The sit-ins at Constitution Avenue continue to face controversy but the gatherings have proved to be a perfect ground for children who wish to become eminent speakers in future as there are countless possibilities for them to enhance their oratory skills by practicing in public.
In the absence of the ‘big ‘boys’, children take the stage and move the crowds with a firm grip over their speeches, equipped with couplets of the poet of the east—Allama Iqbal.
When eight-year-old Urooj Fatima took the stage on Tuesday, people started gathering around the young girl with perplexed expressions.
Fatima started her speech with the couplet: “Nahin Hai Na-Umeed Iqbal Apni Kisht-e-Weeran Se, Zara Nam Ho To Ye Mitti Bohat Zarkhaiz Hai Saqi”
This led listeners to stand on their toes to have a glance at the young speaker who was urging people to stay united for the revolution. “I’m speechless,” said a young girl who stopped by the stage after hearing Fatima’s speech through loudspeakers. “Look at her age and her confidence,” she said.
Wearing a headband and an armband of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), Fatima highlighted issues being discussed and debated for over three weeks: crime, corruption, mismanagement and revolution. “Just look at the transparency of the system,” she said, “not a single murderer has been punished so far. We have been enduring everything since June 17.”
While declaring the sit-in as a new chapter in the history of Pakistan, she stirred emotions of audiences when she referred to the Punjab chief minister and Prime Minister as “Takht-e-Lahore Kay Badshah”, and asked them to quit their offices.
The force behind Fatima’s words and sentences was her parents. They write, she along with her two other sisters, Areej Ayesha, 7, and Ehraj Amna, 6, learn it by heart and they listen it before it is delivered in public. “She took only two days to deliver the speech,” said her father, Ameer Awan, who came from Hasanabdal and is a principal at the Minhaj Model School in his area.
Commenting on their names — Urooj, Areej and Ehraj —Awan said he along with his wife has planned everything for the girls ranging from their names to their profession. Fatima wishes to be a doctor, Areej a pilot and Ehraj a lawyer, the girls revealed. Awan claimed the girls were pretty clear about the concept of the speeches they make in public and everyone was free to discuss the content with them to verify the claims.
As Fatima left the stage, it was her sisters’ turn to master their skills as they started addressing people outside their tent-turned home. It took only a couple of minutes before people stopped by to listen to the three sisters.
Awan said delivering a speech on stage with confidence was possible because of ‘the organisational atmosphere’ of the sit-in which provides ample opportunities for grooming.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 10th, 2014.
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