Donate a breeding goat to a flood refugee this Eid

Posted on November 12, 2010 by beenasarwar

Not everyone was able to save their precious goats (AFP: Arif Ali)

The flood waters are receding but the needs of the flood refugees and survivors remains enormous. Blogger Farrukh Siddiqui summarises the main needs in this post  How can We Help flood victims in Pakistan

Here’s another way to help them: donate a live breeding goat to help them re-start their lives in a sustainable way.

At least two organisations I know of are working on this novel idea: Pakistan Animal Welfare Society and Sadiqa Salahuddin’s Indus Resource Centre (IRC) which has a long history of working on education (especially of girls) in the Khairpur area of Sindh.
Continue reading →

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Personal Political: Dear Abhijeet, please come to Pakistan

Posted on November 9, 2010 by beenasarwar

Yes, we do have theatre in Pakistan. Sania Saeed in 'Mein Adakara Banoongi'. Many other listings at http://www.danka.com.pk/

My monthly column Personal Political in The News on Sunday (Political Economy section, as ‘Going beyond ‘nothing’ in Pakistan’) and in Hard News, New Delhi

Good music too: Zeb and Haniya. See their interview at http://bit.ly/zebhania

Oct 24, 2010 Personal Political

Going beyond ‘nothing in Pakistan’

Beena Sarwar

“There is nothing in Pakistan,” said the Indian playback singer with finality. “They have no auditoriums, no facilities, there is nothing there. Everything is here (in India).”

Another example of the misconceptions about Pakistan, I thought, waiting to respond. The playback singer, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, and I were participating in a talk show for NewsX TV in New Delhi. Participating from a hired studio in Karachi, I could hear, but not see, the others.

When I tried to reply to this comment, the Indians couldn’t hear me, although I could still hear them through my earpiece connected to a phone line. I was no longer on air. NewsX had booked a live uplink from Pakistan for 20 minutes, which was over. Symbolic? Continue reading →

Filed under: Pakistan-India | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

India and Pakistan are stronger together

Posted on October 21, 2010 by beenasarwar

Indian dancers from the Rang Rasia Group traditionally touch their master's turban before the rehearsing Garba in Ahmedabad. Photograph: Sam Panthaky/AFP/Getty Images

My article in The Guardian recently prior to our talk at The Guardian Foundation:

India and Pakistan are stronger together

Loosening cultural, travel and trade restrictions is a vital first step to rediscovering our two countries’ shared heritage

India and Pakistan may be neighbours but it’s surprising how little they really know about each other. Their rich common heritage is easily forgotten amid mutual baiting and negative stereotyping, and it’s difficult to imagine them ever being truly at peace until these obstacles have been overcome.

“I’m really surprised to see so many women … I thought you would be all covered in burqas,” said a journalist at the Indian Women’s Press Club when the Pakistani contingent arrived last April on a visit organised by Aman ki Asha (a joint initiative for peace by the Times of India and Pakistan’s Jang media group). >

Filed under: Pakistan-India | Tagged: , , , , | 6 Comments »

Pakistan journalists in London October 9-17

Posted on October 5, 2010 by beenasarwar

Pakistan journalists tour of London October 9-17

Speakers:
 Qatrina Hosain, Director, Current Affairs, Express News
Rahimullah Yusufzai, Executive Editor, Peshawar, The News
Beena Sarwar, Editor, Special Projects, Jang Group (Aman ki Asha)
Mustafa Qadri, Journalist, The Guardian, Radio Australia, The Diplomat


Oct 11: Chatham House, 6-7 pm (NOTE: members only event)
Oct 13: SOAS, 6-8 pm (no registration required)
Oct 15:  The Guardian, 7 pm
Oct 16: British Pakistan Foundation launch (TBC).

For inquiries, contact Mustafa Quadri <syed_mustafa_qadri@yahoo.com.au>. Details:

Continue reading →

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From Kerala with love

Posted on October 3, 2010 by beenasarwar

Prof. Raj and S.M. Naseem, Kerala, 2004

My article published in the Aman ki Asha page on Sept 23, 2010

From Kerala with love

An over three-decade long friendship between Pakistani and Indian economists leads to an unexpected offer of help for Pakistan’s flood victims

By Beena Sarwar

The visa and travel restrictions between India and Pakistan mean that Indians and Pakistanis who become friends often meet for the first time in a third country.

