Faiz festival: Women defied taboos to fight opposition

Writers and activists celebrate women’s struggle

LAHORE: “Women speakers in the sub-continent have always struggled for the freedom of expression and equal rights,” activist Fouzia Saeed said on Friday.

She was moderating a session, titled Hum Bazm-i-Jahan ki Ronaq Hayn, on the second day of the Faiz International Festival. The speakers, including Zahida Hina, Fehmida Riaz, Mariam Ortt Saeed, Salima Hashmi and Khawar Mumtaz, paid tributes to the women who had struggled for the political and social rights of Pakistani women.

“Women like Sabeen Mehmood, Tahira Mazhar Ali and Asma Jahangir have strived hard to protect women’s rights,” Saeed said. She said that during military dictatorships, creative expression remained a taboo for the artists. Saeed said Khawar Mumtaz’s work had given rise to the struggle for the rights of peasant women and fisherwomen.

Salima Hashmi said that when she was a 16 years old, her mother had asked her not to marry someone out of their culture. “I asked her why she had married someone out of her culture. She replied, ‘That’s why I am asking you… I don’t want you to face the problems that I faced.”

Hashmi said that a couple of years before Faiz’s death, someone had asked him if he still had some hope. “He said yes. I have hope in Pakistan’s women because they are not the part of the rat-race,” Hashmi said.

“We have seen obstacles but when Naheed Siddiqui danced during the times of oppression, I felt that we all danced.” She recalled Iqbal Bnao’s singing Hum Daikhein Gay at the Arts Council in 1985. “People were so moved that one could hear the audience shouting slogans against the dictatorship,” she said.

“The next morning Bano called me saying that she couldn’t sleep all night for the applause she had received,” Hashmi said.

Activist Khawar Mumtaz said gender roles were not clear at her home. “When my mother taught me knitting… my brothers, too, were told to learn it.” Mumtaz said her maternal grandfather had challenged the norms and stood for women’s rights.

Writer Rakhshanda Jalil said women during the last century had contributed a lot towards securing women’s rights. “I rediscovered the works of Rasheed Jahan. She wrote a novel in 1887 that was not published for 10 years… she talked about equal opportunities,” Jalil said. She said in Qafas ki chirya, Abbasi Begum had used a metaphoric bird to depict her own life. Jalil also talked about Zaibun Nisa Hameedullah who used to publish a style magazine. Jalil said her editorials were a nightmare for Ayub Khan.

Writer Fehmida Riaz said she had started an NGO, Waada, for women’s rights. “When I compared the imagery of women in the work of high-profile male writers, I realised that Faiz Ahmed Faiz has described woman in a very empowering manner.”

“Progressive writers were better in this regard but Faiz was matchless. When I wrote Baddan Darreda I faced opposition from several writers in the progressive movement. They thought I was not supposed to write about sexual oppression of women,” Riaz said.

Riaz said Fatima Jinnah had spearheaded a movement by woman. Rana Liaquat Ali had tried to empower women economically through APWA (All Pakistan Women’s Association). Riaz also read a couple of her poems. Khawar Mumtaz termed Sultana’s Dream by Rokeya Sakhawat as an unforgettable piece with reversed gender roles.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2015.