Pakistani Women Hit Hurdles in Medical Profession

Posted on March 9, 2014 by beenasarwar
Left to right, medical student Saima Firdous, Dr Jamila Khalil, Sarah Peck, Dr Khalil Khatri Credit: Beena Sarwar

Left to right, medical student Saima Firdous, Dr Jamila Khalil, Sarah Peck, Dr Khalil Khatri. Photos: Beena Sarwar

My report for Inter Press Service, March 8, 2014. Picked up by newspapers around the world – I like the headline Asia Times gave it: Women doctors say what ails Pakistan

BOSTON, United States, Mar 8 2014 (IPS) – On one of her many visits to Pakistan recently, Sarah Peck, director of the US-Pakistan Women’s Council, spent some time talking to young women medical students in Pakistan. She was struck by their passion and commitment — and by the hurdles they face.

The US-Pakistan Women’s Council is working with expatriate Pakistani doctors to find ways to encourage women qualifying as doctors in Pakistan to practice medicine.

Women outnumber male students in medical colleges across Pakistan, forming up to 85 percent of the student body in private universities and 65 percent in the public sector. Continue reading →

Filed under: Education, Gender | 2 Comments »

South Asian University response to question re: students from Pakistan

Posted on March 6, 2014 by beenasarwar

Thanks South Asian University for the prompt response to my question about Pakistani students raised in my last blog post. See tweets: Continue reading →

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Pakistan/India: One history, two narratives

Posted on March 6, 2014 by beenasarwar

HistoryProjectPersonal Political. My recent piece for The News, Pakistan and  Hard News, India

One history, two narratives

Beena Sarwar

How does a math student turned tech entrepreneur get involved in putting together a history book for children in India and Pakistan – a book that juxtaposes and highlights two conflicting narratives with a view to creating greater understanding?

The seeds were planted, if you’ll pardon the pun, some 13 years ago Continue reading →

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The nightmare must end – my op-ed in Dawn, 2009

Posted on February 27, 2014 by beenasarwar
Zahoor: Taliban and the media, The Frontier Post, June 2008

Zahoor: Taliban and the media, in The Frontier Post, June 2008

Those who justify the Taliban uprising in Pakistan as an anti-imperialist movement forget that since the Taliban first swept into Afghanistan in 1996 (with the blessings of the Pakistani establishment), they have been a threat to women, pluralism and democracy in the region. Their oppressive order in Afghanistan pre-dates the American invasion of Iraq, bombing of Afghanistan, and drone attacks in Pakistan –– from an article I wrote in Dawn, 2009. Came across it again while searching for something else. Read it, and tell me, what has changed? 

By Beena Sarwar, Feb 7, 2009

OF the many challenges Pakistan’s elected government faces perhaps the most menacing and deep-rooted is Talibanisation — a phenomenon identified earlier on (as Talibanism) by the then exiled Afghan government’s acting foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Sept 21, 2000. Continue reading →

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A migrant’s tragedy and a heartwarming response

Posted on February 26, 2014 by beenasarwar
Photo from her charred Pakistani passport

Not a ‘Jane Doe’: Photo from her charred Pakistani passport

Some days ago, a woman died in a fire in Cambridge, MA. The media initially reported that she was in her mid-30s, but within hours, the local Pakistani and Indian community was abuzz with the news that she was a Pakistani, in her 50s. They identified her as Farzana Khan, who lived completely alone here as her entire family was in Pakistan. It was moving to see how many people were concerned and wanted to help. When I sent the report below to The News in Pakistan a couple of days after the incident, the medical examiner still hadn’t managed to get a close friend or relative to identify the body. Until then, she had to be kept in the morgue although she was not quite a ‘Jane Doe’. As word of the dilemma spread, a Pakistan origin couple in the Boston area whose children she had looked after briefly,  Continue reading →

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When urban planning meets disaster management and mental health

Posted on February 23, 2014 by beenasarwar

Harvard SAI Karachi confMy article published in The News on Sunday today, about the Contemporary South Asian City Conference in Karachi last month co-sponsored by Harvard South Asia Institute and Aman Foundation, with Pakistan Urban Forum – by all accounts a most dynamic and exciting event. I spoke to two Harvard professors in Cambridge MA after their return from Karachi.

