Amina Masood Janjua

Amina Masood Janjua, : born 28 April 1964, is a Pakistani human rights activist and artist.

She is known for highlighting enforced disappearances in Pakistan and for campaigning for the release of her husband, Masood Ahmed Janjua, who disappeared on 30 July 2005.

She is the chairperson of the rights group Defence of Human Rights Pakistan (DHR).

She provides legal support to prisoners in foreign countries, arranging financial support for the families of victims of enforced disappearance and eradication of torture from jails and detention centers.

She appears regularly on local and foreign media as the spokesperson of missing persons and occasionally contributes articles in Urdu and English dailies of the country.

Janjua was born to Shahida and Islam Akhtar Zubairi in Mardan, a city in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

She started her early education at Presentation Convent High School Risalpur (a town and air force base near Mardan) where she studied until tenth grade.

After passing her matriculation, she joined Nisar Shaheed College in Risalpur.

After two years of study in Nisar Shaheed College, she joined F.G College for Women, Rawalpindi from where she passed her BA exams with English literature, Persian, and Fine arts as majors.

As described by her in an interview, she used to draw and paint on everything she could lay her hands on since early childhood.

This talent of painting led her to Punjab University from where she graduated with a master's degree in Fine Arts, secured second position, and was awarded a silver medal.

After receiving her master's degree, Pakistan's renowned painters Mansoor Rahi and Hajira Mansoor mentored and played a vital role in polishing her painting skills.

As an artist, her favored medium is oil and acrylic paints.

Most of her paintings reflect an inclination towards expressionism and romanticism.

Portraits and life drawings are amongst her favorite genres to paint.

Her work has been exhibited.

She is married to Masood Ahmed Janjua who belongs to a military family.

Her father in law, Lieutenant Colonel (R) Raja Ali Muhammad and two elder brothers-in-law have served in the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force.

She has two sons and one daughter.

Her husband, Masood Ahmed Janjua, who was a successful businessman and ran multiple businesses, left home to go to Peshawar on 30 July 2005 along with his friend Faisal Faraz.

He never returned home nor reached his destination.

Initially, his disappearance could not be accounted for, but later, certain evidence convinced her that he had been picked up by an intelligence agency of the country.

It was further established through the statement of one Dr. Imran Munir, who remained in the custody of military, court martialled, and later released on the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

In an official statement given to the government functionaries, Dr. Imran Munir testified that he had seen and met Masood Ahmed Janjua in a secret detention centre.

Amina states that she was devastated by the disappearance of her husband and found herself disoriented for many months while desperately taking random measures to trace her husband.

Police was of no help and did not register a case.

She started to approach different power figures.

She wrote letters to anyone who she thought could help, including Gen Pervez Musharraf, an Army Chief and President of Pakistan, at that time.

All her efforts turned out to be futile as no one helped her.

Early in her struggle, she discovered that countless other people are victims of enforced disappearance, and were forced to remain silent for fear of persecution under military rule.

She started campaigning among the victims' families, co-founding the activist group named Defence of Human Rights alongside Abdul Rashid Ghazi and Khalid Khawaja.

Under its banner, she organized her activities to trace not only her husband but all the others who had disappeared.

After disappointment from all quarters, she got out of her home and staged her first road protest on 4 September 2006.

She continued this protest on a daily basis for next two months.

After two months of protesting, it was on 9 October 2006 that proceedings of the Suo Motu case of Masood Janjua along with some other missing persons started in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Her campaigning brought results, and by the end of 2006, DHR had registered and submitted one hundred cases of disappearances in the Supreme Court.

On 28 December 2006, in a bid to deliver a letter at GHQ gate, Amina was set on marching along with her kids and other families.

However, the authorities subjected them to a brutal crackdown in front of Flashman's hotel, Rawalpindi.

Children of Amina Masood Janjua were particularly targeted.

Ali, 14, and Muhammad, 15, were beaten mercilessly, and her 9-year-old daughter fainted.