FOR A PLACE UNDER THE HEAVENS

What is life like, when you are a woman and living in Pakistan? When Muslim women were forced to conceal themselves in India, Sabiha Sumar’s parents left Bombay for Pakistan. Back then this was a young, secular and liberal state. Women here had many rights; they were confident and moved freely. Girls wore short skirts, the night life was hot.

Things have changed: today many women in Pakistan wear a hijab and practice Muslim rites – all on their own accord.

Talking to her friends, who also grew up in a very liberal atmosphere, Sumar tries to find out, what happened. Confronting their hopes for a more liberal system with statements from teachers and other women, who have chosen to veil themselves even in the absence of any state directive to do so, she captures the tension between liberal and fundamentalist forces that are shaping life in contemporary Pakistan.

"I know it is hard to believe today, but I grew up in a secular Pakistan. My grand-mother didn’t wear a hijab; my mother didn’t and I don’t. But my growing fear is that my daughter will grow up in a theocratic state." (Sabiha Sumar)