Pakistan2020 report; Aman Ki Asha wins int’l awards; Dorothy freed

Posted on May 19, 2011 by beenasarwar

Global recognition for Aman ki Asha: Times of India CEO Ravi Dhariwal (right) and Shahrukh Hasan, Group Managing Director Jang Group, with outgoing INMA President Michael Phelps, CEO of the Washington Examiner

Posted to my yahoogroup earlier today:

My NY trip was very brief and hectic, but rewarding. Great to catch up with some friends and apologies to those I couldn’t contact or meet. I attended two very interesting events: the launch of Hassan Abbas‘ report ‘A Vision for Building a Better Future‘, and the INMA awards ceremony where Aman ki Asha won two awards, including the top award of the evening. My report in The News.

DOROTHY PARVAZ: It was great to hear that Iran has released Dorothy Parvaz and she is safe, and free – but rightly concerned about the people she was held in detention with, many of whom were badly beaten, as she told Al Jazeera in Doha.

PAKISTAN 2020 report – a much needed ‘broader’ look at Pakistan beyond the security prism, Continue reading →

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Phenomenal response to the CFD mass letter campaign

Posted on March 13, 2011 by beenasarwar

KARACHI, March 12: Thousands of people from all walks of life joined hands with Citizens for Democracy (CFD), by participating and signing letters in the interfaith harmony drive “Silence Means More Blood” launched by CFD on Saturday, March 12, 2011. Karachiites signed some 15,000 letters that will be sent to the President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice and all the Chief Ministers.

CFD activists explain the letter to Karachi citizens. Photos: K.B. Abro

A view of CFD's day-long stall in Karachi. Photo: K.B. Abro

“The response was phenomenal,” says CFD activist and journalist Farieha Aziz. “All four of our letter boxes were full even before the end of the day. We were able to engage with our fellow citizens from all walks of life – from professionals from different fields to labourers, rikshaw drivers and rehri walas. Everyone was asked to read the letter or it was read out to them, or they were told the gist of it before they signed. The energy and commitment of CFD members was amazing. They were out on the road stopping cars, talking to passers by, even in buses when they stopped, drawing people to the camp.”

 

Sabeen Mahmud writes that her mother and the writer Attiya Dawood went to the mandir nearby. “Very politically engaged group. Brought back 20 sigs.” Also see this moving video Sabeen made of the event, set to Habib Jalib’s poetry.

The campaign is ongoing. More details, and photos, at the CFD blog

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PERSONAL POLITICAL: Manufacturing a ‘hero’

Posted on February 4, 2011 by beenasarwar

Article published Jan 30, 2011 in The News on Sunday – and in Hardnews, India (‘Blood upon the altar‘)

PERSONAL POLITICAL
Manufacturing a ‘hero’
By Beena Sarwar

The assassination of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer has been termed a ‘watershed moment’ for Pakistan — not just because a sitting governor of the country’s wealthiest and most populous province was murdered in broad daylight by one of his own security guards. Perhaps the greater shock was how the murderer, Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, was allowed to commit this crime and how many hailed him as a hero for having killed someone perceived (falsely) as being guilty of ‘blasphemy’. Continue reading →

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ACT AGAINST WIKILEAKS CRACKDOWN – Avaaz.org

Posted on December 10, 2010 by beenasarwar

Courtesy: Avaaz.org

An appeal from Avaaz.org that I’m re-producing in full (followed by some links) because it’s not easy to find on their website, although the call to sign their campaign is on the front page:

Dear friends,

The massive campaign of intimidation against WikiLeaks is sending a chill through free press advocates everywhere.

Legal experts say WikiLeaks has likely broken no laws. Yet top US politicians have called it a terrorist group and commentators have urged assassination of its staff. The organization has come under massive government and corporate attack, but WikiLeaks is only publishing information provided by a whistleblower. And it has partnered with the world’s leading newspapers (NYT, Guardian, Spiegel etc) to carefully vet the information it publishes. >

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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 »

Teabreak’s ‘Featured Blogger’ (me!)

Posted on April 3, 2010 by beenasarwar

Teabreak brings together “all the popular blogs of Pakistan on one platform”. I am thrilled and honoured to be their Featured Blogger for March, and to have my work described thus: “The blogger that we choose to highlight this month upholds a very balanced approach on the socio-political issues of this country. Her role as a seasoned activist / journalist facilitates her blog readers to look things in a much broader perspective and that’s what makes this blog important in many ways.”

