Arfana Mallah

Arfana Mallah (Urdu: عرفانہ ملاح‎) is a Pakistani Human rights activist, leader of the Women's Action Forum and an associate professor of Chemistry at the University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan.[2]

Arfana Mallah
عرفانہ ملاح
Born
Arfana Begum

Pakistani
OccupationAcademic, Associate Professor of Chemistry in Sindh University, Jamshoro[1]
Known forActivism, Leader and founding member of Women's Action Forum

Education

Mallah's full name is Arfana Begum. She did Masters in Chemistry, from Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad in 1998, M.Phil in Chemistry in 2002 and PhD Chemistry in 2012 from University of Sindh Jamshoro.[3]

Career

Mallah is serving as an associate professor in Dr. M. A. Kazi institute of Chemistry at the University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan.[4]

She served as former President[5] of Sindh University Teachers Association (SUTA).[6]

She also writes columns in Sindhi language, she has been hosting many shows of different TV channels since two decades as well.[7][8]

Activism

Mallah, is a women's rights activist,[9] she, along with Amar Sindhu started chapter of Women's Action Forum (WAF) in Hyderabad in 2008.[10]

In 2012, Mallah was attacked by gunmen when she was travelling with Amar Sindhu.[11] They were attacked for protesting against the vice chansellor who was involved in murders of at least five people on the campus.[12]

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 country wide celebration for receiving this prize by the young girl.[5]

In 2015, Mallah organized, ‘Stop killing women’ campaign in Hyderabad from Women’s Action Forum's platform. The campaign issued a report, ‘WAF’s social FIR’ which mentioned crimes against women in sindh in the year 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.[13]

She wrote a series of short stories about women who got displaced in the 2010 Pakistan floods, these stories got published in Sindhi daily, Kawish.[8]

Mallah has been part of the Programme Management Committee of the Khanabadosh Writers’ Cafe[14] opened in 2015, in Sindh Museum Hyderabad, a place to promote free thought and pluralism.[15][16] She organized a week long, literary programme 'Ayaz Festival' about poet Shaikh Ayaz at the Cafe with her team in December, 2015.[17]

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.[18][19]

Since last twenty years, Mallah along with her friend and colleague Amar Sindhu, for their rights activism, have been facing threats from their fellow men in academia and landlords.[20][21] In 2020, many intellectuals and human rights activists raised their voice against the extremist propaganda launched against Mallah.[22][23]

References
  1. "Arfana Mallah". scholar.google.com.
  2. "'Stoking of ethnic tensions' by govt condemned". The News International. 10 January 2008. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
  3. "Faculty Members – University of Sindh Jamshoro". Retrieved 2020-08-15.
  4. "Faculty Members – University of Sindh Jamshoro".
  5. "The 'peace' prize: 'Malala, Satyarthi's share of award might help ease Indo-Pak tensions'". The Express Tribune. 21 October 2014.
  6. "Under threat: SU teacher survives armed attack in Jamshoro". The Express Tribune. 3 December 2017.
  7. "دنيا جي ڪوڙي ترقي جو ماسڪ روڙيندڙ وبا....ڊاڪٽر عرفانه ملاح -" (in Sindhi). 2020-04-12. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
  8. "Arfana Mallah – Karachi Literature Festival".
  9. Newspaper, From the (2 September 2011). "Sindhi women publicly announce free-will marriages". DAWN.COM.
  10. "Women decide to fight back". DAWN.COM. 25 February 2009.
  11. Correspondent, The Newspaper's Staff (10 July 2012). "Amar Sindhu injured in attack". DAWN.COM.
  12. Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (12 July 2012). "Demand for probe into attack on SU teachers". DAWN.COM.
  13. Correspondent, The Newspaper's Staff (12 October 2015). "WAF launches 'Stop killing women' campaign". DAWN.COM.
  14. Correspondent, The Newspaper's Staff (18 June 2015). "Literati pay tribute to Hassan Mujtaba". DAWN.COM.
  15. Abbasi, Reema (21 July 2015). "Footprints: Khanabadosh: A home for the thought". DAWN.COM.
  16. Inam, Moniza (24 September 2017). "SOCIETY: GATHERING THE CREATIVE NOMADS". DAWN.COM.
  17. "Peerless Sindhi poet Shaikh Ayaz comes back to life at week-long festival". The Express Tribune. 2015-12-26. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  18. Reporter, A. (9 March 2020). "Defiance in the air as women stage Azadi March in Sukkur". DAWN.COM.
  19. Correspondent, The Newspaper's Staff (9 March 2019). "Women's quota in police jobs to be doubled, says Sindh IG". DAWN.COM.
  20. "Two women's struggle". Daily Times. 16 February 2016.
  21. Correspondent, The Newspaper's Staff (11 February 2019). "Heroic struggle of Asma Jehangir eulogised". DAWN.COM.
  22. Correspondent, The Newspaper's Staff (18 June 2020). "Call for end to extremist tendencies". DAWN.COM.
  23. "Women groups condemn JUI-F's campaign against academic Mallah". www.thenews.com.pk.


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