The Begum

by Deepa Agarwal

  Ra’ana. Yes, I wrote a thesis on women labour in agriculture in one of the biggest provinces in India, UP, and naturally I then saw the poverty, the need.

  Afsheen. Reverting again to the political arena, people say that if there was a clear vision of principles and ideas regarding Pakistan, why did it take so long to frame a constitution when India took only a year to do the same.

  Ra’ana. Provincialism was one factor; you had to be so careful what you were trying to do for each province. From the beginning India was settled, there was no comparison between their civil service and ours and between their politicians and ours. You can name so many of the Indian politicians but where were the Muslims?

  They did try, the Prime Minister did try and he was killed on his election tour. A constitution is not something you make at once. The Quaid-e-Azam died only a year after. Liaquat was working for the constitution, for elections.

  Afsheen. Why do you think the Muslim League started disintegrating so soon after independence?

  Ra’ana. It was all provincial. Each one thought he’d be something. Political institutions didn’t take root due to provincialism; the disintegration of the Muslim League was also due to that.

  Afsheen. Would you say, then, that in a way, internal differences and the disintegration of the Muslim League were responsible for the assassination of Liaquat?

  Ra’ana. I think so. There were so many reasons for the assassination. Each one thought that he should be the top man. You see, they didn’t expect an honest, incorruptible man. How could they fill their pockets with Liaquat at the top. That was the main curse. Corruption in the ranks was there even when Jinnah was alive. They had to look into the ministers’ accounts and things. It’s a character of the nation.

  Also, some people didn’t like the Quaid-e-Azam appointing Liaquat as his successor. Jealousy was rife. There was also provincial bias against him. Personally, I think that so many people were involved, political people, that if you say something about one, it will come up about the other and so on, so that’s why it was hushed up. There was never any real attempt to find out either.

  Afsheen. How precisely would you define the ideology of Pakistan in view of the many different interpretations being propounded now?

  Ra’ana. There was no question of theocracy. There was to be freedom of thought and action. Quaid-e-Azam’s idea of La-ilaha-il-lal-lah was not what is being interpreted now. It was more unity and liberalism that was involved.

  Afsheen. Do you feel that the present ills of our system can be traced back to the traumas and manipulations of the early period and that things would have been different had the Quaid-e-Azam and Quaid-e-Millat lived a little longer?

  Ra’ana. If they had been allowed to live, their honesty would never have been tolerated; they would have been bumped off. They would not have been allowed to practice or preach what they believed in. Had they lived, their policy was quite clear. I’m talking mainly of religion and their belief that it should never enter politics. Had that policy continued people would have got used to it. The ills flow from that, from linking religion with politics.

  Afsheen. One major criticism levelled against Nawabzada Liaquat is that his non-acceptance of the Moscow invitation gave our relations with the Soviets a bad start. It is rumoured that he cancelled his visit at the last minute under pressure. Can you clarify?

  Ra’ana. I don’t think it was under any pressure. I was all ready for Moscow with my warm coat and everything, and I had asked Begum Shahnawaz to accompany me. The trouble, what I was told at that time, was that they gave a date that didn’t suit us, it was near our Independence day, something like that, so we refused, saying that any other time but this would suit us.

  But then I think it fizzled out. So many of us were prepared to go. You see, when you are a leader and a big one, everything you do or say is attacked and meanings are put into every action. But I’m sure of this that this incident didn’t sour relations. I’ve been to Russia after that, they’ve invited me.

  Afsheen. In February 1949 when you called the first All Pakistan Women’s Conference in Karachi and thus laid the foundation stone for APWA, did you foresee the opposition, slander and criticism you would have to contend with?

  Ra’ana. The opposition was already there from religious groups that women shouldn’t come out. They attacked what I was doing because I immediately formed the Pakistan Women’s National Guard. That was because our women were useless at defending themselves, or at helping their neighbours. Pasha Haroon, Razia Nazir Ahmed were active participants.

