What if Ajmal Kasab had been weaned away from extremism and violence long before he landed on the shores of Mumbai? What if someone spoke to him, shown him the error of his ways and helped him receive job training?
One woman in Pakistan does just that. She tries to prevent other Ajmal Kasab’s from destroying lives.
Mossarat Qadeem saves not only individual lives; she saves families. Working directly with mothers of radicalized youths, using her skill as a communicator and her detailed knowledge of the Quran, she rescues young men— including potential suicide bombers — who are being exploited by extremists.
Afterwards, she ensures they receive job training and education and helps them with the difficult process of reintegrating into their communities. Her calm demeanor cannot disguise her lifelong passion for reaching out to others to build trust and reduce violence. To broaden her outreach, Ms. Qadeem founded PAIMAN Alumni Trust, a nonprofit group promoting sociopolitical and economic empowerment of marginalized Pakistanis.
With PAIMAN, she established the country’s first center for conflict transformation and peacebuilding, which has helped thousands of young people and women across the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Khyber Pukhtunkwa province to prevent and resolve conflict. Ms. Qadeem is also the national coordinator of Aman-o-Nisa, a coalition of women leaders throughout Pakistan striving to moderate violent extremism and promote understanding among diverse ethnic, religious, and political groups.
To all her work, Ms. Qadeem brings the knowledge and experience she acquired during her 14 years as a political science teacher at the University of Peshawar, where she also served as assistant director of the Women’s Study Centre. She now works across South Asia on women’s political participation and conflict transformation, and developed her own training materials on these themes.
She was one of the key speakers at the Women’s Economic Forum held in Panaji.
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