Burka Avenger New Episode

[Beltran Mathews]

Sheis completely covered. Only her eyes and fingers can be seen. The rest of her body is hidden behind a black burqa. Jiya, as the heroine is called, only wears her burka during fighting scenes, using her superpowers to fight evil in Pakistan. She doesn't use weapons, but books and pencils instead.

The TV series is comprised of 13 episodes, each of which is 22 minutes long. They focus on the story of the heroine, who is a teacher by day, and also on three young school children from the imaginary city of Hawalpur.

The decision to have the main character of the cartoon wear a piece of clothing common among conservative Muslim women in Pakistan and Afghanistan has not been well received. Some people see the outfit as a symbol of oppression against women.

"In the West, the burqa is seen as having a very strong symbolic value. So people are taken aback by it at first," said Sabine Schiffer who works at the Media Responsibility Institute in Erlangen, Germany. "But the heroine in this story does not fit with all the clichs. She shows a great amount of strength while fighting injustice."

In the animated series, the burqa looks more like a ninja outfit than traditional one. "She only wears it to conceal her identity. Just like other superheroes," explains Rashid. Aside from that, he said, it gives the cartoon a touch of local spice.

In the first episode, a school in a village is to be closed. But the Burka Avenger is able to prevent this from happening. This is a conflict which Pakistanis are all too familiar with. The Taliban have destroyed hundreds of schools in the past because they reject education for women and girls.

The show reminds one of the Pakistani girl Malala Yousafzai, who in October, 2012, was nearly killed in a shooting carried out by extremists while on her way to school. Malala has spoken out publicly against the Taliban and criticized their values. She has also become active in promoting education for girls. She was also a nominee for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

The series is predominantly targeted at children in Pakistan. It is currently being broadcast on a popular Pakistani TV channel in Urdu language. There is also a Pashto version in the making for Pakistanis in the northwest of the country and also for Pashto-speaking Afghans.

There is also a smartphone app available because "that's where it all started," Rashid explains. Three years ago, he and a few IT experts created an interactive app about a female burka-wearing fighter. For advertising, he had someone create an animation he liked so much that he decided to create a whole TV series based on that animation.

Meet Burka Avenger: a mild-mannered teacher with secret martial arts skills who uses a flowing black burka to hide her identity as she fights local thugs seeking to shut down the girls' school where she works.

The Taliban have blown up hundreds of schools and attacked activists in Pakistan's northwest because they oppose girls' education. The militants sparked worldwide condemnation last fall when they shot Malala Yousafzai, a 15-year-old schoolgirl activist, in the head in an unsuccessful attempt to kill her.

Action in the "Burka Avenger" cartoon series, which is scheduled to start running on Geo TV in early August, is much more lighthearted. The bungling bad guys evoke more laughter than fear and are no match for the Burka Avenger, undoubtedly the first South Asian ninja who wields books and pens as weapons.

"Each one of our episodes is centered around a moral, which sends out strong social messages to kids," Rashid told The Associated Press in his first interview about the show. "But it is cloaked in pure entertainment, laughter, action and adventure."

"It's not a sign of oppression. She is using the burka to hide her identity like other superheroes," said Rashid. "Since she is a woman, we could have dressed her up like Catwoman or Wonder Woman, but that probably wouldn't have worked in Pakistan."

The series is set in Halwapur, a fictional town nestled in the soaring mountains and verdant valleys of northern Pakistan. The Burka Avenger's true identity is Jiya, whose adopted father, Kabbadi Jan, taught her the karate moves she uses to defeat her enemies. When not garbed as her alter ego, Jiya does not wear a burka, or even a less conservative headscarf over her hair.

The main bad guys are Vadero Pajero, a balding, corrupt politician who wears a dollar sign-shaped gold medallion around his neck, and Baba Bandook, an evil magician with a bushy black beard and mustache who is meant to resemble a Taliban commander.

Caught in the middle are the show's main child characters: Ashu and her twin brother Immu and their best friend Mooli, who loves nothing more than munching on radishes in the company of his pet goat, Golu.

In the first episode, Pajero wants to shut down the girls' school in Halwapur so he can pocket the money that a charity gave him to run it. He finds a willing accomplice in Bandook, whose beliefs echo those of the Taliban and many other men in conservative, Islamic Pakistan.

Bandook is unmoved, but the Burka Avenger appears and fights off the magician's henchmen with martial arts moves reminiscent of the movie The Matrix. Using his magical powers, Bandook disappears in a puff of smoke. The Burka Avenger hurls a flying pen that breaks open the padlock on the school's gate as the children cheer.

He leveraged his musical background in the process. Each of the 13 episodes completed so far contains songs written and performed by him and other major Pakistani rock stars, such as Ali Azmat and Ali Zafar. Rashid is producing an album of 10 songs and music videos that will be broadcast alongside the show. He has also created a Burka Avenger iPhone game and a fully interactive website that will accompany the show's launch.

In one of the music videos, Rashid and local rap star Adil Omar sing in praise of the Burka Avenger, while standing in front of a pair of colorfully decorated Pakistani trucks festooned with bright lights.

The show, which is being billed as the first animated series ever produced in Pakistan, is the brainchild of one of the country's biggest pop stars, Aaron Haroon Rashid (best-known by his stage name Haroon).

"She is using the burka to hide her identity like other superheroes," said Rashid. "Since she is a woman, we could have dressed her up like Catwoman or Wonder Woman, but that probably wouldn't have worked in Pakistan."

In addition to the 13 episodes of the show that have been produced so far, an album of 10 songs and music videos will accompany the show, and Rashid has created an iPhone game and an interactive website.

She is completely covered. Only her eyes and fingers can be seen. The rest of her body is hidden behind a black burka. Jiya, as the heroine is called, only wears her burka during fighting scenes, using her superpowers to fight evil in Pakistan. She doesn't use weapons, but books and pencils instead.

"In the West, the burka is seen as having a very strong symbolic value. So people are taken aback by it at first," said Sabine Schiffer who works at the Media Responsibility Institute in Erlangen, Germany. "But the heroine in this story does not fit with all the clichs. She shows a great amount of strength while fighting injustice."

In the animated series, the burka looks more like a ninja outfit than traditional one. "She only wears it to conceal her identity. Just like other superheroes," explains Rashid. Aside from that, he said, it gives the cartoon a touch of local spice.

The topics of the show vary. Sometimes they are about environmental protection, other times about minority rights. It is critical about Pakistani society but packed into an entertaining show for kids. There are no brutal fighting scenes - it is more dialogue-based. In one episode, for example, a magician builds a robot, which is supposed to take over the world. For this, the magician has to send the robot around the world. But his plan fails when his visa application for the EU is rejected.

In the first episode, which was broadcast on Sunday, July 28, a school in a village is to be closed. But the Burka Avenger is able to prevent this from happening. This is a conflict which Pakistanis are all too familiar with. The Taliban have destroyed hundreds of schools in the past because they reject education for women and girls. The show reminds one of the Pakistani girl Malala Yousafzai, who in October, 2012, was nearly killed in a shooting carried out by extremists while on her way to school. Malala has spoken out publicly against the Taliban and criticized their values. She has also become active in promoting education for girls.

There is also a smartphone app available because "that's where it all started," Rashid explains. Three years ago, he and a few IT experts created an interactive app about a female burka-wearing fighter. For advertizing, he had someone create an animation he liked so much that he decided to create a whole TV series based on that animation.

Haroon Rashid financed the project largely on his own. He also used his musical background in the production. As a former member of a popular Pakistani boy band, he had the knowhow to create songs for the series - each episode features songs written and sung by him along with other Pakistani rock stars.

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