Zarteef Khan Afridi: The tribesman who showed the way

Posted on December 19, 2011 by beenasarwar

Zarteef Afridi's latest photo. Courtesy: HRCP

A tribute to the human rights activist Zarteef Khan Afridi who was shot dead recently – my article in The News on Sunday. Latitude News earlier published a shorter, different version titled In Pakistan, an unlikely hero dies for his cause. Also see my earlier article: Pakistan’s ‘enlightenment’ martyrs

The tribesman who showed the way

There was the letter from an anonymous writer saying he was going to hunt down and kill her. And then there was the letter from an Afridi tribesman offering to come down and protect her.

This was in the mid-1990s. The recipient of the letters was the fiery human rights lawyer Asma Jahangir, under threat for having taken on the case of Salamat Masih, the illiterate Christian boy sentenced to death for ‘blasphemy’ for having allegedly written sacrilegious words on the walls of a village mosque. Continue reading →

Filed under: Human rights | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Curiouser and curiouser… First Mansoor Ijaz, now Shafqatullah Sohail…

Posted on December 18, 2011 by beenasarwar

Chief Justice of Pakistan: over-enthusiastic about some issues?

Today’s headline and report in Express Tribune ‎”Citizen’s letter prompts notices to president, ISI chief”  prompts advocate Asad Jamal in Lahore to ask, rightly, who is this “Canada-based Pakistani” Shafqatullah Sohail ‘who has written such a passionate letter that the CJP immediately converted it into a petition? Continue reading →

Filed under: Politics | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

“Focus, and spread the message of peace to all” – Nandita Das | Thousands worldwide to Pray for Peace between India and Pakistan on Dec 18

Posted on December 18, 2011 by beenasarwar

By Beena Sarwar

From Indian actor Nandita Das in Mumbai, to peace groups and individuals all over India and Pakistan, and in countries as far away as Korea, Australia, Canada and America, thousands are supporting Pray for Peace Between India and Pakistan Day on Sunday, Dec 18, 2011.

Inspired by the idea of the power of collective prayer or meditation, Toronto-based Swati Sharan randomly picked the date several months ago. “These prayers can be done from anywhere on the globe by any one, of any nationality… the more people pray for something at a given time, the greater the difference it can make,” she wrote in an initial article in May explaining the idea, Continue reading →

Filed under: Pakistan-India | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

Civil society terms “memogate” scandal an attempt to thwart democracy

Posted on December 18, 2011 by beenasarwar

Ad pubished in The Daily Times, Dec 23, 2011

Please note, the names on the signatories list will be updated as more endorsements are coming in.

PRESS RELEASE, December 17, 2011

Civil society terms “memogate” scandal an attempt to thwart democracy; Says threatening the representative system tantamount to attack on sovereignty of people. Read on for the text of the statement and the signatories’ list Continue reading →

Filed under: Progressive politics | Tagged: , , , , | 10 Comments »

On Dec 16, 2011, remembering Anthony Mascarenhas

Posted on December 17, 2011 by beenasarwar

Thank you Mark Dummett, for the report in BBC today paying tribute to Anthony Mascarenhas, the brilliant and courageous Pakistani journalist who had to flee abroad in order to be able to tell the truth – Bangladesh war: The article that changed history.

Mascarenhas

“Eight journalists, including Mascarenhas, were given a 10-day tour of the province (East Pakistan). When they returned home, seven of them duly wrote what they were told to,” writes Dummett.

“But one of them refused.”

That was Mascarenhas, who died in 1986 in London.

His wife Yvonne Mascarenhas told Dummett that she remembers him coming back distraught: “I’d never seen my husband looking in such a state. Continue reading →

Filed under: Human rights, Media | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments »

Aman ki Asha pages featuring Mumbai journalists’ Pakistan visit

Posted on December 15, 2011 by beenasarwar

Here are PDFs of two recent Aman ki Asha pages that I tried to email to the Mumbai journalists who visited Pakistan recently, as the pages feature their responses. Since the second PDF file was for some reason too large to email, I’m posting both of them here. Click these links for the PDFs:

Aman ki Asha page, Dec 8, 2011

Aman ki Asha page, Nov 30, 2011

Come to think of it, that’s not a bad idea anyway. Maybe I should upload more of these pages. The content is all available on the Aman ki Asha website anyway, but there you can’t see the great layouts the designers have been doing. Continue reading →

Filed under: Pakistan-India | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

“Better green than gas stations!”

