(1945-2017)
Nigar Ahmed was a Pakistani women’s rights activist who founded the Women’s Action Forum and Aurat Foundation. Ahmed was born in Lahore in 1945, to Riazuddin Ahmad and Akhtar. She got her early education from the Convent of Jesus and Mary. She did her Masters in Economics from Government College Lahore. She was a member of the Government College Dramatics Club and later editor of the famous magazine Ravi. Later she went to New Hall, Cambridge, on a Commonwealth scholarship. After coming back, she taught Economics in Quaid-i-Azam University. Through Aurat Foundation, Nigar mobilised women candidates for national and local government elections to generating debate across the country about women’s political and economic empowerment and worked on issues relating to peace and democracy. She was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize 2005.