulalai or Lankesh's stance as above, actually tells a lot of truth that I am sure, Sushma Swaraj and others will read with open mind.

If you are anti modi sarkar than you are anti Hindustan, that's the new narrative building in India .