Posted on December 15, 2011 by beenasarwar

Christmas trees instead of cars. Yeah.

We’re not exactly into the whole commercial holiday scene but it seemed like a good time to get a little tree to decorate for the season and put out to grow for the rest of the year. So we got ourselves to Ricky’s Flower Market. We’d often passed this inviting looking urban nursery, bursting with flowers and potted plants in warmer weather, incongruously tucked between two heavily trafficked roads at Union Square, Somerville, MA. Now it’s full of Christmas trees. We pulled into the parking spot (bonus) and after some deliberation and discussion with Ricky, the owner, chose a sweet little Dwarf Alberta Spruce (a hardy species indigenous to the New England and Canada area, we learnt), in a pot. Here’s part of our conversation with its surprise tidbits: Continue reading →

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Pakistani doctors in America: Giving back to the community

Posted on December 14, 2011 by beenasarwar

Poet Fehmida Riaz with Dr Naseem Shekhani of NHF at the launch of the Urdu English Medical Dictionary in Karachi, Dec 31, 2010

Anyone interested in healthcare in Pakistan – check out and support National Health Forum (NHF), a registered tax-exempt organisation in America initiated by a group of Pakistani doctors, many of whom were activists with the progressive National Students Federation (NSF)in their student days.

Screengrab of NHF website

I know some of them personally and am inspired and moved by their dedication and the work they do. The causes they have taken up include maternal care, child cancer (working to build a children’s cancer hospital) and helping flood survivors in Pakistan through the Pakistan Medical Association. They also support non-profit organisations in USA in the healthcare and medical education sectors. I love that Dr Sher Shah is listed in their website as one of the ‘projects’ they support (if you don’t know who he is, you should. Look him up). Another project, and a great success, is the launch of the much-needed Medical Urdu-English Dictionary. The informative website includes links to PDFs of their reports). Also do check out and ‘like’ the NHF facebook page. 🙂

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Pray for Peace Between India and Pakistan Day: Sunday, Dec 18, 2011

Posted on December 14, 2011 by beenasarwar

Image courtesy: Aman ki Asha

PRAY FOR PEACE BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN DAY, DEC 18, 2011
Sunday, December 18… Just 30 seconds of your time!

On December 18, wherever you are in the world, take out just thirty seconds to Pray for Peace Between India and Pakistan. 

See this article by Swati Sharan introducing the idea behind Pray for Peace Day. 

· See facebook page Pray for Peace and post your comments.
· Send feedback to the Aman ki Asha facebook page

Some expressions of support for this initiative include: Continue reading →

Filed under: Pakistan-India | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Tenth Hamza Alavi Memorial Lecture, Dec 18, 2011, Karachi

Posted on December 14, 2011 by beenasarwar

Hamza Alavi: eminent sociologist, addressed issues of nationality, gender and fundamentalism

Ayesha Siddiqa: political analyst, author of Military Inc.

The Tenth Hamza Alavi Memorial Lecture (free and open to the public)
Keynote speaker: Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa – Bringing Change in Praetorian State (see her recent essay in EPW on Pakistan’s Modernity: Between the Military and Militancy: Sunday, Dec 18, 2011, at 4.00 pm
Venue: Dr. Zaki Hasan Auditorium, Jinnah Medical & Dental College, Shaheed-e-Millet Road, Karachi.
Chair: Dr. Jaffar Ahmed;  Introduction of Speaker: Dr. Mohd Ali Siddiqi
Followed by high tea (thanks to Dr. Tariq Sohail).
The lecture, published by the Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences, will be available for just Rs.30 per copy. Donations to this cause are always welcome. Please make cheques out to the National Council of Academics, mailing address D 61, Blo0ck 2, Clifton, Karachi 75600

Filed under: Progressive politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

« Previous Page — Next Page »