Media figures call for release of Himal Editor Kanak Mani Dixit

Posted on April 23, 2016 by beenasarwar
Kanak 03

Kanak being arrested at a pro-democracy rally in Nepal, 2006. Photo by Shehab Uddin

Press Statement: media figures call for release of Himal Editor Kanak Mani Dixit

New Delhi, April 23 — Editors and media figures as well as intellectuals and scholars from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, UK, US, Australia and Sri Lanka have called for the release of Himal editor and prominent Nepali journalist Kanak Mani Dixit who was arrested yesterday in Katmandu by anti-graft officials.

The following is the text of the statement:

Continue reading →

Filed under: Freedom of expression, Human rights, Media, Southasia | Tagged: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Haider, jigar, are you at peace now?

Posted on November 12, 2015 by beenasarwar

Haider in Gilgit-fb pageMy 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 →

Filed under: Human rights, Media, Obituary | Tagged: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Pakistan’s proposed cybercrime bill threatens civil liberties on the pretext of security

Posted on April 17, 2015 by beenasarwar

The Pakistan National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Technology (IT) on Thursday passed a controversial cybercrime bill that industry leaders and civil society members have been protesting against – see objections in the media release below as well as the warning sounded by Bolo Bhi, a net freedoms organisation. Two earlier news reports summing up the reservations: In Dawn – New cybercrime bill tough on individuals’ rights, soft on crime and in Express Tribune – Legislative bungling: In a bill about cybercrime, MoIT inserts clauses legalising censorship.

BoloBhi Pasha Cybercrime bill update

Continue reading →

Filed under: Media | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

‘Not just India’s daughter’ – article for TNS Special Report

Posted on March 21, 2015 by beenasarwar

Jyoti Singh’s death has become a global symbol and the beginning of change. Here’s hoping she did not die in vain… ‘Not just India’s daughter‘: My article for The News on Sunday Special Report on the issue

Delhi gang rape protest

Protest at India Gate against gang rape in Delhi. TOI photo

India has been under the spotlight for the rape and gender violence since the horrific gang rape in Delhi on December 16, 2012. That night, a 23-year-old physiotherapist on her way home from the movies with a male friend was brutally gang-raped by six men in a moving bus in the national capital. She died of her injuries on December 29, 2012. Her friend who tried to save her was also brutally beaten but survived.

The BBC documentary, ‘India’s Daughter’ following up on a rape that shook not just India but the world, and the Indian government’s subsequent ban on the film has re-ignited hot debate on an issue that is relevant to far more than just India or India’s daughters. Continue reading →

Filed under: Gender, Media | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

A tele-evangelist, poison in the body politic and murder most foul

Posted on December 29, 2014 by beenasarwar

Online petition to AamirLiaquat accountableNote: The TNS article referenced in the first line of the blogpost below is no longer available on the web. Here is the report I did for InterPress Service on the same issue, titled: Pakistan’s Ahmadis: Faced with death or exile

I recently wrote ‘Poison in the body politic’, published in The News on Sunday, on the persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan, the hate-speech against them in public spaces and the impunity their attackers enjoy. One of the people I spoke to was Farooq Kahloun, an Ahmadi leader and successful businessman in Karachi who had to leave everything behind in Pakistan and take political asylum in the USA after a murderous attempt on his life that killed his son Saad Farooq two years ago. Four bullets lodged in Kahloun’s body are a permanent reminder of the attack (details below) — and of the poison in Pakistan’s body politic, the menace of takfirism.  Continue reading →

Filed under: Blasphemy Laws, Human rights, Media | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Call for short films: “Pakistan: How To Make A Better Future?”

Posted on September 27, 2014 by beenasarwar

Eqbal Ahmad video contest Pakistan better futureCalling all filmmakers: video contest organized by the Eqbal Ahmad Centre for Public Education: Produce and submit 8-minute videos on the theme: “Pakistan: How To Make A Better Future?” Details at this link (text below). Also check out these 8-min videos – impressive compilation.

The competition seeks to raise awareness and encourage activism on important social issues, and encourage the use of new media in Pakistan.

Submissions for 2014 may deal with any of the following:

  1. Citizenship: What are the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen of Pakistan?
  2. Minority Rights: Issues of Pakistan’s religious and ethnic minorities.
  3. Terrorism: Why is Pakistan afflicted and what’s to be done?

    4. Continue reading →

Filed under: Media | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Geo under fire; owners under threat; being forced to sell shares, step down, appoint ‘approved’ people

Posted on September 11, 2014 by beenasarwar
"Mr Jeem", the animated Geo mascot: Under pressure

“Mr Jeem”, the animated Geo mascot: Under pressure

“It’s like a newspaper you’re used to getting at your doorstep every day. Suddenly one morning, the newspaper boy starts throwing it in different places every day – near the post box, behind or in the garbage can, on top of the tree, at your neighbour’s porch. That is what is happening with the cable operators taking Geo channels off their regular channel numbers and moving them to the bottom numbers and moving the numbers around.”

That is how a Geo insider describes the ‘ban’ on the channel, even after the Supreme Court, Lahore High Court and Sindh High Court termed the channels’ closure illegal and ordered their restoration. (Read the back story in my earlier article: “Pakistan’s media wars”, in Himal Southasian.

Cable operators say that they are under pressure to not restore the Geo channels (news, sports, entertainment) to their original positions. Meanwhile, companies are under pressure to not advertise with the Jang Group and Geo TV, and many have withdrawn their ads. Continue reading →

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

Pakistan’s media wars – my article for Himal Southasian

Posted on July 6, 2014 by beenasarwar

Himal-Growing media, shrinking spaces?Himal Southasian, a publication I’m proud to have been associated with since its inception in 1996, has a new issue on the media. My piece Pakistan’s media wars (below) and Mass media and the Modi ‘wave’ by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta are web exclusives. Two additional points to my article:  1. Corporate media owners in Pakistan have always been part of reactionary and anti-democratic forces in general. Their disputes with censoring governments have almost always had commercial motivations. 2. Journalists have played a positive role whenever they remained united in their professionalism. They compromise this unity when they allow journalistic standards to slip and try to become power brokers themselves.

By Beena Sarwar

4 July 2014

What is the political fallout of the battle between a media behemoth and Pakistan’s largest security agency?
Continue reading →

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

Censored! Pakistan blocks progressive Facebook pages

Posted on June 5, 2014 by beenasarwar

PTA censor BhensaGot the word a few hours ago. Without any notice, warning or explanation, Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has blocked several progressive pages on Facebook. Interestingly, there is no bar on the pages spewing hatred and furthering the ideology of banned groups.

The blocked pages include Laal, the largest leftist page in South Asia with over 408,000 followers. The other pages include those that post largely in Urdu and therefore reach large numbers, like: Continue reading →

Filed under: Media, Pakistan | Tagged: , , , , | 1 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 »

« Previous Page — Next Page »