  I also started the Women’s Naval Reserve for the same reason, to activate the women and specially if they were going to the hospital to work, to teach them the value of time; they didn’t know what time was, they didn’t know what discipline was.

  Having seen all the butchery and the confusion after partition, what was plain was that we needed nurses but there were no Muslim nurses, only Hindu and Christian. Nursing was looked down upon. I appealed to Muslim parents, told them they must see what was happening and let their daughters come forward to help. I sent 28 girls to London for training in nursing. All that required a lot of thinking and planning for the women.

  Afsheen. After all your years in social work and aloofness from the political scene, what made you accept ambassadorship to the Netherlands and then Rome, and later the governorship?

  Ra’ana. Mine was not a political appointment as ambassador. After Liaquat’s death they didn’t know what to do with me, so they tried me out as ambassador. I was hanging about in a sense; the Prime Minister was no more. At that time the members of the cabinet had sympathy and regard for me and they thought this would be a good job for me because there’s a queen in Holland who’s a social worker and they thought we would get on well together. That is why I was appointed, not for any political reasons.

  Also, I wanted to get away for a while. The situation was very tense, people talking to my children about why and how their father was killed, so I thought it was better to be away. The governorship from Bhutto’s point of view, was political, but not from mine.

  I didn’t know it then, but because of the language problem that was going on at the time, they thought the best person to put in that post would be a woman from the minority (Muhajir) community. I was not expected to play a political role, but I thought I could help cement relations. The minorities in Karachi were very happy. It didn’t have a negative effect on my social work. I carried on with APWA work.

  Afsheen. As one of the pioneers of women’s emancipation in Pakistan, how do you view the status of women in Pakistan today?

  Ra’ana. We are regressing. We had gone to a certain peak when women were trained to do certain jobs and there was no trouble at all. But now we find women being pushed back and told that their place is in the home and they’re not to come out. Education from the beginning has been on a very slow wicket. Now it all depends on unity among women. So many women have been bought up by the government, in the Shoora and elsewhere. They are not representing anybody, they are hand-picked.

  Afsheen. How do you feel about the proposed law of qisas and diyat?

  Ra’ana. I don’t know much about theology and all that but common sense tells one this religion is so liberal, so universal and then you pick one or two things which are not at all important and bring it up and say this is Islam. Islam from the very beginning thought well of women. What about Hazrat Khadija? This goes back to the Prophet’s time so I don’t know with what face they can come up with all this now. And how our people are demoralised . . . They are putting a nail in the coffin of women’s (rights) and what can women do except unite.

  If half of us are going to be bought over and toe the line then I’m afraid there’s no salvation. We (APWA) have expressed strong objection to section l0(b) of the proposed law in which the evidence of women is excluded. There is no basis in the Holy Quran or Sunnah for excluding the evidence of women for Hadd.

  APWA and eight other women’s orga
nisations have also filed a Shariat petition against the four Hadood Ordinances where the evidence of women has been excluded in cases of Hadd punishment. The petitions are pending before the Federal Shariat Court. It is also deplorable that the basic and fundamental right of women to equal diyat has not been accepted.

  Afsheen. There are so many different women’s organisations. Do you feel this diversity reflects lack of unity?

  Ra’ana. It’s a good thing to have different organisations, not petty ones. As a matter of fact, I was the one who started WAF, because I really feel they can do a lot by writing, getting the women’s point of view and being a pressure group. But I’m not very much in favour of marching on the streets. I’ve never believed in it, neither did the Quaid-e Azam.

  Afsheen. Then how will they make themselves heard?

  Ra’ana. Through government channels, through the press. Though the press is so low, so chaotic and immoral, but we should really have done it through the press.

  Afsheen. It is often said that the women’s movement is restricted to the urban elite and doesn’t touch the rural masses, especially the women. How do you view this charge?

