MONEEZA HASHMI

Moneeza Hashmi retired from PTV after a 40 year association in the production side. She joined as an Assistant Producer in 1967 and retired as Director Programmes, the first female to be appointed to that post. She also served as General Manger PTV Lahore for 5 years from 1998 to 2003, the longest serving General Manager ever at any PTV centre. She was also the first female appointed to head a PTV centre at the time.

Ms. Hashmi has a Master in Primary Education from University of Hawaii USA which she completed in 1982.

She has worked as a consultant with several international donors in her capacity as an Education expert as well as a Gender trainer.

She has represented Pakistan on many national and international forums, conferences and seminars.

Ms.Hashmi was elected as President Commonwealth Broadcasting CBA for 3 tenures of 2 years each where again she was the first Pakistani and female to be appointed to that post. CBA covers more than 60 countries in the world. During her tenure as CBA President, she visited many Commonwealth countries for several networking meetings and networking.

She describes herself as a “public servant of the women of Pakistan” and leaves so opportunity to speak and project their plight whenever she can.

Her programmes for PTV are remembered for their “gender sensitive” content and her constant struggle to ensure a better representation for the 50% of the population of Pakistan through the media who are girls and women.

She has written a book titled “Who am I” (available on Amazon) featuring interviews of 20 female game changers of Pakistan including Benazir Bhutto former female Prime Minister.

@Awards

PTV National Award for KHWATEEN TIME 1999-2000

Excellence Award (MWPJO) Media Women Publishers & Journalists Organization 2001-2002

President of Pakistan’s Pride of Performance Award 2002

Graduate Awards for excellence 1998-1999, 1999-2000, 2000-20001

President of NHK Award Tokyo, Japan 2015

US Aid Recognition of Excellence 2018, Islamabad: Project Pathways to Success

Lifetime Achievement Award SDPI 2018, Islamabad, Pakistan

Najam Aziz Sethi

Najam Aziz Sethi is an alumnus of Government College University, Lahore, and Cambridge University, UK. (MA Economics). He was Alumnus of the Year and Eric Lane Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge University, in 2011.

He is a Founder-Editor in Chief of The Friday Times, Daily Times (and Daily Aajkal (2008-2009). He was Pakistan Correspondent of The Economist, UK, from 1990-2009 and of Economist Intelligence Unit from 1997-2007.

As South Asia’s most decorated independent journalist, Mr Sethi has three international press freedom awards, the Courage in Journalism from Committee to Protect Journalists, New York; Freedom in Journalism Award from Amnesty International; and Golden Pen for Freedom from the World Association of Newspapers in 2009. In addition to the above, he was interim Federal Minister for Accountability in 1996-97 and interim Chief Minister of Punjab province in 2013.

Most recently Mr. Sethi remained the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) which saw under his leadership the inauguration of the lucrative Pakistan Super League and return of international cricket to Pakistan.

Sara Suleri

Sara Suleri Goodyear is Professor of English at Yale University, the founding editor of The Yale Journal of Criticism and on the editorial board of The Yale Review and Transition. As an academic, her fields of interest are listed as “Romantic and Victorian poetry…Edmund Burke…” and her concerns “postcolonial literatures and theory, contemporary cultural criticism, literature and law, Urdu poetry.”

            Ms Suleri was born in Pakistan, grew up in Lahore, graduated from Kinnaird College, did her Masters in English from PunjabUniversity and a doctorate from Indiana University. She encapsulated memories of her Lahore childhood in her creative memoir Meatless Days (1989), at the heart of which were the tragic accidents that killed her mother and sister. Furthermore, as the daughter of the eminent journalist Z.A. Suleri, she observed political events and political opinions being forged from close quarters and wove the story of Pakistan into her narrative. The book was remarkable for the quality of Suleri’s prose and her use of metaphor to define chapters, and not only marked an important milestone in Pakistani English literature, but is now one of the classical texts of South Asian English literature. She went on to write a critical work The Rhetoric of English India (1992), a rather complicated work, which explores the way English writing was used to perceive and define the subcontinent, from the rhetoric of Edmund Burke to the fiction of Salman Rushdie. The book also includes discussions on Fanny Parkes, Kipling, E.M. Forster and Naipaul.

            She lives between Maine and New Haven and has recently published another accomplished memoir Boys Will Be Boys: A Daughter’s Elegy about her journalist father. In this brief fax interview with Newsline, she answers a few questions about her books.  My novel is that “the novel is not about getting inside but is about showing what happened, without explanation, with “no introductions”

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Fouzia Saeed

Dr. Fouzia Saeed, a social scientist with a PhD from the University of Minnesota, is the author of "Taboo! The Hidden Culture of a Red Light Area," based on 8 years of field research among prostitutes in Pakistan. 

Dr. Saeed is well known in the activist circles of Pakistan's social movement, having worked for decades on women’s issues especially those linked to violence against women, prostitution, women in the entertainment business, women’s mobility and sexual harassment. Her work on violence against women spans over 20 years and includes founding the first women’s crisis center in Pakistan in 1991. Her earlier work with the Folk and Traditional Heritage Institute (Lok Virsa) led to the book, Women in Folk Theater. 

