‘A Daughter’s Heart: Tribute to My Father’
February 14, 2012
Islamabad
Bushra Zulfiqar, a writer and human development activist, launched her debut book titled ‘A Daughter’s Heart: Tribute to My Father’ here on Monday. Highlighting various phases of socio-political evolution of Pakistan, she presents a memoir comprising eventful political history of Pakistan.
Born and brought up in Pakistan, Bushra studied Social Policy and International Development at the London School of Economics. A human development activist, she has over seven-year experience in social sector policy-making, particularly in the sectors of education and gender. She has also been advocating for the emancipation of minorities in Pakistan.
As firsthand account of growing up under various governments, political as well as military, Bushra’s narrative also covers her personal experience and observations carrying the reflection of how her generation lived through more recent political events.
Writing for quite some time, mostly on research and academics, Bushra describes her book as a debut venture as it is now more about her autobiography, “which is far more intense than anything I have written before,” she says.
The title of the book makes it obvious that it is a daughter’s tribute to her father, whom she lost at an age as early as thirteen. It is a wonderful blend celebrating a great father and also the pain of living without him. Bushra says “In some ways it has been heart-stabbing to re-live something so deeply painful but it has also been a process of catharsis as I had been pained and plagued by the grief of my father’s sudden death for a very long time”.
Though the book is a tribute to her father, Bushra maintains that she has incorporated lot more ground realities about Pakistan, primarily touching upon her growing up stage from childhood to adulthood with particular emphasis on the time between 80s and 90s. Describing the phase of transformation as something very phenomenal in a lot of ways, Bushra has weaved various aspects of that experience that profoundly configure in the book.
Written by someone who grew up and lived in various military cantonments, the book touches upon how that environment typically is. At a personal level, things like an almost paranoid emphasis on table manners, weekend get-togethers at the nearby mess, punctuality and very strict discipline about the day-to-day routine are some of the things Bushra sketches minutely as things she was brought up with. However, Bushra has also clearly criticised institutional role of military in the book and portrays that role as being the center-stage position in Pakistan’s domestic politics, foreign policy, nuclear and security policies that almost every citizen is opposed to. It is something that hasn’t worked to the benefit of Pakistan and there can be no denial about it, Bushra writes.
While writing about her memories of visiting Sindh’s sufi shrines with her parents as an anecdote of the harmony and comfort of the time that she lived in a very diverse society, Bushra connects her memories to the present time and observes that in the present life in Pakistan, those values unfortunately seem nostalgic.
The book also carries glimpses of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Bushra describes Balochistan as the most poverty-stricken and deprived province of Pakistan. However, she found her experience while working in that province in 2009-10 as most beautiful and enigmatic. Bushra says Balochistan redefined Pakistan to her as “on one hand, you see maddening poverty and absolute nothingness but on the other hand, you realise you are dealing with the most honourable and dignified people ever”. Bushra, in her book, pays great tribute to the spirit and resilience of the people of Balochistan who brought her closer to her own land and people and taught her to feel proud of them.
Bushra finds it rather unfortunate that no practical steps are being taken to resolve the multiple crises that Balochistan Province has been pushed deep into. Bushra maintains that though the present government’s Balochistan Package raised some initial hopes but was in vain as nothing on ground has really happened to stop the insurgencies going on there. Baloch leaders and nationalists are all excluded from the decision-making affecting their province and the human right violations have only peaked. Recently, it has been declared the most dangerous place for journalists. Balochistan is a collective moral crisis and a shameful state failure, Bushra says.
Bushra urges her readers to be optimistic and keep an open mind while reading her memories. We need to inculcate positive thinking at a time when people in our society are living in hopelessness and hardships ripped apart by conflicts and discrimination, Bushra says. She wants her book to re-assert that despite all the gruesome breaking news bulletins, there are things that we can still celebrate about Pakistan. Bushra believes that one of the most celebrated fundamental thing is the institution of family as a national lifeline we all should hold on to and invest in, and her book ‘A Daughter’s Heart: Tribute to My Father’ is about the importance of values and principles that a closely-knit family instils in its young generations.
