Faiz, Alys (1914–2003)

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Faiz, Alys (1914–2003)

English-born journalist in Pakistan. Born Sept 22, 1914, in London, England; died Mar 12, 2003, in Lahore, Pakistan; dau. of a bookseller; sister of Christobel Tasser; m. Faiz Ahmed Faiz (Urdu poet and Lenin peace prizewinner), 1941 (died 1984); children: daughters, Saleema Hashmi (artist and former head of the National College of Arts) and Muneeza Hashmi (tv producer and former general manager of Pakistan Television).

As a teenager, joined Communist Party, then the Free Indian League; worked as unpaid secretary to V.K. Krishna Menon; after India was partitioned (1947), moved to Pakistan and helped resettle refugees; husband was imprisoned for alleged role in the trumped-up Rawalpindi conspiracy (1951–55), resulting in a collection of letters she wrote to him, Dear Heart (1986); joined the staff of the country's leading English-language daily, the Pakistan Times, and wrote a regular column "Appa Jan"; later wrote for the radical weekly Pakistan paper, Viewpoint; began work with the UN children's fund (UNICEF, 1973); was closely engaged with the Pakistan human rights commission since its inception in 1986.

See also memoir, Over My Shoulder (1991).