Jalila Haider – Balochistan Chapter Lead for Women in Law

Jalila became the first female lawyer from the hazara community in Balochistan in 2010. She is a chevening scholar, Women in Law Initiative’s Balochistan Chapter Lead and champion of rights of persecuted minorities and vulnerable communities, especialy those affected by terrorism.

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. 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. 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.

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. In 2022, she won the first-ever ‘Pakistan Peace Award’ for her work and contribution to bring tolerance and sustainable peace in the country and in 2023 she became the 2nd Pakistani to win the Justitia Award in Vienna after Nida Usman Chaudhary who won it in 2021.

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