Tahira Abdullah


Tahira Abdullah is a Pakistani human rights activist, social scientist and supporter of gender equality, who is a representative of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the Women's Action Forum. She is based in Islamabad.
Tahira Abdullah works on a voluntary basis for numerous trusts, policy groups and academic bodies. Topics on which she has spoken or made representations on behalf of HCRP have included “opening up spaces for women human rights defenders”, in response to the murder of Rashid Rehman in 2014.
In February 2009 Abdullah was arrested during a protest meeting in Islamabad. In 2014 she opposed the actions of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority in closing down a private TV station for a fortnight for allegedly broadcasting blasphemous content; Abdullah's view was that "this is not the answer". She was involved in formulating the HCRP's response to the Kasur child sexual abuse scandal, and commented that "“One child missing is one child too many”.
In 2017 she criticised fellow human rights activist Ayesha Gulalai for her allegations against Imran Khan. In political terms, she has said that "the left has to change its meta-narrative".

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