Five Brilliant Lady Academics

Five Brilliant Lady Academics of Pakistani Punjab

My list of five Brilliant Lady Academics of Pakistani Punjab includes: Asma Qadri; Khola Cheema; Purva Masaud; Nadhra Shahbaz Khan, and Jabeen Kahut. They come from different backgrounds but one thing is common: all of them work on different subjects related to Sikh Theology, Literature, History, History of Art & Architecture, and Culture. There is a revival of interest in Sikh Heritage and History of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Khalsa Raj (1799-1839) in Pakistan.

1. ASMA QADRI:  She took voluntary retirement as Professor of Punjabi and Cultural Studies, Oriental College, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan to settle abroad. The reason being simple: she felt handicapped to fulfil the demand of Sikh Sangat in different continents to deliver her sermons and seminars on Guru Nanak Bani and Baba Sheikh Farid. I was introduced to Asma by Gurinder Singh Mann, who was holding the Sikh Chair at UC Santa Barbara, and Asma was a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in 2013.

I watched her presentation made in a gurdwara at Long Island, NY state, USA. She was superb in her presentation explaining the intrinsic philosophy of Gurbani recorded by the Sikh Gurus in holy Sikh scripture, Sri Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS). I introduced Asma to a Global Gurmat Group run by Doctor Jaswant Singh Sachdeva of Phoenix, Arizona, USA. She made a comparative study of Guru Nanak and Baba Sheikh Farid and impressed the Sangat by her sweet melodious voice and logic. Asma is a popular speaker and mostly sought after in gurdwaras of USA, Canada, UK, and Australia.

Asma gives credit to Najm Hosain Syed, who is a Punjabi poet, critic, playwright and intellectual with more than 120 books to his credit. He started a weekly sangat in 1973 to read and discuss, along with singing, Punjabi classical poetry at 49 Jail Road, Lahore. In weekly Sangat, discussion was held on poetry of Baba Farid, Bhagt Kabir, Guru Granth Sahib, Shah Hosain, Bhai Gurdas, Bulleh Shah, and many others. Asma was a regular participant in weekly Sangat and master-minded the poetry of Sikh Gurus in SGGS.

Asma has authored 25 books on Classical Punjabi Poetry and Gurbani topics. List of some popular books are as follows:

1. Jimmi Puche Asmaan 2024 (Canada: Singh Sabha International)

2. Ao Raat Jagao 2024 (Lahore: Department of Press and Publication, University of the Punjab)

3. Punjabi Classici Shairi Da Sinf Vairva 2023 (Lahore: Suchait Kitab Ghar)

4. Nām Dī Loe 2021 (Lahore: Department of Press and Publication, University of the Punjab)

5. Nanak Pandheṅ Ajoke Pair (Gurmukhi edition) 2021

Asma has organized and presented papers in many international conferences (India, USA, UK, Canada).

2. KHOLA CHEEMA: Dr. Khola Iftikhar Cheema is Assistant Professor and Head of Department of Pakistan Studies, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar Campus. Along with her husband, Professor Tohid Chatha, Professor of History, Govt. College University, Faisalabad, she organises “Lyallpur Sulaikh Mela” to promote Punjabi language and composite culture of Punjab. In addition to her contribution to Research on Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Khola has published papers on Punjabi language and culture. A list of her important research papers is as follows:

• ‘Modernising Governance: Insights from Maharaja Ranjeet Singh’s Administration’, in Pakistan Perspectives (Vol.30 No.2: 2025).
• ‘Identity Politics and Decolonising the Construct of ‘South Asia’, in Progressive Research Journal of Arts & Humanities, Hyderabad. (PRJAH - Vol. 7, Issue: 1, Feb 2025).
• ‘Understanding Gender in “Sikhism”’ in “Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan”, Y category (JRSP, Vol. 59, No 1, Jan-March 2022).
• ‘Survival of Fittest: From Khalsa Identity to Military Establishment of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh’, in “Journal of Pakistan Vision”, (2018) Y category Journal of Pakistan Study Centre, PU, Lahore.
• ‘Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Court & Culture of Lahore Darbar’ in “Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan”, Y category (JRSP, Vol. 58, No. 2, April-June 2021).
• ‘Reorientation of Peasant Politics in Colonial Punjab & Formation of Kirti Kissan Party (KKP)’ in “Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan”, Y category (JRSP, Vol. 58, No 4. Oct-Dec 2021).
• ‘Making of ‘Kaur’ in 20th Century Colonial Punjab’, International Publication, in “Emergence” (2018) Journal of the University of Southampton, UK. (International)
• Khola Cheema is engaged in translation of articles from “Kirti” magazine of “Kirti Kissan Party”, which was the first International Punjabi language magazine (1926-42). She is creating literature in Shahmukhi about revolutionary peasant movements of Punjab during British Raj. Gadar Party movement and its literature have also attracted her attention. Her extra-curricular activities need to be mentioned briefly.

