The best superhero stories are all about inspiring people, and the first trailer for Burka Avenger, the first-ever animated series produced in Pakistan, certainly does that. Created by Haroon – one of the bigger pop stars in the country – the series will be about a burkha-wearing superhero called Jiya.

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The animation comes with the definite intention of inspiring young girls in the country, as Jiya uses books and pens as her main weapons (in her day job, she works as a teacher at an all-girls school). By day she wears whatever she likes, but at night she dons a burka as her disguise and goes out to fight and defeat the people who want to shut down the school she works for.

The show carries the deliberate moral message that female education is important, something which carries a very important political edge to it. Pakistan has struggled in the face of Taliban attacks on schools where women are taught, as the group oppose the very idea of women being allowed an education of their own. The show will see Jiya go on the attack, thwarting their plans at every turn and inspiring as many people as possible in the process.

Debuting in August on the Geo TV channel, here’s the trailer for the series:



13 COMMENTS

  1. This is awesome, but sad at the same time. Sad that something so elementary (no pun intended) needs to be addressed in a country in the modern world. Another sad thing is how long till the Taliban or some evil mullah puts out a death warrant for Haroon?

    Do the Wonder Woman comics ever address these kinds of issues? Seems like obvious story material to me.

  2. Wow. I echo Paul’s sentiments above…it is both awesome and sad…but I land more on the side of awesome.

    I’m getting less and less shocked by how awful we are to each other…and more and more impressed by the ways in which we combat that awfulness.

    This is huge.

  3. Aladeen as proven time and time again, no amount of outer garments protects a women from being molested. Also take your nose out of a 1500 year old book and look around at modern times and then lets consider these modern times and whats right for women (and men) now.

  4. You know only about 1/3 of the world is developed(47/195 countries). not much of a gold standard given the expenditures required to be developed, the geopolitical luck(i.e. Africa is mostly poor because it’s comprised of landlocked countries with unstable and developing neighbors; Europe went through countless wars over centuries just to get to where it is today), and decades to centuries of required reform even developed had to go through to get where they are now. Saying this is sad is condescending and ignorant of history. I more than commend them, wish them the best of luck, and see this as a small but necessary step on the road to a better Pakistan.

  5. @Aladeen – The Burka Avenger may be fictional, but Malala Yousafzai is the real life inspirational superhero.

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