Daily Times

Ah! The days people, WOMEN, did come out 2 fight for justice ?? Us children of that generation, learned how to shout out slogans for human rights from the best!

From Tahira Mazhar Ali, Nigar Ahmad, Asma Jehangir, Salima Hashmi, Nighat Khan, Lalarukh, Deep Apa, Nuscie Jamil, Samina Bano Rahman, Ghazala Rahman, Sherry Rehman Sheema Kermani, Samina Ahmed Jugnu Mohsin, Madeeha Gohar, Fareeda Shaheed, Khawar Mumtaz, Qamar Sultana, Zarina Baloch. From Poets such as Fehmida Riaz, Saeeda Gazdar, Zahida Hina and Attiya Dawood, Zehra Nigah. Singers like Iqbal bano, Madam Nurjehan, Farida Khanam, Abida Parveen…

And so many many more women.

I remember as a child the protests. The sit ins. All day all night. The lathi charges. Women being dragged off in front of me and thrown into police mobiles. Beaten by police sticks. But not stopping. Not silencing themselves for a second. Hurricanes of truth.

The silence today is all the more deafening. The complacency chilling. Because some of us grew up around women who fought like that, fearlessly, for our rights, out loud, in the front, without fear, with dignity, pride, grace and with no agenda other than the right to be free, respected, with no agenda except human rights.

A salute to all those fantastic women. And to the men who fought by their sides. And a prayer for those still fighting, unheard. And those to come.

Published in Daily Times, April 26^th 2018.