Every year since she suddenly left us, on her birthday, I reflect and take stock: what have we learned from her struggles for us?
On 23 January 2026, Imaan Mazari Hazir and her husband, Hadi Cheema, were violently picked up in the middle of an underpass tunnel in broad daylight. The courts and government officials all looked the other way as one of Pakistan’s prominent proponents of defending the voiceless was illegally incarcerated.
What would Asma Jahangir have done if she had been with us?
On 21 January 2026, unelected parliamentarians passed an illegal bill to hide their ill-got assets from the general public’s scrutiny. I have difficulty in writing these words: parliament, which is a forum of the people’s representatives and accountable only to its voters and the public, giving itself immunity from the people.
What would Asma Jahangir have said about the politicians and political parties she spent her entire life defending and bolstering to strengthen civilian-led representative governance?
On 13 November 2025, the 27th Amendment was passed, which effectively dismembered the 1973 Constitution by consolidating power away from the people through the executive for the unelected senior military establishment, by creating a position called Chief of Defence Forces. Furthermore, it restructured the judiciary by introducing a federal constitutional court, undermining the existing Supreme Court and its Chief Justice.
What will it take for Pakistanis to take their destiny into their own hands and not wait for another Asma Jahangir to fight on behalf of all of us?
The passage of this amendment paved the way to remove an “annoying” Justice who should have become Chief Justice and to install a pliant, selected Justice by the executive.
Furthermore, this was enabled by first de-notifying several members of parliament from one particular party who would not have allowed the passage of this black, anti-constitutional law. With no debate or consideration of public opinion, or the impact on democracy, the separation of powers, or the independence of the judiciary for equitable accountability, it was passed by the non-people’s parliament to further erode democracy.
What would Asma Jahangir have done, I wonder?
On 21 October 2024, the 26th Amendment was passed by the same parliament, full of members who lost their elections, some ignobly through selection by depriving representation of women, non-Muslims, and others on reserved seats. Despite a packed parliament, the public witnessed members of parliament escorted by armed forces to vote for an unconscionable amendment to destroy the senior judiciary. A brazen public display of complete disregard for Pakistanis and their foundational right to equitable justice by independent judges.
What would Asma Jahangir have done?
Pondering over her absence and how she could have galvanised a pushback against these anti-democratic forces in Pakistan is exhausting. For how long will we need individuals to stand in front of tyranny? The apathy and disrespect for Pakistanis by those who hold authority, inside parliament or otherwise, has become so absolute that I seriously wonder: Is there a country left to save any longer? When the cancer grows so deep, what is left of the body politic to save?
The indicators of those wanting to flee Pakistan are aplenty: visa applications, the desperate on illegal boats to European shores—who we only hear of when they capsize—or the hundreds of illegals caught and sent back from the four corners of the world. Who wants to live here any longer?
What will it take for Pakistanis to take their destiny into their own hands and not wait for another Asma Jahangir to fight on behalf of all of us? The powers that be understand the psyche of the messiah-in-waiting.
Picking up the young advocates, Imaan and Hadi, is a direct attempt to erase any semblance of anyone daring to push back against the tyranny and overreach of the state. The question for all of us is: will they be successful?
On Asma Jahangir’s birthday, on this cold January day, as thousands in Tirah and Kurram battle freezing cold, forcibly homeless, with not a care from the state, what are we going to do?