For economists S.M. Naseem, a Pakistani, and Prabhat Patnaik, an Indian, the third country was Thailand, 1978. They were both members of ILO’s Asian Regional Team for Employment (ARTEPP) in Bangkok, headed by Prof. K. N. Raj. Prof. Raj, who died last year in Kerala, was also known as the author of the Kerala Model, and founded the Centre of Development Studies in Trivandrum after heading the Delhi School of Economics (where his students included Prabhat Patnaik) and as serving as the Vice Chancellor of Delhi University.

Continue reading →

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Condolence meeting for Fatehyab Ali Khan

Posted on October 3, 2010 by beenasarwar

Just posted to the Dr Sarwar blog:

Dear friends,

Please attend a condolence meeting for our late respected comrade Fatehyab Ali Khan, political leader, activist, intellectual, Executive Director, Pakistan Institute of International Affairs, Sun, Oct 3, 5.30pm, Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi. Please spread the word. Thank you.

On behalf of Iqbal Alavi Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences

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Sahmat Statement on Ayodhya Verdict

Posted on October 3, 2010 by beenasarwar

Thanks Sohail Akbar in New Delhi for sending this.

From: SAHMAT – Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust
29, Feroze Shah Road,New Delhi-110001
Telephone- 23381276/ 23070787
 e-mail-sahmat8@ yahoo.com
Date 1.10.2010

Statement on Ayodhya Verdict

The judgement delivered by the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Dispute on 30 September 2010 has raised serious concerns because of the way history, reason and secular values have been treated in it. First of all, the view that the Babri Masjid was built at the site of a Hindu temple, which has been maintained by two of the three judges, takes no account of all the evidence contrary to this fact turned up by the Archaeological Survey of India’s own excavations: the presence of animal bones throughout as well as of the use of ‘surkhi’ and lime mortar (all characteristic of Muslim presence) rule out the possibility of a Hindu temple having been there beneath the mosque. Continue reading →

Filed under: Communalism | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments »

Statement: Citizens for Democracy

Posted on September 24, 2010 by beenasarwar

Several concerned citizens of Pakistan drafted this statement, endorsed by the signatories below.  It was published in various newspapers on Sept 24. See report in Dawn and at South Asian Media Net. Update: advertisements in Jang and News today, Sept 27, 2010. Please endorse if you agree.

Sept 23, 2010

We the Citizens for Democracy:

  • Concerned about an all-sided institutional, financial and societal destabilization in a terrorism-ridden country reeling under the unprecedented havoc caused by the floods;
  • Alarmed at strategic and political uncertainty, reinforcing hopelessness and chaos, due to an ongoing power-struggle among various institutions of the state;
  • Reiterate our full faith in constitutional, democratic and representative system that ensures freedoms and fundamental rights, an independent judiciary, a free and responsible media and above all sovereignty of our people reflected through federal and provincial legislatures;

    • Continue reading →

Filed under: Progressive politics | Tagged: , , , , , | 6 Comments »

PMA briefing re floods: medical, social, health issues

Posted on September 19, 2010 by beenasarwar

Dr Sher Shah Syed. Photo: Jamal Ashiqain

ALL ARE INVITED

Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) information session:

Ø Installation of 21 water purification plants for internally displaced persons (IDPs): Experience; Hurdles;  Successes – Dr. Waqar Qurieshy, UK
ØLife in IDP Camps, Rehabilitation and Future – Dr. Shershah Syed/ Dr. Kiran Ejaz
Ø Plans for Rehabilitation & SOG – Dr Nighat Shah
Ø PMA Flood Relief Activities – Dr. Samrina Hashmi

Monday, September 20th, 2010,
 3:00 pm
 PMA House, Garden Road, Karachi (MAP)

Filed under: Floods | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

IRC’s Khairpur and Hyderabad camps: Eid report by Sadiqa Salahuddin

Posted on September 16, 2010 by beenasarwar

Eid distribution at IRC camp - Sadiqa Salahuddin (in cap)

Sadiqa Salahuddin, a dear family friend, has been working in the Khairpur area for over a decade, providing education to children there (mostly girls) through her Indus Resource Centre (IRC). Since the floods hit, they have turned their energies towards relief work.

Here’s an update from her, received this morning, about Eid, the festival that marks the end of the month of fasting, in the IRC camps:

September 14, 2010
Dear Friends,

Eid in a Tent City was a unique experience of my life. I do not remember seeing so many happy faces around on Eid as I saw this year. This might seem contrary to what we are hearing and watching on television about the deprivation and gloom among internally displaced persons (IDPs) on Eid. I have no doubt about media portraying realities but what I am saying is real too. A young journalist has captured Eid in our Tent City in Tribune. Please see this report Learning to say ‘I love you’ Continue reading →

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