Anarkali Kaur Honaryar

Anarkali Kaur Honaryar is a Sikh Afghan politician.[1] She is also a women's rights activist and a dentist, as well as a medical doctor.[2]

There were only about 30,000 Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan, Anarkali Kaur Honaryar is one of them. She is the first non-Muslim member of National Assembly of Afghanistan.[3]

Career

When Taliban was ousted in 2001, Honaryar studied medicine at the Kabul University. She has been a member of the Loya Jirga which choose Afghanistan's interim government after the decline of Taliban, and also an Afghan Constitution Committee member.[4] In 2006, she became a member of Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.[2]

In 2010, Honaryar was elected for the country's Meshrano Jirga, and she was the first non-Muslim woman to achieve the milestone, she left from her post in mid 2015.[1]

On 22 August 2021, she came to India along with other Indians who were rescued by Indian forces from Afghanistan due to the Taliban siege of Afghanistan in 2021.[5]

Awards and honors

Honaryar is a well-known human rights activist[4] and has been awarded with the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence.[1] "for her work helping women who suffer from domestic abuse, forced marriages and gender discrimination and for her commitment to promote the ideals of human dignity, human rights, mutual respect and tolerance in her country."[6] Honaryar was also chosen by Radio Free Europe's Afghan chapter as person of the year in 2009.[4]

References
  1. "2011 UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence to be awarded to Anarkali Honaryar (Afghanistan) and Khaled Abu Awwad (Palestine)". UNESCO. 16 November 2011.
  2. Sambuddha Mitra Mustafi. "Afghanistan's Sikh heroine fights for rights". BBC. Kabul.
  3. "Dr. Anarkali Kaur Honaryar". Sikh Foundation International. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  4. Marzban, Omid (24 March 2009). "Young Afghan Rights Activist Selected As 'Person Of The Year'". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
  5. "India evacuates over 20 Afghan Sikhs from Kabul, including MPS Anarkali Kaur Honaryar, Narendra Khalsa".
  6. "UNESCO awards peace hero defenders - Anarkali Honaryar & Khaled Abu Awwad". Woman News Network (WNN). 17 November 2011. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
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