The cross-border solidarity of Amrita Pritam and Fahmida Riaz, the student movement, and peacemongering today

Posted on January 28, 2024 by beenasarwar
Poster for the event honouring Amrita Pritam and Fahmida Riaz. Courtesy PIPFPD

The latest Southasia Peace Action Network (Sapan) newsletter we put out highlighted a commemoration in Delhi for two iconic feminist poets of Pakistan and India: How the friendship of two cross-border feminist poets symbolises our work; upcoming events, and more

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 clips from 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.

Fahmida Riaz reciting her poem ‘Palwashey Muskurao’ (Palvasha, smile), Jan. 2010, Karachi.

(ends)

Filed under: Art and activism, Dr M Sarwar, Pakistan-India, Progressive politics, Resistance | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Hello, and updates from Sapan News and Southasia Peace Action Network

Posted on December 24, 2023 by beenasarwar

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.

  • In November, Sapan News qualified for NewsMatch, a philanthropic fund helping nonprofit newsrooms like ours in the U.S. Contributions made by year-end will get matched up to $15,000. Gratitude to our community that has stepped up to meet this challenge.
  • Those wanting to chip in are welcome – here’s the donate link for tax-deductible contributions.
  • A 100 new donors will secure a $1,000 bonus, and monthly donations initiated this month will get matched x12!
Donate now to double your impact

Thank you for your support. It means so much – and together, we are stronger.

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.

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Filed under: Media, Pakistan-India, Southasia | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Re-visiting Eqbal Ahmad’s book launch at Harvard with Noam Chomsky

Posted on December 24, 2023 by beenasarwar

A message from the journalist Amitabh Pal about a mutual friend, David Barsamian of Alternative Radio in Colorado reminded me of this piece originally published in The News on Sunday, 8 Oct. 2006, about an event with Noam Chomsky where I first met David. The article is still all-too relevant, but the link no longer works so I’m sharing the piece here without any changes; just added some hyperlinks and photos.

Essential reading – and doing: Eqbal Ahmad

Book launch: The Selected Writings of Eqbal Ahmad, Cambridge, September 28, 2006.

Beena Sarwar

John Trumbour addressing the event. Panel: Beena Sarwar, Stuart Schaar, Margaret Cerullo, Noam Chomsky. File photo.

When Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in his address to the UN on Sept 20, held up a copy of Noam Chomsky’s Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance (2003) and recommended it as essential reading to understand contemporary world politics, he could have been talking about The Selected Writings of Eqbal Ahmad,for which Chomsky, Eqbal’s long-time friend, wrote the foreword. Chavez identified “the hegemonic pretension of the North American imperialism” as “the greatest threat on this planet” to the survival of the human race.

The book that Jack launched (at HLS)

Chomsky also gave the main address for this collection of Eqbal Ahmad’s writings (Columbia University Press, 2006) at the book’s launch in Cambridge, USA, on September 28. John Trumpbour and Emran Qureshi of the Labor & Worklife Program at the Harvard Law School, who organised the event, didn’t publicise the event too aggressively because of the hype Chavez had generated for Chomsky.

The hall did get quite full, but they didn’t have to turn anyone away at the door. The venue may have had something to do with this. Chomsky, a linguistics professor now retired from the neighbouring MIT, is rarely invited to Harvard. Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowtiz criticises Chomsky for being too “black and white” but often has to concede the basic truth of the points Chomsky makes.

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Filed under: 'War on terror', History, Media, Pakistan, Progressive politics, Resistance, Southasia, Terrorism, Violence in the name of religion | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Why arrest fisherfolk who cross an invisible maritime boundary, then hold them for years across the border?

Posted on September 3, 2023 by beenasarwar

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.

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Pakistani minority rights activists renew demands for justice after attacks on churches

Posted on August 23, 2023 by beenasarwar

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

By Abdullah Zahid and Beena Sarwar

Sapan News

  • 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. 

Continue reading →

Filed under: Blasphemy Laws, Pakistan-India, Progressive politics, Resistance | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Why do we need ‘restorative’ justice? Hear Ela Gandhi in South Africa

Posted on June 25, 2023 by beenasarwar

Hello all, I’m excited to be moderating this discussion on Sunday 25 June, 10 am ET/7 pm PKT

Register on Zoom, or tune into YouTube live to join us.

Look forward to moderating Sapan Sunday discussion on Restorative Justice, Truth, and Reconciliation with Ela Gandhi,

Look forward to the discussion and inputs from renowned photographer Shahidul Alam, Sri Lankan human-rights advocate Ambika Satkunanathan; Nepali journalist and democracy activist Kanak Mani Dixit; and Bhutanese human-rights activist Suraj Budathoki. Plus a cultural performance from Indian economist and musician Sumangala Damodaran and closing remarks from acclaimed feminist Khawar ‘Rani’ Mumtaz.