           

• Khola Cheema is President & Founder, Lyallpur Young Historians Club-LYHC: Lyallpur Young Historians Club-LYHC is working to make a digital archive of the history of Punjab in Punjabi language and create awareness of Punjabi in Pakistan, India and Diaspora. LYHC is dedicated to institutionalizing the people’s history of Punjab through documenting, preserving and sharing scholarly contributions. Lyallpur Young Historians Club-LYHC has become the most active platform globally in Punjab Studies. It enabled scholars and independent researchers to present in Punjabi. LYHC is bringing knowledge of Punjab Studies and Punjabi Literature into widespread public consciousness through creative and scholarly impression including but not limited to literature, Art, and academic research. 

Khola Cheema has delivered invited lectures in public forums and Universities of UK, USA, and Canada. A list of her selected presentations is as follows: 

2026: ‘Public History of Punjabi Language Movement’ in the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) 85th Annual Conference in Vancouver, Canada. (12-15 March, 2026)

 2026: Hosted a Panel ‘Public History in South Asia’ with Dr. Anne Murphy in the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference in Vancouver, BC Canada. (12-15 March, 2026)

2025: ‘Politics of Religion and Gender Marginalization: Enabling the Voices of Sikh women in Pakistan’ at 9th Sikh Studies Conference at the University of California, Riverside.

2023: ‘Diversity & Uniqueness of Punjab Culture’ Seminar organized by IUB BWN Campus Character Building Society, Directorate of Students Affairs 

2022: ‘Wand Diyan Kahaniyan (Partition Stories of Punjab 1947)’, Panel Discussion in Faisalabad Literary Festival FLF 2022.

2019: ‘A Changing Punjab: From Kartarpur Corridor to Division of South Punjab’, Panel Discussion in Think Fest, Information Technology University, Lahore.

2019: ‘The Sikh Heritage Byond Borders’, a Panel Discussion, Forman Christian College Lahore.

2019: ‘The Partition of Punjab and its Fallout: Kitte Mil Ve Mahi (Where the Twain Shall Meet)’, Panel Discussion in Second Annual Conference on Punjab’s History and Culture, LUMS, Lahore.

2016: ‘Gender & Construction of Sikh Identities in Colonial Punjab’. BSU Life Writing Group. Bath Spa University, UK.

2016: ‘Maharaja Ranjeet Singh’s Court, Culture and Religion: A Road-map for Punjab Studies’, Punjab Research Group Conference, Wolfson College, Oxford. (Conference Paper)

2016: ‘Future of Sikhism “Maharaja Ranjeet Singh: Rethinking Religio-Cultural Representation & Encounters in 19th Century Punjab”. Sikh Missionary Society, Southall, London. (Invited paper)

 

3. PURVA MASAUD: Purva Masaud is the founder of Jeevay Sanjha Punjab, a project she launched as a YouTube channel in April 2020 while completing her graduation. Born in Pakpattan, the historic city of Baba Farid, she has dedicated her career to reconnecting the Punjabi diaspora and bridging the divides between East and West Punjab. Her work focuses on archiving the memories of the 1947 partition generation, documenting oral histories, and highlighting the slowly vanishing Sikh heritage in Pakistan. Under her leadership, the organization has grown into a vital collective that transforms personal memories and ancestral narratives into a permanent, living archive for Punjabis worldwide. It can be accessed at www.JeevaySanjhaPunjab.com.
   

A significant portion of Masaud’s research has been fueled by her deep inspiration from the life of Maharani Jind Kaur. To tell the Maharani’s story with authentic detail, Masaud followed her footsteps across Pakistan, the United Kingdom, and Nepal, where she conducted extensive on-the-ground research. Her work on Maharani Jind Kaur is now being compiled to publish soon.

