KARACHI: The launch of Gulrukhsar Mujahid’s book Wayward Writings at T2F on Tuesday was an evening of reflection, conversation, storytelling and poetry.

It was also waking up to the fact that the young are not unmindful of all that is going on around them, and that they are also not afraid to speak up like the book’s young author who has been penning her thoughts in the monthly magazine which she edits.

While speaking about the importance of writing, Gulrukhsar, said that the written word and the print medium is still the most credible form of expression in this day and age of electronic, digital and social media. “Documentation in written form is necessary and important,” she said. “Reading also is important,” she added.

She, as well as the moderator for the evening, academic and Gulrukhsar’s friend Sualeha Shekhani, read out passages from the book.

Writer, actor and human rights activist Feryal Ali Gauhar spoke of Gulrukhsar’s heritage. “When you are born and brought up in an environment of Leftist journalism it also has an effect on you. Both her parents, Mujahid Barelvi and Nuzhat Shirin are journalists and human rights activists and the outspokenness which you find in her writings has its roots in her home environment,” she said.

“The topics Gulrukhsar picks up to write such as constitutional crisis, judicial crisis, Gaza, the May 9 protests are all things that are close to her heart but they can also get her into trouble with the ‘agencies’ though I believe that her views on counterterrorism can help them in their work as she provides knowledge and information,” she added.

Dr Huma Baqai spoke about the importance of books. “I have hope for our future because we still have books,” she said. “Gulrukhsar calls her writings wayward but they are actually the way forward,” she pointed out. “We need young authorship, and we need women’s authorship in our society,” she added.

Speaking about her personal relationship with the author, Dr Baqai proudly shared that her own last book on the subject of international relations was composed by Gulrukhsar. She also said that Gulrukhsar has dedicated her book to the feminist poet Fehmida Riaz, who had also named her. The book besides, editorials and essays also includes four very interesting interviews including one of the former chief minister of Balochistan Dr Malik Baloch.

“Gulrukhsar is a LUMS graduate, she has taught at the IBA, she could have chosen any nice cushy job for herself and yet she selected the difficult path of a journalist,” she concluded.

To this a senior member of the Women’s Action Forum, herself a former journalist, Mahnaz Rahman said that the breed of Leftist journalists was known for their struggles. “I’m glad to find someone in our next generation here who will carry on our work,” she commented.

Senior journalist Shahnaz Ahad also said that for years they worked to bring about change and now when they were thinking that things were going to be the same, she saw hope in Gulrukhsar. “She has picked up from where we left off,” she said.

Another senior journalist and president of the Karachi Union of Journalists Tahir Hasan Khan said that he was just very happy to find another ‘mujahid’ among them.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2025