It is indeed difficult to write an epilogue on the life of Begum Ra’ana as whatever words one chooses will not be sufficient to summarize her life’s endeavours and achievements. It is perhaps befitting to do so with the following few paragraphs from the biographical tribute penned by Mehr Nigar Masroor during her lifetime:
‘Ra’ana’s loyalty to Pakistan has always been unwavering. It survived the massacres and miseries of the pre-Independence years and from the holocaust of 1947-48 she created a structure which enabled Muslim womanhood to attain unprecedented heights and to contribute not only to the economy of their country but to the betterment of mankind.
‘How could Ra’ana forget with what ardour, what zeal, what sacrifices, Pakistan was achieved? How could she become like the faint-hearted who, in moments of despair or frustration ask: Why did Pakistan come into being? Or it would have been better not to have come to Pakistan!
‘Not for Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan these betrayals. Pakistan might take the wrong path, Pakistanis could decry each other, Pakistan might be ridiculed or slandered but Pakistan would endure. Pakistan had come to stay.
‘Ra’ana, the only one left of the original team of four, understood only too well that Pakistan must be saved at all times, good and bad, and, when in danger must be defended.
‘It was a wise, patriotic woman who did not waver in her mission to make Pakistan a better place to live in. Not for her the unnecessary open confrontation with its rulers; let the people decide who will rule; her task is to enable the women to live a better life under all rulers.’11
On 22 June 1990, the Times of London carried an obituary that summed up the life of this remarkable woman:
In the traumatic events of partition (1947-48) Begum Ra’ana played a vital role. Millions of people crossed the new borders between India and the new state, and many died. Working with a band of highly motivated women, Begum Ra’ana used the efforts of hundreds of others to feed the hungry and house the destitute.
It was an even more remarkable achievement by her to transform those emergency arrangements into the All Pakistan Women’s Association. This took place in 1949 and the Association has continued to play an important part in national development. When 25 years later Begum Ra’ana presided over its Silver Jubilee, the beneficiaries of its programmes numbered over a million. Its voluntary services included cottage industries, clinics, vocational and literary services.
The gifts Begum Ra’ana brought to her public life of intelligence, eloquence, elegance and tenacity were outstanding in those early days. At a crucial time of growth in women’s leadership in the Muslim world, the first international conference of Muslim women was held in Pakistan in 1952.
The Begum went on to represent Pakistan at the United Nations and the International Labour Organisation and became her country’s first woman ambassador, to the Netherlands, Italy and Tunisia in 1954. Her last major appointment had been as governor of Sind province of Pakistan, from 1973 to 1976. In 1979 she received the Human Rights Award of the United Nations. (London, June,1990).
She passed away quietly of heart failure on 13 June 1990 and was buried next to her beloved husband, within the precincts of the Quaid’s mausoleum in Karachi.
AFTERWORD
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIONEERS
Memories of Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan
Laila Haroon Sarfaraz
A sea of women gathered around the dining table at our home in Karachi. Wave upon wave of flowing ghararas rustled across the polished floor, their myriad colours like a prism reflected on seashells as they moved towards a woman in stark white, the still centre of the storm. Like an anchor, she commanded all movement by the sheer weight of her presence. This was Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan and this was the first meeting to propose the making of the All Pakistan Women’s Association, which came to be known simply by the acronym, APWA. At that moment, I did not know how vital a role she would play in my life or how her cause would become my own. All I knew was that our home, Seafield, was transformed and I, then a young child, was mesmerized by the sheer magic of the moment.
Today, as I look back at that first childhood memory, I can see the pattern of my life unfold from my early days as a volunteer at APWA to the role I played as the president of this vast and worthy organization; at first walking in the steps of my mother and dynamic sisters, and then forging a path of my own.
My mother, Lady Nusrat Haroon, was one of the founder members of APWA. She had previously been appointed by Jinnah to serve as the president of the Women’s Muslim League in 1942. In 1948 she was asked by Begum Ra’ana to head Gul-i-Ra’ana as its president. This was an industrial home that had been set up by Begum Ra’ana and my mother to support underprivileged women by providing them with vocational skills. Begum Ra’ana and my mother were close friends, so a legacy organization like APWA became a natural part of our lives. In fact, my sister, Daulat Hidayatullah, also served as the president of APWA from 1990 till 1996.
In 1950, Begum Ra’ana requested the daughters of her friends to help out at the APWA industrial shop which functioned to sustain the APWA vocational training projects. My sisters were already active in the organization and I, the youngest, was inducted into this endeavour. We were taught by Begum Ra’ana that no task was too small to warrant our time and attention. We had to give our best to each assignment we were called to do.
Continuing on, in 1958, I enrolled in the APWA Karachi Branch. By this time I was a young married woman, and, as I undertook the task that Begum Ra’ana had set out for all of us, I understood the ongoing struggle of many mothers such as myself who were trapped in less fortunate circumstances. It was Begum Ra’ana’s brilliance that had made APWA into a safety net for those women through various projects. It was a time of activity as the Karachi Branch opened many schools and training centres across the city.