Beyond historical documentation, she actively works to dismantle the linguistic barriers created by the partition by teaching Gurmukhi to those in West Punjab and Shahmukhi to those in East Punjab. To support this mission, she has published dedicated Qaidas for both scripts. Prof. Tarunjit Singh Butalia (USA) is an important member of Jeevay Sanjha Punjab and a lead author who has compiled a history of lost Gurdwaras in Lahore district and archived videos for future generations of the Sikhs. There are other volunteers from both Punjabs helping Purva Masaud in her mission.

4. NADHRA SHAHBAZ KHAN 

Dr Nadhra Shahbaz Khan, Associate Professor of art and architectural history at LUMS (Lahore, Pakistan), specilaizes in the visual and material culture of the Punjab during the Mughal, Sikh, and colonial periods (16th–early 20th century). Her publications in international peer reviewed journals, conference papers and other research activities, especially her book titled Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Samādhi in Lahore: A Summation of Sikh Architectural and Decorative Practices and a website (https://www.sikhvirsa.org.pk/home/) that features Sikh artefacts in the Lahore Fort’s Sikh Gallery, have successfully brought Sikh art and architecture at the forefront of Pakistan’s heritage discussions and conservation activities. This website has received the Times Higher Education Award Asia 2022 for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts. Her association with the Aga Khan Cultural Service–Pakistan for their Lahore Fort project as Consultant Historian has continued since 2016 and as Curator of the Lahore Fort’s Shah Burj Museum 2023–2025. She is the recipient of the LUMS Excellence in Research Award 2019, and the prestigious Palmes Académiques, bestowed by the French Ministry of National Education and Youth in February 2025. Dr. Khan has curated a number of exhibitions at LUMS of which the latest featured her research on Sikh material culture, titled Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Toshakhana: The Material Splendor of 19th Century Punjab in 2025–2026. 

Nadhra Khan has held several fellowships at reputed international institutions such as her Visiting Professorship at PSIA (Paris School of International Affairs), Sciences Po, Paris, France (2023); the Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute, Harvard (2021–2024); the Institute for Advanced Study in Asian Cultures & Theologies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2023); Oxford University (Barakat Trust 2014–2015); INHA Paris (2015); Princeton University (Fulbright 2014–2015), and SOAS, London (Charles Wallace 2010–2011). Titles of her four recent articles are: “Architecture in Pakistan,” in Brill’s Encyclopedia of Sikhism vol. II (forthcoming); “Sikh-Period Architectural Ornament in Punjab: A Synthesis of Tradition & Innovation,” in Sikh Research Journal, 8 (1) 2023; “Men, Monuments & Memoirs: Reclaiming Sites of the Indian Independence Movement in Lahore,” in The 1947 Partition of British India: Looking Back, Informing the Future (Sage Publications, 2022), and “Persian-Punjabi/Urdu Identities of Traditional Geometrical Patterns Lost During the Colonial Rule of the Punjab (1849–1947),” in Manazir Journal, (3) 2021.

I have published two articles on Nadhra Khan’s research related to Sikh architecture and Maharaja Ranjit Singh in SikhNet. Gurharpal Singh of SOAS, London has paid high tributes to Nadhra in his review of her celebrated book on Sikh Art: “The Samadhi of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Lahore: A Summation of Sikh Architectural and Decorative Practices (2018)”. According to Gurharpal, Nadhra has been instrumental in correcting the narrative set by Thomas Henry Thornton, Secretary to British Punjab Government (1864-1876), who called Sikh Art as a melange of Hindu and Mughal Art. She is the first author who brings out the originality of Sikh art by her research based on artefacts of Sikh Rule, its havelis and other monuments. 

5. JABEEN KAHUT

Jabeen Kousar Kahut lives in district Hasan Abdal, Punjab. She is registered for her Ph.D. in department of education in Northern university, Nowshera, Pakistan. She has been working as Principal in public sector educational institutions and is  a validated lead trainer for six leadership development program in public sector schools under the umbrella of British Council. Jabeen is a teacher by profession and a poetess by passion and choice. She loves to write poems in both English and Urdu languages. A poem dedicated to my visit to Pakistan is given here as a specimen sample of her English Poetry: