PICTURES

Pakistan's new superhero Burka Avenger fights for education

A Pakistani man looks at a poster of the animated Burka Avenger series on display at an office in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Wednesday, July 24, 2014. -- FILE PHOTO: AP
A Pakistani man looks at a poster of the animated Burka Avenger series on display at an office in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Wednesday, July 24, 2014. -- FILE PHOTO: AP
Pakistani orphans watch an early screening of the first episode of the animate Burka Avenger Series, at an orphanage on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan on March 25, 2013.-- FILE PHOTO: AP
Pakistani schoolgirls, Shazil Ishtiaq, 12, right, and Aysha Huma, 9, center, attend a Karate class at Shotokan Karate School in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, April 8, 2013.-- FILE PHOTO: AP
Pakistani orphans reacts while watching an early screening of the first episode of the animates Burka Avenger series, at an orphanage on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, March 25, 2013. -- FILE PHOTO: AP
Pakistani orphans watch an early screening of the first episode of the animates Burka Avenger series, at an orphanage on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, March 25, 2013. -- FILE PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD, Islamabad Capital Territory (AFP) - A new cartoon superhero disguised in a flowing black burka is set to debut on Pakistani television next month in an animated series which follows her battle for girls' education in Pakistan.

The Urdu-language show charts the adventures of Burka Avenger, a mild-mannered teacher who uses her superpowers to fight local gangsters trying to close down the girls' school where she works.

While set in the fictional town of Halwapur, the world of Burka Avenger will resonate in Pakistan where Taleban militants have prevented thousands of girls from going to school in the country's northwest and attacked activists campaigning for girls' education.

In what's billed as an action-comedy Burka Avenger, helped along by three schoolchildren, uses pens and books as projectile weapons to ward off the evil Baba Bandook and his henchmen.

Aaron Haroon Rashid, one of Pakistan's biggest pop stars, conceived the series as a medium through which to emphasise the importance of girls' education.

Throughout Pakistan, nearly half of all children and nearly three quarters of young girls are not enrolled in primary school, according to United Nations (UN) and government statistics published late last year.

Last October, a Taleban gunman shot teenager Malala Yousafzai in the head for campaigning for the right of girls to go to school in her home town in Swat Valley, north-west Pakistan.

Yousafzai survived the attack and earlier this month delivered a powerful speech at the UN in New York in which she vowed not to be silenced by terrorists.

The animation will be broadcast by private Geo television network from Sunday, the official Facebook page of Burka Avenger said.

"I have been working with my team at Unicorn Black for one year on this amazing TV series. The Burka Avenger iPhone game and music album is coming soon," Rashid said on his Facebook account.

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.