Aasia (or Aasiya) Jeelani (1974–2004) was a Kashmiri journalist and human rights activist. After completing her studies in Srinagar, Kashmir, she worked for Agence France Presse (AFP) and then the Times of India. She set up the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) and the Kashmiri Women's Initiative for Peace and Disarmament (KWIPD), editing the latter's newsletter. On 20 April 2004, Jeelani and other activists were monitoring elections when the car she was travelling in was blown up by an improvised explosive device and she was killed. She is remembered as a pioneering feminist journalist.
Life
editAasia Jeelani was born on 9 February 1974, in Srinagar, Kashmir. She was educated at the Presentation Convent Higher Secondary School, then completed a Ba in Science at Government College for Women, Nawakadal Srinagar followed by a MA in Journalism at Kashmir University.[1][2] She grew up during the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir and began to write about the human rights abuses perpetrated by Indian soldiers. Between 1998 and 2001, she worked for Agence France Presse (AFP).[1][3] She then moved to Delhi to work at the Times of India before deciding to return to Kashmir and joining the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS).[3] She set up the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) and the Kashmiri Women's Initiative for Peace and Disarmament (KWIPD).[3] She was editor of a newsletter which the KWIPD published every three months called The Voices Unheard.[1][3]
On 20 April 2004, Jeelani and other activists were monitoring elections near to the Line of Control at Chandigam in Kupwara district. The car she was travelling in was blown up by an improvised explosive device triggered by militants; she died, the driver was also killed and her colleague Khurram Parvez lost a leg.[4][5][6]
Legacy
editJeelani is remembered as a pioneering feminist journalist.[1] The Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society gave her an award named after Robert Thorpe.[7] In 2013, the Coalition commemorated the death of Jeelani by bringing together human rights groups in order to discuss institutional violence. The meeting asked the United Nations to send an investigator to the region.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Aasia Jeelani". HRD Memorial. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
- ^ "Aasia Jeelani- A Kashmiri Feminist Trailblazer". Zanaan Wanaan. 5 December 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
- ^ a b c d Tak, Mozaien (11 September 2019). "Aasiya Jeelani: The Feminist Warrior Of Kashmir". Feminism in India. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
- ^ "Jailed human rights defender Khurram Parvez forged solidarities in suffering". Pakistan Observer. 5 December 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ Peer, Basharat (16 September 2010). "Kashmir's Forever War". Granta. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ "Obituaries". The Milli Gazette. 16–31 May 2004. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ Hamdani, Hakim Shahzad Hussain (9 November 2014). "Cashmere's first fighter". The Nation. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ Rashid, Afsana (18 May 2013). "UN intervention sought to check Human Rights violations". The Milli Gazette. Retrieved 10 September 2024.