Local votes to regional destiny? The future of democracy in South Asia

Posted on July 28, 2024 by beenasarwar

I meant to share this when it was first published on Sapan News recently, my article co-authored with Dr Serena Hussain and Vishal Sharma, but was caught up with the Colombo screening of my Sri Lanka documentary. Thought I’d post now – the piece is still relevant especially given a recent article in an influential foreign policy magazine debunking the idea of Southasia

Images from various SAARC summits sourced from copyright-free photos. Collage by Pragayan Srivastava

Why the regimes ushered in through the democratic political process need to collaborate for a better future for the peoples of the region

By Dr Serena Hussain, Vishal Sharma and Beena Sarwar

The recent elections in Britain, France, and India are a reminder of the power of the people – and also of the importance of regional cooperation.

Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto with her Indian counterpart Rajiv Gandhi at 1988 SAARC Summit in Islamabad. Source: Dawn

The Indian elections were the third electoral exercise in South Asia this year, after Bangladesh in January  and Pakistan in February. Sri Lanka is also required to hold presidential elections before October.

As part of the democratic political process, elections determine the leadership that will shape not only a nation’s destiny, but also in closely connected regions.

The governments may choose to be isolationist, or follow the will of foreign powers, or cooperate and collaborate with neighbouring nations. Can and will South Asia’s regimes cooperate to promote regional peace, prosperity and progress as they have done in previous decades such as, during the 1950s, 1980s, and 2000s?

Such collaboration is essential for the sake of the peoples of the region.

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Farewell Karamat Ali: A journalist in India remembers a Pakistani peace activist who brought home her late grandfather’s ashes

Posted on July 7, 2024 by beenasarwar

Guest post: A personal tribute to Karamat Ali (19 August 1945 – 20 June 2024) by Mandira Nayar in Delhi, for Sapan News

Karamat Ali was many things but for Mandira Nayar he was always the person who returned her grandfather Kuldip Nayar to Lahore, where he was born and which he considered home. The relationship between them defies labels but it has a bond that is deep and unbreakable, stronger than many relationships with names, she writes:

There are many words for friendship. Arabic has twelve. You can choose from friendships of different shades — the intense saqeeb, a true friend;  sameer, someone who you like to have a conversation with, or the casual zameel, an acquaintance. 

  • Announcement from Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy for an online memorial
  • Memorial meeting at Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, for Karamat Ali
  • Comrades at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in Lahore remember Karamat Ali

English has just the one — a bland ‘friend’. The short dost (friend) in Hindustani encompasses in its tiny frame a sort of bro-code for the intense relationship that Hindi film songs refer to, between Maana Dey’s ‘Yaari hai Imaan’ (My friend is my faith) to Sholay’s anthem ‘Yeh Dosti Hum Nahi toRe.nge‘ (This friendship we will never abandon). 

‘Dost’

So I struggle to find a word to describe the relationship between Karamat Ali, labour leader, peace activist, revolutionary, lover of music, and my grandfather Kuldip Nayar, journalist, peace-activist and fellow dreamer. And by extension, my relationship with Karamat Sahib. 

This relationship without a name has a bond that is deep and unbreakable, stronger than many relationships with names.

Karamat Ali was many things but for me he was always the person who returned my grandfather to the home he was born in.

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