  Ra’ana. This has to be so because in the villages the woman is dominated by the zamindar, by the man, by the husband. She has no views of her own. To begin with she’s illiterate. Whatever she’s told of religion, she’s supposed to believe. There’s no reason for her to be free in speech or action. From morning to night she’s a slave doing all the work and how do you expect the women there to do anything. We should be there helping with education, health, whatever.

  The government should help as eighty percent of our population is still in villages. Literacy the government has to sponsor and push, no organisation can do it. The women’s division, the status of women’s commission, the only impact they are having is in the urban setting, which means nothing.

  Afsheen. How would you assess all that APWA has done or tried to do all these years? Where would you say your biggest successes have been—and your failures?

  Ra’ana. Well, we’ve not succeeded at all in doing village work and that is obvious because without roads, without electricity, without transport, what can we do? And there’s been no government help to work in the villages either. It’s very sad. I would like APWA to focus its attention now on the village; on the importance of the woman in the economic sector both in the home and in the village as a bread-earner.

  Afsheen. Are things becoming more difficult for APWA now? Do you have enough volunteers?

  Ra’ana. Yes, it is becoming more difficult. The tragedy is that there are not enough young volunteers. Times have changed, there are no servants, the woman has to be in the house looking after children and the rest. There’s no transport, things are so expensive. And then how can you expect voluntary work?

  People have to make a living, so there are all these problems. We had envisaged APWA as a mass organisation dealing with all aspects of women’s problems. But how can you expect a woman to be involved when she has to do everything at home. And young women are getting jobs, that’s what we expected and worked towards.

  Afsheen. How do you visualise the future of Pakistan?

  Ra’ana. Very bleak. I don’t see any change for the better, we’re going down and down. I only hope it remains one nation. I don’t see any political leader either, acceptable to all the provinces. But the talk going on now, questioning the very basis of Pakistan, is not helpful at all; it just creates more bitterness. People like us should feel why we created Pakistan, but we don’t question the basis, not at all.

  It was the thing to do then, to create Pakistan, provided it was carried on and really made an example of what Islam is and how it should be practised in a modern polity, by being generous and kind to minorities. Why is everybody running away from here? They’re fed up of what’s happening. Young people don’t even know enough about the country, or about their leaders and their qualities.

  Afsheen. You have received innumerable international awards and recognition. Do you feel your work has been appreciated equally at home?

  Ra’ana. No, I don’t think so at all. After all, I am the leader of a certain section of women and they can’t very well interfere there, though I’m sorry to say they’re trying to take away women from here and there in our organisation. I think the people realise what I’ve earned but they know I’m not in the good books of the authorities so they’re not going to talk in my favour.

  It’s very sad about the women. During our time, I thought we were getting on, making progress. Younger women were coming out and I advertised then in all my speeches that no girl should get married until she has a profession. I constantly said that. Now I feel everything I worked for, believed in, is being undermined.

  Afsheen. If you had your life to live over again, would you do things differently?

  Ra’ana. Times have changed, you have to do things according to the times. We can’t do what we did 35 years ago because at that time even the men were with us. It was a more liberal atmosphere. I appealed to women with houses, cars, servants who could afford to give the time and come and work for their less fortunate sisters. At that time they were all willing. Now the government wants it (APWA) to be done away with; if you have your own ideas, you’ve had it.

  The press has been told not to publish (my statements) and the press means a lot. Naturally they’re afraid of having their (newsprint) quota stopped. But one has to go on, one has to believe in a God. I would do it all over again, ten times over, and now even more so when they’re against us altogether. I’d fight harder but you need backing, from the people, from the press, you can’t do things alone.

  It’s not my age that bothers me, it’s my walking that worries me. I’ve got a dropped foot. In the operation (for a shattered hip) they cut a nerve. Without a splint I can’t walk. I still work, what else is there to do, but I feel more and more that women must concentrate on unity because without that, there’s no hope.

