As Bangladesh’s only known woman rickshaw wallah, Mosammat Jasmine may be a feminist icon but to the passengers she cycles around the streets of Chittagong, she is known as “Crazy Auntie”.

“I do it to make sure my sons don’t go hungry and they get a decent education at a good school,” says the mother of three as she takes a break at Chittagong bus station.

“Allah has given me a pair of hands and legs to work with. I don’t beg – instead I earn a living by using his gifts,” she adds.

Muslim-majority Bangladesh is one of Asia’s most conservative societies where the concept of a woman doing such a job had been unheard of before Jasmine hit the road five years ago.

Left to fend for three young children when her husband ran off with another woman, Jasmine initially tried her hand at being a maid and then working in one of Bangladesh’s garment factories but found neither job suited her.

“A maid’s job is good if you only have to worry about yourself but not if you’ve got children. And the factory work is really back-breaking and the pay is really poor,” the 45-year-old explains.

Struggling to make ends meet and determined to pay for her children’s education, she decided on her radical career change when a neighbour who owned a rickshaw offered to lend it to her for a few days.

Working out how to navigate the streets of Bangladesh’s second city was the easy part although she did find it painful at times to peddle her brightly-coloured tricycle up some of its hilly neighbourhoods.

But finding willing passengers proved a stiffer challenge.

“Initially, many simply refused to get on board and some taunted me, saying I was doing a man’s job,” she recalls.

“Others told me that Islam does not permit a woman to roam around like this while there were some who refused to pay me the same fare as a male driver,” Jasmine says, before adding: “I stuck to my guns as who else pays my bills, who is else is going to cover the cost of educating my sons?”

On average she earns 600 taka ($8) a day for an eight hour shift on the rickshaw, part of which she pays as rent to the rickshaw owner.

She works seven days a week.

Now a familiar sight on the streets of the bustling port city, she has won the respect of her colleagues.

As she parked up by the bus station, she exchanged smiles and greetings with around a dozen male drivers.

Since switching last year to a battery-run electric rickshaw, the work has become a little less arduous but she is still an inspiration to many.

Young people are particularly keen to flag her down, drawn in part by the loud music that blares from the speakers on “Pagli Khala’s” (the Crazy Auntie’s) vehicle.

Despite the growing acceptance, Jasmine – who is a practising Muslim – says she still faces taunts by people who question her faith.

“I don’t listen to them,” she said. “My sons need their education and so I’ll do my best to ensure that for as long as I live.”

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said, while speaking at an international conference, that measures such as the recent travel ban imposed by United States on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries is not beneficial in the fight against terrorism but is fueling it further.

Asif was speaking in a panel discussion, titled ‘Countering Radical Extremism and Terrorism’, at the three-day-long Munich Security Conference 2017, where he denounced the term “Islamic terrorism”, adding that terrorism should not be associated with any religion.

“I have heard the term Islamic terrorism maybe a dozen times today. President Trump uses it quite frequently,” the defence minister said.

“With all due respect, with all humility on my disposal, this ban on seven states, whatever perceptions the US has, has not helped the fight against terrorism.”

“If the policies of the west are going to be isolationist or exclusive, it won’t help the fight against terrorism, it will fuel terrorism,” he added.

“Terrorists aren’t Christians or Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus. They are terrorists, they are criminals,” Asif said, adding that branding terrorism as “Islamic terrorism” fuels Islamophobia and adds to the problem.

Read Also: Trump travel ban targeted ‘terrorists’ not Syrian people, Assad says

Asif on terrorism and refugees

Commenting on concerns relating to hosting refugees, he said “Europeans and the US feel threatened” by the incoming wave of refugees as they fear their political system would be “destabilised”.

“We are states that are handicapped by our bad economies, our law and order situations and meager resources, but we are fighting,” said Asif while comparing Pakistan’s situation with other countries.

He said that Pakistan has spent around $2 billion (S$2.9 billion) on fighting terrorism and has suffered more than 60,000 casualties, adding that regardless of the challenges, the country successfully repatriated 650,000 refugees that were there for more than three decades.

“This is something that can be replicated,” the defence minister said, adding a conducive environment must be created to allow the refugees to return to their homes.

“But that is not possible for Syrians, Iraqis or the Libyans,” he added.

The defence minister further said if a country such as Pakistan can house refugees over a period of more than three decades “without any substantial aid from outside”, others can too.

He reiterated that an inclusive approach to fighting terrorism is essential, adding that the situation that displaced a person must be considered.

“One must audit and account whether these interventions have produced peace in our regions or whether these interventions have been counter-productive,” the defence minister added.

Asif called out the United States for welcoming the peace agreement between the Afghan government and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, “who was declared the butcher of Kabul and was branded as a terrorist”, saying the “dichotomy” is bothersome.

He said that the “contradiction lies with the west”, adding that it “glorified” terrorists, and “revered the jihad” in past conflicts.

“We were proxies for that war and now we are paying the price and being labelled as Islamic terrorists,” Asif added.

“Pakistan is a front-line state in this war and it will continue to fulfil its obligations to its own people,” he said while giving an assurance to the the international community of Pakistan’s effort to curb terrorism.

West responds to criticism against ‘Islamic terrorism’

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said there is a need to establish “democratic Islam”, saying it is “perhaps, too late” to separate religion from terrorism as “terrorists claim themselves as Muslims”.

