Karishma Ali

Karishma Ali (c.1997) is a footballer and the first girl from her hometown of Chitral, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, to represent Pakistan at national and international levels. In 2016, Ali represented Pakistan at the Jubilee Games held in Dubai and was part of the first Pakistani women's team to participate in the Australian Football League International Cup in 2017. She is also the founder of Chitral Women's Sports Club.

In 2019, she was listed in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia List, where young people are chosen for innovation and entrepreneurship. Ali walked the Milan Fashion Week in 2019 when Haitian-Italian designer Stella Jean collaborated with craftswomen from a handicraft center had Ali founded to create designs, incorporating cultural elements from Chitrali and Kalash cultures.

Life Karishma Ali generated an interest in football at an early age. She used to watch football matches with her father which captured her attention and she started falling in love with the sport. In Chitral, Karishma did not have the facilities to become a professional footballer, however, her father; a sports enthusiast, wanted her to become part of the sport. When she moved to the city at 15, she received her first professional football training.

Career In 2016, Karishma got the opportunity to represent Pakistan by becoming a part of the international football team playing for Jubilee games in Dubai. The team won a silver medal in the games. and Forbes, for her philanthropic work.

Chitral Women's sports club After coming back from the Jubilee games in 2016, Ali says she was inspired to work for the underprivileged people of her hometown and she started arranging football training camps for girls schools. Initially, the week long camp was intended for 10 girls, but after a positive response, the camp catered 70 girls. The training sessions were arranged in the mountains with a few volunteers, to provide a safe place for the girls to play.

Karishma's initiative was recognized by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the handicrafts were featured in Milan fashion show as well. a platform led by the Prime Minister. The council is composed of selected youth from the country who are tasked to lead and make decisions for the youth of Pakistan.

CYSOM 2019, Brunei Karishma Ali was selected for Commonwealth Youth Senior Officials Meeting in Brunei, where she represented Pakistan. The event was attended by youth leaders from Asia. The participants of the meeting discussed the various country-specific challenges and opportunities in implementing youth policies in the region.

Forbes 30 under 30 Ali was featured in Forbes 30 under 30, 2019, sports and entertainment category. According to Forbes: "Karishma Ali of Chitral, Pakistan is the first girl from her hometown to have played football at a national and international level. She has represented Pakistan at the Jubilee Games in Dubai, and her team was the first women's team from Pakistan to participate in the AFL International Cup. Ali is also the founder of the Chitral Women's Sports Club."

Collaboration with Stella Jean

In 2019, Haitian-Italian designer Stella Jean traveled to Pakistan as part of her collection Laboratory of Nations, where the designer aimed to bridge a gap between Italy and nine of its mission destinations, one of which was Pakistan. The aim was to promote United Nations' Strategic Development Goals and empower women from rural areas. '

Criticism Karishma's achievement as a female footballer was met with much curiosity and criticism from the public. There were speculations that Karishma was not from Chitral but from some big city where she was able to achieve her milestone. In an interview, Karishma revealed the backlash she received when she made her mark as the first female footballer from Chitral. She received hatred and criticism on the social media and allegedly received threats for herself and her family to stop her from continuing as a footballer, to which Karishma said:" I understand because I was the first female footballer from the place, so I understand why people went against me. But I wasn’t expecting it to be at that level. I didn’t think that I would receive so much hate, and especially when it kept going on for months and months." Karishma was also criticized for not acting according to the culture of the society.