Episode description

Kamila Shamsie champions the life of the Pakistani human rights lawyer Asma Jahangir.

Author of award-winning novel 'Home Fire', Kamila says she was only ten years old, growing up in Karachi, when Asma became her hero even before she really knew her name. She remembers her mother and her aunts all talking about this amazing woman lawyer and social activist who was standing up against many of the laws that Pakistan's President General Zia ul Haq had introduced in the 1980s.

Jahangir was always making the news headlines or giving radio interviews. Here was a woman who was determined to speak her mind and stand up for women and the human rights of all its citizens - it seemed she feared no-one, recalls Shamsie.

Kamila Shamsie is joined by Asma's daughter Sulema Jahangir, a lawyer working in London and Pakistan who shares some personal stories and anecdotes about her mother - and Saqlain Imam, BBC Urdu journalist and broadcaster - part of the BBC World Service.

Presenter: Matthew Parris

Producer: Perminder Khatkar

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2019.