KARACHI: Female students, faculty and staff from various universities, including the University of Karachi, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto University of Law (SZABUL) and Indus University, were part of the Women’s Self-Defence Workshop hosted by the Japan Information and Culture Centre at the Consulate-General of Japan in collaboration with the Pakistan Martial Arts Association (PMAA) and Extreme Fitness Studio here on Thursday.

The students sat around a blue mat spread out in the main hall of the Japan Information and Culture Centre.

All felt strong, brave and proud to have learned how to defend themselves. One by one their master PMAA president Sensei Anwar Mohiudin called them to the middle to give a demonstration of the defence tactics that they had learned from him.

There were also kumite (competitors fight) demonstrations followed by punching practice.

Women’s self-defence workshop at Consulate General of Japan told

A female law student said that she used to tell herself that “self-defence is a thing and you need to learn it,” before taking the short course with Sensei Anwar. Then after the training she was proudly telling herself: “Dude this was worth it!”

Another female student brought up the gruesome murders of Noor Muqaddam, Sara Inam and Amena Bibi to remind how important it is for women to know how to defend themselves.

“Around 90 per cent of women in Pakistan face some kind of violence at least once in their lifetimes. And this statistic is from the known cases. Reality is even worse. So is there anyone who can deny the importance of knowing how to defend oneself? I don’t think so. The only solution is to be self-sufficient, to learn to depend on yourself and look for no one else but you have to protect yourself. Be an opponent, not a victim,” she said.

The students thanked Sensei Anwar for conducting the workshop and making them aware of importance of knowing how to fight back and stand up for oneself instead of looking to others for help.

“It took me five to six years of visiting various universities to push this message among females that learning self-defence is not an option, it is the need of the day. It is your right. And I’m glad to see so much enthusiasm for learning martial arts among young ladies,” said Sensei Anwar.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2022