By Dr Masuma Hasan
Slender, almost frail, with her hair down to her waist, her captivating smile and melodious voice, Parween Rahman was a legend in her lifetime. An assailant’s bullets took her life on Wednesday 13 March, 2013 as she was being driven home from work. The target killer snuffed out her life but the legend that she was will live forever. She was 56 years old.
Continue reading Parveen Rehman: The legend lives on
By Zubeida Mustafa
EDUCATION is a much talked about issue in today’s Pakistan. Unfortunately it provokes little serious thinking and even less action. I keep hoping that this talk will turn into action sooner than later. Until that happens we need to continue talking to keep the matter alive.
At the Karachi Literature Festival recently the session on education which brought a number of top-ranking educationists together was, therefore, a positive move. As could have been expected, the speakers could only touch the tip of the iceberg.
One issue that came up in the course of the discussion that followed was that of critical thinking. Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy, a very articulate example of a critical thinker, was spot on when he said that no school was teaching its students how to think — be it an elitist expensive institution or a low-fee community school. Continue reading Language and thinking
By Zubeida Mustafa
WHAT a world of contrasts we live in. We have heartwarming tidings entwined with horrible news. We have compassionate souls struggling to save lives alongside brutes who blow the life out of people.
Then we have a government that is an intriguing compound of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Its conscience is not moved when it fails to provide security to the citizens while the police force guards the privileged of the land leaving ordinary folks vulnerable to acts of terror. But this very same government becomes the first to steer the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 2013 (Thota) through the Sindh Assembly unanimously — an act of great humanity. Continue reading Times of paradoxes
By Zubeida Mustafa
Activism is action for change. And if change is to result in progress and not chaos, the process must have leadership. In Pakistan most changes that have been experienced in the lives of women have been driven by activists or in other cases they have evolved from socio-economic compulsions. By its very nature, activism has been a risky game because it seeks change that undermines the power of the upholders of the status quo. In the case of women, activism has called for greater courage because it has an impact on society as a whole and not just a narrow section.
Take the Women’s Action Forum. It was born in the Zia era which is widely acknowledged as being the period when the most anti-women laws in Pakistan’s history were enacted in the name of Islamisation. Where would have we been today had the 17 founder members of the Women’s Action Forum not reacted to the harsh judgment handed down under the Hudood Ordinances in 1981?
Hence the decade of the 1980s may be called Continue reading In letter and spirit
For Perween Rehman
By Anwar Rashid
You got scared
of an innocent fledging little bird
like all cowards
how easily scared you are
The twitter of bulbuls
the softness of the clouds
the refreshing spray of cold water
has scared you
like all cowards
how easily scared you are
You can kill one Perween
but you cannot kill
the power of an idea
what you have done
has increased commitment and courage
and sense of purpose
The light of knowledge
will continue to spread
and with it awareness
in the villages and fields
On the lips of those
who have no shoes
there will be the smile of contentment
in the dancing fields
the sound of bangles
on the cheeks of the workers
the glitter of earings
These symbols of love
are messages to the enemies of peace
listen to them cowardly assassin
for we are not alone
we are not alone
(Translated from Urdu by Arif Hasan)