In 1998, Begum Tazeen Faridi was nominated the president of APWA and began planning the triennial conference in Lahore. A stopover in Lahore and an unexpected invitation to the conference led to my appointment as the vice president, finance and administration, quite to my surprise. I agreed to take over for a year and began the task of generating funds to update the APWA image. To this end, I held an international conference in Islamabad with the gracious assistance of Nafis Sadik, the executive director of United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA). The conference was a resounding success and put APWA back on the map. That year was followed by many more in the service of APWA, and, in 2002, I was elected the president of the organization. Though I was initially hesitant to walk in the footsteps of a person as dynamic as Begum Ra’ana, I did my best to make her proud. I remained at the helm of affairs for nine years, and my association with APWA continues even today.
Begum Ra’ana had always been a role model for me, but as I embarked upon my tenure as president, she became more than that: she became an icon. I began to see the genius of her endeavour and, spurred on by her memory, worked tirelessly for her cause. I wanted more young women to learn about her and gain inspiration from her words. With the help of Sama Publishers, I republished Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan’s biography and published another book to celebrate fifty years of APWA with contributions from members who had been instrumental in the organization’s achievements.
As I continued my work for APWA, the daunting figure of Begum Ra’ana that I had known in childhood, that still centre in the maelstrom of Partition, was steadily replaced by her real essence, that of a remarkable and warm-hearted woman with the clear mind of a strategist and the grit of a true pioneer. She is solely responsible for all the land given to APWA in perpetuity throughout cities, towns and villages in Pakistan today. It was this foresight that has provided APWA with land that is used to support projects to empower underprivileged women and children in the country.
Out of nothing, she created an organization that was recognized worldwide; that was affiliated with the most prestigious women’s organizations around the world; and that had a c
onsultative status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). APWA has an effective and visible presence in all provinces and across numerous districts of Pakistan and has been instrumental in the formation of women’s protection laws, and has helped countless beneficiaries since the inception of our nation. APWA was the gift she gave to Pakistan, the cherished nation she helped create.
The Kumaon house where Begum Ra’ana spent her early years
The room where Begum Ra’ana was born
The church where Begum Ra’ana was baptized
Begum Ra’ana’s parents: Mr and Mrs Pant
A 1938 picture of Indraprastha College, Delhi, where Begum Ra’ana taught
Liaquat Ali Khan (back row, third from left), Begum Ra’ana (seated second from right) with Jawaharlal Nehru (seated second from left)
Liaquat Ali Khan, Begum Ra’ana and their sons, Akber and Ashraf
Begum Ra’ana (left) with Indira Gandhi (right)
Begum Ra’ana with Walt Disney
Liaquat Ali Khan with Begum Ra’ana at their official residence in Karachi
Zehra Javeri’s portrait of Begum Ra’ana
Muhammad Ali Jinnah with Liaquat Ali Khan
Begum Ra’ana seated beside her husband’s body after his assassination in 1951
Pat, wife of Ashraf Liaquat Ali Khan
Begum Ra’ana’s eldest granddaughter, Ra’ana—named after her grandmother—with her family in Lahore
The residence of Pakistan’s ambassador to The Hague
Akber Liaquat Ali Khan in his Karachi home
Begum Ra’ana’s granddaughters, Samia (left) and Dina
A batch of women naval guards at a graduation ceremony. A young Begum Pasha Haroon is seen holding the flag.
Yasmin Dastoor (right), who runs the APWA office in Karachi, with Tahmina Aziz Ayub
Former APWA president Laila Sarfaraz (left) and and her close friend Pasha Haroon (centre) with Tahmina Aziz Ayub
Annexure 1
The letter of resignation that Liaquat Ali Khan sent to M.A. Jinnah on 27 December 1947. From the essay ‘Jinnah and His “Right Hand”: Liaquat Ali Khan’ by Roger Long in M.A. Jinnah: Views and Reviews edited by M.R. Kazimi and published by OUP in 2005.
Annexure 2
A memorandum written by Kay Miles on the events around the resignation letter. From the essay ‘Jinnah and His “Right Hand”: Liaquat Ali Khan’ by Roger Long in M.A. Jinnah: Views and Reviews edited by M.R. Kazimi and published by OUP in 2005.
Annexure 3
Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan first referred to these ‘Ten Commandments’ in the course of a speech on the topic of social work that she gave in Rome. They were collated and published in A Dynamo in Silk, Kay Miles’s biography of Begum Ra’ana.
Annexure 4
A memorial speech given by Begum Ra’ana’s nephew, Jitendra Pant. Reproduced with permission from APWA.
