30 Facts About Gulalai Ismail

Gulalai Ismail is a Pakistani human rights activist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Gulalai Ismail is the chairperson of Aware Girls, a global ambassador for Humanists International, and a leading member of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement.

Gulalai Ismail speaks on the subject of promoting peace and women's empowerment at conferences internationally, and is the recipient of the International Humanist of the Year Award, the Chirac Prize for Conflict Prevention, and the Anna Politkovskaya Award.

Gulalai Ismail was born to a Pashtun family in Swabi and from the age of nine was brought up in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The daughter of teacher and human rights activist Muhammad Gulalai Ismail, she was educated from a young age about gender discrimination and women's rights.

Gulalai Ismail graduated from Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad in 2012 with a Master of Philosophy degree in biotechnology.

In 2002, when she was a 16-year-old first-year pre-medical student at Frontier College for Women, Peshawar, she founded the non-governmental organization Aware Girls with her 15-year-old sister Saba Gulalai Ismail, aiming to challenge the culture of violence and the oppression of women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Gulalai Ismail aimed to bring peace activists together in order to discuss ways to promote peaceful resistance to the Pakistani Taliban and encourage more women into politics, and investigate the psychological impact of terrorism on children and families.

Gulalai Ismail's organisation widened its scope to include education on topics such as access to HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment, access to safe abortions, and she continues to speak at international conferences to promote awareness of peace-building, tolerance and women's rights.

In 2013, Gulalai Ismail set up the Marastyal Helpline to give advice and assistance to women at risk from, and victims of, gender-based violence.

Gulalai Ismail criticised the British government's prevent strategy, saying it could lead to alienation of Muslims and could turn vulnerable individuals towards extremism.

Gulalai Ismail spoke out against the laws of blasphemy in Pakistan and the effect this had on progressive speech, secular activism, and the safety of secular activists.

Seeds of Peace was a response to what Gulalai Ismail saw as the increased "Talibanisation" of young men and women vulnerable to militants in Swabi District and other Pashtun rural areas.

Gulalai Ismail works for the Gender Working Group of the United Network of Young Peacebuilders, and is a member of the Asian Democracy Network.

Gulalai Ismail was a board member of Humanists International from 2017 until 2021 and now serves as its global ambassador.

Gulalai Ismail has been threatened and forced to flee her home in the past because of her activism.

On 16 May 2014, four armed gunmen attempted to force their way into her family home in Peshawar, shouting for Gulalai Ismail who was luckily not home at the time; she had been delayed at the airport because she had lost her luggage after a flight.

Gulalai Ismail did not know if the gunmen were Taliban, Pakistan's security services, or criminals trying to kidnap her for ransom.

Gulalai Ismail denied the blasphemy allegation and in February 2018 filed a legal case against the accuser, after which he was arrested by the police.

In October 2018, when she returned from attending a Humanists UK conference in the United Kingdom, Gulalai Ismail was detained by airport officials at Islamabad International Airport in Islamabad and her passport was withheld from her.

Gulalai Ismail's legal representative petitioned the Islamabad High Court to have her passport and travel documents returned to her and her name removed from the ECL on the grounds that it was a violation of basic human rights.

On 6 February 2019, Gulalai Ismail was arrested outside the National Press Club in Islamabad along with dozens of other PTM activists including Abdullah Nangyal, at an event protesting the murder of Pashtun rights activist Arman Loni.

Gulalai Ismail was shifted to an undisclosed location after her arrest.

On 10 June 2019, several local news outlets reported that Gulalai Ismail was arrested in Peshawar but her father said the news had not been confirmed by the police.

The Gulalai Ismail family said their home in Islamabad was raided by security forces five times while she was in hiding.

Separately, her father, retired professor Muhammad Gulalai Ismail, was charged with sharing "anti-state content" on social media and expressing dissent against the government.

Gulalai Ismail won the 2009 YouthActionNet Fellowship and the 2010 Paragon Fellowship.

Gulalai Ismail was recognised as an Agent of Change by the British High Commission, Islamabad.

Gulalai Ismail was elected to Humanists International's Board of Directors in 2017.

In 2017, Gulalai Ismail was the joint winner, along with the murdered Indian journalist-turned-activist Gauri Lankesh, of the Anna Politkovskaya Award, Reach All Women in War award, for campaigning against religious extremism.