Maizière added that though he understood the concerns of Pakistan’s defence minister, he said that doing away with the term would make people say countries are “hiding the real background”.

Echoing his sentiments, former French minister who had testified regarding the Paris attacks, Arnaud Monte­bourg said that while it is “absurd” to say “all Muslims are potential terrorists… it is absurd to not want to see a direct link between the use of one religion and the use of violence”.

Monte­bourg said, “In this fight, we’re going to need everybody. But in order to get everybody on board, let us not close our eyes to the reality”.

The minister said that “there is very much of a link” between terrorism and religion.

“The reality is not all Muslims are terrorists… but all terrorists today are Muslims, and they claim to be better Muslims than you,” Monte­bourg further stated.

Read Also: Apple’s Tim Cook on Trump’s travel ban: Steve Jobs was the son of an immigrant

‘Tighter, more streamlined’ travel ban coming up

Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, elaborating on President Trump’s travel ban said that the screening process of travellers complies with all “personal privacy rules”.

Kelly said that there is a “sophisticated vetting process” which looks at data such as the travel dates, itinerary information of the tickets, baggage and method of payment.

“It does not include race, religion, health information or political affiliation,” Kelly added, saying that next week, President Trump will be “releasing a tighter, more streamlined version of the first Executive Order” to avoid problems for people travelling overseas that occurred last month.

When asked about people travelling to the US with valid visas or a green card, Kelly said, “If they are in motion from a distant land to the United States, when they arrive, they would be allowed in.”

He said that a system will be in place to make sure that “people on the other end do not get on an airplane, but if they’re on an airplane and inbound, they’ll be allowed in the country.”

The story of a Pakistani born woman, who survived the war in the Gulf, lived as a refugee in the desert and then went on to become a part of NASA is definitely heart-warming.

Hibah Rahmani is a rocket engineer at NASA and her tale serves as a role model to girls all over the world, that no matter how bleak things appear at times, they have it within themselves to defy all odds and break stereotypes.

Background

Rahmani was born in Pakistan. Her family moved to Kuwait when she was barely a month old. She spent a peaceful childhood in the Arabian Gulf, until war broke out between Iraq and Kuwait in the early 90s.

“My fondest memory growing up is taking walks with my family at night, either in the desert or on the sidewalk by the Arabian (Persian) Gulf, looking up at the sky to admire the moon and stars, and thinking about astronauts such as Neil Armstrong who have stepped on the moon,” she said. “It was around this time I developed a passion for science, space and astronomy.”

However, those memories came to an end when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 and she had to flee with her family to no man’s land near the Iraq-Jordan border. They reached at night and the camp was out of tents. Her family had to spend the nights under an open sky in the desert.

While that time was characterised by misery and hardships for her and her family, it was also the start of something pure – her newfound love for stars.

“Even though this was a tough time for us, one of the things I remember from that night was having a nice view of the sky with the golden moon and stars, while trying to sleep on the cold desert sand. It reminded me of my goals and dreams.”

After a brief stay in Jordan, she travelled with her mother and sister to Pakistan. Her father was in the US at the time of the invasion but the family got reunited back in Pakistan. This incident served as the catalyst for her newfound dream, and she was determined to make it to where she can take her study of stars further – NASA.

Educational Background

The US-led coalition brought an end to the Gulf War and a ceasefire was signed in February 1991. Rahmani moved back to Kuwait with her family and decided to become an engineer.

After completing high school in Kuwait, she moved to the US in 1997 and completed her bachelor’s in computer engineering at the University of Central Florida (UCF). After graduating in 2000, she started working for Boeing as a systems engineer for the International Space Station (ISS).

“I was involved with integrated testing of the ISS components and sometimes astronauts would stop by to either view or participate in the testing,” Rahmani said.

“It is during this time that I developed a strong desire to become an astronaut and started taking steps toward that goal.”

This led her to complete a more advanced degree, this time a masters in electrical and computer engineering from Georgia Tech between 2002 and 2005.

Career in NASA

In 2008, Rahmani accepted her current position at NASA’s Engineering and Technology Directorate at Kennedy.

“I support NASA’s Launch Services Program, working on expendable launch vehicles such as the Pegasus XL and Falcon 9,” she said.

“I provide technical expertise, follow launch vehicle testing, perform data reviews and provide technical assessments of engineering issues.”

Pegasus is the Orbital Science Corp’s rocket used for launching payloads while the Falcon 9 is a SpaceX launch vehicle used to boost the Dragon spacecraft to the space station for resupply missions.

Hibah says “The happiest and most exciting moment of my job is to watch a rocket take off from the launch pad and go into space.”

Her strong passion for her work is evident from her voluntary public affairs activities to inspire others. She says “I love to inspire others. I speak to students at local schools about my career and have volunteered as a science fair judge.”

She also provides real-time updates to NASA’s LSP Twitter and Facebook accounts during launch countdowns when she is not providing engineering support to the mission staff.

Her Message

“I have the privilege of working with an amazing team, while doing what I love,” she says. Her key to success is that she sets some very high goals.

“The experiences of my life have taught me to always dream big and to never give up, because you can achieve whatever you want if you work hard.”

She asks the youth, especially girls, to “stay focused and dream big.” That is the philosophy she followed ever since she fell in love with the stars in a desolate Jordanian desert.

This article originally appeared on ProPakistani and has been reproduced with permission.