Category Archives: Notable Personalities

Memories: Tributes to Naushaba Burney

General, Guest Contributor, Notable Personalities, Women

The Children’s Literature Festival in Karachi ended on Saturday 26 Feb 2016. Where were you Naushaba? We used to be the two “senior juniors” in this event ever since it was launched by Baela Raza Jamil in 2011. We travelled together to Lahore, Islamabad, and Quetta and enjoyed the company of the youth. This time it was lonely without you.Your family and friends miss you. Here is how they remember you.(ZM)

OUR MOTHER WHO WANTED TO BE THE BEST … AND WAS

With daughters and granddaughter

By Samya Burney on behalf of her siblings

AMMA always worked when we were kids as she enjoyed the stimulation and also needed the money.  However, she worked part-time for quite a while when we were young so that she could balance her career and time with us. She finally decided to go back to working full-time when she accepted a job at PIA, writing speeches for the chairman as well as articles for Humsafar, among other things. Continue reading Memories: Tributes to Naushaba Burney →

My friend Naushaba

Education, General, Media, Notable Personalities

 

NaushabaBy Zubeida Mustafa

SHE was a fellow traveller in our journey in journalism and before long we became friends. That was Naushaba Burney whose death last week has robbed many of us of a valuable supporter who infused moral strength in us during critical times. She began her career as a teacher, and as good teachers do, she knew the art of bringing out the best in those she interacted with.I can’t even recall the first time I met her. She seems to have been around in the wide and colourful canvas of friends I have cherished all my life. Having launched on her professional career before I did she had already made a mark and was recognised for her talent. After graduating in journalism from Berkeley in the 1950s, she began teaching at the University of Karachi. Although she left the University after a few years at heart she remained a teacher forever. Continue reading My friend Naushaba →

Unsilenced voice

Culture and the Arts, Development and Poverty, Economy, Environment, Housing, Human Rights, Justice, Law & Order, Notable Personalities, Perween Rahman, Social Issues, Terrorism and Violence

By Zubeida Mustafa

JAN 22 was Perween Rahman’s birthday. Had she escaped the assassin’s cruel bullets she would have turned 59. But that was not to be and this devoted social worker, a friend of the poor, was snatched away from us three years ago on March 13, 2013.

Not that she has receded into oblivion. The poor are not ungrateful. Nor have those who feared her mended their ways. OPP-RTI, the organisation she headed, wanted to observe Perween’s birthday and celebrate her life and achievements. Such events help imprint on the public memory the work of selfless and lovable personalities who have made an impact on the lives of those they worked for. Thus alone will many Perweens be born. This is absolutely necessary if this society is to be saved from the avarice of the selfish. Continue reading Unsilenced voice →

Remembering Najma Sadeque

Development and Poverty, Economy, Guest Contributor, Human Rights, Labour, Notable Personalities, Social Issues, Women

Najma

By Deneb Sumbal Sadeque

guest-contributorDear Mum’s friends, peers and colleagues,
On this day, last year my mother, Najma Sadeque, left us so unexpectedly. Losing a parent is always hard, but losing a mother like her is impossible to describe. You feel a huge vacuum and yet feel her strong presence. Someone who didn’t just leave an example for me, but for so many others who reminiscence often. She is still missed by those who loved and revered her. Continue reading Remembering Najma Sadeque →

Turning point

Children and Youth, Culture and the Arts, Information, Media, Notable Personalities, Social Issues
Teenaz with her husband
Teenaz with her husband

By Zubeida Mustafa

Every journalist has a story to tell. Teenaz Javat, by blood Indian, by bond Pakistani, by choice Canadian as she describes herself, and by profession a journalist, also has a story to tell.  I ask her which story she wrote that gave her a sense of achievement. She speaks of ‘Turning Point,’ a story on domestic violence in the South Asian community in Toronto .

This was co-produced by her for CBC Radio. She was the lead researcher. The programme discussed several high-profile domestic murders of South Asian women. Her programme created quite a stir and it led to the Toronto police convening a conference to discuss violence in South Asian communities. Teenaz says, “I was really happy that something I did on radio had made such a big impact on the community.”  She even won the prestigious Ontario Premier’s Award in 2011 for the story.

Good journalists must be rooted in the community about which they report. A media person who does not know and understand the men and women who are central to her stories can never be the best. Always aware of this truism, I would often marvel at a young woman who I met in my colleague’s office soon after she had joined Dawn in 1994, where I worked. Continue reading Turning point →