{"id":22732,"date":"2018-11-21T23:24:25","date_gmt":"2018-11-21T23:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=22732"},"modified":"2018-11-21T23:24:25","modified_gmt":"2018-11-21T23:24:25","slug":"pakistani-poet-author-fahmida-riaz-passes-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=22732","title":{"rendered":"Pakistani poet, author Fahmida Riaz passes away"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pakistani poet, human-rights activist and feminist, Fahmida Riaz, has passed away at the age of 72.<\/p>\n

Pakistan<\/a>‘s newspapers and websites on Wednesday reported Riaz’s passing away following a prolonged illness in the city of Lahore.<\/p>\n

Riaz, a formidable figure of Pakistani literature, authored over a dozen books on poetry and fiction, and ran a publication company.<\/p>\n

She translated the writings of Albanian writer Ismail Kadare and the Sufi poetry of Rumi into Urdu. Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper\u00a0called<\/a> her a\u00a0“pioneer in feminist literature”.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Heartbreaking news about the death of Fahmida Riaz. What a transformative force she was, in her poetry and her life. One of the brightest of lights in the dark days of Zia-ul-Haq, and beyond. #fahmidariaz<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Kamila Shamsie (@kamilashamsie) 21 November 2018<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“The themes prevalent in her verse were, until then, were considered taboo for women writers,” said the Dawn.<\/p>\n

When ‘Badan Dareeda’, her second collection of verse, appeared, she was accused of using erotic and sensual expressions in her poetry.<\/p>\n

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Sad to lose another very lovely Khala the dynamic @fahmidaRiaz<\/a> she was brave, daring and a great person – rest in peace Khala you will be missed in a land where people can no longer disagree and still live<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ayesha Siddiqa (@iamthedrifter) 21 November 2018<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She was also forced to live in exile for over six years in India when former military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq ruled over Pakistan.<\/p>\n

Riaz faced various challenges due to her political writings. “More than 10 cases were filed against her during Ziaul Haq\u2019s dictatorship,” reported<\/a> The News.<\/p>\n

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Renowned Pakistani Poet Fahmida Riaz passes away in Lahore. She had fled General Zia-ul Haq’s tyranny, sought refuge & spent 7 years in exile in India. Her warning to Indians on religious fundamentalists remains and will keep ringing forever.https:\/\/t.co\/6Qd09X7OG2<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/4ZOmT513s3<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Vijoo Krishnan (@VijooKrishnan) 21 November 2018<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Senior journalist Raza Rumi called her the “finest of our poets, writer, translator, activist” on Twitter.<\/p>\n

Noted Pakistani author Ayesha Siddiqa, said: “Sad to lose another very lovely Khala the dynamic @fahmidaRiaz she was brave, daring and a great person – rest in peace Khala you will be missed in a land where people can no longer disagree and still live.”<\/p>\n

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She spent almost seven years in exile during Zia rule. During her India stay, Riaz was a poet in residence for Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi – my alma mater #FahmidaRiaz<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/IkdH5Zemcm<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Saif Khalid (@msaifkhalid) 21 November 2018<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pakistani poet, human-rights activist and feminist, Fahmida Riaz, has passed away at the age of 72. Pakistan’s newspapers and websites on Wednesday reported Riaz’s passing away following a prolonged illness in the city of Lahore. Riaz, a formidable figure of Pakistani literature, authored over a dozen books on poetry and fiction, and ran a publication…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":22733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}