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Fahmida Riaz ( 28 July 1946 – 21 November 2018 ) was a Progressive Urdu writer, poet, human rights activist and feminist of Pakistan.

She authored Godaavari, Khatt-e Marmuz, and Khana e Aab O Gil, the first translation of the Masnavi of Jalaluddin Rumi from Persian into Urdu. The author of more than 15 books on fiction and poetry, she remained at the center of controversies and accused of using erotic and sensual expressions in her poetry considered taboo for women writers.

Fahmida Riaz was faced with challenges due to her political ideology. More than 10 cases were filed against her during General Ziaul Haq’s dictatorship. She was charged with sedition under Section 124A of the Pakistan Penal Code. Fahmida Riaz fled General Zia-ul Haq’s religious tyranny and sought refuge in India and spent seven years there. Her friend the renowned poet Amrita Pritam spoke to the then Indian prime minister (late) Indira Gandhi and got her asylum in India.

Fahmida Riaz asserted that “feminism has so many interpretations. What it means for me is simply that women, like men, are complete human beings with limitless possibilities. They have to achieve social equality, much like the Dalits or the Black Americans.

The poems from her collection Apna Jurm Sabit Hae reflect her homeland’s experience under the dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq. By reputation, Riaz stands alongside Nazim Hikmet, Pablo Neruda, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.

~ From Wikipedia