The women of FATA

I was quite pleasantly surprised when I heard of a tribal poetess gathering in Fata. It was a government sponsored event where female teachers and their students presented the poems they had written themselves. When I spoke to the teachers, I found out, again to my surprise, that they had all been writing since they were students. The sad fact was that none of them had presented their work in front of such a gathering before – there had been no opportunity for expression of this sort.

Pashtun history is filled with examples of women who played important roles in the transformation of society but we choose to ignore that history now. We are passing through a period where our personal liberties are being restricted through various means and that, I believe, has a negative effect on our creative approach. Needless to say, these restrictions create hurdles for not just women, but also men. People with creative talent are often not appreciated or outright ridiculed in our society.

At the time of the tribal poetess gathering in Fata, there was also another gathering, organised just for male poets. Many renowned people were present but they remained silent when it came to praises for the event held for the females whereas the opportunity presented to them was greatly appreciated. The situation reminded me of Ashfaq Ahmad who once said that ‘we love women but we don’t give them any respect’.

For more comparison, one could look at the urban rural divide. It is easy to point out that women in urban centres have access to their basic rights but women in rural centres don’t. People, especially women, who live far away also have no access to the women in the tribal areas (try as they might), which makes it hard for them to help those who need special attention of even those who need to express their views.

One thing was crystal clear during the events held: Women are not behind when it comes to their thoughts or work. They just don’t have enough opportunities to flourish in the areas they occupy.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th,2013.