Bushra Zulfiqar, a writer and human development activist, launched her debut book titled ‘A Daughter’s Heart: Tribute to My Father’ here on Monday. Highlighting various phases of socio-political evolution of Pakistan, she presents a memoir comprising eventful political history of Pakistan.
Born and brought up in Pakistan, Bushra studied Social Policy and International Development at the London School of Economics. A human development activist, she has over seven-year experience in social sector policy-making, particularly in the sectors of education and gender. She has also been advocating for the emancipation of minorities in Pakistan.
As firsthand account of growing up under various governments, political as well as military, Bushra’s narrative also covers her personal experience and observations carrying the reflection of how her generation lived through more recent political events.
Writing for quite some time, mostly on research and academics, Bushra describes her book as a debut venture as it is now more about her autobiography, “which is far more intense than anything I have written before,” she says.
The title of the book makes it obvious that it is a daughter’s tribute to her father, whom she lost at an age as early as thirteen. It is a wonderful blend celebrating a great father and also the pain of living without him. Bushra says “In some ways it has been heart-stabbing to re-live something so deeply painful but it has also been a process of catharsis as I had been pained and plagued by the grief of my father’s sudden death for a very long time”.
Though the book is a tribute to her father, Bushra maintains that she has incorporated lot more ground realities about Pakistan, primarily touching upon her growing up stage from childhood to adulthood with particular emphasis on the time between 80s and 90s. Describing the phase of transformation as something very phenomenal in a lot of ways, Bushra has weaved various aspects of that experience that profoundly configure in the book.
Written by someone who grew up and lived in various military cantonments, the book touches upon how that environment typically is. At a personal level, things like an almost paranoid emphasis on table manners, weekend get-togethers at the nearby mess, punctuality and very strict discipline about the day-to-day routine are some of the things Bushra sketches minutely as things she was brought up with. However, Bushra has also clearly criticised institutional role of military in the book and portrays that role as being the center-stage position in Pakistan’s domestic politics, foreign policy, nuclear and security policies that almost every citizen is opposed to. It is something that hasn’t worked to the benefit of Pakistan and there can be no denial about it, Bushra writes.
While writing about her memories of visiting Sindh’s sufi shrines with her parents as an anecdote of the harmony and comfort of the time that she lived in a very diverse society, Bushra connects her memories to the present time and observes that in the present life in Pakistan, those values unfortunately seem nostalgic.
The book also carries glimpses of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Bushra describes Balochistan as the most poverty-stricken and deprived province of Pakistan. However, she found her experience while working in that province in 2009-10 as most beautiful and enigmatic. Bushra says Balochistan redefined Pakistan to her as “on one hand, you see maddening poverty and absolute nothingness but on the other hand, you realise you are dealing with the most honourable and dignified people ever”. Bushra, in her book, pays great tribute to the spirit and resilience of the people of Balochistan who brought her closer to her own land and people and taught her to feel proud of them.
Bushra finds it rather unfortunate that no practical steps are being taken to resolve the multiple crises that Balochistan Province has been pushed deep into. Bushra maintains that though the present government’s Balochistan Package raised some initial hopes but was in vain as nothing on ground has really happened to stop the insurgencies going on there. Baloch leaders and nationalists are all excluded from the decision-making affecting their province and the human right violations have only peaked. Recently, it has been declared the most dangerous place for journalists. Balochistan is a collective moral crisis and a shameful state failure, Bushra says.
Bushra urges her readers to be optimistic and keep an open mind while reading her memories. We need to inculcate positive thinking at a time when people in our society are living in hopelessness and hardships ripped apart by conflicts and discrimination, Bushra says. She wants her book to re-assert that despite all the gruesome breaking news bulletins, there are things that we can still celebrate about Pakistan. Bushra believes that one of the most celebrated fundamental thing is the institution of family as a national lifeline we all should hold on to and invest in, and her book ‘A Daughter’s Heart: Tribute to My Father’ is about the importance of values and principles that a closely-knit family instils in its young generations.
