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.
Kathy Gannon shares an iconic photo by Anja Niedringhaus during a talk at Emerson College, Boston, 2022. Photo by Beena Sarwar
“If France and Germany can be part of the European Union, why can’t Pakistan and India be part of a Southasian Union?” asked Dr Mubashir Hasan, former finance minister of Pakistan, a hawk-turned-dove who co-founded the Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD). He had roped me into it when I was a young journalist in Lahore in the mid-1990s. When he said these words to me some years ago, and I replied that this was impossible, he responded, “Par hum baat toh kar sakte haiN” – but we can at least talk about it.
Years later, in 2021, during a time of renewed tensions between Pakistan and India, his words inspired the foundation of the Southasia Peace Action Network, Sapan, that we now write like a word, Sapan, rather than in all caps, conveys the meaning of a dream.
“This is a dream that connects millions, giving hope for solidarity, peace, and friendship in the region. The network, which encourages dialogue and connections amongst Southasians and across various issues, has managed to virtually overcome borders and build bridges between those who have historically been divided” writes young peacebuilder Mansi Chandna from Jaipur, who attended the event from her current base in Manchester.
Art and Southasian Voices panel at the Sapan third anniversary event: Manmeet K. Walia, Roshan Mishra, Salima Hashmi. Screenshot from video recording.
Sharing my curtainraiser for Sapan News about a poignant photo exhibition opening at the Bronx Documentary Center in New York today, featuring the work of the acclaimed photojournalist Anja Niedringhaus. She covered Afghanistan and Pakistan at the height of the war between the Taliban and the USA, and was killed ten years ago, on 4 April 2014.
An Afghan police commander walked up to the car she sat in with Kathy Gannon outside a government compound in Khost, where they were covering the presidential election for the AP. Anja, 48, died instantly. Seven bullets shattered Kathy’s arms and shoulders. The Afghan doctor who initially operated on her saved her arm, using various ‘jugaRs‘ (improvisations). Doctors at the French military hospital in Kabul where she was later medi-evaced said they would have amputated it had she reached them first.
In all the years I’ve known Kathy, I’d never heard her complain or mention her injuries or trauma. When I hesitantly asked about it now, for this piece, she detailed the information matter-of-factly, even cheerfully, focuses more on Anja, her courage, and her spirit. All that applies to Kathy herself.
Kathy, who also on the Sapan News Advisory Council, has co-curated the show and its accompanying book.
Anja Niedringhaus’ photos showcased in a tribute posted by her colleagues at AP
The exhibition will travel to Cambridge MA, 9-10 May 2024, co-sponsored by the Nieman Foundation and the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University. Anja was a Nieman Fellow 2007.
Exhibition information: Bronx Documentary Center 614 Courtlandt Ave, Bronx, NY 10451 On View: April 4 – May 5, 2024 Gallery hours: Thurs-Fri 3-7PM, Sat-Sun 1-5PM
Book information: Anja Niedringhaus By Ami Beckmann, Kathy Gannon, and Muhammed Muheisen Hardcover, 80 pages, 44 images Release date: April 2024 Published by Fort Orange Press Price: USD 30
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Radical love, epitomised by the late Amrita Pritam and Fahmida Riaz is ‘one of the seeds of the revolutionary thought process’, to quote the Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) stalwarts who organised the event – Vijayan MJ, Tapan Bose, and Dr Syeda Hameed. Their consistent work over the decades for peace and justice is truly inspirational, and I feel privileged to know them personally.
I was also privileged to know one of the late poets personally, Fahmida ‘Khala’ (aunt) to me, who was close to my father Dr. M. Sarwar. He led the Democratic Students Federation (DSF), Pakistan’s first student movement while at Dow Medical College in Karachi, 1949-54.
I’ve uploaded archives about the movement here: drsarwar.wordpress.com. Principles of that struggle continue to show the way, like the importance of coming together across divides for a minimum common agenda. For DSF, it was student rights. For Sapan, it’s Southasia Peace. We need it now, for the sake of the people of the region, and beyond.
The Videos section of the Dr Sarwar blog includes a playlist of video clipsfrom the event held at the Karachi Arts Council in January 2010 to commemorate DSF and the student movement, a few months after my father passed on.
Compered by the actor Rahat Kazmi, the event featured speeches from young activists, students, and academics like Amar Sindhu, Alia Amirali,Ali Cheema, and Varda Nisar, as well as veterans like I.A. Rehman, besides the singer Tina Sani, Taimur Rahman and his band Laal, and Fahmida Riaz.
Fahmida Khala recited her poem ‘Palwashey Muskurao’ (Palvasha, smile), dedicated to daughter of late Afzal Bangash of the Mazdoor Kissan Party (Workers’ and Peasants’ Party), and the followers of other late leftist leaders. They may no longer be on this earth, but their principles and aspirations for human rights and dignity continue to show the way.
