Regal Chowk

During a time of severe Islamization under the military dictatorship of General Zia Ul Haq in 1980s Pakistan, which fostered an increasingly oppressive environment for women, Lala Rukh involved herself with the women’s movement, co-founding the Women’s Action Forum (WAF) and commencing a life-long commitment to political activism. Rukh was proactively involved in the Forum’s activities when local printers controlled by the government in Lahore refused to print their protest materials and newsletters. Rukh began screen printing, designing and producing many of the WAF’s provocative posters that called for the equal rights and freedom of women. Regal Chowk hails from this group of materials. It is a flyer in black and white. The text on the poster is in Urdu and announces a Jalsa event on February 10th and a demonstration on February 12th, 1993 in Lahore. It reproduces images of women being publically flogged and beaten by police. The title of the flyer refers to a popular public space in Lahore.