Posted on November 27, 2015 by beenasarwar
The Punjab government has directed the provincial Human Rights department to amend existing service rules (see scan of letter dated Nov 6, 2015) according to which “Only non-Muslims/ Persons who belong to Minorities” are eligible for the position of sanitary workers or sweepers (see attached scan of Service Rules below).
Researcher and writer Asif Aqeel who emailed this update today thanks parliamentarian Mary Gill for bringing the issue to the notice of the government and pushing for the change. Continue reading →
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Filed under: Human rights | Tagged: India, sanitary worker, service rules | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 17, 2015 by beenasarwar
The Orkestra Marhabba: haunting Turkish sama’a music.
Colleagues, students, family and friends of the late Shahab Ahmed gathered on Nov 15 evening at an elegant and dignified memorial where speakers remembered him as a friend, a brother, a scholar, a poet, a translator and a seeker of Truth (his first book, What is Islam? has just been published). Continue reading →
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Filed under: Obituary, Uncategorized | Tagged: Hafiz, Islam, Shahab Ahmed, Turkish music | Leave a comment »
Posted on November 15, 2015 by beenasarwar
So sorry to have to share this news, about the younger brother of a childhood friend. Obituary below. Also see this article by one of his former students that so elegantly sums up his passions in life.
BOSTON: Karachi-born Nasser Hussain, professor of law, jurisprudence and social thought at Amherst College, USA, passed away in the early hours of Nov 9 after an extended illness, at the residence of his brother Omar Hussain in the Boston area. He was 50.
Scholars, friends and family from around the world including his elderly mother Sultana Hussain from Karachi, gathered for his funeral on Friday. His father Captain (Retd.) Tajammul Hussain, Pakistan Navy, passed away in January 2014. Continue reading →
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Filed under: Obituary | Tagged: Amherst College, Nasser Hussain | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 12, 2015 by beenasarwar
My article on a journalist, activist, humanist, friend, eternal optimist and conflicted human being who left us forever recently. Illustrations by Feica. Scroll.in published a slightly abbreviated version titled ‘Journalist, optimistic rebel who stood up to General Zia’s excesses’, breaking the text up with sub-heads that I’ve used in the full text below. Their intro: “Haider Rizvi was a Pakistani journalist and activist who passed away in Lahore on October 29. His three-decade-long journalistic career began in Pakistan. He moved to the US in the mid-1990s and covered the United Nations, before returning to Pakistan in 2013 and taking up a job as a lecturer. He was 52.”
Continue reading →
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Filed under: Human rights, Media, Obituary | Tagged: activist, Childrens People's Party, Gen. Zia, Haider Rizvi, Hum Shehri, IPS, Saqlain Imam | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 10, 2015 by beenasarwar
My article for The News on Sunday, Nov 8, 2015 on the ‘More Than My Religion’ (Oct 8-Nov 17) at City Hall, Providence RI – a unique exhibition showcasing art by American Muslims that aims to break stereotypes and build bridges — and help the homeless. Continue reading →
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Filed under: Art and activism, Peace | Tagged: Activism, art, City Hall Providence, Islam, More than my religion, Muslim in America | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 8, 2015 by beenasarwar
Still from the cellphone video of an impromptu performance by students in Quetta.
This little music video just made my day when a friend sent it to me yesterday: a Spanish love song by his cousin Hamza Khan, with co-singer Syed Zaryab and guitarist Naveed Ahmed. Students at Balochistan University of Information Technology Engineering and Management Sciences, BUITEMS, a leading private university in Quetta, they are also members of the Artists’ League Quetta (ALQ), a platform for the arts started by fellow student and self-taught dancer Farrukh Shaikh earlier this year. The group includes students from different departments in the University – including girls.
Continue reading →
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Filed under: Freedom of expression, Music, Peace | Tagged: BUITEMS, love song, music, Pakistan, Pishin, Quetta | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 7, 2015 by beenasarwar
My article on Islamabad-based group Theatre Wallay’s theatre project ‘Dagh Dagh Ujala’ (This Stained Dawn), that toured the US recently, published in Scroll.in today – Partition retold: A Pakistani theatre group dramatises survivor stories to shatter myths. Below, the unabridged version filed on Oct. 26.
Scene from the play, Islamabad performance. Photo courtesy: Fizza Hasan
Beena Sarwar
An amateur theatre group in Pakistan has started its tour of the USA with a dramatisation of Partition stories based on interviews of Partition-survivors by group members.
The play’s title ‘Dagh Dagh Ujala’ (This Stained Dawn) refers to the first words of the Urdu poem ‘Subh-e-Azadi’ (Dawn of Freedom) by the acclaimed poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Penned in 1947 on the eve of India’s Independence from British rule and its bloody partition, the poem is popular on both sides of the border. Continue reading →
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Filed under: Pakistan-India | Tagged: 1947, Dagh Dagh Ujala, Faiz, India, Lok Rehas, Pakistan, partition, poetry, Rahat Kazmi, theatre, Theatre Wallay, Urdu | 3 Comments »
Journeys to democracy 