Zenith Irfan is Pakistan’s first Muslim female solo bike rider. With a borrowed 125cc Honda, her first long-distance journey took her on a 3,200-kilometers adventure from Lahore through North Pakistan and up to the Khunjerab Pass which borders China. Honoring the love of freedom embodied by her deceased father, Ms. Irfan learned to ride by her younger brother along with the encouragement of her mother.
Since Ms. Irfan’s first blog post in 2015, her Facebook page 1 Girl, 2 Wheels has accumulated over 32,000 followers and her Instagram is almost 11K. In April of 2018, a film inspired by her story, Motorcycle Girl was released starring one of Pakistan’s leading actresses, Sohai Ali Abro. The Quint says that Ms. Irfan’s accomplishments show “the world that Pakistani Muslim women aren’t invisible in society.”
As Ms. Irfan tells The Quint, “I’m showcasing to the people as a Pakistani woman who is Muslim, because my country has been portrayed in a very negative light in the global media for many years. Through my motorcycle journey, I’m living and fulfilling my father’s legacy and telling the world that Pakistan is a safe place to travel to because if I, as a woman, can do it, then they can too.”
