Aaron Haroon Rashid may no longer plan to produce the fifth season of Burka Avenger, a children's TV show featuring a burka-clad female superhero, but his goal has never wavered -- to empower young girls in Pakistan and provide them with a role model.
Rashid was in Bangkok recently at a UN Women seminar on how creativity can reduce violence and discrimination, where he reflected on the inspiration for his groundbreaking show that began in 2013.
The singer and creator of the show was inspired to create the character after reading about extremist attacks on girls' schools in his home country between 2010 and 2011.
The attempted murder of Pakistani women's education activist Malala Yousafzai by the Taliban gunmen in 2012 also served as extra reason to launch the animated series, he said.
"I was concerned and outraged, like most of the people in Pakistan and the rest of the world were," he recalled. "Thus, the whole point of the show isn't to take you into some fantasy world, as these are issues that are actually happening as we speak."
In a country plagued by terrorist attacks and illiteracy, Burka Avenger has looked to empower young girls in Pakistan by giving them a role model to look up to, through the main character Jiya.
She is a teacher at an all-girls school in northern Pakistan while moonlighting as a black-caped vigilante, a martial artist under the name Burka Avenger. She is the sworn guardian of her village, protecting children and villagers from evildoers, who constantly threaten to take over the town and close down her school.
Although Jiya is but the star of an animated series, this Pakistani children's show has touched on culturally taboo issues since its first airing.
"The burka is normally used as a symbol of oppression, since it forces women to cover themselves up," Rashid said. "Here, Jiya takes that very symbol of oppression and turns it on its head, by putting it on only as a disguise to fight back."
"What could the extremists possibly say in this case? 'Take off your burka and reveal who you are?'," he added.
Aimed for children and adolescents aged five to 14, Burka Avenger follows the story of schoolteacher Jiya as she transforms into the veiled heroine to save the day.
She uses books and pens to thwart a terrorist group as well as the village's corrupt mayor, to symbolise the age-old saying, "the pen is mightier than the sword", among other empowering messages, Rashid said.
However, he said there were other nuances in the animated series, which can be found in the super-heroine's outfit itself.
The Burka Avenger series weaves in modern pop-culture references to relate to children of the newer generation, adding elements of humour to the cartoon.
Such examples include the evil terrorist group leader Baba Bandook using his computer to play Candy Crush, and his henchmen gleefully proclaiming themselves as "Beliebers", as they sing along to Justin Bieber songs.
"Because the show is framed in such a humorous, animated format, we can touch upon taboo issues openly, since they become more entertaining compared to public service announcements, where people often just change the channel," Rashid said.
He added it was important for the cartoon not to neglect Pakistani culture while including elements of comedy.
Incorporating the burka into the heroine's costume, he added, as well as other tradition-infused elements, were crucial to empowering young girls who feel disadvantaged or culturally inferior.
The cartoon also addresses other pertinent issues such as discrimination and hate speech, by using simple-yet-comprehensive imagery and dialogue to get the message across to children.
To-date, Burka Avenger has been running for four seasons, amassing 52 episodes along its four year journey.
According to him, the show has thus far garnered over 2,000 airings on mainstream television in Pakistan.
"Kids there are now having Burka Avenger-themed birthday parties, so it has worked out fantastically for us," he said.
Burka Avenger recently received recognition from the UN, as representatives from UN Women and other organisations committed to female empowerment met for a conference in Bangkok late last month.
Prior to the conference, the show had received a Peabody award in 2014, as well as winning Best TV Show at the Asian Media Awards that same year.
In 2015, it was nominated for a Kids' Animation award at the International Emmys.
Since its creation, the animated series has been dubbed in local languages and been broadcast in other countries, including Afghanistan and India.
A Bahasa-dubbed version was also launched for broadcast in Indonesia in April this year.
While Burka Avenger isn't broadcast in Thailand, the show has a YouTube channel of the same name. The channel has amassed more than 22 million views and 39,000 subscribers.