Read Ela Gandhi’s oped on Restorative justice – a compassionate approach to eradicating crime – a Sapan News syndicated feature available to re-publish with due credit.

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A Bollywood lyricist’s daughter in Pakistan and other stories

Posted on February 13, 2023 by beenasarwar

Some steps in a journey sparked by India and Pakistan’s nuclear tests in 1998

Screenshot from Sapan News site, designed by Aekta Kapoor.

Inspired by email updates from Isa Daudpota and Harsh Kapoor of South Asia Citizen’s Wire (SACW) after India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons, I too had begun a bcc email list. This developed into my beena-issues Yahoo-group in 1998 but I had begun to post more irregularly after 2009 when I started a WordPress blog, Journeys to Democracy. Yahoo shut down its Groups platform a couple of years ago.

Now, as I work on developing a new media entity, Sapan News Network syndicated features which emerged from Sapan, the Southasia Peace Action Network (thanks to Aekta Kapoor for the beautiful website), SubStack seems like a good place to revive something like the Yahoo-group community feel. But then there’s also Medium where I have over 2.4K subscribers. All very confusing. Welcome feedback and suggestions.

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Opinion / India: A tale of two pardons

Posted on November 26, 2022 by beenasarwar

The latest Sapan News syndicated feature, by Ramon Magsaysay awardee Dr Sandeep Pandey on the difference between the release of convicts in Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case and those convicted in the Bilkis Bano case. He argues that the premature release of one set of convicts cannot be used to justify another — one was set free by the courts, while administrative decree was behind the other. One poses no threat to the victim’s family, while the other has sent witnesses into hiding.

Read more at Sapan News Network.

Available for use with credit to Sapan News Network.

Filed under: Communalism, Gender, Gujarat 2002, History, Human rights, Southasia, Violence in the name of religion | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

A visafree Southasia? Really?

Posted on August 11, 2022 by beenasarwar

It’s a dream, and aspiration. To quote Gulzar’s beautiful poem, “Ankhon ko visa nahi lagta, sapnoN ke sarhad koi nahiN” (Eyes don’t need a visa, dreams don’t have frontiers)

So there’s this dream: Southasia is a region with soft borders, like the European Union, or like the Southasia region itself was, prior to 1965.

We’ve long been calling for dialogue to be uninterrupted and uninterruptible. The call for soft borders and allowing people-to-people contact takes this further. Letting people meet, travel, and trade will benefit the region economically, as well as reduce misunderstandings and violent extremism.

Check out the list of demands – we know it’s a long shot, but we desis are used to bargaining – sign and share this online petition, coordinated by the Southasia Peace Action Network or Sapan. As of today, over 36,000 signatures and counting. Help us reach 50,000.

Here’s a compilation of the organisations collaborating on this so far. More are joining. Each person counts, like the drops that make up the ocean.

We may not attain the dream in our lifetime but let’s not let that stop us from trying.

Logos of participating organisations. Being updated on the petition site as more join.

The petition is addressed to the prime ministers and foreign offices of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Nepal and Sri Lanka allow visa-on-arrival. This is how it starts:

“This August marks 75 years since India gained independence from the British colonists and was simultaneously partitioned as the new country of Pakistan was born. In 1971, there was further independence and partition as East Pakistan became Bangladesh. These momentous events are marked with much blood and pain. 

“It is time to heal the pain. Let people meet, “milne do”. Let us ‘reclaim Southasia’, to quote the late journalist I.A. Rehman. 

“It is essential to allow people-to-people contact in order to fulfil the objectives of SAARC, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation which aims to “promote the welfare of the peoples of South Asia” in all ways possible and to enable the peoples of the region to “live in dignity and to realise their full potential”. 

Details at the petition online at this link.

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Need to promptly repatriate cross-border prisoners, especially if they die…

Posted on August 5, 2022 by beenasarwar

Over 30 organizations around Southasia and beyond have endorsed a joint statement about cross-border prisoners initiated and coordinated by Sapan, the Southasia Peace Action Network, calling for the humane treatment of cross-border prisoners and to decriminalise inadvertent illegal border crossings.

Titled ‘Release prisoners on completion of jail term, decriminalise inadvertent border crossings, especially for fisherfolk and minors‘, the statement draws attention to the death of two Indian fisherfolk in Pakistani custody this year, and the death of a Pakistani fisherman of Bengali origin in India’s custody last year.

All three had served their sentences but remained in custody on ‘the other side’. Compounding the tragedy, there are terrible delays in the repatriation of the bodies of such fisherfolk, notes the statement.

The statement also draws attention to some teenagers who remain incarcerated in juvenile centers in India, mostly without any contact with their families. One has already served his sentence but remains incarcerated. Details below – Statement text and endorsements:

Arrested fisherfolk in custody across the border, far from home, no consular access until after sentence is over, often kept in custody even after serving their sentences. File photo. Getty images
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Filed under: Human rights, Pakistan-India, prisoners, Southasia | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

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