Seasons greetings despite the sadness, and excerpts from a Sapan Alliance newsletter sent out a few days ago on Substack
Joy is also a form of defiance. Dancers: A greeting card I made some years ago (pastel and water colour), repurposed for Southasiapeace.com and Sapannews.com.
In times that can feel dark and dismal, some good news and exciting updates.
Meet Sapan News — a unique media outlet that aims to cover and connect Southasia, the Indian Ocean and diaspora. That goes behind the headlines, connects communities, academics, activists, and more. Creating space for understanding, empathy and nuance.
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Collaborations: Hello, Central Desi!
Sapan News is proud to partner with Central Desi, a dynamic news portal that started as a newsletter to cover all things ‘desi’ (Southasian) in New Jersey. Kudos to journalist Ambreen Ali for growing her passion project into a news org that won a major grant, enabling them to hire reporting fellows. Sapan News has much to learn from this initiative.
The day the popular Indian journalist Ravish Kumar spoke at Harvard, Oct. 2, happened to mark Gandhi Jayanti, Mahatama Gandhi’s birth anniversary. A day that social media users celebrated Gandhi-ji’s murder was and glorified his murderer on X, formerly Twitter, noted Kumar, talking in Hindi to students and community members filling the nearly 150-seater auditorium.
Ashutosh Varshney, Director of the Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia at Brown University; Ravish Kumar; Wall Street Journal columnist Sadanand Dhume; Brown University faculty Poulami Roychowdhury and Prerna Singh. Photo: Beena Sarwar
Students throng Ravish Kumar after his talk at Brown University.
Photo: Beena Sarwar
Standing ovation for Ravish Kumar after his talk at Harvard. Photo: Beena Sarwar
Discussion after the talk at Harvard. Not all questions were answered but as Ravish said, it’s important to ask them. Photo: Beena Sarwar
Talking to Ravish Kumar after the event, with Dr Deeba Husain from India. Photo: Rajeev Soneja
Ravish Kumar famously resigned from NDTV last November after its hostile takeover by Asia’s richest man Gautam Adani known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While Kumar still has a huge viewership on YouTube – his channel has garnered over 7 million subscribers so far – it is an insecure platform, as he knows. The recently released documentary While We Watched (available on PBS) features Kumar, but as he also acknowledges, there are many others standing for journalistic values and ethics in India.
An FIR (first investigation report) was lodged against NewsClick in August, the day after a poorly-sourced New York Times report alleging that it had received funding from a network spreading “Chinese propaganda”.
The detained journalists included junior employees – and if they were being detained “simply because you believe that NewsClick is getting Chinese funds then a very wrong precedent is being set,” to quote prominent TV anchor Rajdeep Sardesai.
Newsclick founder and chief editor Prabir Purkayastha, and Amit Chakravarty, who heads the portal’s human resources section, were arrested under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Since 2010, as many as 16 journalists have been charged under the UAPA, reports the Free Speech Collective, India, in a post that lists them, with details of those out on bail, the seven still behind bars, and others.
NewsClick founder and chief editor Prabir Purkayastha arrested. Photo credit: Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times via Getty Images, published by Amnesty International.
“In India, 16 journalists under UAPA ; seven behind bars” – image courtesy the Free Speech Collective, India
There is a huge pushback in India against these heavy handed tactics, which those in other countries are familiar with.
Below, the text of a joint letter by several journalists’ organisations to the Chief Justice of India:
Last month, another Indian fisherman incarcerated in Pakistan died while waiting to be repatriated. A young man in his thirties. Why he was held in the first place makes no sense to me, and to a lot of other people. India and Pakistan routinely detain each others fisherfolk. In doing so, they defy international law, deny the incarcerated men consular access in violation of their own laws, hold them in prison for months if not years (a costly enterprise), then take months to verify the identities of those who have served their terms, so that they remain imprisoned even after completing their sentences. I asked my friend Jatin Desai in Mumbai to write about this for Sapan News, the syndicated features I started a couple of years ago. We ended up doing the piece together. I’m sharing our article below, published in Sapan News, as well as in several other publications.Still relevant, and urgent for the authorities to take up. Please share widely.
The suffering continues: No relief in sight for Indian, Pakistani fishermen
Another Indian fisherman died while in detention in Pakistan. Such deaths in custody routinely take place on either side. Pakistan and India routinely arrest and imprison each others’ fisherfolk for crossing an invisible maritime border. This should not be happening. Meanwhile, both countries must urgently at least revive the Joint Judicial Committee for cross-border prisoners
By Jatin Desai and Beena Sarwar
Passport photo of Jagdish Mangal, who died while waiting to be repatriated. Photo: Courtesy Edhi Foundation
If 99 Indian fishermen incarcerated in Pakistani prisons had been repatriated last month as agreed, Jagdish Mangal might still be alive.
