Marvi Sirmed

Marvi Sirmed
Born June 11, 1970
Sialkot, Pakistan
Occupation Journalist, human rights defender
Years active 1990–present
Title Ms
Spouse(s) Sirmed Manzoor
Website marvisirmed.com

'Marvi Sirmed (Urdu: ماروی سرمد‬‎) is a Pakistani journalist.[1][2][3]

Personal life

Marvi Sirmed was born on June 11, 1970 in a family from agricultural background. Her father, Chaudhry Anwar-ul-Haq was bureaucrat and retired from Directorate General of Public Relations, Punjab in 2003.[4] Her grandfather Chaudhry Abdul Rehman was a farmer from Bahawalpur (Punjab).[5] Her great grandparents with their clan were invited by Nawab of Bahawalpur to help till the barren lands of the state of Bahawalpur. Part of their family settled in above mentioned areas of the Punjab and Sindh while the rest remained in Jalandhar when Pak India partitioned happened.[6]

She has two brothers who have politically divergent views. Both are ardent supporters of Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf. The elder brother, Naveed Bin Anwar, is a very active leader in PTI Canada, while the younger brother Nabeel Bin Anwar is a dynamic worker in PTI Lahore, where he works in NA 120. Both her parents are leading retired life and are struggling with a number of ailments.[7]

She was married on May 3, 1997 to Sirmed Manzoor[8] and during his professional life spanning over 25 years, he has worked with The Frontier Post Lahore, The News Lahore and South Asian Free Media Association. He is a freelance journalist currently.[9]

Career

Journalism and work experience

Marvi Sirmed started her career as a journalist in 1990 as a student of Pre-Medical. She began working as an article writer in different national dailies, such as Daily News, Daily Jang, Khabrein. She has also taught chemistry and English at a public school in Pakistan. After completing her master's degree in Science in Education from the University of the Punjab, she switched to academic discipline and taught in Pamir Knot Higher Secondary School, Lahore and Crescent Model High School, Lahore. In 1997, she started working with South Asia Partnership Pakistan (SAP-PK), a non-governmental organisation working for community development in Pakistan. In 2001 she joined PILDAT which was in formative stage at that time.[10] Working for a year and half there, she went to Aurat Foundation, another NGO working for gender equality, in 2002.[11] In 2004 she joined UNDP Pakistan and was posted at different places including National Commission on the Status of Women, Federal Ministry of Women's Development, and finally the Parliament of Pakistan.[12] She headed Pakistan's biggest and longest program for the technical assistance of the Parliament and provincial assemblies for around 12 years.[13] Since 2016, she is accepting freelance jobs for international organisations and is a working journalist, in employment with Daily Times.[1]

The movements that she raised voice for and participated in are: for the repeal of Hudood Ordinances 1979,[14] amendments in the Blasphemy Laws,[15] advocacy for pro-women legislation including the one against the domestic violence,[16][17] karo-kari, valwar, swara, Badl-e-Sulh, etc.[18] She has been very actively raising voice for the rights of religious and ethnic minorities, against the forced conversions of Hindu & Christian girls,[19] persecution of minorities, the rights of the Baloch, Sindhis and Pashtuns especially those from FATA areas, and against the draconian FCR. Her activism against sexual harassment and harassment at workplace is also well known.[20]

She has been a target of harassment, hate speech, abuse and intimidation[21][22] on social media and physically as well.[23] She got injured several times during the lawyers movement in 2007, and was arrested on November 1, 2007.[24][25][26] In 2010, the President Asif Ali Zardari conferred upon her National Human Rights Award.[27] In 2011 her home was ransacked by "unidentified" men who took away all her identification documents and all the data devices.[28][29] Her passport and laptop, however, was returned within a month. In 2012, she and her husband were shot at by unidentified gunmen, but escaped unhurt.[8][30] In June 2018, her home was further ransacked and her and her family's passports, laptops and mobile phones were stolen. No other valuables were removed. The 'burglars' detached the new passports from the old ones and took only the latest ones. This was the third time such 'burglary' occurred at her home.[31]

In 2015, a sitting parliamentarian from JUI-F, Senator Hafiz Hamdullah abused and physically attacked Marvi Sirmed during a TV program.[32] She later filed a complaint against him with the Islamabad Police but he got a bail from the court.[33] The case is still pending in the law-enforcement mechanism.

