LAHORE: Speaking at a LLF2025 session on Society Girl: What happened to the late poet Mustafa Zaidi and Shahnaz Gul, co-author Tooba Masood said the media trial of Ms Gul portrayed her as a bad woman.

The session was moderated by Sanam Maher, author of A Woman Like Her: The Short Life of Qandeel Baloch.

Tooba said she and her co-author Saba Imtiaz came across the story of the Urdu poet’s death in 2019. When they did their archival research and interviews, they realised that the media’s portrayal of Shahnaz was unfair.

She said that a murder case was registered against Shahnaz after she was found unconscious in the same house where the poet was found dead. She said that they had collected media coverage of the case and found that Shahnaz was portrayed as a bad woman, with some stories implying she knew smugglers or was part of a smuggling ring.

While speaking about Mustafa Zaidi and his state of mind, Tooba Masood said Mustafa was trapped in his situation after he was dismissed from the civil service. On the other hand, Shahnaz was described as an ‘air hostess’ to show she was not a good woman.

While replying to a query about taking permission from the family about writing a book, Ms Masood said she first came to know that Shahnaz Gul was alive but after six months, she discovered that she had died and was mother to two daughters. She said she spoke to a daughter of Shahnaz and informed her that the authors were working on the story. The daughters did not want to be a part of it.

Tooba Masood also said she looked for Shahnaz Gul’s grave, but could not find it.

While replying to another query about choosing to write a book about Shahnaz, she said she and her co-author, Saba Imitiaz, wanted the story to be told. “During investigation, my interest to know about Shahnaz Gul increased day by day and I found that the society did not do justice with her.”

She said it still remained a mystery whether the poet was killed or not but the media and society portrayed a woman as a villain.

She said during the interview process, some people saw Shahnaz Gul as Mustafa Zaidi’s intellectual equal who could recite his poetry and also speak Persian. She said she had found that the poet Mustafa Zaidi was not black and white, but a lot of grey, and that he had mental health issues.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2025

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated some remarks. The text has been revised to properly convey the comments.