From @ChaiSabz (Hadi Zaher), 5.55pm Pakistan time: ‘Victims of Quetta blasts laid to rest. @KhudiAli among them: “Peace we love”. #WEAllAreHazara #RIPKhudiAli’
Filed under: Human rights | Tagged: #Hazaragenocide, #shiagenocide, Hazara, Irfan Ali, Pakistan, Quetta blasts, Shia | Leave a comment »
Photo tweeted by Haider Changezi @Aushpaz: Dear #Pakistan U all came in protest but Gov is deaf, hasn’t announced #ActionAgainstLeJ #WeAreAllHazara
A quick note on the current situation: The past two days and nights have seen inspiring massive, ongoing peaceful protests all across Pakistan in solidarity with the ‘coffin protesters’ at Alamdar Road in Quetta who are refusing to bury their dead until their demands for security are met. The protests finally pushed the PPP government to action – the Balochistan provincial government has been dismissed and Governor Rule imposed in the province, one of the demands of the protestors. Continue reading
Filed under: Balochistan | Tagged: Balochistan, coffin protest, Hazara, Pakistan, Shia | Leave a comment »
Haunting photo of vigil by thousands of protestors gathered around the shrouded bodies of the blast victims; they’ve been there for 15 hours now, braving freezing cold and rain.
In a powerful statement of grief, rage and protest, demonstrators, including women and children are sitting in the freezing cold and rain holding vigil over 86 shrouded bodies at Alamdar Road, the site of the bomb blasts in Quetta. No one from the government has yet met the mourners who are refusing to bury their dead until the army promises them protection. See video footage of the dharna, ongoing for 15 hours now, broadcast online by Such TV. In solidarity, protestors began gathering at the Karachi Press Club starting at about 3.00 am, galvanised into action by Syed Ali Raza Abidi‘s tweets. By 5 am , some protestors also started gathering in Islamabad. A protest called by the Institute of Peace and Secular Studies is already scheduled from 5-7 pm at the Liberty Roundabout in Lahore today, Jan 12. (UPDATE: Karachi protest Sat, Jan 12, 2.30 pm at Karachi Press Club) Continue reading
Filed under: Human rights | Tagged: dharna, Hazara, Quetta, Shia, sit-in | 3 Comments »
#RIPKhudiAli :(This pic is your true presentation: working for all,for peace,for #Pakistan twitter.com/usmannrana/sta…
— Usmann Rana (@usmannrana) January 10, 2013
There was devastating news today about the triple bomb blasts today in Quetta, one of them at a snooker club, all targeting Hazara Shia areas. Over 100 killed, including three media men who rushed to cover the blasts. It is hard for the human mind to taken in the mind-numbing numbers, but when someone you know is among the dead it really hits home. Our young friend and comrade Irfan Ali lost his life while helping others when the second blast took place. Continue reading
Filed under: Human rights | Tagged: #RIPKhudiAli, Hazaras, Irfan Ali, KhudiAli, Quetta blast | 6 Comments »
Iqbal Haider: A firm believer in secular values.
My article for The News on Sunday, Nov 18, 2012 – in which I forgot to mention the resolution Iqbal Haider tried to get the Senate to pass against the cold-blooded murder of young Saima Sarwar in the office of Hina Jillani at the behest of her own parents, simply because she wanted a divorce from her abusive husband. Some senators from FATA physically attacked him for it (See my article ‘There is no ‘honour’ in killing).
Beena Sarwar
The protests outside Karachi Press Club will be all the poorer without Senator Syed Iqbal Haider’s energising presence. Activists promoting any good cause could count on him to be there — whether it was justice for Mukhtaran Mai, protest against Shia killings, or a call for peace between India and Pakistan. Continue reading
Filed under: Human rights | Tagged: blasphemy, honour killing, Human rights, Iqbal Haider, Pakistan, saima sarwar, VAW | 2 Comments »
Eve Ensler, founder of the One Billion Rising movement. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian.
