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)
