Featured KCite

Surayya Jabeen

Surayya Jabeen graduated from Kinnaird College of Women, Lahore in 1948, and continued a distinguished academic career at Universities of the Punjab & Karachi which includes a Gold Medal. M.A., University of Karachi.Studied Philosophy, Politics & Economics at St. Hilda’s College at Oxford.Diploma in Mass Communication for Family Planning, University of Chicago.Taught Political Science & English at various Colleges Vice Principal APWA College, Lahore.
Surayya is associated with a number of Civil Society Organizations including the Family Planning Association of Pakistan, The All Pakistan Women’s Association, The Women’s Action Forum, The Global Peace Initiative of Women Leaders and the American Association of University Women.
Initially Surayya entered the academic field but soon discovered that her true calling is in the development sector. She has participated in various national and international conferences on Reproductive Health and women’s development, a number of which she helped to organize. Her special field of interest is youth and women’s empowerment with a focus on the Girl Child.
Surayya’s career is a lifetime of service to social development in Pakistan, with dedication and devotion she has promoted a range of women’s issues and with unflinching commitment and much hard work has given leadership to the family planning movement of Pakistan.

Fawzia Afzal-Khan Professor

Fawzia Afzal-Khan holds a PhD in English Literature from Tufts University and is Full Professor at Montclair State University, NJ. She is author of several books of scholarly criticism: Cultural Imperialism and the Indo-English Novel : Genre and Ideology in the works of RK Narayan, Kamala Markandaya, Anita Desai and Salman Rushdie (Penn State Press 1993),
The Preoccupation of Postcolonial Studies (co-edited with Kalpana Seshadri-Crooks, Duke University Press, 2000), A Critical Stage: the Role of Secular Alternative Theatre in Pakistan Seagull Press, 2005), and editor of the recent best-selling anthology, Shattering the Stereotypes: Muslim Women Speak Out (Interlink Books 2005). She has published scholarly articles on Feminist and Postcolonial Theory and Criticism and Performance and Cultural Studies in NWSA Journal, TDR (The Drama Review), Social Text, Womanist Theory and Research, Wasafiri, The Journal of South Asian Studies and other journals, and is on the Advisory Board of the
South Asian Review. She has lectured all over the world, and is winner of several prestigious fellowships, including the W.E.B Dubois Fellowship at Harvard University, a Rotary Fellowship, an American Institute of Pakistan Studies grant and a Fulbright. She is a performance artist, working in the classical vocal North Indian tradition, and founding member of the theatre collective, Faim de Siecle, with whom she recently performed in the World Premiere of Five Streams at Asia Society, Manhattan. She is completing work on her memoir, Sahelian: Growing Up With Girlfriends, Pakistani-Style, set in Lahore and America. A chapter of it was just published in the anthology And The World Changed:: Contemporary Writings by Pakistani Women (ed Muneeza Shamsie, OUP, 2006). Fawzia is also a published poet, a finalist in the Annual Greenburgh Poetry Competition of 2000. Her most recent assignment was to set up a Postcolonial studies Graduate Program at Government College University, Lahore, where she was invited by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan in Fall of 2005.

Ayesha Rabia Captain

Captain Ayesha Rabia became the first lady captain of a commercial airline of Pakistan when she did her first flight as a full fledged captain of Pakistan international airlines on 21st October 2005. She joined PIA as a cadet pilot in 1989.

She did her Matriculation High School from Sacred Heart Convent School, Lahore. She got interested in flying after her Intermediate and Bachelors from Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore. In 1974, she started flying as a hobby at Lahore Flying Club, Walton and did her first solo flight on a Cessna 172 at the age of seventeen. She got her Commercial Pilot’s License and Instrument rating in 1977. Ayesha obtained her Assistant flying instructors rating in 1979. She obtained her Airline Transport Pilot’s License in 1998.

The atmosphere at home was very conducive. She was inspired by her father, who was a surgeon by profession but used to fly as hobby and had a Private Pilot’s License. Her maternal uncle was also a captain in PIA. Her brother also started learning flying at the same time when she was learning flying and is a captain in PIA.

Then in 1980 she was selected as a cadet pilot in PIA. Four batches of cadet pilots were selected out of which only the first three were called for training initially. She was placed in the fourth batch, due to which her training was delayed. However, during that time she got married to a civil engineer, had children, a daughter and a son, and took an air traffic controlling course at Civil Aviation Authority and even worked there for a short period.