The well known feminist activist, playwright and actor Eve Ensler has given a call for One Billion Rising campaign that aims to mobilise and bring out one billion people on streets across the world on February 14th, 2013 against violence against women, and in celebration of women’s power (One Billion Rising on Facebook).
Noted women activists from all over South Asia, including Kamla Bhasin of Sangat, OBR’s South Asian coordinator, were at the launch in Nepal. (Photo: WFS)
This, writes Ensler, “is a call to the billion women who have been violated and the men who love them, to the women who have been beaten and raped and mutilated and burned and sold and who know the destruction of the female species heralds the end of human kind. A call to walk out of your homes, your jobs, your schools and find your friends, your group, your place and music and dance” (‘One Billion Rising: Together we can end violence against women’, op-ed in The Guardian). Continue reading
Filed under: Gender, Human rights | Tagged: Bangladesh, Eve Ensler, India, Kamla Bhasin, Nepal, OBR, One Billion Rising, Pakistan, VAW, Violence against women | Leave a comment »
Demo for Malala in Mumbai earlier this week
Adapted from the post I sent to my Yahoogroup a little while ago:
No point repeating what happened a week ago in Swat, when Taliban shot Malala Yusufzai, the 14-year old school girl who has been speaking out courageously for the right of girls to be educated, supported by her equally brave father, Ziauddin Yusufzai, principal of the school she was studying at.
Malala was already a hero to many. Now she has become a worldwide symbol of the right of girls to education, as well as of resistance to the Taliban. In this, she represents millions of Pakistanis – and world citizens. Her friend Kainat who was also injured, told CNN from her hospital bed that she hoped to continue her education and that Malala would come back and join her schoolmates soon. “I want to tell all the girls to continue their mission to get an education,” she said. Continue reading
Filed under: Education, Gender, Human rights | Tagged: campaign for Malala, Malala, Malala health updates, Pakistan, petition for malala, Safe World for Women, Taliban, UN Special Envoy for Education | 2 Comments »
Joanne Samuelson lights a candle for Malala
“Families in Charlestown are gathering on Bunker Hill monument on Sunday October 14 at 5:30 pm to hold a vigil for Malala Yousafzai. Please try to attend and spread the word, all welcome,” read the email circulated by the Pakistani Association of Greater Boston on behalf of Joanne Samuelson, a Boston resident who works at M.I.T.
The drizzly weather cleared away allowing the sun to come out in time to endorse the gathering at this historic spot in Charlestown, Boston, the site of a major battle between the revolutionaries and the British colonists. Continue reading
Filed under: Education, Gender, Human rights | Tagged: Boston vigil, Education, Malala, Pakistan | 1 Comment »
Largest exhibition of Pakistani contemporary art on display Sept. 24 at National Art Gallery, Islamabad at 5 p.m. to celebrate 30 years of Rohtas Gallery. Sixty five artists will exhibit more than 165 works in a testimony to Pakistan’s contemporary artists and an amazing journey through their growth and contribution to art over three decades. Rohtas Gallery opened in 1981 when a repressive military dictator ruled Pakistan. Rohtas Gallery defied constraints and offered space and inspiration to Pakistan’s artists who wanted to challenge contemporary thought and encourage others to do the same through their work. This exhibition on Sept. 24 celebrates Rohtas Gallery and Pakistan’s artists and their amazing journey together.Filed under: Human rights, Pakistan, Peace | Tagged: Activism, art, dissent, Gen. Zia, Pakistan | Leave a comment »
Residents watch the rescue operation in the garment factory in Karachi. Photo via CNN
Protests are scheduled all over Pakistan on Saturday, against the horrific factory fire that claimed nearly 300 lives in Karachi and 25 in Lahore due to criminal negligence of the factory owners whose primary interest lies in making money — they exploit workers, ignore safety standards that the government, equally criminally, did not enforce. Details of the protests below. Online petitions calling for the government to take action: Avaaz and International Workers Solidarity Petition Continue reading
Filed under: Human rights | Tagged: karachi factory fire, labour rights, lahore factory fire, Pakistan, worker safety | 1 Comment »
Journeys to democracy 