Mother’s Day, BB murder and Irom Sharmila

Posted on May 9, 2010 by beenasarwar

Irom Sharmila is force-fed in the secure wing of a hospital in Imphal. Photo: The Independent

Some links I posted to my yahoogroup today:

Why I hate Mother’s Day: “Mothering has been the richest experience of my life, but I am still opposed to Mother’s Day. It perpetuates the dangerous idea that all parents are somehow superior to non-parents…. (it) benefits no one but Hallmark” – well argued piece by Anne Lamott in Salon.com

Analysis: They killed Benazir Bhutto and this is how it happened – Anas Abbas’ painstakingly researched piece at his blog, titled AA@Counterterrorism, Imperialism, Extremism, Bigotry

One woman’s silent quest for peace on India’s wild frontier: Exclusive interview of Manipur’s Irom Sharmila, who has been on the world’s longest known hunger strike since 2008 – good article by Andrew Buncombe in The Independent

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PERSONAL POLITICAL: What a blast

Posted on May 9, 2010 by beenasarwar

Panicked schoolgirls being evacuated after a bomb blast outside their school that killed one boy, Apr 19. AP photo

My monthly column Personal Political in Hardnews India
 April 26, 2010

Beena Sarwar

On April 19, there were two bomb blasts in the heart of Peshawar – a low intensity one outside a police-run school as parents were picking up children that killed a small boy, followed hours later by a second detonated by a suicide bomber, in the famed Kissa Khwani Bazaar (story tellers’ market), killing over 20 people including one of Peshawar’s senior-most police officials.

There was a haunting Associated Press photograph in newspapers the next day: four schoolgirls in their school uniforms in the back of a van being taken to safety. One clutches a water bottle. Wide-eyed with fear and bewilderment, they can’t be more than six years old. Continue reading →

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