In 1985 when they called her batch and the training started, the Government policy in the country was not very favorable for female e pilots. So she was trained for a marketing course by PIA and worked as a sales promotion officer in the Marketing department in PIA

Then in 1989 the Government policy was revised and she had the opportunity of being trained as a First Officer on f-27 aircraft. Her simulator training for this was conducted at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After flying the F-27 for 500 hours, she was promoted to the Boeing-737 for which she got the simulator training in Houston, Texas, America. Her next promotion came on Airbus-300 as a first officer. After successfully flying this equipment, she was promoted on the Boeing-747 Jumbo in February 1999 and became the first female pilot to fly the Boeing-747 in Pakistan. For this, he ground training classes and simulator training were both conducted at PIA Training Centre, Karachi.

In April 2005, she was promoted and was called to start her training to become a Captain on Fokker F-27 aircraft. Her ground training classes began at PIA Training Centre in Karachi. Her simulator training was conducted in Indonesia. She then flew under the supervision of the instructors of F-27. Then ultimately on October 21st 2005, she flew as a full fledged Captain of Fokker F-27. She flew from Karachi to Turbat then Gwadar and back to Karachi.

Captain Ayesha Rabia has more than 7000 hours of flying experience to her credit and has been flying with PIA for the last almost 16 years. She has flown on both international and domestic routes like America, Europe, Middle East and Fareast.

Captain Ayesha Rabia operated an all female crew flight on 25th January, 2006. Her co-pilot was a lady pilot and cabin crew was also airhostesses. Captain Ayesha along with her female crew members flew form Islamabad to Lahore. This was the first all female crew flight in the Aviation history of Pakistan.

Her hobbies are swimming, sightseeing, tennis, listening to music, watching informative television programs and movies, trying out different recipes and spending time with her family.

Captain Ayesha Rabia has recently been promoted on Boeing 737.

Captain Ayesha Rabia’s sister is an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and another brother is doctor specializing in Pathology.

Captain Ayesha Rabia’s daughter Mahvesh Naveed is doing her Bachelors in Business Administration from Lahore School of Economics and son Mofeez Sheikh is studying in Grade 8 at Lahore School of Arts and Sciences.

Aneela Arshad Author

Aneela Arshad is a Certified Hypnotherapist, Reiki Master, Teacher and Healer. She owns and operates a Holistic Medical facility in New York where she has, by the grace of God, successfully healed many people suffering from stress, depression, sleep disorders and other related emotional illnesses. She is also an Author, Poet, Playwright and a Screenplay Writer aspiring to spread peace through her writings. Currently, the president of The Arch, a New York based Non-Profit, Cultural Organization; she hopes to reach out to the world through Art and Theatre, thereby bridging the gaps of diversity.

Her first book, The Bounty of Allah was published in 1999 by the Crossroads publishing company. She has written three screenplays, two of which, Where Spirits Soar and The Right and the Wrong, were bought by Nivelli International films. Nightmare at Uch Sharif is in the pre-production phase. She has also produced two plays, Mogul E Azam The Great Mogul and Amir Khusro in 2001 and 2003. She was nominated by the Sub-Continent Peace foundation to receive a proclamation and a Key to the City of Jersey City for her literary endeavors and the passion to address the crimes against women, particularly Muslim women.

THE SILENT LAMEN, her latest work, an anthology of which many poems have been published in various magazines, is a collection of poems based on the true stories of women whose voices have been stifled in a world where being a woman is a curse unto itself. This anthology lays bare the warped reality of women trapped beneath the rubble of a crumbling civilization. It voices the misery of tormented spirits crying out for help.

Neelam Muizzuddin Clinical Researcher

Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Neelam attended the prestigious Convent of Sacred Heart High School, and of course the exalted Kinnaird College for Women where she graduated with a Bachelors in Science, in 1977. She obtained a Masters in Microbiology (hons) from University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, before immigrating to the United States, in 1986, where she started working for Estee Lauder Companies, as a Research Scientist. Always of a very active and energetic temperament, Neelam obtained her Doctorate in Cell Biology while she worked full time. During her twenty plus years at Estee Lauder as a clinical researcher she has developed and worked on a myriad of skin testing projects. She has extensive experience in skin bioengineering and has several publications as book chapters, patents and peer reviewed journals in these topics. At present she is Director of Clinical Research at Estee Lauder R&D and Adjunct Professor at SUNY Stony Brook.

Neelam is also a licensed, instrument rated pilot, and keeps current in her flying endeavors. She is also a fabulous artist and has had several exhibitions of her artwork in galleries of Chelsea New York.

