Hijab is an animal rights advocate from Pakistan.
In her village rights were non-existent—for both humans and animals alike. Hijab was seven when the stray dogs in her village were poisoned, and that changed her perspective of seeing animals. She started feeding and getting them vaccinated when she was a teen. She actively organized awareness seminars about the violations of animal rights in her school. Hijab chose the legal profession because there was a dearth of animal protection laws and lawyers in Pakistan. During her second year in Bahria University as a law student she founded The Bahria University Animal Welfare Club and rescued more than 150 animals including donkeys, farm animals, dogs, cats, and snakes from pet markets, road accidents and abusive households. To foster kindness and empathy in the young generation she organized awareness seminars in universities across Rawalpindi and Islamabad on topics like “The advantages of TNVR on animal and human health”, “Why is Pakistan still governed by centuries old legislations”, “How can Gen-Z change the cruelty norms in Pakistan”. She was awarded an honorary appreciation certificate from Rector Bahria University in recognition of her efforts for animals. To extend her mission academically she made her thesis on “Pakistan’s noncompliance with International animal welfare standards under The World Organization for Animal Health, the misuse of TNVR programs and a comparative analysis with the US animal welfare legislations”. In the research, she exposed the loopholes in Pakistan’s animal welfare system and how it was still governed by centuries old legislations which failed to protect the rights of animals.
As soon as Hijab finished her bachelors, she collaborated and started working with WOOFY (Pakistan’s first animal rescue app) to continue her mission. She has worked with Environmental & Animal Rights Consultants Pakistan to raise awareness about the animal law violations in Pakistan and has assisted them in serving legal notices to authorities involved in animal abuse. She has extensively researched on the animal protection laws of Netherlands and Sweden to use them as precedent in Pakistan. She is now an enrolled advocate in Islamabad Bar and is practicing in the Islamabad District Court, where she actively advocates for the rights of Animals.