Why Asma Jahangir?

When Minhaj - the mural artist - pitched the idea of Asma Jahangir painted in the form of Frida Kahlo, ‘Yes’ wasn’t an answer; it was a reflex. When Gul painted us a final design, we knew we didn’t need a second thought.

But every now and then, we get customers who feel uneasy at the sight of this controversial figure with a cigarette in her hand. A few weeks ago, one furious customer demanded to know why we’d chosen to pay tribune to her; a woman who allegedly ‘spread negativity’ about the country we love.

Why Asma, he asked. Here’s why.

The first thing you see when you enter the cafe, is the image of two unbreakable women merged into one. “Only a mountain can know the core of another mountain,” said Frida Khalo. With a cigarette between her fingers, a smirk on her face, the sleeve of Jahangir’s black coat showing beneath Kahlo’s colorful garb, here stands a woman who is truly at peace with herself in spite of all that she has endured. This is a person who understands that she needn’t appease anyone but her own conscience.

Asma Jahangir is a warrior who fought on multiple fronts: against patriarchy, imperialism, religious fanaticism, and dictatorship. For her resistance, she is accused of ‘spreading negativity’.

'Negativity’ seemingly spreads only when the underprivileged raise their voices against the injustices they face; when women assert that misogyny exists in this country; when a resident of a kachi abadi accuses the state of not caring about his family’s welfare; when an activist points out that religious radicalism is on the rise.

I like negativity. Change starts with dissatisfaction, and ‘negativity’ about things that don’t work for our common good. Positive people don’t bring about change; they sit happily in a movie theater and watch ‘Teefa in Trouble’.

Asma Jahangir is a woman who dared to be dissatisfied with things that are against the Pakistani people’s interests. That’s why she’s painted on a wall, solid like her resolve.