CALIFORNIA CRIMINAL DEFENSE

Begum Tazeen Faridi (1920-2010) who passed away peacefully on January 2, after a brief illness, was among the pioneering women of her generation. She had a vibrant, lively personality, an infinite capacity for hard work, a fine enquiring mind, and an undying passion for social justice.
During her long and distinguished career, she was awarded the Sitara-e-Khidmat, the Tamagha-e-Quaid-e-Azam and her many appointments included President of APWA, Vice-President of International Council of Women and Sindh Minister of Social Welfare. But to me, she was Phupijan, my father’s (Isha’at Habibullah) younger sister and a kindred spirit, with a wonderful sense of the absurd, an ability to laugh at herself.

She was someone I could chat to endlessly. She wrote a book in 1960, The Changing Role of Women in Pakistan, and as a child, I often saw newspaper articles written by her which my father would comment upon proudly, and which were usually related to social issues.

Phupijan was born in Lucknow in 1920, the year her three older brothers were sent away to school in England. My grandfather Sheikh Mohammed Habibullah was Taluqdar of Oudh and deeply involved in the social and political issues of the day. My grandmother, Begum Inam Habibullah, a Muslim League activist discarded purdah after marriage, corresponded with feminists in Egypt and Turkey and established women’s schools and colleges. She was a profound influence on her daughter Tazeen, whose exceptional intelligence emerged early, as is recorded in my grandmother’s Safarnama Europe about their trip to England. My grandmother writes proudly of her clever little daughter, who charmed everyone with her fluent English and her winning extrovert ways. Typically Phupijan found this description absolutely hilarious. On a more serious note she reminded me often that my grandmother had fought for her to attend a normal school and join Lucknow University where she stood first, received a Gold Medal, and also did her master’s degree (whereas my grandfather had wanted her to be educated at home, followed by finishing school in Switzerland).

In 1938, she became the first Muslim woman to be elected as President of the Lucknow University Students’ Union — and she led pickets against the Vice-Chancellor (her father!). She also joined the Muslim League, and played an active role in the All India Muslim League Students Federation and related political activities. By this time, my grandmother had been elected to the UP Legislative Assembly and had established the women’s wing of the Muslim League.

Phupijan first saw Karachi, her future home in 1944. She arrived here, as a newlywed, on a posting with her incredibly dashing and good looking husband, A.R. Faridi, an officer in the Royal Indian Navy. Shortly after World War II, he joined Burmah Shell and ultimately became its first Pakistani Chairman — later he headed the Pakistan Steel Mills. The Faridis were posted in Dhaka and Rawalpindi before moving to Karachi in the 1950s.

In the aftermath of the Partition riots, Phupijan worked extensively with Kashmir refugee rehabilitation, played a prominent role in APWA which formally came into being in 1949; she became APWA’s secretary general in 1956: it was to be a lifelong association. She told me that in Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan she found “a surrogate mother-figure”, who encouraged her, trained her and honed her skills. In Karachi, Phupijan’s many projects in health and education sectors included a three-year stint with a UN scheme in the poorest areas of Lyari: often she travelled there and back on a donkey cart, to the shock and horror of other company wives.

From 1956 to ‘67, Phupijan worked with The Planning Commission where she set up the first welfare sector in the planning board. She represented Pakistan at the 14th session of the Status of Women’s Commission and was actively involved in the women’s movement, spearheaded by APWA, which led to The Family Laws Ordinance passed by Ayub Khan. She was associated with many other organisations, ranging from The Red Crescent to the Fatimid Foundation, and her vision for integrated development was reflected in her extensive work, including literacy projects, child welfare, population control and small industries.

Despite all this, she managed an extraordinarily difficult balancing act between her demanding professional interests and her role as a supportive wife and caring mother. She kept a beautiful home, entertained well and was a great cook — an interest she shared with my father. She was a woman with an infinite capacity for life and to engage with people of all ages. Her children, Shahla, Tasmeen and Taufiq, speak of her as a joyful mother who taught them to love and care for others. My daughters always delighted in the fact that Tazeen Nani was always there at all their important school functions, albeit in her capacity as an august member of the Karachi Grammar School Board.

In the last week of her life, when she was sud

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