RIP Fatima Surayya Bajia

The past several months have not been very kind to Urdu literature, with writers who have served us for decades leaving this world one after the other. Pakistan has lost Intizar Hussain, Abdullah Hussain, Jamiluddin Aali and now Fatima Surayya Bajjiya, leaving not only this country, but the entire subcontinent much poorer. These were all towering literary personalities, who possessed deep intellect and great insight into society.

With Bajia’s departure on February 10, a glorious chapter in Pakistani drama has come to a close. After a prolonged fight with cancer, she died at 85, leaving behind numerous works that have lived through the decades. Bajia gave us some of the best plays of Pakistan Television (PTV) history, such as Aroosa, Shama, Afshan, Ana and Aagahi. Before the advent of television, she also wrote scripts for radio and worked not only as a playwright, but also as an activist and author. Her contributions to Pakistani culture and literature were invaluable.

Bajia is said to have written nearly 300 plays, focusing particularly on women, children, history and culture — areas in which works have increasingly become a rarity in Pakistani drama. Having lived a difficult life, raising nine siblings on her own, she was able to communicate social complexities in her plays in ways that everyone could relate to. As one of the pioneering playwrights of PTV, Bajia was a source of inspiration to many, not just for her work as a writer, but also because she led the way for other women to come into the field of drama. She courageously weathered all the odds that accompany being a professional woman in Pakistan. While tributes have poured in for Bajia from the heads of different political parties, the prime minister and the president — and it is heartening to see her services recognised by all — it would be an even greater tribute not to let literature and culture die with the death of our great writers, poets and dramatists. The importance of quality fiction and drama cannot be overstated in these times and it is hoped that the state helps build institutions that foster the work our intellectuals stood for.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2016.

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