One of Pakistan’s leading activists and founder of the Aurat Foundation Nigar Ahmad passed away at the age of 71 on Friday in Lahore.
She was an educationist who dedicated her life to women’ empowerment and was considered one of the pioneers of Pakistan’s feminist movement. During the dictator Zia-ul-Haq’s regime, she was among the founders of the Women Action Forum which was founded to counter the anti-women policies of the government.
In 1986, she laid the foundation of the Aurat Publication and Information Services Foundation (Aurat Foundation) in cooperation with Shahla Zia, a leading activist of her time.
She received a Masters in Economics from the University of Punjab and went on to study economics at Cambridge University on a Commonwealth scholarship. Pursuing a career in academia, she taught economics for 16 years at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad
Nigar struggled for more than 30 years for the rights of women in the country, conducting debates for women’s role in politics, fighting their social and economic empowerment, and mobilising them toward the election process.
She was awarded the Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah Life Time Achievement Award in 2010 for her unabated efforts for the empowerment of women.