Activists appeal to Imran Khan over human rights campaigner forced into hiding for protesting rape and murder of 11-year-old

An internationally honoured human rights activist in Pakistan has been forced into hiding after demanding action over the notorious rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.

Gulalai Ismail has been charged with sedition under anti-terrorism laws after taking part in protests to highlight the reportedly hapless response of the authorities to the killing last month of Farishta Mohmand, whose body was found in woodland near the family’s home in Islamabad. Reports say the family had to badger police for five days before they even filed a missing persons report.

In a speech in the nation’s capital, Ms Ismail, 31, called on police and security agencies to more to protect citizens, in particular members of the Pashtun minority to which both she and the child belong. In the last decade, Pashtuns have borne the bulk of the much of the violence and terror perpetrated in the nation’s north west by the Taliban and other extremists.

“The militarisation, religious fundamentalism and brutalisation of society as a result of the war economy has destroyed the social fabric of our society,” she tweeted after Farishta was killed. “War economy has snatched humanity out of this society. There has been a startling increase in sexual abuse and murders of children thanks to the brutalisation of society.”

She added: “Let us not forget it was extremely difficult for the family of Farishta to register [a case] and get a post-mortem done because they were internally displaced people from Mohmand. [The] war economy is responsible for their displacement and poverty.”

Ms Ismail’s sister, Saba Ismail, who helped found Aware Girls, an NGO working for peace and community development when they were both teenagers, this week lobbied the UN in New York for help, and spoke to Pramila Patten, the special representative on sexual violence in conflict.

“We are very concerned for her,” Ms Ismail told The Independent, saying she last spoke to her sister a month ago. She said the family had been harassed and its home raided by the security forces. “My sister has gone into hiding.”

Ms Ismail, who was born and grew up in the remote community of Swabi, two years ago delivered a powerful TED speech in which she revealed how up until the age of 16, she wanted to become a jihadist. In this conservative city, she said, there were posters trying to recruit both young boys and girls to become “martyrs” either in Afghanistan or Kashmir.

“It was glamorous,” she said, saying her community was taught the life awaiting a martyr after their death was far more significant than life on earth.

The person who stopped her, she said, was her father, Muhammad Ismail, who had no interest in the extremists’ jihad “but believed in peace”. At the age of 16, she started Aware Girls, a group that worked to help young women.

One of those who attended one the group’s programmes in 2011 was Malala Yousafzai, who in 2012 narrowly escaped with her life after being shot by the Taliban in the Swat Valley, apparently in retaliation for promoting girls’ education. Ms Yousafzai, 21, went on to study at Oxford University.

Ms Ismail has received a number of awards for her work, among them the Anna Politkovskaya Award, named for the Russian journalist murdered in 2006.

In an open letter demanding Ms Ismail’s protection, a group of women activists including Mariana Katzarova of Reach All Women in War, Binalakshmi Nepram of the Northeast India Women Initiative for Peace and Jaana Rehnstrom of the the Kota Alliance, called on the government of Imran Khan to ensure her safety. The letter has been passed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

“Gulalai has been a beacon of hope to many women, girls and youth in her community, whose voices could not be heard,” they wrote. “She is a brave voice whose work any country and the world should be proud of.”

Omar Waraich, deputy South Asia director at Amnesty International. said the Pakistani authorities’ "harassment, threats and intimidation of Gulalai Ismail and her family must end". "Instead of addressing the alarming human rights situation in the country, they are expending their energy and resources on trying to silence human rights defenders,” he added.

The charging of Ms Ismail comes almost a year after Pakistanis elected Mr Khan, 66, a former cricketing hero, as the country’s prime minister. He had campaigned to tackle corruption and create a “new Pakistan”.

Ms Katzarova said: “The sign of new Pakistan would be when women human rights defenders like Gulalai are safe and protected with the full backing by the State and it’s law enforcement and justice authorities, instead of persecuting them and threatening their lives.”

There was no immediate response from Pakistan’s foreign ministry, Mr Khan’s office or the ministry for human rights. Ms Patten’s office confirmed the special representative met with Ms Ismail’s sister but said “the nature of the conversation is confidential”.