Two years of Sapan, honouring Lyse Doucet, a music competition, and more

Posted on March 24, 2023 by beenasarwar

Can you believe Sapan has been at it for two years?

That’s the Southasia Peace Action Network, Sapan, ICYMI (‘in case you missed it’ for the uninitiated, helping you get with it, you’re welcome)

Excited for the second anniversary event up this Sunday, hosted by the amazing Khushi Kabir in Dhaka, taking forward the legacy of our late friend Kamla Bhasin at Sangat.

We’ll review what we’ve done over the past two years – the collaborations, the discussions, the film club and more. Taking up all kinds of cross-cutting and cutting-edge topics. It’s been thought-provoking, inspiring, and fun.

We will honour the inspiring journalist Lyse Doucet for her humanitarian reporting, an award initiated by Dr Tayyaba Hasan presenting it from the Sapan platform. Dr Hasan heads the Hasan Laboratory at Harvard Medical School – the bio at the link does not convey why she is doing this — you’ll have to tune in to find out.

Sapan honours Lyse Doucet: A lifetime of humanitarian reporting. Photo: Amanda Benson
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Commemorating ‘the second 9/11’ and the way ahead

Posted on September 29, 2021 by beenasarwar

The United States and India should join with other regional powers to deal with the Taliban and help the Afghan people – Noam Chomsky

BOSTON, 27 September: Prominent academic Noam Chomsky has urged the United States and India to engage with the Taliban, work towards overcoming differences with other regional powers, and help the Afghan people rather than blocking ”the best of the options that are available”.

He was speaking last Sunday at the tail end of a webinar titled “20 Years After 9/11: Impact on South Asia and South Asians” organised by the recently launched South Asia Peace Action Network, Sapan. Speakers shared stories of hope and inspiration, besides those of distress and challenges.

Noam Chomsky: Put the Afghan people first. Screenshot from Sapan webinar, 26 September 2021.
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Chomsky among speakers at discussion on “9/11” and aftermath: Impact on SouthAsia and SouthAsians

Posted on September 26, 2021 by beenasarwar
Event banner

Marking two decades of the September 2001 attacks on New York City, global thought leaders and activists from across South Asia and the diaspora will meet across time zones this Sunday to discuss the impact of “9/11” on the region and its people.

The online event also commemorates the global International Peace Day, September 21.

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Filed under: 'War on terror', Afghanistan, History, Pakistan-India, Southasia, Terrorism | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Stand in solidarity with journalists

Posted on August 7, 2021 by beenasarwar

Journalists are under fire (literally) around the world, particularly in conflict zones like Afghanistan, where every day news comes in about journalists attacked, abducted, or killed. We stand with our colleagues as they fight the forces unleashed by decades of not only of deliberate fostering of extremist ideologies but also neglect in building systems and infrastructure.

Meanwhile, sharing a statement below signed by over 100 journalists around the world in support of colleagues in Pakistan. The signatories are Fellows at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University joining hands to condemn the April assassination attempt on journalist Absar Alam, a Nieman alumnus from the class of 2005.

The class of 1967 is represented by three Fellows, including Zawwar Hasan, 95, former sports reporter with APP and Dawn and oped writer with Morning News, Pakistan (he’s my mamoo and I’m grateful to him for prodding me to do this). Signatories include members of the recently graduating Nieman class of 2021, as well as three Nieman Foundation directors (oddly known as Curators).

Tweet from Nieman Foundation linked to report on website

Here’s the link to a piece I wrote soon after my own Nieman fellowship, published in Nieman Reports: Threats Come at Journalists in Pakistan From All Sides (2006). What has changed?

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists has issued a statement hailing the Harvard-educated journalists’ concern.

Pakistan Press International, 27 July 2021

Statement and signatories’ list below:

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Pakistan Hazara genocide and NotreDame: Waiting for Jacinda?

Posted on April 16, 2019 by beenasarwar

Hazara sitin-Qta-ABNA

The Hazara community’s sit-in, Quetta, protesting their target killing. Photo: IRNA

Had the Hazaras who were killed in a bomb blast in Quetta died in the Notre Dame fire instead, there might be more outrage about their persecution and targeted killing in Pakistan, comments a designer friend disgusted by the apathy of Pakistan’s elites to the Hazara community’s ongoing sit-in, braving the rain and cold of Quetta while his “timeline is on fire with pix of the burning cathedral and people’s pictures in front of it”. Continue reading →

Filed under: 'War on terror', Afghanistan, Balochistan, Human rights, Interfaith, Islam, Terrorism, Violence in the name of religion | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

‘Tashakor, Zinda Dillan-e-Kabul’

Posted on November 1, 2009 by beenasarwar

This article, published in The News on Sunday, Footloose page, Nov 1, 2009 , is an expanded version of my previous report for IPS on the Kabul trialogue

Kabul looks battered. Dusty brown hills form the backdrop wherever the eye turns. Yet it is a city struggling to regain its former glory

By Beena Sarwar

Kabul wall3

Locals cycle past the ancient wall of Kabul

It was once known as the city of flowers, said Zahira Khattak, the ANP activist who grew up in Kabul. Now, the only flowers visible in the city provide splashes of colour through the all-pervasive dust at a few isolated roundabouts — and at the splendid, renovated Bagh-e-Babar (Babar’s Garden) on the city outskirts, the last resting place of the first Mughal emperor.

The city still looks battered — but often that’s because old buildings are being knocked down to make way for high-rises. Some gracious old buildings still stand tall in the midst of the dust and rubble. A series of upmarket high-rise apartment blocks emerge from the dust on the road from the airport. Air-conditioned shopping malls and boutique restaurants cater to the crowds of expatriate workers resident in Kabul, and the Afghani rupee has a better value than the Pakistani rupee. Noisy, unruly traffic bumps non-stop over the unpaved streets. Traffic lights are conspicuous by their absence. There are security barriers everywhere and few women are visible on the streets. The markets close early, but this city is nowhere close to giving up.
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