In the News
Honouring the Efforts of a Pakistani Youth Activist
- 04 October 2012
LAHORE --- Muhammad Shahzad Khan, the 27-year-old founder and executive director of Chanan Development Association, told an audience of 500 in New York that young people in Pakistan are ready to make their society peaceful and progressive.
Khan is the first Pakistani and the first man to receive the International Award for the Health and Dignity of Women and Girls, awarded by Friends of UNFPA, since its introduction six years ago. According to the organization, Khan is being given the award in recognition of his efforts to mobilize and empower young people against social injustices, specifically young girls in Pakistan.
The award is expected to be presented by the UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Khan hails from a village in Bahawalpur. He was 12 when village elders told his father to marry his teenage sister to a 50-year-old man. He and his family went on a hunger strike. The wedding was called off but the family had to leave the village and settle in Lahore.
Read the full story in the Express Tribune.
