News
Friday, March 08, 2013
Dr Shabana Haider: a story of grace and empowerment
By Durdana Najam
A woman is a leader inside, inspired by none other than her own being. With a vast reservoir of patience and tendency to absorb diversities, she is an epitome of courage and perseverance. It is only that, not many women could appreciate themselves they live a life defined by others. Dr Shabana Haider, Communication Head of Punjab Healthcare Commission, a Kashmiri, shared her views about her life, political affiliations with Daily Times
Tell us about your upbringing
I grew up in Srinagar, the main town of Jammu and Kashmir in India. I come from a conservative but modern family. Interestingly people erroneously relate modernity, with shunning clothes or behaving in a typical style. In my family, modernity has always been equated with high thinking. Therefore, my family’s emphasis on education has been extraordinary. They considered it a tool of high achievers. My father has always wanted me to become a doctor. Considering that I was brilliant in studies he did not want my talent used just in bringing up my own children. He believed that my contribution in a society is equally important. It was precisely this inspiration that made me follow my dreams even though I was married in the first year of my medicine studies. I became a doctor and pursued a successful career.
Have you been a high achiever?
All my life I have been a topper in every area: academic, sports, debate, you name it. I have been under sixteen table tennis champion of Jammu and Kashmir. Recently I have won Lahore Gymkhana women table tennis championship. I did my medicine from Fatima Jinnah Medical College Lahore. I had come from Srinagar to Lahore, because of the hostile political environment in India for Kashmiris, in early 1990’s. Though my parents wanted me to study in the US, and I did join an American high school, which I had to leave only in five months. It was a big cultural shock for me. I could not assimilate the way they interacting with life. I considered it too fast and furious.
Were you not prepared for the education system offered in the US?
Not at all. I was studying in convent. And let me add one important thing. Indian Kashmiris are educated people. Even a bus conductor is educated. He understands life. He has certain values to follow. He is not empty inside. Indian government has been generous in allowing setting up good academic standards in Kashmir. It is one of their techniques to show that they care for the Kashmiris. Which is not true.
How?
Because, even if educated, a Kashmiri is discriminated against other Indians. Job opportunities are rare even for a highly educated Kashmiri boy leave along a girl in Kashmir as well. We lack access to Indian or foreign markets. Tourism has been the main industry followed by handicrafts and shawl industries. Almost all three of them are in shambles. An average Kashmiri is hard put to survive in such a tough economic circumstances. To top it all, the state has been under siege most of the time. Even now when I recall 1990s, I get shiver down my spine. It was literality a life under curfews. One could not think of getting out of one’s home after five in the evening.
How did people survive? Those who did...
Self respect. Kashmiris are full of this personality trait. We believe in ourselves and it is this confidence that has kept that fire in us?
Which fire?
To fight to fight for the right of self-determination. Suppression has been a convenient tool of every ruler that has ruled us for more then a century now. However, no drudgery could douse the fire of having an independent and unfettered life. Look at the blood we have spilled. Do you think the emotion that has led us to fight so far has been directionless?
So you want to be a part of Pakistan as soon as possible?
Not at all! That is the last thing any educated urban Kashmiri wants today.
Why?
We have been let down? Pakistan government has improved its relation with India that we welcome, but what was in it for the Kashmiris. The government agreed on all kinds of visa schemes with India, but did it ever talk about visa relaxation scheme for people living in Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir. No. Thirty thousand Kashmiri families are living in Pakistan today. I am one of them. I go through the same mill, every time I had to visit Kashmir. Whatever trade relations Pakistan is considering or have undertaken with India has no economic benefits for Kashmir. Has Pakistan ever talked about our economic development? They have simply let us down.
What do Kashmiris want?
Independence. We do not want to live either with India or Pakistan.
You enjoy a political background?
In order not to run into any controversy, I will not give my family name. But I come from a deeply committed political family of Kashmir. My mother, Nasreen Mir has been in politics. My father Farooq Mir is a politician and a businessman. My grandmother (refused to give her name) was an MPA. One of my uncles was speaker Kashmir Assembly.
How did you come to Pakistan?
I came to Pakistan to study. My father wanted to give us uninterrupted education, that’s why he sent all of my sisters, we are three abroad for studies. Since I could not adjust in the US, I came to Lahore. My in-laws were looking for a spouse for their only son, they proposed me and then I lived on to date in Pakistan.
Did you find Pakistan different?
Yeah. We do share religion with Pakistan, but our value system, and approach towards life is much more healthier than what an average Pakistani has about him or her. We are more integrated among ourselves. We do not act different as Pakistanis behave even within a community or ethnic class. It is all because of the integrity that we held so close to our hearts that make Kashmiri Muslim distinct.
Where are you working these days?
I am working in the Punjab Healthcare Commission, as its communication head. The mandate of the organisation is to ensure quality in public and private healthcare centres. It is a semi-autonomous body, with a primary job to regulate the health sector for quality assurance.
How would you describe yourself as a woman?
I am independent, modern and traditional. I have a deep believe that every woman has the potential to make a difference. I think women should come out of such shallow stuff as morning parties. There is more to life then talking aimlessly or interacting to pass time. Putting make up, or wearing western clothes does not make one beautiful or modern. It is the values that a woman carries; the mission about life that she pursues makes her substantial. It is my life, and unless this feeling is ingrained, a woman is but a piece of log. To me my family is important. I have never neglected my two kids. My job comes second in priority to my family.
My message on this women day to all the women working or not is to have an objective in life. An aimless life is a dead life. And please do not make marriage or children your mission for life. These are the products of life that we get anyway. A mission is something that adds value and sustains us through thick and thin.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk