HYDERABAD: Speakers paid rich tribute to women rights activist Anis Haroon for exemplary her role in the struggle for the oppressed and against dictatorial regime and called her a symbol of courage.

They were speaking at the launching ceremony of Ms Haroon’s autobiography Kab mehke gee fasl e gul jointly organised by Khanabadosh Writer’s Cafe and Women Action Forum on Saturday.

“Although my parents migrated from Hyderabad Deccan and I have seen agony of migration in my mother’s eyes but I love my homeland, Sindh, where I was born,” said Anis Haroon.

She said that she loved Sindh in general and Hyderabad in particular and would never dissociate herself from it. She owed everything to Hyderabad where she spent her childhood days and grew as teenager and a political activist, she said.

Arfana Mallah read out excerpts from her autobiography and commented that the observation “all the emotional ties are ideological relations for me [author],” was best in the book.

Dr Jaffer Ahmed, director of Pakistan Study Center, Karachi University, said that women activists’ memoirs were important sources for learning about role of women in the country’s political history, which would be incomplete without Fatima Jinnah, Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto.

He believed that only women had power to challenge or change power pillars of socio-politico fabric of society.

Atiya Dawood observed that Ms Haroon continued to struggle for the oppressed and her life was not as easy as it appeared. She had faced difficult times and had been part of unending struggle, she added.

Mahnaz Rehman said that Haroon belonged to era of 60s which was a decade of revolutions all over the world and she not only dreamt of bringing about a revolution but also struggled for it.

Amar Sindhu of Women Action Forum said that woman’s struggle started from Ms Haroon’s house and it reached the state functionaries through streets.

Ms Haroon gave voice to women and her book was not just another document about someone’s personal life but experience of a woman who stood up against all odds.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2016