Zaheda Hina, a fiction writer and women right's activist from Karachi, based her presentation, Modern Education and Women's Emancipation in the Sub-continent tracing the role of the British Raj, Christian missionaries and East India Company in promoting women's education in South Asia in the late 19 th and 20 th century. She argued that these actors wanted to show the world that they were responsible for introducing educational reforms to enlighten women living in this part of the world. She appreciated untiring contributions of Muslim reformist leaders such as Rashid Ul Khairi, Moulvi Mumtaz, Deputy Nazir Ahmad, Moulana Altaf Hali towards women's education through different women magazines and schools. However, she also indicated continued resistance and opposition of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Akbar Allhah Abadi to girl's education till 1889.
Syed Waqar Ali Shah from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan, in his presentation on Women, Education and Social Reform in the Pukhtun Society as Reflected in the ‘Pukhtun' (1928-47) looked into the role of Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Khudai Khidmatgar Tehreek (a social reform movement) in encouraging local Pukhtun women to get modern education and to take part in social activities including politics at a time. This happened at a time when local perceptions regarding women's education was considered a distinct Western approach and a surefire way to Hell. His presentation particularly highlighted the contributions of Noor Jehan Begum, Maha Sultana, Najma, Majeed Begum, and Ameena Khatoon through newspaper articles and writings which had remarkable impact on the lives of women living in Pukhtun society. However in some cases their actions led to their social boycott by society including their own families.
Dr. Aneela Babar from the Centre for Cultural Research, Australia, in her presentation Living Room Seminaries: Gendered selves and inter communal relationships shared her account of the increasing role of transnational religious networks like Dr. Farhat Hashmi's Al-Huda in the Pakistani diaspora. She elaborated how this network was playing an active role in promoting its version of Islam among overseas Pakistani communities especially among the ‘recent arrivals' who had migrated in the past ten years.
Dr. Willem Van Schendel from the University of Amsterdam, Holland chaired the session. The discussant, Razia Sultana from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan, stressed the need for further research and investigation on socio-economic prejudices against women during pre and post colonial era. She emphasized that we also need to explore the reason why Pukhtun women are not allowed to participate in the jirga today while in past they could participate in it. However, they were excluded from taking part in the decision-making process. Commenting on Aneela's paper, she declared that the Al-Huda network is being promoted by variety of forces. She stressed that one needs to check what kind of topics and issues are taught by Al- Huda's academics.
In the question-answer session, the participants were keen to know that why colonial powers were interested in women's education and emancipation in South Asia. The role of Muslim reformist leaders was also discussed at length. Most of the participants were not aware how earlier in Pukhtun society, women could sit in the jirga but this egalitarian practice does not exist today. Regarding Al-Huda network, many of the participants declared the network an extension of Dars culture, flourishing in Pakistan as well as abroad.
Reported by Faisal Gorchani
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