Bapsi Sidhwa Writer

Bapsi Sidhwa is one of Pakistan’s most eminent writers. She has produced English novels that reflect her personal experience of the Indian subcontinent’s Partition, abuse against women, immigration to the US, and membership in the Parsi/Zoroastrian community. Born on August 11, 1938 in Karachi, and migrating shortly thereafter to Lahore, Bapsi Sidhwa witnessed the bloody Partition of the Indian Subcontinent as a young child in 1947. Growing up with polio, she was educated at home until age 15, reading extensively. She then went on to receive a BA from Kinnaird College for Women in Lahore. At nineteen, Sidhwa had married and soon after gave birth to the first of her three children. The responsibilities of a family led her to set aside her literary prowess for some time. However, she remained an active women’s rights spokesperson, representing Pakistan in the Asian Women’s Congress of 1975.

After receiving countless rejections for her first and second novels, The Bride and The Crow Eaters, she decided to publish The Crow Eaters in Pakistan privately. Though the experience was one she says, “I would not wish on anyone,” it marks the beginning of her literary fame. Since then, she has received numerous awards and honorary professorships for these first two works and her two most recent novels, Cracking India and An American Brat.

Bapsi, who was on the advisory committee to Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Women’s Development has taught at Columbia University, Mount Holyoke College, Southampton University, and Brandeis University. She now lives in Houston Texas and teaches at St. Thomas University, Rice University, University of Houston, and The University of Texas.

AWARDS and RECOGNITION:
Bapsie was awarded Pakistan National honors of the Patras Bokhari award for The Bride in 1985 and the highest honor in the arts, the Sitari-I-Imtiaz in 1991.
A Bunting Fellowship from Harvard and a National Endowment of the Arts grant in 1986 and 1987 supported the completion of her third novel Cracking India, that was also awarded the German Literatureprei, a nomination for Notable Book of the Year from the American Library Association, and was mentioned as a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year,” all in 1991. She was also awarded a $100,000 grant as the recipient of the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Award in 1993. Cracking India (a Quality Paperback Book Club selection) was also made into the film Earth by Canadian director Deepa Mehta.
Her latest novel Water is based on Mehta’s film of the same name.
Bapsie’s play, An American Brat, was produced by Stages Repertory Theater in Houston March 2007. It played to full houses and received critical acclaim. Her play, Sock’em With Honey , played in London in 2003.
Her novels: (Water, An American Brat, Cracking India, The Bride, and The Crow Eaters) have been translated and published in several languages. Her most recent publication is an anthology: City of Sin and Splendour [aka] Beloved City.: Writings on Lahore, which was published in 2006.

You can check out more details at her website: www.bapsisidhwa.com

Mariam Chughtai Scholar

Currently at Harvard University, Mariam Chughtai is pursuing a doctorate in Education Policy and Leadership at Harvard University. Her PhD thesis focuses on the politics behind education reform and policy decisions in Pakistan. Mariam has two masters degrees, also from Harvard, in International Education Policy and Education Policy and Management. “This region is a tremendous laboratory for studying development through education,” she says.

Mariam founded Harvard Pakistan Student Group three years ago with a small community of 18 people. With over 600 members today, Harvard Pakistan Student Group is the first university-wide student organization recognized by Harvard University.

After she completes her doctorate, Mariam sees herself returning to Pakistan to run for political office working towards systemic social change. She hopes to engage youth in political participation and discourse on their right to quality education. Mariam says the increase in suicide bombings and global terrorism has hijacked her religion – a religion of peace. “It is my duty to be a catalyst for education reform in a country that has been both misused and misunderstood”.

Shazia Rafi

Shazia Z. Rafi is the Secretary-General of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA). Ms. Rafi joined Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) in 1993 as Director, Democracy and Development Programs. She was appointed Deputy Secretary-General in June 1995 and Secretary General in June 1996. At PGA, Ms. Rafi has developed projects on the Role of Parliamentarians in Conflict Management and Political mediation; the Role of Parliamentary Committees in Economic Management and Good Governance; the Role of Parliamentary Leadership in Social legislation focused on Reproductive Health; and the Role of Foreign Aid Committees of Donor parliaments in Development Assistance. Ms. Rafi has published as a journalist in Ms. Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, the New York Daily News, womensmediacenter.com, and Pakistani publications. Prior to joining PGA, Ms. Rafi served for five years as the United Nations Representative for the All Pakistan Women’s Association and as a consultant to the UN Center for Transnational Corporations and the Women’s Action Alliance. Ms. Rafi has a Master’s degree in International Political Economy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (1983) and she graduated Magna cum Laude from Bryn Mawr College (1979) in Political Science. Ms. Rafi has been appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General to serve on the Advisory Board of the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF), in an individual capacity, for the period of 2012 – 2013.