Young Pakistani Activist Hadiqa Bashir Fights Forced Child Marriage Arshad Mehmood
Bashir works in Swat Valley, until recently a Pakistani Taliban stronghold
[Islamabad] Hadiqa Bashir, 19, has been actively working against early and forced marriages for the last eight years in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, once a hotbed of the Pakistani Taliban.
For years, the Taliban broadcasted threats on the radio to intimidate girls into not attending school. The militants controlled the entire valley from 2007 to 2009, when the Pakistani Army retook the area.
Bashir has taken on the challenge of ending child marriage in a community where it is the norm and where girls can be offered for marriage in exchange for settling disputes.