During her career she has headed the UN Gender Program in Pakistan, served as Pakistan Country Director for Action Aid and currently is an international consultant in the field of Gender and Development. As a consultant, over the years, she has worked in Pakistan, USA, Bahamas, Philippines, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, India, Afghanistan, Fiji and several other Pacific Island countries. 

Her current activist work includes being the Director of Mehergarh, an institute committed to transform the youth of this country, an active member of AASHA, an alliance against sexual harassment at the workplace and an active member of a campaign against bonded labor. In addition, the urgency to work on anti talibanization has moved her to be a part of a nationwide movement against this vicious process. Her main identity remains as a human rights and women’s activist in Pakistan.

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Dr Farah Adeeb

Dr Farah Adeeb is an expatriate from Lahore. She studied her PhD at the University of Auckland before taking on a position with the Environment Protection Authority in South Australia. She is now a senior air quality manager with the equivalent organisation in Western Australia. She is also the branch president for Clean Air Society for Australia and New Zealand.

Farah is also a freelance writer and these poems are therefore reflective of the thoughts and feelings of many within the immigrant population within Australia.

Faiz Ahmed Faiz

Date of Birth: February 13th, 1911

Place: Sialkot (Punjab), Pakistan

Faiz's mother was Sultan Fatima. Faiz's father died in Sialkot in 1913. Faiz's father was a learned man and enjoyed the company of well-known literary persons. Wrote the biography of Amir Abdur Rehman. Faiz was therefore, born in a respectable and literary environment and was a very promising student with a religious background.Primary Education: Started memorizing the Holy Quran at the age of four and in 1916 started his formal education in the famous school of Moulvi Ibrahim Sialkoti, and learnt Urdu, Persian and Arabic. Was admitted to the Scotch Mission High School in 1921 in Class IV. Passed his Matriculation Examination in the 1st Division from Murray College, Sialkot and during this period learnt Persian and Arabic from Allama Iqbal's teacher, Shamsul Ullama Moulvi Syed Meer Hasan.

College Education: Passed his B.A. (Honours) in Arabic from the Government College, Lahore and then M.A. in English from the same College in 1932. Passed his M.A. in Arabic in the 1st Division, from Oriental College, Lahore.

Employment: Lecturer in English at M. A. O. College, Amritsar in 1935 and then at Hailey College of Commerce, Lahore. Joined the Army as Captain in 1942 and worked in the department of Public Relations in Delhi. Was promoted to the rank of Major in 1943, and Lieut. Colonel in 1944. Resigned from The Army in 1947 and returned to Lahore, where, in 1959 appointed as Secretary, Pakistan Arts Council and worked in that capacity till 1962. Returning from London in 1964 he settled down in Karachi and was appointed as Principal, Abdullah Haroon College , Karachi. Editorship of the monthly magazine Adabe-Latif from 1947 to 1958. Worked as Editor under the Progressive Papers Ltd, of the Pakistan Times, the Urdu newspaper Imroze and the weekly Lailo-Nihar. In the 1965 war between India & Pakistan he worked in an honorary capacity in the Department of Information. Acted as Editor of the magazine Lotus in Moscow, London and Beirut.

Marriage & Children: In March 9th, arrested under Safety Act and charged in the Rawalpindi Conspiracy case, and having borne the hardships of imprisonment for four years and one month in the jails of Sargodha, Montgomery (now Sahiwal) Hyderabad and Karachi, was released on April 2nd, 1955.

Anwar Masood

Anwar Masood is a well known Pakistani comic poet but he has also done other genres works. He writes poetry in Urdu, Punjabi and Persian. He was born in Gujrat on 8th November 1935 and migrated to Lahore in 1941. He also got early education form Lahore. Later on in 1947 he went backed to Gujrat and done matriculation from “Public School”. He studies at “Zamindara College Gujrat” and achieved degree of B.A Honor. He taught in Government Islamia High School, Kunjah. He got masters degree in Persian from “Oriental College, Lahore in 1961 and attain gold medal. He started his career as a lecturer in 1962 and taught in different colleges. He got retirement in 1996. Anwar Masood is a multilingual poet. He teaches Persian language and also a poet of Persian, Urdu and Punjabi. His poetry provides message and reflection of original and true culture of Punjab.

He is the only poet who is popular among a lot of people. He describes different aspects of real life in his poetry that has never been described before. His some poems has become so popular in people that when ever he read out his poetry people requested him to recite their poetry again and again before them. His most popular poetry includes “Anar Kali Diyan Shana, Juma Bazaar Jehlam Da Pul, Aj Ke Pakaeay, Umree” and many more.

Amjad Islam Amjad

Amjad Islam Amjad - a great name in Pakistan's literary history. Amjad was born in Sialkot but had his higher education from Lahore. He started his practical life as a lecturer in the Islamia College and thereafter worked as a director in Pakistan Television Centre Lahore from 1975-1979. In 1997, he was appointed as the director general of the Urdu Science Board. At present he is the project director of the Children Library Complex.

