Pakistan strikes back against Taliban with burqa-clad female superhero

Wonder Woman and Supergirl now have a Pakistani counterpart in the pantheon of female superheroes – one who shows a lot less skin.

Meet Burka Avenger: a mild-mannered teacher with secret martial arts skills who uses a flowing black burqa to hide her identity as she fights local thugs seeking to shut down the girls’ school where she works.

Sadly, it’s a battle with which Pakistanis are all too familiar in the real world.

The Taliban have blown up hundreds of schools and attacked activists in Pakistan’s north-west because they oppose girls’ education. The militants sparked worldwide condemnation last October when they shot 15-year-old schoolgirl activist Malala Yousafzai in the head in an unsuccessful attempt to kill her.

Action in the Burka Avenger cartoon series, which is scheduled to start running on Geo TV in early August, is much more lighthearted. The bungling villains evoke more laughter than fear and are no match for the Burka Avenger, undoubtedly the first south Asian ninja who wields books and pens as weapons.

The Urdu-language show is the brainchild of one of Pakistan’s biggest pop stars, Aaron Haroon Rashid – known to many as simply Haroon – who conceived of it as a way to emphasise the importance of girls’ education and teach children other lessons, such as protecting the environment and not discriminating against others. This last point is critical in a country where Islamist militants wage repeated attacks on religious minorities.

“Each one of our episodes is centred around a moral, which sends out strong social messages to kids,” Rashid told AP in his first interview about the show. “But it is cloaked in pure entertainment, laughter, action and adventure.”

The decision to clothe the superhero in a black burqa – a full-length robe commonly worn by conservative Muslim women in Pakistan and Afghanistan – could raise eyebrows because some people view the outfit as a sign of oppression. The Taliban forced women to wear burqas when they took control of Afghanistan in the 1990s.

The version worn by the Burka Avenger shows only her eyes and fingers – though it has a sleeker, more ninja-like look than the bulky robes of an actual burqa.

Rashid, who is certainly no radical Islamist, said he used a burqa to give a local feel to the show, which is billed as the first animated series ever produced in Pakistan.

“It’s not a sign of oppression. She is using the burqa to hide her identity like other superheroes,” said Rashid. “Since she is a woman, we could have dressed her up like Catwoman or Wonder Woman, but that probably wouldn’t have worked in Pakistan.”

The series is set in Halwapur, a fictional town nestled in the soaring mountains and verdant valleys of northern Pakistan. The Burka Avenger’s true identity is Jiya, whose adopted father, Kabbadi Jan, taught her the karate moves she uses to defeat her enemies. When not dressed as her alter ego, Jiya wears neither a burqa nor a less conservative headscarf over her hair.

The main villains are Vadero Pajero, a balding, corrupt politician who wears a dollar sign-shaped gold medallion around his neck, and Baba Bandook, an evil magician with a bushy black beard and mustache who is meant to resemble a Taliban commander.

The show, which is slickly animated using high-powered computer graphics, does a good job of mixing scenes that will entertain children with those that even adults will find laugh-out-loud funny.

In one episode, Bandook builds a robot to take over the world’s major cities, including London, New York and Paris. As he outlines his dastardly plan with a deep, evil laugh, one of his minions butts in and says, “But how will we get visas to go to all those places?” – a reference to how difficult it can be for Pakistanis to travel, given their country’s reputation.

Rashid, the pop star, funded much of the programme himself, but also had help from an outside donor who preferred not to be credited.

He leveraged his musical background in the process. Each of the 13 episodes completed so far contains songs written and performed by him and other major Pakistani rock stars, such as Ali Azmat and Ali Zafar. Rashid is producing an album of 10 songs and music videos that will be broadcast alongside the show. He has also created a Burka Avenger iPhone game and a fully interactive website that will accompany the show’s launch.

In one of the music videos, Rashid and local rap star Adil Omar sing in praise of the Burka Avenger, while standing in front of a pair of colourfully decorated Pakistani trucks festooned with bright lights.

“Don’t mess with the lady in black, when she’s on the attack,” they sing.