By Beena Sarwar

Rahul Mehrotra is no stranger to Karachi. From his base in Mumbai, he built Amin Hashwani’s house in Karachi some years ago, a project for which he visited the city several times. “By the time we did the interiors though, we couldn’t get visas,” he added, when we spoke in Cambridge recently. Continue reading →

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The February 12 pledge, terrorism, and the Malala connection

Posted on February 12, 2014 by beenasarwar
Lahore, Feb 12, 1983: Police lathi charge demonstrators. Photo: Rahat Ali Dar

Lahore, Feb 12, 1983: Police lathi charge demonstrators. Photo: Rahat Ali Dar

The News published a slightly toned down version of my article, The Feb 12 pledge. Un-edited text below, followed by a postscript linking this struggle to Malala. More photos at this link.

Renewing the Feb 12 pledge

By Beena Sarwar

Every February 12 we commemorate Pakistan Women’s Day in honour of those who gathered at Lahore’s Regal Chowk on that day in 1983, defying the military order against public gatherings, to protest Gen. Zia’s ‘Law of Evidence’ that upheld the testimony of a male as equal to that of two females in a court of law. The police attacked the demonstrators with batons and arrested several, including the venerated poet Habib Jalib whom Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif is fond of quoting. Continue reading →

Filed under: 'War on terror', Gender | Tagged: , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Those demanding ‘Sharia’ in Pakistan, FYIP

Posted on February 10, 2014 by beenasarwar

Why I do not want Shariah in Pakistan

The Pakistan government is trying to hold talks with the Taliban, who should really be referred to as Fasadis*. There are no women in the government committee, and of course none on the Taliban side. One of the Taliban negotiators pulled out, refusing to participate until the agenda includes the imposition of Sharia law. Here’s a note posted by The Traitors of Pakistan and  Pakistan Votes  on Facebook, ’10 reasons why I do not want Shariah in Pakistan’. I have an additional question to the reasons they listed: 11. Whose Sharia? Each religious sect has its own version. Many of us reject the one propagated by the Fasadis and the Saudi-patronised Takfiris**. Here’s the note, for your information please, as desis say:

Continue reading →

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India/Pakistan: Asha ki Kiran

Posted on February 6, 2014 by beenasarwar
Tea with the lovely Nandita Das in Mumbai

Tea with the lovely Nandita Das in Mumbai

Found to be inoperable in Bangalore, young Kiran Soomro won over scores of hearts and has returned to Pakistan with a priceless gift of love – and homemade Singhar mithai. My article published in Aman ki Asha and TOI blogs today

On January 20, 2014, her seventeenth birthday, Kiran Soomro flew from Karachi to Bangalore on with her parents. They left with hope in their hearts and a prayer on their lips, expecting that Dr. Devi Shetty at the Narayana Health hospital would be able to surgically close the hole in Kiran’s heart.

Five days later, they learnt that her condition is inoperable by now. It would have been a fairly simple operation had it been looked into and treated earlier. Doctors initially discussed a heart-and-lung transplant. Dr. Balakrishnan, a well-known surgeon from Chennai drove down on his own initiative to examine Kiran in Bangalore. Continue reading →

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Censorship, book bans and Malala: exposing closet Talibans

Posted on January 30, 2014 by beenasarwar

malala bookRecently, an editor in Karachi told the well known defence and policy analyst Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa “not to bother writing anymore about the Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or any other militant outfit, religious party or even the cricketer-turned-politician’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI).” She was told not to even mention TTP and affiliated organisations. The call followed the attack on a vehicle carrying staff of a media organisation, in which three people were killed and four injured.

And in Peshawar, the launch of “I am Malala” was stopped from taking place at the last minute. Read poet and activist Harris Khalique’s comment about it – “Malala interrupted and the Khan surprised“. As he mentions, another activist and friend M. Tahseen had written an email, angry at the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtukhwa (KP) for preventing the book launch from taking place. It was scheduled last Tuesday, January 28,  at the Area Study Center, University of Peshawar,  organized by various civil society organizations  along with the Area Study Center.

Imran Khan’s response:

I tend to agree with my friend, the rights activist Dr. Fouzia Saeed, who proposes that if Imran Khan really means what he says, he should host a big event to launch the book. It is, after all, important as Fouzia says, “to make a distinction between KP ministers who did this, and the Taliban”.

Continue reading →

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