  Namita Gokhale is the co-director of the Jaipur Literary Festival. The books she has written include Things to Leave Behind, Paro, Shankuntla, Gods, Graves and Grandmothers and Priya.

  Laila Haroon Sarfaraz was president of the All Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA) from 2005 to 2014. She worked there as a volunteer from her very early days and remains a steadfast member even today.

  This interview was published in the Herald on 14 July 2017 and is reproduced with permission from the Pakistan Herald Publication (Pvt) Limited.

  Notes

  The Begum: An Introduction

  1. F.D. Douglas, Kay Miles, Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan: Biography and Speeches (All Pakistan Women’s Association, 2007), p. 220.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Ibid.

  5. Ibid, p. 358.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Afsheen Zubair, ‘Corruption within the Ranks Was There Even When Jinnah Was Alive: Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan’, Herald, October 1984, updated July 2017, https://herald.dawn.com/news/1153802.

  9. Ibid.

  Part One: A Himalayan Dynamo

  Chapter 1: A Fateful Day

  1. Recorded in Daniel Pant’s Family Bible.

  2. Syed Noor Ahmed, Martial Law Sey Martial Law Tak (From Martial Law to Martial Law) (Academy of the Punjab in North America), pp. 396-7.

  Chapter 2: Irene Ruth Margaret

  1. Badridutt Pande, Kumaon ka Itihas (Almora: Almora Book Depot, 1990), p. 500.

  Chapter 3: The Pant Family of Kumaon

  1. Sanjay Joshi, ‘Juliet Got It Wrong: Conversion and the Politics of Naming in Kumaon’, ca. 1850–1930’, Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 74, November 2015, p. 7.

  2. Badridutt Pande, Kumaon ka Itihas (Almora: Almora Book Depot, 1990), p. 556.

  3. Saurabh Nagarkoti, Killing the Trapped Tiger of Almora (Almora: Almora Book Depot, 2014), p. 20.

  4. J. Keune, ‘The Intra- and Inter-Religious Conversions of Nehemiah Nilakantha Goreh’, Journal of Hin
du-Christian Studies, Vol. 17, 2004, p. 46.

  5. Recorded in Daniel Pant’s Family Bible.

  6. Badridutt Pande, Kumaon ka Itihas (Almora: Almora Book Depot, 1990), p. 258.

  7. Brenton T. Badley (ed.), Visions and Victories in Hindustan: A Story of the Mission Stations of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Southern Asia (Madras: Methodist Publishing House, 1931), p. 826.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Sanjay Joshi, ‘Juliet Got It Wrong: Conversion and the Politics of Naming in Kumaon, ca. 1850–1930’, Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 74, November 2015, p. 9.

  10. Ibid, p. 10.

  11. Ibid, p. 9.

  12. Vasudha Pande, ‘Making Kumaon Modern: Beliefs and Practices circa 1815-1930’, NMML Occasional Paper, History and Society, 2014.

  Chapter 4: Irene Goes to School

  1. Brenton T. Badley (ed.), Visions and Victories in Hindustan: A Story of the Mission Stations of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Southern Asia (Madras: Methodist Publishing House, 1931), p. 36.

  2. Daniel Pant’s records.

  3. Brenton T. Badley (ed.), Visions and Victories in Hindustan: A Story of the Mission Stations of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Southern Asia (Madras: Methodist Publishing House, 1931), p. 65.

  4. Muneeza Shamsie, ‘She Put Pakistan on the Map through Its Women—Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan’, She, 1990, p. 62.

  Chapter 5: The Springboard of Destiny

  1. S. Bhattacharji, ‘A Christian Educator in India: Constance Prem Nath Dass (1886-1971)’, Sixth Galway Conference on Colonialism: Education and Empire, 24-26 June 2010, p. 7, http://www.academia.edu/4726703/A_Christian_Educator_in_India_Constance_Prem_Nath_Dass_1886-1971.

  2. Ira Pande, Diddi, My Mother’s Voice (New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 2005), p. 314.