She has been a target of harsh criticism because of her choice of dressing (saari) mostly and wearing a Bindi[34] on her forehead, which is considered to be associated with Hindu and especially Indian women.

Sirmed was the part of International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) run by the State Department of the United States of America, in 2004. She is a member of the Women's Initiative for Peace in South Asia (WIPSA), Women’s Action Forum, Insaani Haqooq Ittehad, Pakistan India Peoples Forum, and Pakistan Forum for Social Democracy. She has been actively participating in Track-II diplomacy between Pakistan-India and Pakistan-Afghanistan.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Marvi Sirmed, Journalist and Project Manager UNDP". Pakistan Herald. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Relevance of liberals". The Nation. Retrieved 2016-12-29.
  3. ↑ "JUI-F Senator 'verbally abuses' female analyst during TV talk show". DAWN.COM. 2016-06-11. Retrieved 2016-12-29.
  4. ↑ "Marvi Sirmed". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  5. ↑ Sirmed. "Ms".
  6. ↑ "Marvi Sirmed". www.awaztoday.pk. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  7. ↑ "Marvi Sirmed, Author at Newsline". Newsline. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  8. 1 2 "Journalist couple shot at in Pakistan, both unhurt". Hindustan Times. November 2, 2012. Archived from the original on May 23, 2013. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Sirmed Manzoor profile on WAYN.COM". WAYN.com. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  10. ↑ "Marvi Sirmed | Iqra University IU - Academia.edu". iqra.academia.edu. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  11. ↑ "Aurat Foundation". www.af.org.pk. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  12. ↑ "Marvi Sirmed". Pakistan Herald. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  13. ↑ Pakistan. "UNDP" (PDF).
  14. ↑ "Leading Pakistani Columnist Marvi Sirmed Slams Pakistan's Council Of Islamic Ideology For 'Direct Assault On Women' By Advocating Second Marriage Without First Wife's Consent: 'The CII Has...Been Reduced To A Vigilante Body'". MEMRI - The Middle East Media Research Institute. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  15. ↑ "Marvi Sirmed-for Religious & Minorities Minister". Siasat.pk Forums. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  16. ↑ "Time to pass the domestic violence bill - The Express Tribune". The Express Tribune. 2012-04-12. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  17. ↑ "'Beating up women still not a crime'". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  18. ↑ "Who is Marvi Sirmed says the Communist Party of Pakistan? | Nothing is absolute but change - Karl Marx". www.cpp.net.pk. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  19. ↑ "Secularism, 'patriotism' and Marvi Sirmed". Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  20. ↑ "Stop Laughing". www.pakistantoday.com.pk. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  21. ↑ "Top 10 Persons who are disliked by Pakistani People". Pakistan Media Updates. 2014-04-01. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  22. ↑ "Top Ten Most Hated People in Pakistan". Pakistan TV. 2013-10-01. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  23. ↑ Newslaundry. "Newslaundry | Sabki Dhulai". Newslaundry. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  24. ↑ Perlez, Jane; Rohde, David (2007-11-06). "Pakistan Attempts to Crush Protests by Lawyers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  25. ↑
  26. ↑ Reynolds, Leda (2016-06-13). "Pakistan politician accused of threatening to 'pull down' journalist's 'pants' on live TV". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-04-14.
  27. ↑ "Prominent Pakistani women A Research By Mr.Allah Dad Khan - Education". Docslide.net. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  28. ↑ "SAMC seeks probe into 'robbery' - The Express Tribune". The Express Tribune. 2010-10-10. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  29. ↑ Newspaper, From the (2010-10-10). "Robbery at journalist`s home condemned". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  30. ↑ "Well-known Pakistani journalist Marvi Sirmed shot at". NDTV. 2012-11-02. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
  31. ↑ Dawn.com (2018-06-22). "Journalist Marvi Sirmed's home ransacked; electronic devices, travel documents stolen". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  32. ↑ "Pakistan activist Marvi Sirmed abused by JUI-F's Hafiz Hamdullah - News Media Live". News Media Live. 2016-06-10. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  33. ↑ "Senator Hamdullah's pre-arrest bail in Marvi Sirmed harassment case approved | SABAH News". www.sabahnews.net. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  34. ↑ "Why Does Marvi Sirmed Put Bindi Being a Muslim? - Quora". www.quora.com. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
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