Zoya Rehman

- Edição trilíngue: português, espanhol e inglês.- Título em espanhol: Resistencia feminista online en Pakistán: cómo los espacios online ayudan al movimiento feminista en Pakistán a reivindicar el espacio cívico- Título em inglês: Online feminist resistance in Pakistan: how online spaces help the feminist movement in Pakistan reclaim civic spac

This paper offers a critical examination of the legal implications of Dr. Mohammad Aslam Khaki v. Senior Superintendent of Police (Operation) Rawalpindi, a landmark case of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) concerning Pakistan’s transgender persons, by focusing on what the official identification of a ‘third gender’ means for their future. It then juxtaposes Pakistan’s example with the existing mechanisms available for transgender persons in the international human rights framework, and discusses whether this can prove to be effective in Pakistan given its cultural context. The paper also details the problematic aspects of the SCP judgment while observing how the court attempted to carve a legal right to recognition for transgender persons in Pakistan. It then delves into how the rights framework for transgender individuals in Pakistan fares in comparison to similar examples from other parts of South Asia.

(this paper was originally written in 2013 for my undergraduate dissertation)

This article examines women's access to civic space in Pakistan, particularly with the help of digital media, in recent times. Despite the emergence of an overtly feminist consciousness in Pakistan in response to the discriminatory laws that began to be passed during Zia-ul-Haq's Islamisation regime, the movement remained unknown to many in the country. Now, with the internet on its side, Pakistan's feminist movement is more visible than ever, with numerous collectives and activists using online spaces to highlight their work. Online spaces have undoubtedly made organising easier, but have also introduced serious challenges for the movement, including attacks of hate speech online and charges of elitism. This article examines this reality and also how the Digital Rights Foundation has launched the Hamara Internet programme to support the work of Pakistani feminists in online spaces, by envisioning the possibility of a 'feminist internet' in Pakistan.

This dissertation is an exploration of the correlation between ‘memories’ of feminist resistance and the legal discourse in Pakistan. It seeks to outline the ways in which feminist praxis in Pakistan has historically depended on engagements with law. More importantly, it charts urban feminist resistance, in the form of feminist memories, around legal reform in the Pakistani context. At the same time, the paper problematizes these memories by observing partialities in the Pakistani feminist discourse, tethered to the limitations of using legal strategies for social change. The silences and omissions in the Pakistani feminist discourse also point towards the lack of critical attention given to queer memories. Ultimately, I argue that a reimagination of feminist engagements with law is necessary not only to address some of the memories Pakistani feminist struggles have overlooked or negated, but also to reveal the questions the present-day feminist movement poses to challenge the history of feminist campaigns for legal reform.