Volume 7, No. 1, January 2025
Editor: Rashed Rahman
Archishman Raju and Nandita Chaturvedi
It seems to be dangerous to write about a country that you have visited for only a few days and don’t speak the language of. Too often this becomes merely an exercise in arrogance. And when the country has been under such intense examination by friends and enemies alike, the task is ..
Khan, Ayesha. The Women’s Movement in Pakistan: Activism, Islam and Democracy.
398pp., I.B Tauris 2018
Dr. Maria Rashid
Titled The Women’s Movement in Pakistan: Activism, Islam and Democracy, Ayesha Khan’s book is a comprehensive and nuanced account of the history of the Women’s Action Forum (WAF). This reading of the women’s movement is particularly pertinent at this juncture in Pakistan’s history for two reasons. First, WAF’s activities unfolded in the context of an over-vigilant state, hyper-sensitive to dissent, under Zia during Pakistan’s third martial law regime (1977-1988).