- An unspoken figure
The death of Begum Kulsoom Nawaz has been an emotionally charged one, amidst the unsteady and tumultuous political climate that has followed on from 2013, after the battle for power intensified democratically rather than militarily for once.
Whilst this precedented demise invited waves of sympathy for the Sharif family, it also incited criticism from the divisions that have now been created by decades of inequality and injustice. Unpleasant and insensitive criticism. Untimely criticism. Somewhat, unnecessary criticism for a deceased individual.
And in the drift of all things political, we seem to have forgotten that Begum Kulsoom Nawaz was an individual, a human being, one with her own personality and attributes that could be separated from her family name if we were willing to be so generous when fighting for our own interests. Or, perhaps, we could divert from age-old traditions for a while and separate her surname from her first.
Her battle with lymphoma and her gruelling final days have been blighted by political point scoring, leaving her to be remembered merely just as Nawaz Sharif’s wife or Maryam Nawaz’s mother, a woman connected by marriage and blood, to a pair of convicted criminals. A woman loosely associated with the Panama Papers and looted money, a woman somewhat responsible for the actions of her husband, despite having been known to keep a low profile as opposed to other first ladies of her time.
A dignified woman, known for her placid and amicable demeanour, Begum Kulsoom had fought hard against military dictatorships and the preservation of democracy, following a coup d’etat in October 1999
That her death being used as a propaganda tool is astonishing and against the religious and moral views the Islamic Republic of Pakistan claims to stand for.
Yet this is often the case for high-ranking, elite women who when paired with men of their class equal, are doomed to have their identities blighted by them. Such is the culture in the South-Asian sub-continent, where a woman’s achievements or her status is woven tightly with that of her husband’s, into the fabric of society. She will bear the brunt of his mistakes, she will share the luxuries of his successes. Which Nawaz Sharif’s wife appears to have done since her marriage to him in 1971. Which she also appeared to do during her diagnosis, treatment and now death, when she was no longer in a position to be actively involved or accountable for his political follies. And she will continue to do so for the next few days, perhaps weeks, till another target is not drawn to aim at.
Born in 1950, Kulsoom Nawaz was a highly educated woman, with a Masters in Urdu and a doctorate in Philosophy. Prior to having been associated with PML-N party leader Nawaz Sharif, her identity was closely tied with that of her maternal grandfather’s The Great Gama — a world renowned Pakistani wrestler of the late 1800/early 1900s.
A dignified woman, known for her placid and amicable demeanour, Begum Kulsoom had fought hard against military dictatorships and the preservation of democracy, following a coup d’etat in October 1999 which saw to the forceful removal of her husband by Pervez Musharraf. Quite like Benazir Bhutto, in the subsequent year she was found rallying up support for the male members of her family and taking lead in an environment hostile to women activists at the time. Her most notable political achievement was leading a rally from Lahore to Peshawar, to fight against the undemocratic treatment meted out against her husband. All of which she achieved without the presence of an overbearing male figure. It was a testament to her capabilities and what the qualities she possessed when not following the lead of her husband.
It is important to see Kulsoom Nawaz as an individual, and mourn her as an individual, rather than constantly using her husband as a measure of how much sympathy she should receive on her death. It is important to see every woman, as a separate entity from the men who surround her, and hold her solely accountable for her own misgivings, not for those who around her. When as a society, we move away from the concept of holding women answerable for their family’s honour, or their status as mothers constantly holding them responsible for the actions of their children, justice will be implemented fairly.