Romana Bashir
Romana Bashir is a Pakistani Catholic woman, active since 1997 in interfaith harmony and women's education. She was a member of the Christian Study Centre, which promotes freedom of expression, justice, dignity and equality.[1]
Activism
Bashir began working at grassroots level, working with the community to promote interfaith harmony. She joined the Christian Study Centre as a trainee. In 2009, she was appointed as head of the Centre, a well-known ecumenical organisation in Rawalpindi.[2]
In 2012 she was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as a consultor of the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims within the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue of the Vatican.[3] She is the first Pakistani Christian lay woman to be appointed to such a position.
In 2013, she was Executive Director, Peace and Development Foundation in Rawalpindi.[4] The Peace and Development Foundation is a non-profit, non-government, non-political and non-sectarian organization which believes in unity, in diversity and in the equality of all citizens, regardless of religion, sex, class, caste, occupation, language, ethnicity or any other differentiation.[5]
Popular speaker
In 2012 she was a member of a panel of five speakers at a press conference by Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS). The panel called for the blasphemy law be revised to prevent its misuse, abuse and exploitation.[6]
In November 2012, she spoke at a workshop organised by Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies for young religious scholars representing all sects of Islam and members of the Sikh, Baha’i, and Christian communities.[7]
In 2013, she was a speaker at a seminar on “Tolerance in Pakistan” held at Quaid-e-Azam University’s (QAU). The seminar urged people to speak up against the rising levels of violence and intolerance related to ethnic and religious differences in the country.[8]
External links
Oasis - mutual understanding between the Western world and the Muslim majority world
Punjab Commission on the Status of Women