In Memoriam of Zubaida Hussain

By: Zakir Qadir

“Zubaida Ki Death Hogai Hai” (Zubaida has passed away).

My mobile blinked with a message from a classmate-friend, Zahir Zaheer.

I could not believe it and really thought it to be something like a joke we usually made in the class. When I logo in the Facebook a picture of her with a caption of praying words appeared on the homepage shared by Hafeez Sherani. Now I had to believe it. Believe that she is no more -Today I was realizing what a classmate is - definitely a family member. I was memorizing everything she did or spoke in class, her participation in class activates, her jokes she usually said about guys and her position in the previous examinations and her awaiting result------but she was no more to wait for her final result as we are waiting. Who will search the result for the roll no----------?

When I read the comments of classmates, her friends and her family members under her picture in facebook, I really cried, cried once, cried twice, cried again and again. She was not to die so early. She had to come up with new ideas and to support and lead the women of her community. She was a hard working and a devoted girl. Those of us, who knew her, would surely testify her love for humanity. We studied for two years in the same class but for a single moment she didn’t let us know that she belonged to another sect.

“Jab b atay ho paisy ki Baath karty ho” (whenever you come, ask for money)

This was Zubaida Hussain whose these words made us laugh for days she told our class representative, when he was collecting money for the class party. This humorous personality was known to me from April 2011. We studied Journalism together but my interaction with her were just, getting the copies of notes and handouts, the teachers provided us but my observations about my classmates were not so finite.

Zubaida was a girl with a humorous temper making others laugh. One day the class was silent after the teacher left, a clean-shaven boy was seated in a chair in the first row, Zubaida called him from behind,

“O Baji, excuse me”.

 As she called her baji the silence of the class broke into laughs.

Zubaida had love for humanity and spoke against the injustice against women which led her to research on the violence against women. Her final year research study was entitled “Domestic violence and the role of Media” in which she dug out the violence against women such as honor killing, dowry related violence and sexual harassment. For the elimination of these evils she suggested in her report that, “we and our media must know the reality and put steps forward towards a positive change.”

In our class, among the girls she was called Zubi, one of our teachers called her Khanam and some boys called her Aapa but she never minded this; once a friend told her,

“We call you Aapa, don’t you mind this?”

First she replied with the two letter word “No”. Then she said.

“Why should I mind? You are like brothers to me”.

This sister always tried to make others laugh and now left us cried, she is not among us but we must remember our sister in our prayers. May her soul rest in peace. (Aameen)