They also did an email interview which got me thinking about what I do and why I do it. Thanks Ammar and team.

Filed under: Progressive politics | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Never forget… the day she arrived and the day she died

Posted on December 27, 2009 by beenasarwar

Oct 18, 2007: Benazir returns. Photo by Beena Sarwar

Benazir Bhutto’s assassination on this day two years ago was utterly devastating for many of us. Here is the link to a piece I wrote for IPS just before she returned to Pakistan. On Oct 18, 2007, Absar Alam and I were both at the Geo TV studios in Karachi. We hopped onto a motorbike and headed for the airport, a cameraman and assistant on another motorbike. Absar managed to get us onto the truck on which Benazir was riding. See photos taken with my cell phone at this web album. Absar scooped a brief interview of her – her first to a Pakistani journalist on home soil since her exile – broadcast on Geo shortly afterwards.

Even those who had been her sternest critics over the years were unable to stem the tide of grief that hit them on learning of her death. I wrote this article after her murder – I was in Lahore, on my own at a friend’s house and it was an incredibly difficult piece to write, in between breaking down, monitoring the television, and calling people for quotes and information.

To those who even on this day, her second death anniversary, focus on her alleged corruption and plundering: please read M. Hanif’s article ‘My Benazir murder fantasy’ posted in Jan 2008 that the Newsline blog just re-posted. Extracts: “Even if all the allegations about her corruption and arrogance are true, one should keep in mind that she was active in politics for 30 years, out of which she was in power only for four and a half years. The rest of the time she struggled against two of the most well entrenched military dictators in the region…

“The reason we don’t see very many dossiers on the financial corruption during General Zia and General Musharraf’s regimes is that when Bhutto was in power the intelligence agencies went into over drive documenting or sometimes inventing her misdemeanours. When the generals or their cronies are in power all the intelligence leaks just dry up.”

This is not to suggest that corruption should be condoned or excused, but it is important to get some perspective on the issue.

 (ends)

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‘Under the rubble’ – democracy

Posted on December 13, 2009 by beenasarwar

Extract from former Indian civil servant Harsh Mander’s recent article in The Hindu (he left government service after the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat), ‘Under the rubble’

Under the rubble of the fallen mosque lay the idea of India itself.

But in the end, ordinary people of India – Hindu, Muslim and of other faiths – voted resolutely against the politics of hate and division, in general elections of 2004 and 2009. The most passionate votaries of the temple movement admit that it has today lost the power to mobilise voters any longer.

It is impoverished people of India who have picked the pieces of the idea of India from under the rubble of the medieval mosque razed by frenzied mobs in 1992. It is they who have reclaimed once again the inclusive pluralist traditions of this ancient teeming diverse land.

Bottom line: let democratic politics and the cycle of elections prevail, no matter how messy it seems. It will take a long time, but it will sort out. And it will is a continuing process.

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

Defending President Zardari

Posted on November 13, 2009 by beenasarwar
zardari2

Let the democratic process continue…. A must-read: I.A. Rehman’s article in Dawn, Nov 12, 2009, ‘The Locus of power’

Extract: “All elected prime ministers, from Mr Bhutto to Mr Nawaz Sharif, tried with varying degrees of earnestness, to get rid of the halter around their necks and all of them came to grief. Now that it is possible to think of democratic advancement the reasons for their failure must be thoroughly examined and adequately addressed.”

Below, Defending President Zardari, an article in the Business Recorder, Nov 13, 2009 worth reading all the way through.

by SYED SHAHID HUSAIN Continue reading →

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Dirty Tricks Brigade grinds on: “Salary for a Member of NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (MNA) (No wonder we are in this mess)”

Posted on October 27, 2009 by beenasarwar

The allegations below about Pakistani parliamentarians’ salaries and perks have been emailed around since at least 2006 and found their way into various blogs and websites. I thought the figures appeared to be inflated but didn’t bother digging into the matter until a well-known journalist and women’s rights activist forwarded it from Shaheen Attiq-ur-Rahman (daughter of General Atiq-ur-Rehman, former parliamentarian and a member of the PML-Q). It reminds me of the fraudulent photos circulated allegedly of Benazir Bhutto’s ‘palace’ in Dubai that people kept emailing around… – ‘Dirty Tricks Brigade‘ refers to my article published in Dawn, Jan 9, 2008.

Continue reading →

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