International Women Day: Lest we forget the Pakistani Women poets

… Look carefully at this impression  Above the long thighs  Above the protruding breasts  Above the raveled womb  Aqleema has a head too  (Fehmida Riaz)

The struggle for women empowerment has gone through several trials and tribulations, recently gaining an impetus due to rise of social media and thus reverberating across common conversations. In Pakistan, such a struggle dates back to the very early years led by women poets who wrote and vocally expressed their views on several occasions and platforms. Many times, their voices attracted skeptic response from male dominated literary circles and religious orthodoxy. However, that did not deter them purse their noble cause. It owes to their persistent struggle, often inviting threats due to being radical and anti-conventional in form portraying pornography- that the women oppression and empowerment transformed into a reality from a myth.

Fehmida Riaz: “A compulsive political animal who unapologetically lived her ideology” was born in what is now the Indian city of Meerut, on 26 July 1946. She was raised in the Pakistani city of Hyderabad where her father was posted around the time of the partition of India in 1947. But her literature would later cross the divide between the two countries.

In 1967, her first collection was published. Paththar Ki Zaban (Tongue of Stone) displayed early traces of a feminist consciousness. Over her second collection, Badan Dareeda (Torn Flesh), conservative literary critics accused her of writing pornography.

The intellectual trajectory of Riaz was informed by the critical, anti-colonial legacy of the Progressive Writers Movement .Her political consciousness began with a students' movement that opposed a ban on student unions imposed by the first military regime of Ayub Khan in the 1960s. she married a Sindhi Marxist who had been associated with the NAP movement and  started a political magazine called Awaz, which lasted until the PPP government was toppled. The couple were charged with sedition and treason and lived in self-imposed exile in Delhi for almost seven years until democracy returned to Pakistan.

The mastery of English, Hindi, Sindhi, Persian and some Arabic enabled her to also translate both classical Sufi and Eastern European literature into Urdu. Riaz herself was diagnosed with auto-immune syndrome last year, and since then had been living with her daughter, a doctor, in Lahore.

She received the President’s Pride of Performance award and was also recently honored by the Pakistan Academy of Letters. Her poems such as Tum bilkul ham jesay niklay and Aman ki asha would be revered forever. The book, titled Qila e Faramoshi, published in 2017, is her last work of prose. Between 2009 and 2012, she served as the chief editor of the Urdu Dictionary Board. Her last book of poetry is Tum Kabir.

This corpse belongs to a being  Who said whatever she wanted  Was never repentant, lifelong.

Do not let the authorities own my corpse.

Aqleema  Who is the sister of Cain and Abel  Their sister  But different

Different between the middle of her thighs  And in the swell of her breasts…

… Look carefully at this impression  Above the long thighs  Above the protruding breasts  Above the raveled womb  Aqleema has a head too  Sometimes Allah too should speak with Aqleema  And ask something!

Madiha Gohar: Actor, playwright, creative director Madiha Gohar was born in 1956 in Karachi and passed away on 25 April 2018 in Lahore. She was a rights activist, advocate of women empowerment and an ambassador of peace for Pakistan and India. Her vocal articulation attracted fame and admiration from across the borders.

She did masters from University of London and on return founded Ajoka Theatre in 1984. Ajoka theatre featured plays based on social themes, harmony, women rights, family, justice and humanitarianism. Due to her vision, the Theatre dared to feature subjects, skeptical in form and critical in content. The trajectory of the oral tradition of Ajoka goes beyond the conventionality i.e. highlighting  issues through plays that others would rather avoid talking about. In addition, Madiha has been part of over three dozen plays nationally and internationally in US, UK, India, Egypt and Iran. She was awarded Tamgh-e-Imtiaz in 2003 and latter, Fatima Jinnah Award in 2014. She had the honor to be the first Pakistani to receive Prince Clause Award by Netherlands in 2006 as an acknowledgment for her commitment to women rights, social cause and for withstanding pressure from political and religious establishment. She has also received significant recognition and respects from across South Asia and US for her collective efforts to empower women and “changing firmly entrenched mindsets.”

One of her most famous plays, Burqavaganza, gained significant critical limelight for satirical use of burqa as a symbol for “social and political cover-ups.”  This raised eye brows with many and was subsequently banned by the government in 2010. However, it continued to be shown internationally after English translation.

After battling cancer for 3 years, she died at age 62. She was honored by Pakistan National Council of Arts about a week later in which other renowned artists and poets participated including Kishwar Naheed, husband Shahid Nadeem and PNCA director, Jamal Shah. Jamal recalled  Madeha having worked “intensely” for human rights’ cause and using theatre for social change while her husband Nadeem current executive director of Ajoka,  paid her tribute saying his writing themes were deeply influenced by his late wife’s works: “Madiha Gohar not just swim against the tide, she turned the tide.” As director Kamlesh Kumar said: “Madeeha Ji's name will be etched in golden letters…[her] two seminal productions Dara Shikoh and Bulla will never be forgotten.” Huma Qureshi, chairperson National Commission on the Status of Women, said “Every theater play by Ajoka touched the issues of gender discrimination and violence against women and played a major role in changing the social mindsets.”

References

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1694900/4-ajoka-theatre-founder-madeeha-gohar-passes-away/

https://www.dawn.com/news/1405426/madeeha-gohar-did-not-just-swim-against-the-tide-she-turned-the-tide)

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/309011-renowned-actress-madeeha-gohar-passes-away

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/pakistani-theatre-activist-and-peace-campaigner-madeeha-gauhar-dies-aged-61/story-5IG5YD1NHSyKp0BOpCyZsI.html

http://ajoka.org.pk/news.aspx

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46362729