KUALA LUMPUR: She hasalready captured hearts across Asia by taking on corruptpoliticians and fighting bad guys who tried to shut girls´schools – and now even the United Nations has been wowed by asuperheroine whose only weapons are pens and books.
Move over Superman and Batman.
Here comes Pakistan´ssuperheroine Burka Avenger who might soon be spreading hermessage of peace and tolerance on behalf of the UN.
The Emmy-nominated animated TV series has won globalaccolades since its 2013 launch, with its female protagonist - ateacher called Jiya - putting on the Islamic veil at night andtransforming into an all-action heroine to tackle social ills.
Now the U.N.is seeking to tap her popularity as it ramps upa campaign that emphasises women´s role in peace building tocombat extremism.
"We have a lot of shared goals," the series´ creator,Pakistani pop star Haroon Rashid, told the Thomson ReutersFoundation by phone from Islamabad.
"The whole concept (of Burka Avenger) came about because Iwas reading about girls´ schools being shut down and bombed by
extremists, and women and girls are threatened with violence.
That´s why the superheroine was created," he said.Rashid will be speaking at a U.N.Women conference in theThai capital Bangkok this week which will look at using creativeapproaches to promote women´s role in peacebuilding.
Although there is no official partnership yet, the U.N.agency and Rashid both said they were keen to explorecollaboration, including by making Burka Avenger an ambassador.
"Burka Avenger can be a great messenger not only for women´sissues but because it´s animation, you can highlight verysensitive issues, it makes them (appear) softer," Rashid said.
FIGHT EXTREMISM FROM A YOUNG AGE
Burka Avenger was launched first in Pakistan, thenAfghanistan, India and this year in Indonesia.
It has beenproduced in different languages including Urdu, Tamil, Hindi,Pashto and Indonesian.
The series has won numerous accolades, including the PeabodyAward, International Gender Equity Prize and the Asian MediaAward, while the protagonist Jiya was named one of the mostinfluential fictional characters of 2013 by Time magazine.
Orphaned as a child, Jiya was adopted by a master of amystic martial art called Takht Kabaddi, which uses pens andbooks as weapons to take on enemies.
There has also been debate over Jiya´s choice of disguise,the burqa.
The all-encompassing veil has typically been viewed assymbol of female repression in the West but the cartoon presents
it in a different light, as a symbol of female empowerment.
U.N.Women Asia-Pacific head Miwa Kato said cartoons canhelp prevent extremism from a young age.
"We often look to law enforcement to prevent extremism butit starts very early from a child´s age, through TV andentertainment," Kato told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"A girl and superhero using pens and books as weapons canmake us start having a conversation, at home or in schools.
"Burka Avenger is set for more launches in Asia - includingMalaysia, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Singapore and Bangladesh - butafter four seasons and 52 episodes, Rashid said he has no plansto work on new episodes immediately although he is planning afull-length feature film.
"We believe that will help spread the message on a largerscale, to a larger audience," the pop star said.