She flies through the night in a ninja-style black outfit to fight for justice, peace and education for all. She is Burka Avenger, the hero of an animated series that recently launched on private Pakistani TV channel Geo Tez.
The latest Pakistani superhero is a teacher out to fight "bad guys" who bar girls from seeking education. Her weapons are pens and books, with some martial arts moves thrown in for effect.
The character grabbed media attention for several reasons. Burka Avenger is the first-ever animated superheroine in Pakistan and her stories highlight female education, an institution targeted by Islamic militants in Pakistan.
Burka Avenger hit television screens about a year after the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) shot schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai in Mingora last October. Malala, now living in England, has been an advocate for girls' education worldwide, only gaining stature since the attack.
Such attacks moved Aaron Haroon Rashid to create the superheroine.
"I was inspired by real-life events," he told Central Asia Online. "I was reading about girls' schools being shut down by extremists in the northern areas of Pakistan, so I came up with this idea where the protagonist schoolteacher is preventing (them) from being shut down."
The roots of Burka Avenger
Rashid initially created Burka Avenger as a mobile phone game in 2011 because he noticed people were "really saddened by what's happening in our country and I thought that it's our duty to try to make a difference."
"I thought it would be iconic to have a woman in a burqa fighting extremists," he said.
It worked. Burka Avenger is gaining popularity.
"The feedback is amazing, (with) people from all over the world writing in and saying such positive warm things that really touch the heart," Rashid said.
A foreign director and a film agency even contacted him about selling the rights.
"They are interested in making a live-action film on Burka Avenger," he said. But he declined the offer. "At this point we are going to keep Burka Avenger in the animated world because we don't want its image to be damaged."
Instilling values peacefully
Pens and books are Burka Avenger's weaponry, he said, because of his anti-violence leanings.
"I have always been against guns being shown even in my music videos," he said. "I don't want to show anything violent – that's not who I am. So we came up with the idea of what you could find in school."
Burka Avenger is winning praise for the good it can do for children. Cartoon characters can have a positive effect on children's personalities, said Mohammad Fahim Qasim, an assistant psychiatry professor at Mohi-ud-Din Islamic Medical College in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
"A good character exhibiting civilised behaviour can influence a child to interject his or her goodness within himself or herself or to care strongly about good character," he told Central Asia Online.
A positive cartoon character can also help children develop self-esteem and confidence, learn to differentiate between good and bad and show resilience in life, he said.
Educators expect Burka Avenger to cause positive ripples in Pakistani society in general and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in particular, especially for children.
"The form Burka takes seems to be familiar to this part of the world, and hence children can easily associate themselves with Burka Avenger and with all the goodness that she carries with her," Khadim Hussain, managing director of the Peshawar-based Baacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation, told Central Asia Online.
Viewers' response
Four episodes have aired since its launch July 28th on Geo Tez and the response has been overwhelming. Burka Avenger's official Facebook page had more than 75,000 likes (as of Tuesday, August 20th) and has elicited many comments.
"A woman is strong enough to protect herself … This cartoon makes me feel more proud about my BURKA!!!" Laraib Hamid wrote.
"Amazing cartoon … amazing concept. Keep up the great work!!" Sarah Mumtaz commented.
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