Arfana Mallah
Arfana Mallah | |
|---|---|
| عرفانہ ملاح | |
 | |
| Born | Pakistani |
| Occupation(s) | Academics,. Professor of Chemistry in Sindh University, Jamshoro |
| Known for | Activism, Leader and founding member of Women's Action Forum |
Arfana Mallah (Urdu: عرفانہ ملاح) is a Pakistani Human rights activist, leader of the Women's Action Forum and a professor of Chemistry at the University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan.[1]
Education[edit]
Arfana BegumMallah received a master's degree in chemistry from Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad in 1998, a M.Phil in analytical Chemistry in 2002 and a PhD in Chemistry in 2012 from the University of Sindh at Jamshoro.[2]
Career[edit]
As of 2023[update], Mallah is a professor at the Dr. M. A. Kazi institute of Chemistry, University of Sindh at Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan.
Mallah has been active in teachers' trades unionism since she joined the University of Sindh as a lecturer. She was the first elected female General Secretary of Sindh University Teachers association (SUTA) and was re-elected for a record further four terms of office. She was also elected as a member of Sindh University syndicate twice and was the first female elected member of it.[citation needed]
She writes columns in Sindhi language dailies and has been hosting talk shows at different TV channels for two decades, her book about stories of internally displaced women has been published in Sindhi and Urdu .[3][need quotation to verify][4]
Activism[edit]
Mallah is a women's rights activist.[5] She and Amar Sindhu started a chapter of Women's Action Forum (WAF) in Hyderabad in 2008.[6]
In 2012, Mallah was attacked by gunmen when she was traveling with Sindhu. They alleged this was a response to them protesting against the vice chancellor, who they claimed was involved in murders of at least five people on the campus.[7]
On December 10, 2014, when Malala Yousafzai shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Indian Kailash Satyarthi, Mallah urged the government to declare December 10 as 'Malala Day' and to organize a country-wide celebration.[8]
In 2015, Mallah organized the ‘Stop killing women’ campaign in Hyderabad via the WAF. The campaign issued a report, "WAF’s social FIR", which mentioned crimes against women in Sindh in 2014 and 2015. The report claimed that hundreds of women were killed in different cases of kidnapping, gang rapes, honour killing, domestic violence, sexual assault and suicides.[9]
She wrote a series of short stories about women who had been displaced in the 2010 Pakistan floods which were published in the Sindhi daily newspaper Daily Kawish.[4]
Mallah has been part of the Programme Management Committee of the Khanabadosh Writers’ Cafe[10] opened in 2015, in Sindh Museum, Hyderabad, as a place to promote free thought and pluralism.[11][12] She organized a week long, literary programme called Ayaz Festival, about the poet Shaikh Ayaz at the Cafe with her team in December, 2015.[13]
In 2019 and 2020, on International Women's Day (8 March), Mallah organized and led the Aurat Azadi March (Women's Freedom March) in Sindh.[14][15]
For the last twenty years, Mallah and Sindhu have faced threats from men in academia and landlords due to their activism.[16][17]
In 2020, the International Federation for Human Rights issued an urgent appeal for intervention in a smear campaign against Mallah.[18][19][20] After two weeks of harassment, she was forced to issue a public apology.[21]
References[edit]
- ^ "'Stoking of ethnic tensions' by govt condemned". The News International. 10 January 2008. Retrieved 16 January 2010. [dead link]
- ^ "Faculty Members – University of Sindh Jamshoro". Retrieved 2020-08-15.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "دنيا جي ڪوڙي ترقي جو ماسڪ روڙيندڙ وبا....ڊاڪٽر عرفانه ملاح -" (in Sindhi). 2020-04-12. Archived from the original on 2020-08-03. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
- ^ a b "Arfana Mallah – Karachi Literature Festival".
- ^ Newspaper, the (2 September 2011). "Sindhi women publicly announce free-will marriages". DAWN.COM.
- ^ "Women decide to fight back". DAWN.COM. 25 February 2009.
- ^ Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (12 July 2012). "Demand for probe into attack on SU teachers". DAWN.COM.
- ^ "The 'peace' prize: 'Malala, Satyarthi's share of award might help ease Indo-Pak tensions'". The Express Tribune. 21 October 2014.
- ^ Correspondent, The Newspaper's Staff (12 October 2015). "WAF launches 'Stop killing women' campaign". DAWN.COM.
- ^ Correspondent, The Newspaper's Staff (18 June 2015). "Literati pay tribute to Hassan Mujtaba". DAWN.COM.
- ^ Abbasi, Reema (21 July 2015). "Footprints: Khanabadosh: A home for the thought". DAWN.COM.
- ^ Inam, Moniza (24 September 2017). "SOCIETY: GATHERING THE CREATIVE NOMADS". DAWN.COM.
- ^ "Peerless Sindhi poet Shaikh Ayaz comes back to life at week-long festival". The Express Tribune. 2015-12-26. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
- ^ Reporter, A. (9 March 2020). "Defiance in the air as women stage Azadi March in Sukkur". DAWN.COM.
- ^ Correspondent, The Newspaper's Staff (9 March 2019). "Women's quota in police jobs to be doubled, says Sindh IG". DAWN.COM.
- ^ "Two women's struggle". Daily Times. 16 February 2016.
- ^ Correspondent, The Newspaper's Staff (11 February 2019). "Heroic struggle of Asma Jehangir eulogised". DAWN.COM.
- ^ "Pakistan: Smear campaign against Dr. Arfana Mallah". International Federation for Human Rights. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
- ^ Correspondent, The Newspaper's Staff (18 June 2020). "Call for end to extremist tendencies". DAWN.COM.
- ^ "Women groups condemn JUI-F's campaign against academic Mallah". www.thenews.com.pk.
- ^ "Activist Arfana Mallah Forced To Apologise For Condemning Professor's Arrest On Blasphemy Charges". Naya Daur. 29 June 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2022.