Naz Mukhtiar Dharejo ( Sindhi: نازُو ڌَاريجو, born 1976/1977), also known as Waderi Nazo Dharejo, is a Pakistani activist and politician. Her defense of her agricultural land against male relatives inspired her moniker "Pakistan's toughest woman" and also the 2017 film ''

My Pure Land ''My Pure Land'' is a 2017 Urdu-language British drama film directed by British Pakistani filmmaker Sarmad Masud. It was selected as the British entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. It w ...

''.

Biography

Nazo Dharejo's father Haji Khuda Buksh Khan Dharejo was a landlord from a Zamindar family that owned agricultural land in Pakistan's

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

Province. Nazo Dharejo is his oldest daughter with his second wife Waderi Jamzadi. She was born in a haveli in

Qazi Ahmed Kazi Ahmed also Qazi Ahmed, is a town in Shaheed Benazir Abad District (formerly Nawabshah), Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the ...

. Haji Khuda Baksh hired tutors for his daughters, so Nazo Dharejo learned Urdu and English in addition to Sindhi. She then earned her Bachelor of Arts in economics at Sindh University. Haji Khuda Baksh taught his daughters as well as his son to use firearms in case they might need to defend the family's land. The father of Haji Khuda Baksh (Nazo Dharejo's grandfather) had four wives and several other sons. The grandfather's death created strong disputes about inheritance. After Nazo Dharejo's only brother was killed, and her father was jailed, some male relatives tried to take over the land where Nazo Dharejo was living with her mother and sisters. Instead of yielding the land, Nazo Dharejo with her sisters and her husband Zulfiqar Dharejo (they are first cousins) defended themselves by shooting at their attackers. Then Nazo Dharejo's male relatives recruited 200 dacoits to attack the farm at night, in August 2005. Nazo Dharejo led the armed defense against them, firing her Kalashnikov rifle when they tried to approach the buildings. According to the ''

Singapore Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was establishe ...

'': "The gunfight which followed earned her the moniker 'Pakistan's toughest woman'". In legal battles that followed these armed attacks, Dharejo and her family won half a million rupees (S$6,459) in compensation. Nazo Dharejo has been active in politics with the PML-N party under the name Mukhtiar Nazo Dharejo. In 2013, she was listed as one of the women on their reserved seats for Sindh.

''My Pure Land''

After reading a 2012 newspaper article titled "Meet Nazo Dharejo: The toughest woman in Sindh," British-Pakistani filmmaker

Sarmad Masud Sarmad Masud, also known as Sam Masud, is a British filmmaker whose 2017 movie ''My Pure Land'' was the first Urdu language film nominated by the UK for a Foreign Language Oscar award. Personal life Sarmad Masud was born in Bradford to immigrant p ...

wanted to make a movie about her defense of her family's land. The movie was filmed in Urdu rather than Sindhi. Sindhi classical dancer Suhaee Abro played the lead role of Nazo Dharejo. Masud describes the film as "a modern-day feminist Western set in Pakistan, based on the extraordinary true story of one woman and her family who defended their home and land from 200 bandits."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dharejo, Nazo Living people People from Sindh Sindhi people Pakistani politicians Pakistani activists Pakistani women activists 1970s births