Fareeda Kokikhel Afridi
Women's rights activist
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Fareeda "Kokikhel" Afridi (Urdu: فریدہ کوکی خیل آفریدی) was a Pakistani feminist, a women's rights activist in Pakistan. In July 2012, at the age of 25, she was shot dead on her way to work.[1][2][3]
Fareeda "Kokikhel" Afridi | |
|---|---|
| Born | Khyber tribal area, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Pakistan |
| Died | Hayatabad, Peshawar, Pakistan |
| Education | Master's degree in gender studies |
| Occupations | Feminist, women's rights activist |
| Organization(s) | Society for Appraisal and Women Empowerment in Rural Areas (SAWERA) |
| Known for | Women's rights activism, co-founding SAWERA |
Afridi was born and raised in the Khyber tribal area, part of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), an impoverished semi-autonomous region in Pakistan's northwest, bordering Afghanistan.[4]
She graduated from university with a master's degree in gender studies. While still in school, with her sister Noor Zia Afridi, she founded the Society for Appraisal and Women Empowerment in Rural Areas (SAWERA), a women-run NGO promoting women's empowerment in FATA.[5][6]
Afridi was critical of the Pakistani government, the Taliban, and the patriarchal nature of Pakistani society.[7]
In June 2012, she told journalists she was being threatened. Her friends and colleagues suspected the threats originated with FATA Taliban militants.[7]
On 5 July 2012, as Afridi left her home to go to work in Hayatabad a suburb of Peshawar, she was shot once in the head and twice in the neck by two motorcyclists, who afterwards escaped. She died in hospital.[8]
Condemning the murder at a protest camp organized by the Aurat Foundation along with Peshawar Press Club and Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain stated:
Imposing death decrees on individuals such as Farida has resulted in a negative portrayal of our country as well as Islam itself.[9][10][11]
She was the second female in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to be targeted by Taliban extremists.[12]