Why Pakistan must repeal the ‘blasphemy law’

Posted on June 30, 2011 by beenasarwar

Posted to the Citizens for Democracy blog, via the Council on Foreign Relations: Two high-profile Pakistani politicians were assassinated earlier this year for calling for reform of the country’s blasphemy laws which allow offenders to be punished by death. Ali Dayan Hasan, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, says the laws are discriminatory by nature and must be repealed. The context of this brief interview is available at the CFR study: Islam and Politics in Pakistan

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Baloch Hal Editorial: People’s Right to Know What Happened in Kharotabad

Posted on June 30, 2011 by beenasarwar

One of the injured women raises her hand before being silenced forever

Once again, an important editorial from Baloch Hal online daily, being reproduced here because the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has since November 2010 blocked the Baloch Hal website in Pakistan

Editorial: People’s Right to Know What Happened in Kharotabad

The Kharotabad tragedy was simply as tragic as tragedy can be.  The brutal killing of Chechen nationals, mainly women, including a pregnant lady, on May 27th left us all totally speechless as the nation watched on TV the extremely perturbing imagines of the victims of shooting  allegedly by the police and the Frontier Corps.

Tragedy aside, we witnessed a rare but an encouraging development for which the government of Balochistan must be commended. The investigations into the incdent, no matter how defective and imperfect, were successfully completed. Continue reading →

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The murder of Mir Rustam Marri, champion of IDPs and human rights, Balochistan

Posted on June 28, 2011 by beenasarwar

Below, please read this recent editorial from Baloch Hal, inaccessible to readers in Pakistan since the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority blocked it in Nov 2010.  We’re reproducing it here in the interest of freedom of expression and democratic rights, and in protest at the PTA’s censorship of a sane, moderate voice from Balochistan.

Editorial: Killing of a Man Who Stood For IDP Rights  Continue reading →

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Amna Chishty’s appeal to Governor Rajasthan re Dr Chishty

Posted on June 26, 2011 by beenasarwar

A rare family meeting at Hatundi, 2007: Dr Chishty with daughter Amna, her children and his nephew's children.

June 23, 2011

To,
Honorable Sh. Shivraj Patil
Governor of Rajasthan
Raj Bhawan, Civil Lines,
Jaipur, India

Subject: Case of Pakistani Prisoner Dr. Syed Mohammed Khaleel Chishty

This is regarding the mercy petition of my father Dr. Chishty who is presently in Ajmer prison hospital. Continue reading →

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PUCL plea to Rajasthan Governor: Sign Dr Chishty’s mercy petition

Posted on June 24, 2011 by beenasarwar

There is an outpouring of gratitude in India for the role played by Pakistanis, led by Ansar Burney, in getting freed Indian sailors from Somali pirates. But from the Governor Rajasthan, on whose desk the mercy petition for Dr Khaleel Chishty sits waiting for his signature, there is deafening silence. Fed up of the constant wait and wanting to dispel any ideas that the Governors power’s were limited if there is an appeal in the high court, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) sent the following letter. Which is also apparently sitting on his desk. Continue reading →

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Governor Rajasthan delays Dr Chishty’s release

Posted on June 23, 2011 by beenasarwar

Unable to walk on his own anymore, Dr Chishty is carried to court in Ajmer. Photo: Times of India

DR CHISHTY CASE UPDATE

Beena Sarwar

June 21: The expected release of an elderly Pakistani academic imprisoned in India for nearly two decades was delayed as the Governor of Rajasthan raised further queries instead of signing the mercy petition recommended to him by the Chief Minister of Rajasthan – flouting the constitutional provision that requires the Governor to act upon the advice of the Chief Minister, making his signature a mere formality. Continue reading →

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R.I.P Sadiqa Waheeduddin (and some family history)

Posted on June 14, 2011 by beenasarwar

Sadiqa Waheeduddin, looking at a newspaper report about the DSF event held in Karachi Jan 2010

Sadiqa Waheeduddin, passed away peacefully in Karachi this morning. She was the eldest sister of late Dr M. Sarwar and widow of late Dr Waheeduddin who was a great supporter of progressive politics, mother of Dr Irshad Waheed, Dr Iqbal Waheed, Naseem (‘Geti’), Shireen, and Islam Waheed.

