Currently in Pakistan
Imaan Mazari’s contribution lies in exposing the gap between legal rights on paper and the lived reality of women in Pakistan, particularly in contexts shaped by the misuse of religion, culture, and power. In the interview, she highlights how violence against women—through honour killings, acid attacks, death threats, and reprisals against women who assert autonomy—remains pervasive despite formal legal protections. She explains how rights such as inheritance or divorce may exist in law but are often inaccessible in practice, with women facing intimidation, character assassination, and even lethal threats from within their own families when they attempt to claim them. By drawing attention to this de jure versus de facto divide, she makes clear that systemic gender-based discrimination persists even where legislative progress has been made.
As a human rights lawyer and woman human rights defender, her work goes beyond analysis to direct action. She has been actively involved in supporting victims of violence and persecution in seeking legal redress, while consistently speaking out against human rights violations and abuses, particularly those committed by the Pakistani military and security forces. She is also a vocal advocate for persecuted religious and ethnic communities, emphasising that meaningful change will not come from laws alone but from shifts in social attitudes, political accountability, and sustained support for women who step forward under dangerous circumstances. Her contribution is rooted in insisting that rights must be defendable in practice, not merely promised in principle, and in standing alongside those who risk everything to claim them.
As a human rights lawyer and woman human rights defender, her work goes beyond analysis to direct action. She has been actively involved in supporting victims of violence and persecution in seeking legal redress, while consistently speaking out against human rights violations and abuses, particularly those committed by the Pakistani military and security forces. She is also a vocal advocate for persecuted religious and ethnic communities, emphasising that meaningful change will not come from laws alone but from shifts in social attitudes, political accountability, and sustained support for women who step forward under dangerous circumstances. Her contribution is rooted in insisting that rights must be defendable in practice, not merely promised in principle, and in standing alongside those who risk everything to claim them.