Wrote this curtain raiser a couple of weeks ago together with a colleague in India, published in Aman Ki Asha 20 September 2019.
By Neel Kamal and Beena Sarwar
The world’s largest India-Pakistan golf tournament will take place in Los Angeles early October, even as relations between nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours India and Pakistan sink to a dangerously low levels.
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M. Bashir ‘Chacha Chicago’ cheers for both teams (for details see this report)
I wrote this piece published in The Wire 6 June 2019, Letter From a Pakistani to an Indian Friend: Can We Please Have a South Asian Union? — pegged on Eid at the time. Posting it here on the eve of the Cricket World Cup match between Pakistan and India in Manchester Sunday. As Admiral Ramu Ramdas says in his little video message, treat it as a game, not a proxy war… And we want a South Asian spirit (also see Himal SouthAsian map and caption below)
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Indian journalist and trade unionist Sabina Inderjit and others at the conference. Photo: Beena Sarwar
After I attended a media conference in Poland in June last year where I also presented a paper on digital and traditional media, an old friend and colleague from Lahore asked me to write a short report about it for his media outlet Dispatch News Desk. Shared below, belatedly, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day. p.s. DND, which has a presence in Central Asia, also published the report in Russian.
Journalists at media conference vow to uphold journalistic values and ethics
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Update to Hamid Ansari case: He was produced in court, tried in a military court and awarded three years’ vigorous imprisonment starting from December 15, 2015. He has appealed to be treated not for anti-state (espionage) but illegal activities (crossing the border without a visa).
Hamid Ansari, 27, MBA, Rotarian from Mumbai… missing since Nov 2012
Update to case below: Hamid Ansari was produced in court, tried in a military court and awarded three years’ vigorous imprisonment starting from December 15, 2015. He has appealed to be treated not as a spy.
The police in Pakistan have confirmed that the ISI and MI have custody of Hamid Ansari, the young Indian national who has been missing in Pakistan since 2012. So will we see him produced in court as directed by the honorable judges? See my earlier post Hamid Ansari: Mumbai man missing in Pakistan (we treat each other’s citizens differently). On second thoughts, not that differently. Our security agencies treat their own citizens as badly. Plenty of examples all over both countries — Kashmir, Balochistan, Sindh, Assam, Manipur, to name some areas where such violations take place routinely. The documents below, presented…
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Last week I wrote this short piece below for Aman ki Asha (hope for peace) after the Indian border security forces returned a young, inadvertent border-crosser to Pakistan. Today, there’s news that the Pakistan government will allow the wife of the Indian national and alleged spy Kulbushan Yadav to meet him “on humanitarian grounds”.
This raises hopes that the parents of another Indian prisoner Hamid Ansari will finally also be allowed to meet him. In fact, as the Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy has said, the families of all cross-border prisoners should be given access to their loved ones in prison across the border. Continue reading
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I wrote this piece for The Wire on Oct. 24, after hearing that the young journalist-activist Zeenat Shehzadi who “disappeared” over two years ago, has been recovered. A brief re-cap of what happened and how her case is linked to that of a young Indian man whose case she had been following after his “disappearance” in Pakistan.
The Pakistani journalist-activist – who had gone missing in August 2015 – has paid a heavy price for wanting to uphold humanitarianism and the principles of social justice.
Five days before she was due to testify before Pakistan’s Commission of Enquiry on Enforced Disappearances in August 2015, 24-year-old journalist-activist Zeenat Shahzadi herself became a disappeared person. She remained missing until her parents received word on Friday – October 19, 2017 – that she had been recovered.
Shahzadi’s mother has spoken to her and reported that she was alright. The family would like to be left alone and not pressed for more details. [Read more…]
Filed under: Freedom of expression, Human rights, Pakistan-India, Uncategorized | Tagged: Activism, disappeared, Hamid Ansari, India, journalism, missing, Pakistan, Peace activism, social media, Zeenat Shehzadi | 1 Comment »
Haroon Khalid, author of Walking with Nanak, will participate in a live Youtube discussion on Monday, 7 August.
As Pakistan and India commemorate 70 years of their existence as independent nation states, what is striking is the people’s desire for peace and how those who govern them continue to thwart these aspirations. As media highlight the tensions what goes largely unreported is people on the ground continuing their efforts to push for peace. Below: a few on-the-ground upcoming happenings I compiled that seek to further understanding between the two nations. At the very least, they are all expressions of the desire for normal relations. Continue reading
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My piece published in The Wire today. Also posted below.
Image by graphic artist Orijit Sen.
Catalysed by the mob murder of a teenager in India on June 24, followed by a Facebook post on June 24 by filmmaker Saba Dewan, a #NotInMyName campaign is taking off across India with simultaneous protests in several cities on Wednesday, June 28, 2017, against the ongoing mob lynchings and vigilante violence targeting Muslims and Dalits. Continue reading
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Morse School students use ribbons to express their support for immigrant families.
I wrote this piece after a discussion with fourth and fifth graders at a public school in Cambridge MA; slightly different versions published in the Cambridge Chronicle and The News on Sunday. The students’ desire to be “in the news” reflects what I believe is one of journalism’s key roles – to ensure that the voices of the under-represented get heard. The selfie-culture sweeping the world isn’t just about narcissism. It speaks to the human need to be affirmed and remembered. I was here. See me. Hear me.
PERSONAL POLITICAL
By Beena Sarwar
“Did you see our ribbons? They are for immigrant families,” says Emma, one of half a dozen 9 and 10-year olds I’m talking to about journalism on a bitterly cold weekend in March.
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It is now more than three weeks since the professor, poet and activist Salman Haider was ‘disappeared’ from Islamabad. Shortly afterwards, more social media activists were picked up. By whom and why? Questions beg answers. Please sign the statement urging their safe return.
***PLEASE SIGN THIS STATEMENT HERE.***
Famed Pakistani Poet, Academic, and Left Activist Disappeared
Critical Activists Disappeared
#RecoverSalmanHaider | #RecoverAllActivists
Famed Pakistani poet, academic, and Left activist Salman Haider has gone missing since last Friday. As of now, we have little credible information but we believe that Salman was abducted due to his political views and writings. Salman has been a staunch champion of the oppressed and working class peoples of Pakistan, and uses his witty prose and incisive verses to challenge and mock all forms of oppression in Pakistan.
He is not alone. Within hours of his abduction, news of other activists disappearing has emerged–Waqas Goraya, Aasim Saeed, and Ahmed Raza Naseer have gone missing.
We demand that the Pakistani state apparatus–its military, intelligence agencies, and civilian institutions–act promptly to ensure the safe recovery of all activists.
We call on scholars, playwrights, poets, writers, activists, artists from around…
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