ISLAMABAD: Eminent Social activist and writer Farzana Hassan Shahid launched her first Novel ‘Echoes from the Abyss’ here Tuesday, a compelling story depicting slavery and human trafficking in this region that continues to exist today. It is the harrowing tales of treachery, deceit and crime against humanity, portraying the helplessness of innocent young girls falling victims in the abyss of brutality and inhuman conditions.

Daughter of an eminent novelist Professor Syed Riaz Hassan and grand daughter of a well-known Urdu poet and playwright Hakeem Ahmad Shuja, Farzana has touched upon the sensitive social issue by opening a window to evils of the society, layered with subtle meanings.

The launching ceremony was attended by members of litro-social community of Islamabad. Professor Riaz Hassan and Rahila Durrani were the key speakers, while the author read out excerpts from the book along with sharing her experiences.

Farzana said that writing the book on the topic was an emotional experience for her as she was deeply affected by the plight of the girls. Farzana’s experience made her a member of the Foster Parent Plan, a programme to help rehabilitate children and girls in distress.

While presenting a reverberating review of the book, Rahila Durrani said that the author must be commended for exposing the depth of the abyss of social evils. Quoting from Nietzsche, "If you look deeply into the abyss, the abyss will look into you", she said that the force of the evil in human trafficking makes one turn away, pretending that the problem does not exist as it also threatens to destroy those who confront the evil practice. But Farzana had the courage to look down into the abyss by portraying not only the harrowing tales of the murder of innocence, but also provided an overall view of this problem for everyone to join in the campaign to stop this inhuman practice from the society. Rahila said that the novel analyses the social, economic, and political motives that keeps the social evils alive.

"Echoes from the Abyss" captures the cruelest manifestations of poverty in South Asia with remarkable accuracy. The author shows openness and empathy in her depiction that illustrates the most appalling crimes that continues to be committed against innocent girls in South Asia. Based on the author’s extensive research on the topic of child abduction and prostitution in South Asia, the beautiful and evocative narrative manages to open bare the seriousness of the issue, giving a significant manifestation of human trafficking in this region. The story hits hard not just on the issue of child slavery but also the poverty ridden social environment that facilitates such crimes. The bribed police, the corrupt officials, and the willingly oblivious public are also the key mechanism in Farzana’s perspective. The story hits a new high as the author scrutinises the South Asian society with insightful meticulousness.

Though the author has never visited Nepal, but the beautiful depiction of the country makes one wonder of her power of imagination.

Moving between two divergent settings of Nepal and Bombay, the story rotates around a thirteen year old girl Meena in her happy childhood, whose fate changes with her father’s death. She was compelled to work for a local doctor. Captured in the web of trafficking, she ends up in one of the brothels of Bombay, India, experiencing the worst type of brutality and humiliation. She remains locked up there for four long years until a foreign agency eventually discovers her whereabouts and rescues her. She returns to her native Nepal only to face a myriad of social problems. Meena’s touching and surprising ending brings an emotionally uplifting conclusion to a thoroughly powerful story.