I am a feminist organiser and an independent researcher-writer & consultant based in Islamabad, Pakistan, with an undergraduate degree in law. Between 2018 and 2019, I did my MA in Gender Studies and Law at SOAS, University of London on the Chevening Scholarship, and won the Programme Prize for my degree.
My work is interdisciplinary in nature and mostly revolves around feminism, pop culture, critical legal studies, and the internet. I was part of the South Asia Speaks 2022 cohort and am currently working on my first non-fiction book. I also serve as the Communications Director at South Asian Avant-Garde (SAAG).
Email me to get in touch or commission work.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Communications Director → South Asian Avant-Garde (SAAG)
Communication Advisor (Energy & Climate Change Cluster) → Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
Research Lead (Digital Rights and Internet Governance) → Media Matters for Democracy
Senior Researcher → Digital Rights Foundation
Researcher → Gender Studies Department, Allama Iqbal Open University
Manager GenderTech → Bytes for All
Law Clerk → Supreme Court of Pakistan
Program Officer (Communications & Law) → Shirkat Gah
Communications Executive → Bulleh Shah Packaging
Subeditor + Staff Writer → Libas International Magazine
Project Specialist → Publicis Pakistan
Subeditor → Daily Times
Senior Copywriter → Manhattan Pakistan
Published Work
RESEARCH
The Right to Health, A People’s Manifesto, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (2024)
Connecting the Disconnected: Mapping Gaps in Digital Access in Pakistan, Media Matters for Democracy (2022)
Women Disconnected: Feminist Case Studies on the Gender Digital Divide Amidst COVID-19, Media Matters for Democracy (2021)
Ride-sharing Apps and Privacy in Pakistan: A Detailed Study on the Practices of Uber and Careem, Digital Rights Foundation (2019)
The Implications of the ‘Khaki V Rawalpindi’ Decision on Pakistan’s Transgender Community, PCL Student Journal of Law, Vol. 1 (2017)
Online Feminist Resistance in Pakistan, Sur International Journal on Human Rights (December, 2017)
Privacy and Online Gender Rights Activism: A Pakistani Perspective, Privacy International (2016)
Take Back the Tech! A Story of Gender Rights and Online Spaces in Pakistan, FORUM-ASIA (2015)
ARTICLES
A Commitment to Creativity: The Online Aesthetics of Feminist Labor — Part 1 & Part 2, GenderIT.org (2022)
A Dispatch from Pakistan, The Drift (2022)
Feminist Protests Are Only the Beginning, Studio ATAO (2022)
Platforms of Oppression: Conceptualising Digital Colonialism in the Pakistani Context, Digital Rights Monitor (2022)
Moral Governance & the Gendered Body in Pakistan’s Online Spaces, Digital 50.50 (2021)
How a Provincial Law on the Protection of Journalists is Paving a New Path in Pakistan, Digital Rights Monitor (2021)
Feminist Digital Labor in Pakistan, Digital Rights Foundation (2020)
Sita Under the Crescent Moon, Chapati Mystery (2019)
Feminist Memories in the Digital Age, Media Matters for Democracy (2019)
Cause Celebre, The News on Sunday (2018)
Relax, Malala's jeans aren't an assault on your national identity, DAWN Images (2017)
Ayesha Gulalai is paying the price for decrying harassment publicly, DAWN (2017)
Review: Slowspin - Nightfall’s Reverie, Border Movement (2014)
Review: Toll Crane - Pink Passport EP, Border Movement (2013)
Liberty Calling (An Interview with Sarah Belal), Libas International Magazine (2012)
Coke Studio: Season 5 and Gender, Libas International Magazine (2012)
Coke Studio: The Rumbling & Buzzing of Soul Rock, Libas International Magazine (2012)
POLICY PAPERS + LEGAL ANALYSES
Fact-Check: Articulating a Feminist Response to Gender Disinformation, Digital Rights Foundation (2021)
The Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards) Rules 2020, Media Matters for Democracy (2021)
The Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules, 2020, Media Matters for Democracy (2021)
Content Regulation in the Digital Age, Digital Right Foundation’s Submission to the Human Rights Council Report (2017)