The Fazaldad Human Rights Institute (FHRI) was founded on the principle that education is the most sustainable defense against violence and extremism in Pakistan. Our methodology is geared toward “changing the mindset” of society towards moderation, peace and tolerance. Our programs have an approach that is “preventive” rather than “reactive” towards abuse and oppression of the vulnerable.

Fazaldad Human rights Institute has been established in memory of the late Dr. Fazaldad Wahla, who gave his life so that another may live. In a country where the “honour” killing of women elicits little response and even fewer repercussions, Fazal gave “honour” a new meaning. He was not going to allow a young women to be murdered for some misplaced sense of flouted dignity. He refused to bow to barbarism, tried to reason with the girl’s brutalized, poverty stricken family and gave his own life so that another may live.

Born in 1962, Fazal spent his childhood and youth studying in America. An outstanding tennis player, Fazal was in his final stages of becoming an orthodontist when his father, Chaudhry Abdul Rehman Wahla, MNA passed away. Fazal stood for elections in 1989 becoming one of the youngest members of Parliament in Pakistan’s history. Subsequently he returned to America to complete his medical studies and became a practicing Orthodontist in Islamabad, where he lived with his wife and two small children aged 2 and 4 at the time of his death in 1999.