Amjad is specially known for his drama writing - but equally captivating are his countless poems that reflect his thoughts about the beautifulness of life and its true face. He is author of more than 40 books, beside many critical works, columns and literary analyses. Amjad Islam Amjad is basically a sensitive poet who through the careful use of similes, metaphors and symbols has become one of the representative voices of his age. He is amongst the most popular poets of today and is known as the house-hold poet of Pakistan, since he is known and recognized everywhere one goes. This is mainly because of his captivating poetry and God-gifted qualities that a personality should possess.

Amjad Islam Amjad has written many a drama series for PTV with "Waaris" being the jewel in the crown. He may or may not write another serial so popular but his poetic talents have been abounding by day and night. His other famous TV dramas include Dehleez, Smandar, Raat, Waqt and Apnay Loug. The collection of his poetry includes: Fishar, Barzakh, Us par, Satwan dar, Zara phir say kehna, Seher aasar, Barish ke aawaz, Itnay khwab kahan rakhoon, Mairay bhe hain kuch khwab and Hum us kay hain.

Qateel Shifai

Qateel Shifai was born on 24th December, 1919. His actual name is Aurangzeb Khan. Qateel Shifai is his nom de plume, the pen-name under which he is known in the world of Urdu poetry. "Qateel" is his "takhallus" and "Shifai" is in honour of his ustaad Hakim Mohammed 'Shifa' whom he considered his mentor.

His father's death at an early age, forced Qateel to quit his education and start his own sporting goods shop. Success eluded him and he moved to Rawalpindi, where he worked at a transport company for a monthly salary of Rs.60. Finally in 1946, Nazir Ahmed called him to Lahore and made him the assistant editor of the monthly 'Adab-e-Latif'.

Qayeel Shifai's first ghazal was printed in the Lahore weekly 'Star', whose editor was Qamar Jalalabadi. In January 1947, a Lahore based film producer asked Qateel to pen the songs for his forthcoming film. His first film as a lyricist was "Teri Yaad". Since then he has won numerous awards as a lyricist. He has had quite a few of his poem collections published, one of which being "Mutriba" which was awarded the highest literature award in Pakistan.

Qateel's primary contribution to Urdu poetry has been to raise the standards of ghazals in films. Though this work was started by Tanvir Alvi and Sahir Ludhianvi,it has been brought to its natural conclusion by Qateel Shifai. His work brought a certain standard to ghazals in films and gave it a certain respectability. His work also brought Urdu poetry closer to the masses by using simple words, quite often words taken from Hindi.

Qateel Shifai has also been known for his collaborations with Jagjit and Chitra Singh on numerous ghazal albums.

Kishwar Naheed

Born in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, India in 1940, Kishwar Naheed is one of the best- known feminist poets of Pakistan. In a field dominated by traditional male voices, Naheed, writing in Urdu, was a pioneer of a new, distinctively feminine voice and has produced over the span of thirty years a body of work that is innovative, defiant, political, and self-aware.

Her poetry dared to go beyond the prescribed accepted 'feminine' realms to include hitherto unmined fields of female sexuality, politics, and social issues. In an interview with Rakhshanda Jalil for the Indian daily The Hindu (11/4/2001), Kishwar Naheed explained her writing as an attempt to redefine the man-woman relationship. Rejecting being branded as a radical or a bohemian, she declared herself "a realist" who "never let herself get pushed around by men or by circumstances."

Born into a traditional family that moved to Lahore, Pakistan during the 1947 Partition of the sub-continent, Naheed had to fight to pursue an education in a milieu where women did not go to school and "were not allowed to speak to boys." She studied at home and obtained a high school diploma through correspondence courses, but went on to receive a masters degree in Economics from Punjab University.

Naheed's first collection of poetry, Lab-i goya, published in 1968, won the prestigious Adamjee Prize of Literature. This collection of traditional ghazals was followed by a collection of nazms, by translations of foreign poetry, and by many works in free verse. She also wrote for children and for the daily Jang, published her autobiography in 1994 (it appeared the following year in India), and in 2001 saw her collected poetic work released in a 1312 page volume entitled Dasht-i qais men Lail'a. Her daily columns in Jang were also collected and published in 1999. Her poetry has been translated into English and Spanish and her famous poem "We, sinful women" gave its title to a path-breaking anthology of contemporary Urdu feminist poetry translated and edited by Rukhsana Ahmad, published in London by The Women's Press in 1991.

Kishwar Naheed has held the position of Director General of Pakistan National Council of the Arts before her retirement, has edited a prestigious literary magazine Mah-i naw, and has founded an organization named Hawwa (Eve) whose goal is to help homebound women become financially independent through cottage industries and the marketing of handicrafts.

The Library of Congress has twenty-five works by Naheed in its collection. She read for the Library in Lahore on December 13, 1977.

Bano Qudsia

Bano Qudsia is a writer, intellectual and playwright who is regarded among the best Urdu novelists and short story writers of modern times. She is best known for her novel Raja Gidh. She writes for television and stage in both Urdu and Punjabi languages. The Graduate Award for Best Playwright was conferred on Bano in 1986, followed by the same award for three consecutive years from 1988 to 1990. In 1986, she was also given the Taj Award for Best Playwright.