WHILE much is being said in recalling the wonderful playwright and person that Haseena Moin was, one aspect of her life is not being given due attention. I am proud to be a pupil of Haseena Moin when I was in the primary section of the Model Nursery Primary School in the early 1960s.

The school was established by Begum Fazalur Rahman, wife of the first education minister of Pakistan, the late Fazalur Rahman, hailing from East Pakistan.

Haseena Moin was at that time our arts teacher, but she taught other subjects later on. After I left that school in 1965, she was elevated to be the school principal, a position she enjoyed for several years.

The school was nationalised and later renamed in the memory of the founders as the Fazalur Rahman Memorial School.

As such, Haseena Moin has left behind hundreds of her students, like me, to mourn her death. I wish to put these facts on record as they have not been covered in the obituaries published by the national press and by those who have been appearing on television screens.

Jaleel Bin Hamid Zubairi
Karachi

(2)

LEGENDARY dramatist, playwright and scriptwriter Haseena Moin is no more. Her demise has saddened millions of her fans both in Pakistan and abroad. She was a household name, thanks to the dramas, such as Kiran Kahani, Ankhai, Tanhaiyaan, Shehzori, Uncle Urfi, Dhoop Kinaray, to name a few to showcase the glimpses of her profound and remarkable talent she effectively used to promote our cultural and moral values through her masterpieces.

She successfully championed women empowerment, defining a true and respectable role of women in our society. She truly portrayed women in her dramas as courageous, optimist, resilient and confident with great cognisance of domestic and societal responsibilities within the bounds of moral and cultural values.

In recognition of her meritorious services during her illustrious career spanning over four decades, she was accorded the pride of performance award in addition to numerous other awards, betokening her impactful writings. The writers of her stature are true assets of a society. Unfortunately, the standard she set for television dramas is fast declining with mediocrity replacing genuine art and talent. Her death has left a great vacuum that needs to be filled soon in the larger interest of our society.

Khadim Hussain Subhpoto
Hyderabad

(3)

WE recently lost one of our finest dramatists, playwrights and a great human being. Haseena Moin had written several plays for all three mediums — TV, stage and radio — taking Pakistan’s entertainment industry to new heights.

The eminent writer was born in Uttar Pradesh on Nov 20, 1941. After independence, her family migrated to Pakistan and settled in Karachi. Haseena had a knack for writing since childhood that made her one of the prominent literary figures of the country.

She started writing at a very young age for a children’s monthly Bhaijan and later wrote skits for one of the famous radio programmes of that era Studio Number Nau. Haseena, who had a master’s degree in history from Karachi University, was also fond of exploring social issues and depicting them through her writings.

In the early days, the PTV administration was rather strict with its writers, but Haseena had a distinct stature and she was always backed by the producers to write plays that she wanted to write. She was so deeply connected to her plays that she used to advise the directors in terms of the cast that suited her story.

Veteran Bollywood actor Raj Kapoor had requested her to write dialogues for his movie Henna which was quite a success, but, following the Babri Mosque incident, she refused to take credit for that movie and her name was not displayed. Glowing tributes are being paid to Haseena and her craft, and she deserves every bit of it.

Kamran Khamiso Khowaja
Sujawal

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2021