Annie Ali Khan - Famous Pakistani Personality

Quratulain Ali Khan, famously known as Annie Ali Khan, considered in one of the greatest personalities in Pakistan. She was such a multi-talented person as she worked as a model and after that, she worked as a journalist, In the end, she ended up her career as an author. Annie Ali Khan was born in Lahore, Pakistan. Her Father was migrated from India to Pakistan after partition. Later on, they shifted to Karachi, where after completing her early education, she graduated in Computer Science from Sir Syed University in 2003.

She basically worked about gender inequality and social inequality in Pakistan and USA. She also wrote on the topics of colorism, religious persecution, and violence against women. She was a successful actress too as she worked with Hum TV in a Drama serial.

Career as a model

Annie Ali Khan was such a passionate and enthusiastic lady towards her work. After completing her studies, she got interested in modeling, so he sent her portfolio for modeling to a popular photographer, Tapu Javeri. Annie worked with top brands as a fashion model and caught attention very soon in the industry. She worked with real passion, and then she got her first chance in a TV commercial for Lipton Tea, which is one of the top brands in Pakistan.

Annie Ali Khan was first seen as an actress in a popular drama serial "Meri Unsuni Kahani" on Hum TV. It was a mega project of Hum TV, and it was shot in Australia. Annie Ali Khan was the leading heroine in the drama with Faisal Qureshi and Ejaz Aslam as the leading characters.

She also worked as television model for a television network MTV and also played her role in the video of MTV ‘Saali Tu Maani Nahin’ with famous Pakistani Singer Shehzad Roy, that video got really famous and had many positive reviews. During a shoot in New York, Annie met a film director Sofian Khan, and then she married him. Later on, she moved to New York.

Also Check out: All you need to know about Cockatiel in Pakistan - Personality, Supplies & Care.

Career as a journalist

When she moved to New York, she became a journalist as she did master in Journalism from Columbia School of Journalism in 2011. She also worked with her husband in some video projects, just like the series, New York Loves Annie.

Her first article, after which she got famous in journalism was "Fair and Lovely," and it was published in Marie Claire in 2012. In this article, she talked about the colorism in Pakistan and India and also shared her experience as model for Fair and Lovely skin lightener. She was against the colorism, and that's what she tried to urged in her article that color is not really important.

After living for seven years in the US at last, Annie Ali Khan decided to return to Pakistan, and she came back in 2016. Later on, she published a lot of articles in magazines including Dawn, Herald, The Express Tribune, The Asia Society, The Caravan, Tanqeed, Roads & Kingdoms, and the blog "Chapati Mystery."

She got praised for raising her voice about mistreatment which Pakistani women get and the sacrifices they had to make. Herald Magazine published her article "The Missing Daughters of Pakistan" in 2017, in which she talked about the young daughters murdered in Pakistan.

Also Check out: Parveen Shakir - The famous name in the Urdu Literature

Annie Ali Khan as an Author for Sita under the Crescent Moon

Sita under the Crescent Moon, was the massive success of Annie Al Khan as an author. The book carries a great lesson and knowledge. There has been a great selling ratio since it released. There was an article "A Hindu Pilgrimage in Pakistan," which was written by Annie in which she talked about a pilgrimage to Hinglaj, which situated in Balochistan. She did a lot of research for it, and after that, she began a project on which she spent three years, this project was also for women whose rights are not given, and they can't fulfill their desires.

Sita Under the Crescent Moon

In present-day Pakistan, in far corners of Lyari in Karachi or Hingol in Balochistan, or Thatta in Sindh, there are tightly knit group of women who still sing folk songs of Sati. The name for them is Sita in Ramanya. In the book, Annie travels along with the devoted women of Sita. These women are without any resources, and they are bearing violence in that sense. All these wives, seeker, sisters, and widow mothers looking for Satiya that she will grant their wishes and fulfill all their desires. Annie listened to their stories with great love and empathy, and she wrote them down. She just lived along with them as their own, and they relied on her knowledge of the world so she can show them the way of privilege.

Annie Ali Khan dedicated this book, Sita Under the Crescent Moon to one of the famous and great writers of subcontinent; Quratulain Ali Hyder. Ali Hyder was amazingly taken in Sita Haran (1960) and Aag ka Darya (1959). This is why his work was itself a beginning for Annie.

Annie marked the world differently because the women in Sita Under the Crescent Moon may have shared the same place, but they can't be of the same class and there can't be the same continuity of violence. The stories of those women which Annie Ali Khan collected are still tremendously brave.

The character Haseena who sacrificed her life without any money to become a caretaker at the shrine of Miran Pir with the power of healing and providing service to other women.

This book also tells about Annie's own life and her experiences. She showed her relationship with her profession as a journalist and a writer. She shared her memories of Durga in the house of his grandfather's friend and her own experience visiting Durga Mata in Hinglaj.

The book is in the memory of a woman seeking which heals. There are many points in the book where you can see Annie as herself. She talked about her family at the end and the start of the book, her life in Karachi and New York, and also about her work.

Annie Ali Khan raised voice for all of them who were speechless before. From the Subcontinent in Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. Some women are silenced by violence and low-cost. Across these areas, there is a little importance to minorities, and there is no recognition of their humanity.

This book shows great empathy about those who make their lives with so much sacrifice through all of the sufferings. This book also showed the love that Annie received in return after listening to their stories and raising voice for them.

This book Sita Under the Crescent Moon, was published by Simon and Schuster in 2019.

Annie’s Death

Annie's death was quite shocking and a huge loss. On July21, 2018 her dead body was found in her apartment. According to reports, the cause of her death was a mysterious fire in her house, which caused suffocation. Later on, we learned that she committed suicide by burning her books, and at that time, she was also got divorced from her husband.

According to police, after being reported fire from her neighbors, they broke into her flat and found her dead body with the burning books alongside her. Police confirmed that she committed suicide and died by suffocation due to fire. She was working on a book, and it was at the last stages of completion.

The book was on Pakistani women. She was just 38 when she died. She will always be remembered for her work in all the fields she has done.

Also Check out: Corona Virus in Pakistan - What brands of Masks, Hand Sanitizers, and Hand Wash you should look for?