Anarkali Kaur Honaryar () is a

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

Afghan Afghan or Afgan may refer to: Related to Afghanistan *Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. She is also a women's rights activist and a

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental doctor, dental physician, dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry, the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. The dentist's supporting team aids in provi ...

, as well as a medical doctor. There were only about 30,000

Sikhs Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Sikh'' ...

and

Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

in Afghanistan, Anarkali Kaur Honaryar is one of them. She is the first non-Muslim member of

National Assembly of Afghanistan The National Assembly (, ), also known as the Parliament of Afghanistan or simply as the Afghan Parliament, was the legislature of Afghanistan in various forms from the monarchy, republican, communist and liberal democratic periods between 1931 ...

Career

When the Taliban was ousted in 2001, Honaryar studied medicine at the

Kabul University Kabul University (KU; ) is one of the major and oldest institutions of higher education in Afghanistan. It is in the 3rd District of the capital Kabul near the Ministry of Higher Education. It was founded in 1931 by King Mohammed Nadir Shah, wh ...

. She has been a member of the

Loya Jirga A jirga (, ''jərga'') is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of other ethnic groups who ...

which chose

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

's interim government after the fall of the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

regime, and also an Afghan Constitution Committee member. In 2006, she became a member of

Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) (Dari: کمیسیون مستقل حقوق بشر افغانستان, ) is a national human rights institution that was created during the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, dedicated to the promo ...

. In 2010, Honaryar was elected to the country's

Meshrano Jirga The House of Elders or Mesherano Jirga (), was the upper house of the bicameral National Assembly of Afghanistan, alongside the lower House of the People (Wolesi Jirga). It was effectively dissolved when the Taliban seized power on 15 August ...

, and was the first non-Muslim woman to achieve the milestone, she left her post in mid-2015. On 22 August 2021, she came to India along with the Indians rescued by Indian forces from Afghanistan amid the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in 2021.

Awards and honors

Honaryar is a well-known human rights activist and has been awarded with the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence "for her work helping women who suffer from domestic abuse, forced marriages and gender discrimination and for her commitment to promote the ideals of human dignity, human rights, mutual respect and tolerance in her country." Honaryar was also chosen by Radio Free Europe's Afghan chapter as person of the year in 2009.

References

21st-century Afghan women politicians 21st-century Afghan politicians Afghan Sikhs Civil rights activists Living people Afghan women's rights activists Afghan people of Punjabi descent Kabul University alumni Afghan human rights activists Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the House of Elders (Afghanistan) {{Sikh-bio-stub