This blog post will give you over all view of the discussion that took place between the members of Right Now and our special guest Haseen Musarat.

This blog post will give you over all view of the discussion that took place between the members of a Women Rights Defenders Whatsapp Group established by RightNow Pakistan and our special guest Ms. Haseen Musarat an eminent women rights activist and active member of Women Action Forum. Through a Whatsapp group called Women Rights and Sexual Minorities, an interview was organized with Haseen Musarat. On behalf of all members, we thank Haseen Musrat for giving us time. This interview provided an opportunity to members of the group to engage in discussion, ask questions, and gain an insight into rights work done by women rights Defenders. Furthermore, members gained firsthand knowledge of Haseen’s human rights work in distant, exclusive and remote areas like Ghokti, Sukkur, Shikarpur on above discussed themes and sharing challenges and difficulties in protecting women’s rights as a member of WAF (Woman Action Forum)
It came to our knowledge through our discussion that WAF is a non-profit/non-funded, right base organisation and it was emerged in the era of the dictator Zia. Since then, it has been 35 years of its existence, and it has a strong voice of its own when it comes to protecting women’s rights. The main propose of WAF’s is to work towards peace, justice and equality, it is not part of any political party but WAF has a political point of view and they believe in brining change in society through a political process.  The WAF was known in Hyderabad on 5th of April, 2008.

Haseen has a government job in the education department; she joined WAF in 2008 by accident, as it was not something that she thought about beforehand. She told us that when she attended first meeting she was inspired by Arfana Mallah and Amar Sindhu. She was also convinced by the feminist ideology and she heartedly joined in.
She explained that feminism is a movement for women’s civil rights, feminist challenges the main institutions of society, such as family, society, government, religion. Challenges come from every direction. Moreover, she said it is imperative that we challenge the discrimination against women from all part of the society such as in education, politics, and individuals rights. 
A member of the group pointed out that discrimination also takes place against women by women. For example a mother favouring her son by giving him a better meal than her daughter. This teaches men from a young age that they are better than women are. Haseen answered this problem by saying that this kind of thinking represents the patriarchy, we must challenge this issue with awareness, and it can be changed by being educated.
Now, WAF running a movement called ‘Stop Killing Women’. It is also working towards on legislation, such as violence and other important issues relating to women.
The general perception of a feminist is people thinking they destabilise their families or they become the reason of marriage breakups; Haseen said that a feminist activist only challenges the patriarchal system and encourages equality. The main thing that destroys the family is hate and violence within it. 
Even though, it seems that majority of frontline WAF members are university level teachers, poets, writers and members from development sectors, Haseen reassured that students and people from other backgrounds were also welcome to join WAF. This is an open forum and has different cheapters in different provinces such as Islamabad, Hyderabad, Karachi, Queeta, Lahore, Sukkr, and Shahdad Kot. This is not an NGO type organisation and does not run any specific projects for specific members.

The WAF is a feminist movement and only welcome women. Not men. However, in their national convention, they will discuss whether male/female transgender people can join or not. Personally, I thought that it was disappointing that men were not able to join, as they can support the pro-women and anti-sexist idea. A forum like this can play an important role in changing mindsets of people through engaging men in their discussions as well as women.
Haseen was very optimisms about the women protection bill; however, she feels more work is needed: She pointed out that it is disappointing that no criminal act is included in the bill. She demanded from the Prime Minister to make it more useful by acknowledging its weakness. I personally feel that now that protection bill has been introduced, the government should fund organisations like WAF to do some ground work with individuals, such as, providing information on alternatives respite homes where a break can be taken from their day-to-day difficult life situations. Furthermore, counselling can be provided but isn’t. Recently, Dawn newspaper reported that when a man is arrested after a complaint from his wife, he divorces her. This is a terrible situation for uneducated women as they have no financial support for themselves or their children. The government should create safe homes for women to learn skills needed in the work trade, even if it is basic, so they can provide for themselves.
When we asked Haseen, what inspired her the most about her work she said practical activism. Part of her role is to organize lectures for the WAF members. She also shared that she has experienced gender discrimination many times and this is something that exist in every institution of life. Such as family or workplace. When a group member asked what kind of challenges there are when working in this field; Haseen told us that there are many challenges: harassment, social norm, at home with family and security issues. An activists not only fights for her owns rights to create space for herself but for others as well.
Through this interview, we got an understanding of challenges that activists who work in this field face. However, they still are working by being committed towards its cause by making safe spaces for women to develop their identities their lives.
We really appreciate for Haseen Musrat for talking time out and speaking to us. She taught us a lot about what work is being done in Pakistan to protect women and what work needs to be done still. As Haseen pointed out: women are still not considered as intellectual individuals.
We wish the best for Haseen and WAF to encourage Women’s rights.