Kamila Shamsie chooses Asma Jahangir
Kamila Shamsie, author of the award-winning novel 'Home Fire' champions the life of the Pakistani human rights lawyer Asma Jahangir. 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. In this programme Kamila Shamsie is joined by Asma's daughter Sulema Jahangir, a lawyer now working in London and Pakistan who shares some personal stories and anecdotes about her mother and Saqlain Imam, journalist and broadcaster with BBC World Service Urdu Service. The presenter is Matthew Parris and the producer is Perminder Khatkar.