Intellectuals, writers, poets and human rights activists at a seminar to observe the “International Women’s Day” on Wednesday underlined the need to empower womenfolk financially, socially and politically so that they can play an effective role in the development of the country. The seminar, “Shah Latif and Rights of Women” was jointly organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) and Surhan Welfare Society at the Omer Asghar Khan Hall in the PILER Centre. Noted writer and researcher Prof Dr Sahar Imdad presided over the seminar, where as Sindhi poet Imdad Hussaini, PILER Executive Director Karamat Ali, intellectual and writer Hamida Ghanghro, former station director of the Radio Pakistan Karachi Nisar Ahmed Memon, professor of the Sindhi Department at the Federal Urdu University Dr Kamal Jamro, writer Omar Soomro and Salma Mahar spoke on the occasion.
In her address, Prof Dr Sahar Imdad pointed out that women were the central characters in the poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai.
“The Sufi poet portrayed Sohni, Sassui and Marvi as a symbol of courage, steadfastness and patriotism in his poetry,” she added. “Without economic empowerment to women our society cannot progress.” She underlined the need for sending all girls to schools. “Until women are not economically self-sufficient, the society cannot make progress,” she noted. Imdad said Shah Latif’s character Marvi is a symbol of steadfastness as she refused to accept the bounties offered by the king. “Marvi was also a courageous woman who said ‘no’ to the face of the king, a rare quality,” she added.
Karamat Ali of PILER said women have equal rights and they are free to make decisions about their lives. “However in education and health, women are not given priority,” he added. He deplored that the ratio of women in the overall population is decreasing both in India and Pakistan. “In Pakistan, women’s share in the population is decreasing because of declining health facilities for them,” he noted. He said the poetry of Bhittai gives spiritual strength to the weaker segments of the society so that they can survive in an unfavourable society. Hamida Ghanghro, who is the widow of communist leader Shaheed Nazeer Abbasi, said that in our society, it is not only man committing atrocities against women, but there are incidents in which women are involved in violence against those of the same gender.
She said the International Women’s Day is observed to remember working women, who lost their lives while working in factories.
She said on this day, female workers particularly, peasants, should be remembered. Weteran Sindhi poet Imdad Hussaini said initially there was a matriarchic society in this part of the world in which most of the gods were females. “However, after invasions by foreign forces, a patriarchic society emerged and now women are subjugated to all types of injustices in the society,” he observed. He said Bhittai was a feminist poet and all central characters in his poetry are women. Dr Kamal Jamro of the Federal Urdu University said women play a significant role in Bhittai’s poetry and the International Women’s Day should be dedicated to all female central characters of Shah Jo Risalo.
