Shabnam Hashmi (born 1957) is an Indian social activist and human rights campaigner born to Haneef and Qamar Azad Hashmi. . She is the sister of

Safdar Hashmi Safdar Hashmi (12 April 1954 – 2 January 1989) was a communist playwright and director, best known for his work with street theatre in India. He was also an actor, lyricist, and theorist, and he is still considered an important voice in Indian ...

and Sohail Hashmi.

was a communist playwright and director, best known for his work with street theatre in India. She started her social activism campaigning about

adult literacy Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralp ...

in 1981. Since 1989 she has spent most of her time in combating communal and fundamentalist forces in India. After the Gujarat riots of 2002, Hashmi changed her focus to grass roots work and has spent a considerable amount of time in

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. In 2003 she was one of the founders of

ANHAD ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy) is an Indian socio-cultural organization established in March 2003, as a response to 2002 Gujarat riots. Social activist Shabnam Hashmi, sister of the slain activist Safdar Hashmi and founder of SAHMAT, ...

(Act Now for Harmony and Democracy), which she administers. it's FCRA license was cancelled based on inputs from intelligence agency for using foreign funding to work against the public interest She also works in

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

and

Mewat Mewat is a historical region of Haryana and Rajasthan states in northwestern India. The loose boundaries of Mewat generally include Hathin tehsil and Nuh district of Haryana, Alwar (Tijara, Kishangarh, Bas, Ramgarh, Laxmangarh, Kathumar tehsil ...

area of

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

. She has campaigned against communalism and violation of human rights in the name of fighting terrorism. She was involved in exposing what she alleges are terror links of

Hindutva Hindutva () is the predominant form of Hindu nationalism in India. The term was formulated as a political ideology by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923. It is used by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the ...

forces but also fought for the rights of Batla house encounter suspect who later allegedly joined ISIS. Shabnam Hashmi was amongst ninety-one women from India who figured in the list of 1,000 women who have been nominated globally for the Nobel Peace Prize-2005. Hashmi has focused on issues of women's political participation, adoption, gender justice, democracy and secularism. She was awarded the Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA) Star Award for Communal Harmony in 2005, Aamil Smriti Samman in 2005 and the National Minority Rights Award 2008 by the National Minority Commission.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hashmi, Shabnam Indian women activists Indian women's rights activists Indian human rights activists Indian Muslims Living people 1957 births