Mangal was among the several Indian fishermen arrested by Pakistan’s Maritime Security Agency in February 2020 and detained in Malir prison, Karachi. He was 35 years old from Nana Vada, Gujarat.
Pakistan was to repatriate 99 Indian fishermen on 3 July, but this never happened for unexplained reasons. Mangal died on August 6 of ‘natural causes’ according to the medical certificate.
The attacks on the Christian community in Jaranwala near Faisalabad (former Lyallpur) are among a long string of such violence instigated by extremist elements seeking power in the name of religion in Pakistan. I co-wrote this article for Sapan News with a young reporter in Karachi who was initially only reporting on Pakistan’s first Minority Rights March. Then Jaranwala happened. We now present a longish read putting the violence in context and tracking the trajectory of a turning point in the state’s responses, with a couple of inputs from India
Karachi protest at Teen Talwar, 19 August 2023. Photo: Abdullah Zahid
Karachi protest at Teen Talwar, 19 August 2023. Photo: Abdullah Zahid
“Manzoor Masih – will be remembered!… The Christians of Shanti Nagar – will be remembered!… Rimsha Masih – will be remembered!… ”
Activist and dancer Sheema Kermani led the chanting, evoking the names of a long list of Pakistani Christian individuals and communities targeted by extremist elements in the name of religion over the years.
A compilation of offerings from our Sapan network, including my latest venture Sapan News syndicated features. Together, we aim to further the narrative of regionalism, peace, and dialogue. What can you do? Read on
Visual: Aekta Kapoor/Sapan
Delighted to have acclaimed actor and director Sarmad Khoosat join us Sunday July 16 for Sapan’s first fundraiser, hosted by poet Dr Arvinder Chamak in Amritsar. Sarmad will be in conversation with the wonderful journalists Malinda Seneviratne in Colombo, Mandira Nayar in Delhi; and Lubna Jerar in Karachi.
Lee Krishnan in Mumbai, Mohsin Tejani in Karachi: Breadloaf friends, great synergy. Photos: supplied.
Really enjoyed this Sapan online family writing workshop by educators and teacher trainers Mohsin Tejani in Karachi and Lee Krishnan in Mumbai, hosted by the amazing Khushi Kabir in Dhaka, joined by educationist and writer Benislos Thushan in Jaffna – looking dramatic due to a power cut, just before dashing off for an overnight bus to Colombo. Human rights activist and physician Fauzia Deeba from Quetta now in New Jersey talked about the floods in Pakistan and shared the In Memoriam section designed by a young journalist Sushmita Preetha in Dhaka. Senior journalist Namrata Sharma in Kathmandu delivered the heart warming closing remarks that the piece starts with.
Namrata Sharma: “Who and how can anyone say that Southasia is divided?” – screenshot from the workshop.
Lovely writeup on it by young agriculturist-researcher-educationist M. Waqas Nasir in Lahore, published as a Sapan News Network syndicated piece in several media outlets. Read it here: Divided by borders, united by aspirations. This piece and the event would not have been possible without the efforts of data analyst and researcher Priyanka Singh in New Delhi. Both she and Waqas are Sapan founder members.
I’m also happy to share this piece young lawyer Vishal Sharma in Shimla, also a Sapan founder member. I love how hard and patiently he worked on the article, taking in feedback from various friends to shape it into what it became. I also learnt a lot by working with him on it, especially the idea of ‘Himachaliyat’ which reminds me of ‘Kashmriyat’ – promoting pluralism and peace. Published in Himachal Watcher. Read it here: A young leader’s activism may be a gamechanger for the Congress in Himachal‘. Vishal had the visual specially made by an artist friend.
Vikramaditya Singh uses the shield of “Himachaliyat” and “Virbhadra Singh Vikas Model” to counter political rivals. Visual by artist Deepak Saroj in Noida
Flood survivors and volunteers at Shahdadkot. Photo: Courtesy Rubina Chandio via the Flood Relief Work WhatsApp group.
It is moving to see how many on the ground, as well as across the region and beyond, are stepping up to help those hit by the floods in any way they can.
At our online Southasia Peace Action Network, Sapan, meetings and in personal messages, Indian friends in particular have expressed their anguish and desire to help. Many are frustrated by being unable to contribute financially as I mentioned in my last post, Floods in Pakistan: Many eager to help held back by restrictions.
The YouTube video below has friends Dr Amna Buttar and Dr Geet Chainani talking about the realities on the ground in disaster-hit areas and why as an Indian origin physician in the US, Geet wants to go back to Sindh to help with flood relief. Sabyn Zaidi remembers how Geet worked in medical camps during the 2010 floods. On the first day she saw 172 patients, without breaks. There were no restrooms, no food, no electricity; there were bugs and insects. When it got dark, she worked with the light from cell phone lights and torches brought by the villagers.
Journeys to democracy 