Jalila Haider

She was named in BBC's 100 Women of 2019, and was chosen as an International Woman of Courage by the United States Department of State in March 2020.

She was named in the BBC's 100 Women in 2019 which is a list about inspiring and influential women compiled by BBC. She was chosen as a International Women of Courage in March 2020 by the US Secretary of State.

Haider has received criticism from her society and threats and harassment from state and non-state actors for her activism against human rights excesses. In March 2019, Haider's name was put on Pakistan's Exit Control List (ECL) after her participation in the public gatherings of Pashtun Tahafuz Movement.

This article was created during ‘WikiGap’ event, in Islamabad, Pakistan on 11,12 October 2019, organized by Swedish Embassy.

Haider has been a supporter of the rights of vulnerable communities and has spoken out against human rights violations and abuses faced by them. She has campaigned against the enforced disappearances and killings of Baloch political workers and has led protests and sit-ins against the ethnic cleansing of the Hazaras. She participates and speaks against the atrocities faced by the Pashtuns and believes that their pain is similar as they are all demanding for their right to life guaranteed in the Constitution of Pakistan Haider also addressed a meeting of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement in Quetta in March 2018, for which she received criticism and harassment.

After four separate attacks targeting the Hazara community in April 2018, Haider led a peaceful hunger strike camp outside Quetta press club, which lasted for around five days. Haider and other leaders demanded that Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, Qamar Javed Bajwa must visit the community and take concrete steps to bring the perpetrators to justice and ensure their security. Haider and community elders had inconclusive talks with Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, Federal Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Provincial Home Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti. The strike ended after Qamar Javed Bajwa held meetings with the tribal elders and representatives of the community, including Hazara women, in which he ensured security and protection of the community's right to life. Following the hunger strike, on 2 May 2018, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar, took suo moto notice of the killings of Hazaras. In the subsequent hearing on May 11, these targeted killings were termed as ethnic cleansing of the Hazara community and Nisar instructed all the security agencies to submit reports on the forces behind these killings.

In 2018, Haider also met Mr. Ihsan Ghani, National Coordinator, National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) in Islamabad to put forward the grievances of the Hazara women who are facing social, economic and administrative challenges as the male breadwinners of their households have been killed.

In 2014, she was selected as an Atlantic Council Emerging Leaders of Pakistan Fellow and was a member of the first batch of Pakistan Social Entrepreneurs by Rajeev Circle Fellows in 2015. In 2015, Haider was selected as one of ‘News Women Power 50’ list of Pakistan's most influential and powerful women. She was also a 2016 Swedish Institute Young Connectors of the Future Fellow.

Jalila Haider (Hazaragi/Urdu: جلیله حیدر; b. December 10, 1988) is a human rights attorney and political activist from Quetta, a city in Balochistan, Pakistan. Haider is known to be the first woman lawyer from the Hazara minority of Quetta and has been an advocate for the rights of her persecuted community in Pakistan. She is a member of Awami Workers Party (AWP), leader of the Balochistan chapter of Women Democratic Front (WDF), and is also an activist in the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM). She founded a non-profit organisation, 'We the Humans – Pakistan', which aims to empower local communities in Balochistan by strengthening opportunities for vulnerable women and children.