By Zubeida Mustafa
IN her poignant collection of poetry, Ojagiyal Akhiyun ja Sapna (‘Dreams of Waking Eyes’), Amar Sindhu, a professor of philosophy at the Sindh University, writes of the ‘Ideal Woman’ (aadarshi aurat) and warns her that to move with society she will have to toss away her dreams and idealism like “gand kichre ain faltoo saamaan” (garbage and waste goods).
It is a sad but true observation for International Women’s Day ( March 8 ) that after decades of struggle for emancipation and empowerment, we still have women in Pakistan who are denied their dreams — especially if they don’t conform to society’s mores. Age is no consideration. Even innocent baby girls if they are unwanted have their lives snuffed out at birth. Continue reading Who are the killers?
Forty odd years have gone by since those dark days that I spent in the Murapara internment camp in newly created Bangladesh, with my mother and sister, not knowing where my father and brothers were. It still hurts. It still makes me nauseous. How is it that something so beyond one’s control can take over, destroy, and mar life forever? I was never given a chance to say, ‘I was born here, this is my land, do not take it away from me.’