Annexure 5
Corruption within the Ranks Was There Even When Jinnah Was Alive: Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan
By Afsheen Zubair
She has been a familiar sight over the years, in photographs published of days observed, institutions opened, welfare centres launched. And occasionally, a small news item mentioning her as the recipient of yet another international award. In the public eye for the last four decades, first as the consort of one of Pakistan’s founding fathers, and later in her own right, she has been, in a sense, the one known factor in a fast-changing environment.
This image has been reinforced by her style of dressing. Fashions have come and gone and come again, but hers has remained constant: a gharara (adopted as the national and Muslim dress for Pakistani women decades ago when the crusade for a separate homeland for Indian Muslims was first launched) and a net dupatta over her always immaculately coiffured head.
The dream of the homeland may have undergone many changes, but her faithfulness to the gharara continues. An anachronism now, this as much as anything else she has done is proof of her grit and determination to carry on with what she believes in, regardless of criticism—from the pulpit and the rostrum and even from sections of the press.
A trained social worker who founded the All Pakistan Women’s Association and various other institutions and organizations, and an active long-serving member of the ILO committee of experts, she has turned a deaf ear to the muttering and continued with her welfare schemes for the women and children of Pakistan.
She has been blamed for many things: for leading Pakistani women astray: for encouraging them to leave the safety and confines of their four walls; for being a ‘begum’ and founding a ‘begum’s’ organisation (a charge she has never denied); for not doing enough and then again for doing, or saying, too much on affairs where the powers that be would have preferred her to keep her own counsel.
She has seen much, done much, achieved much. Not for nothing has she been called the ‘dynamo in silk’. She has also paid a bitter price—the loss of a husband through an assassin’s bullet, a loss that the nation shared with her.
Avowedly non-political (‘I have been a political mystery all my life’), she continues to demand justice for her husband’s murder—and has been threatened in the process. She continues, too, in her own inimitable style, to issue strongly worded press statements against what she sees as encroachments on women’s rights.
She realises the increasing futility of her mission but ploughs on nonetheless. A born fighter, even confined to a wheelchair, as she is now, she refuses to lay down her cudgels. ‘I would do it all over again, ten times over, and now even more so that they are against us altogether.’
Already honoured with countless international awards, medals and citations, on December 11, 1978, she received her highest international accolade. Helped by Dr Kurt Waldheim, then UN Secretary-General she ascended the steps of the United Nations General Assembly rostrum to become the first Asian woman to receive the prestigious Human Rights Award. The citation read: ‘Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan, the leading Pakistani womens’ rights activist, economist, educationist and diplomat . . . known for her outstanding contribution in the field of human rights.’
Afsheen Zubair. As one of the persons deeply involved in the movement for independence, how, in your opinion, does the Pakistan of today relate to the dream of 1947?
Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan. The idea of Pakistan when it first started was totally different from what we see today. There was no question of religion coming into politics. Everybody was free to follow or worship as they pleased, nobody interfered, it was between you and your God.
We never dreamt that things will come to this pass where we are being spied upon for not saying our prayers, and the result is that people have become more dishonest. I don’t see any change. Religion is something that should never be thrust on people; it should come naturally. We never talked of religion; there were Shias, Sunnis, we didn’t know who was who, we were just working together.
Afsheen. But Pakistan was visualised as a Muslim homeland.
Ra’ana. Yes, but not the religious one of this type; it was a more liberal kind. Quaid-e-Azam himself said the basis was religious but Pakistan was visualised as secular and democratic. Today Pakistan is out and out a theocracy and under that garb, every vestige of personal freedom is snatched away. We are ruled with injunctions and ordinances as to what we should do, how we should dress, how we must relate to each other.
The army is dictating political and constitutional changes which it has no right to do. So where is the ideology on which Pakistan was founded? Would the Quaid have permitted chopping of limbs and flogging of citizens, and that too of women? Would he have enforced the covering of heads, the shrouding of women in ungainly chaddars, the segregation of women in separate universities . . .
Afsheen. Can you throw some light on why political institutions didn’t take root in Pakistan and how the bureaucracy came to wrest control of the state machinery?
Ra’ana. The moment we came to be we were rud
derless; the bureaucracy was all that we possessed. Even Zafrullah Khan had been sent for by the Quaid-e-Azam to come and join us. We were very short of trained people, politicians, there were more bureaucrats ready to grab whatever was there.
The bureaucracy wrested control of state machinery almost immediately after partition, at the time of the Quaid-e-Azam, in fact, because there was no one here. Also Pakistan came into being so soon, we weren’t expecting it. Mountbatten did it thinking it won’t last, so did Nehru and Gandhi, that’s why Partition was rushed through, the reason was so obvious.
Afsheen. So the politicians were totally unprepared?
Ra’ana. Totally unprepared. Unpreparedness was our terrific misfortune; every organisation that had been formed for hundreds of years was left in India. Everything had to be started anew here.
Afsheen. Were you doing any social work in India?
The Begum Page 17