Thirty years after 1984 Sikh carnage, ‘Kultar’s Mime’ underscores truths about victimhood and violence

Posted on October 13, 2014 by beenasarwar
Cat with Rano ptg by Evanleigh Davis

“Rano” – painting by Evanleigh Davis

“Innocent victims are the same, regardless of how they worship God and what tongues they speak” – Sarbpreet Singh 

A dramatic production of Sarbpreet Singh’s poem ‘Kultar’s Mime’ is being performed to acclaim in the USA and Canada, and will be in India at the end of the month. Here’s the link to my article in Scroll.in; text below with photos, links and dates not included in the Scroll version. Continue reading →

Filed under: 'Internally Displaced Persons', Communalism, Gujarat 2002, Human rights | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Mastung blast survivors still need our help

Posted on October 5, 2014 by beenasarwar
Nasrin Fatima (centre) lost her only daughter, Sadaf, 20. She had badly fractured feet, and still needs skin draft operations. Pictured here, April 2014, with the volunteers.

Nasrin Fatima (centre) lost her only daughter, Sadaf, 20. She had badly fractured feet, and still needs skin draft operations. Pictured here, April 2014, with the volunteers.

On January 21, 2014, a bomb blast targeted a bus full of Shia pilgrims returning from Iraq and Iran near the border town of Mastung in Pakistan, killing more than half of the 51 passengers. The 22 survivors include their children, spouses, parents, sisters and brothers. The Balochistan provincial government sent some survivors to the Agha Khan Hospital (AKUH) in Karachi for treatment. There, among many Karachiites who came forward to help them, a group of youngsters have stuck to the task of helping to rehabilitate them in the long term regardless of religious affiliations. Continue reading →

Filed under: Balochistan | Tagged: | 1 Comment »

“The Occupation kills us all”: Israelis in Tel Aviv protest Netanyahu’s attack on Gaza

Posted on July 12, 2014 by beenasarwar

Banner: “The Occupation Kills us All”. Israelis protesting in Tel Aviv against Netanyahu’s assault on Gaza (Thanks Farrukh Abbas for the share). Photo: Haim Schwarczenberg, Israeli photographer living in Jaffa, taking part in the Palestinian struggle against the Israeli occupation and oppression https://www.facebook.com/schwarczenberg

I’m sharing below a slightly edited Facebook comment by Syed Farrukh Abbas, a blogger and a student of media studies, based in Pakistan, that he posted with the photo above. Farrukh is also one of the administrators of the Laal Facebook page, which is where I know him from. To his words below, I just want to add: Respect and salute to, and solidarity with, all those in Israel who stand up and protest Israeli atrocities – including all those I know personally who’ve been doing this consistently for years, termed ‘traitor’ and ‘agent’ by the Israeli right-wing (sound familiar, anyone?). Here’s Farrukh’s note: Continue reading →

Filed under: Human rights | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Hamid Ansari: Mumbai man missing in Pakistan (we treat each other’s citizens differently)

Posted on July 11, 2014 by beenasarwar
Hamid Ansari, 27, MBA, Rotarian from Mumbai... missing since Nov 2012

Hamid Ansari, 27, MBA, Rotarian from Mumbai… missing since Nov 2012

My article on the case of the Indian national Hamid Ansari who has ‘disappeared’ in Pakistan, published in The News, July 11, 2014; an abbreviated version in Hardnews, India. See Hamid’s mother’s online petition appealing to the governments of India and Pakistan to find her son and my friend Indian journalist Shivam Vij’s earlier articles on this case, in The Friday Times, and in the Christian Science Monitor

On July 1, the Peshawar High Court directed Pakistan’s defence and interior ministries to provide full information about an Indian national, Hamid Ansari, who disappeared from the mountainous Kohat district in late 2012. There is room here for cautious optimism on several fronts. Continue reading →

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

Pakistan/India: There is no honour in killing… End the culture of impunity

Posted on June 7, 2014 by beenasarwar
HK-Iqbal - Farzana pic

Iqbal holds up a picture of his wife, Farzana Parveen, killed outside the Lahore High Court. Photo: Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images

On the murder of Farzana Parveen in Pakistan and the two Dalit girls in India – something I wrote last week, published in The News and in The Times of India blog

There is no honour in killing

End the culture of impunity

Beena Sarwar

Last Tuesday, May 27, two crimes that shocked the world took place, one in the morning in Lahore, Pakistan and the other at night in Uttar Pradesh, India. Three young women – two of them just girls, really, were killed in these incidents. A fourth casualty was the unborn child of the five months pregnant woman in Pakistan. Continue reading →

Filed under: Gender, Human rights | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

The need for a uniform civil code

Posted on June 1, 2014 by beenasarwar
60-year-old Shah Bano went to court seeking maintenance from her husband who had divorced her. The court ruled in her favour - maintenance from her ex-husband under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code with an upper limit of Rs. 500 a month. This was not the first such judgment granting a divorced Muslim woman maintenance under Section 125 like all Indian women. But the orthodox lobby termed the verdict an attack on Islam.

