Suhini Paras: A Bold Voice For Women Of Sindh

Whenever I have met her, I have found a smile full of life on her face, she always remains happy and tries to keep people happy. In our society woman is considered to be weak but seeing her I came to know that woman is not weak, and if she has strong will power, even mountains would bow before her, though she always maintains a smile on her face but, there is sorrow hidden deep inside her heart. She has become a unique voice for oppressed and suppressed Sindhi women and stands tall and high against every injustice of the society, she stood against the injustice done to Sindhi journalists at Karachi, she continuously struggles for women's rights in Sindh, we saw her collecting donations for poor cancer patients. Her heart is as beautiful as her name, she is Suhini Paras, a poetess, actress, columnist, media personality, rights activist and a journalist. I had a chance to work with Suhini in two news organizations. While working with her I came to know about her immense love for our mother tongue, whenever I used to file a news story or column to her, she would read it and if she found any words from languages other than Sindhi, she used to shout at me saying:

"Hey boy! Aren't there any suitable words in our own language?" she would give the suitable words in Sindhi language with a reminder: "remember these and not to repeat the same mistake again." I would nod my head and leave her office.

Our families have known each other for more than forty years, Suhini's father and my father were close friends, and both families used to meet regularly, Suhini is the eldest daughter of Dr. Khan Mohammad Phanwar, a renowned social worker and founder of Department of Journalism at University of Sindh, Jamshoro, she was born on 1st October at Karachi, but her childhood and most of her adulthood was spent at Jamshoro, she got her early education from Model School, Sindh University Colony (now Syed Panah Ali Shah Model School), higher secondary education from Government Girls School, Sindh University Colony, while she got her college education from Government Girls' College, Qasimabad, hers was the first batch of the college, while she got her masters degree in sociology from University of Sindh in 1997.

Though Suhini Paras is a good poetess, journalist, actress, columnist and women's rights activist, but her real identity in fine arts is of anchorperson. She started her career as compare in 1991 from Radio Pakistan, Hyderabad in a program named "Sartiyoon" along with Dr. Tanveer Junejo. While in the very same year she started her acting career from Pakistan Television (PTV) in a solo play named "Bond Bond Zaher", this play was telecasted from Karachi station, and Suhini played lead role in that play. In 1992, drama series named "Qurbatoon" and she was seen with renowned actors like Fareed Nawaz Baloch, Gulab Chandio and Mona Junejo. In 1992, she also again appeared in a solo comedy play along with Rasheed Soomro.

As a journalist, Suhini has worked for different organizations like: Sindh TV News, Mehran TV, Dharti TV, Online Indus News, Daily Sobh, Daily Sindh and Daily Sindh.

In 2011, Suhini faced a tragedy in her life, she lost her daughter Areej Fatima and her husband died in a road accident. But Suhini is seen saying: "life is beautiful, if you know how to lead it." Suhini as single working woman faced many difficulties in our male dominated society, where woman is judged by her good looks and appearance rather than her talent and abilities. She was sexually harassed but when she didn't bow to such dirty wishes of males around her, she faced many financial problems but she stood firm and overcame all problems with her strong will power and she also tells young girls and women to have will power and always be positive.

Suhini claims that aim of her life is to help poor and needy people, while she wants to see equal rights for women as of men. She is also a book lover and likes poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Shaikh Ayaz and Ayaz Gul in Sindhi, while in Urdu she likes Galib, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Parveen Shakir.
I have no doubt that women like Suhini are future of Sindh.