As high school students at the time, Iqbal and Geti also participated in DSF processions. Many political meetings, including DSF, were held at their house in Guru Mandir. As my mamoo, the journalist Zawwar Hasan used to say, she was ‘Jagat Apa’ to many of Akhtar and Sarwar’s friends. Continue reading →

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A much needed Special Report on Balochistan…

Posted on June 13, 2011 by beenasarwar

Malik Siraj Akbar: Let’s not shut the doors

The News on Sunday (Pakistan’s best weekly English language paper) took an unprecedented and much needed look at how the media in Pakistan is not covering Balochistan issues in its Special Report this week (this link has the entire report). It includes
Editorial – Outside the province, Balochistan is as neglected. There is no demand for an investigation for all bad news. Balochistan is not on newspeople’s agenda.
Shooting the messenger – Naziha Syed Ali on the risks journalists in Balochistan live with
Cautious and selective – Why is the otherwise hysterical electronic media unusually silent? By Nabeel Arshed
Alia Amirali“The initiative has to come from the centre” – Is it still possible to reach out to the radical nationalist elements and salvage the situation? Malik Siraj Akbar, Editor Baloch Hal believes it is (my interview).
“The mainstream media is … defending the national interest” says Alia Amirali, a researcher on the Baloch National Movement and a lecturer at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, in an interview with Farah Zia (Read Alia Amirali’s article: “After Habib Jalib” – Balochistan appears in the media only after death and destruction – in The News on Sunday, July 25, 2010) And more…
Here is the link to the BBC Urdu report “Punjab Balochistan ke Barey mein Kitna Janta Hai” by Sharjil Baloch (March 1, 2011) that I refer to in my article, which is also the basis for another article in this special report, by Aoun Sahi, ‘Wana and Waziristan in Balochistan?‘

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Update and some questions: Karachi Rangers killing

Posted on June 10, 2011 by beenasarwar

UPDATE: The Supreme Court has taken suo moto notice of this incident, which, because it was captured on camera and circulated on the Internet, broadcast on TV channels, cannot be ignored like the other extra-judicial killings and murders taking place. But as Ali Dayan of HRW asks, “Will there be justice as a result?”

Some questions: It has been learnt that the video was shot by a man with a digi-camera who was with an Awaz TV reporter who was at the scene. Since one of them kept filming (granted, it was critical for him to continue and document the abuse), why didn’t other call for help? How come they were there in the first place? And how did Rangers let them film this scene? (further update: a team of three people from the Sindhi TV channel Awaz to film

HRW on Karachi killing: What we are seeing is visual records of what we have long documented: the culture of impunity in Pakistani law enforcement agencies. What is becoming clear is that the free for all, the culture of wanton abuse and killing, is becoming untenable in the age of new media and cell phone cameras.

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An extrajudicial murder in a Karachi park

Posted on June 9, 2011 by beenasarwar

Television reports showing a young man shot in cold blood by the Rangers in Karachi are disturbing to watch (I feel physically sick after watching it). An unidentified cameraman filmed the episode and made the footage available to TV channels – it’s online if anyone has the heart to watch it but better to read this report about the incident by AFP reporter Hasan Mansoor: Five soldiers arrested after Pakistan park killing.

The extra-judicial murder of this young man, Sarfaraz Shah, at the long, coastal Benazir Bhutto Park opposite Boat Basin (a hub of food shops and cafes) in Karachi, is a reminder of the impunity that our security forces enjoy. They claimed he had tried to rob a policeman’s family. Even if he had succeed, they had no business shooting at him. What happened to due process of law? Why aren’t the Rangers and other security people given basic human rights and legal training? Continue reading →

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