When a court in India ruled in favour of 60-year-old Shah Bano, granting her maintenance (under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code with an upper limit of Rs. 500 a month) from her ex-husband who had divorced her, it was not the first such judgment granting a divorced Muslim woman maintenance under Section 125 like all Indian women. But the orthodox lobby termed the verdict an attack on Islam.

Received the following note via email from Justice Katju in New Delhi, posted below. He has also posted it to his blog.

Uniform Civil Code

The refusal to modernise Muslim law or enact a common civil code has contributed to keeping Muslims backward in India, and has thus done great harm to Muslims

By Justice Markandey Katju

The issue of a uniform civil code has recently been raised. I am fully in support of a uniform civil code.

Article 44 of the Indian Constitution states : “The state shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India”. Continue reading →

Filed under: Gender, Human rights | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

“In a democracy the people are supreme, and can criticize all government agencies, which are only servants of the people”

Posted on May 26, 2014 by beenasarwar
Hamid Mir: Fighting on. AFP photo: Aamir Qureshi

Hamid Mir: Fighting on. AFP photo: Aamir Qureshi

Retired judge of the Supreme Court of India, Justice Markandey Katju, Chairman Press Council of India, emailed the following statement about the attack on Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir:

May 23, 2014: I strongly condemn the attack in Karachi on Hamid Mir, the well known Pakistani journalist, who sustained six bullet injuries in the attack. This is a direct attack on media freedom, whether it was by the Taliban or ISI or anyone else.

Though I have differed with some of the views of Mr. Hamid Mir, I believe, like Voltaire, that he has the democratic right to express his views. Continue reading →

Filed under: Human rights, Media | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Rashid Rehman and the “media campaign by vampires”…

Posted on May 9, 2014 by beenasarwar

Khabrain2-April21-2014 On April 21 evening, Supreme Court advocate Rashid Rehman Khan in Multan sent this note below to an email list with the subject line, “media campaign by vampires”. He included scans of a report in that day’s daily Khabrain about a press conference by Tehrik-e-Tahafuz-e-Namoos-e-Risalat (Movement to Protect the Honour of the Prophethood), where speakers objected to his attempts to move the case of a ‘blasphemy’ accused teacher whom he was defending, out of Multan. It was also after a media campaign against him that the Governor of Punjab Salmaan Taseer was murdered.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Blasphemy Laws, Human rights | Tagged: , , , , | 3 Comments »

A quiet hero. RIP Rashid Rehman Khan

Posted on May 8, 2014 by beenasarwar

Rashid Rehman- screenshot from Mukhtiar Mai documentaryHeard the terrible news a few hours ago that the courageous Multan-based advocate Rashid Rehman Khan of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has been shot dead in Multan. Criminal cowards barged into his chamber and opened fire, killing him and injuring two others. He had been under threat for some time for defending a blasphemy accused, but refused to back down. More ominously, no protection was provided to him – although given the climate in Pakistan, any lawyer taking up a blasphemy case should be given 24-hour protection. Continue reading →

Filed under: Blasphemy Laws, Human rights | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Ali Dayan Hasan leaves Human Rights Watch

Posted on May 3, 2014 by beenasarwar

Ali Dayan Hasan. Photo: Malik Siraj Akbar

Ali Dayan Hasan. Photo: Malik Siraj Akbar

Human Rights Watch has issued a laudatory press release about the departure of their long-time Pakistan Director Ali Dayan Hasan from the organisation. Since statement will not be posted on their website, I’m sharing it below. Incidentally, I’ve known Ali since he was a school student in his teens, when he did his first reporting assignment for me at The Frontier Post in Lahore — long before he became a senior editor at monthly The Herald and then a hot shot human rights activist. He told me some time back that he wants to do his own thing. Good luck Ali. Whatever you do, I’m sure you’ll do it well. May the force(s) be with you. 

***Media Advisory***

Ali Dayan Hasan Departs Human Rights Watch Continue reading →

Filed under: Human rights | Tagged: , , | 3 Comments »

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