Once more for the Spinal Beetle and Southasia connectivity

Posted on November 22, 2011 by beenasarwar
Spinal Beetle with its Nepali eyes arrives in Pakistan

Here’s the latest report of the Southasian journey undertaken recently by my friend, civil rights activist, writer and journalist (editor Himal Southasian) Kanak Mani Dixit, his wife Shanta (a teacher) and son Eelum (an actor, and yes, his name derives from ‘ilm’ which means knowledge, named by his dada, Kanak’s father who is a prominent writer).

Eelum, Kanak and Shanta Dixit: A great drive

The family started their 1100-mile odyssey in Kathmandu, Nepal, ending in Peshawar, Pakistan, to raise funds and awareness about the need for spinal injury rehabilitation. Those who have been following this issue would know that Kanak injured his spine in a trekking accident a decade ago. He survived, making a near miraculous recovery, and started the Spinal Centre Nepal in 2002, inaugurated by the late Sir Edmund Hillary. The coverage they’ve got on this journey has helped publicize their drive tremendously but the required funds have not arrived, and they are well short of their target. This is a personal appeal. Please donate what you can for this important cause. And do read this riveting account of their journey, includes important insights and information… Continue reading →

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A Spinal Beetle update: striking a blow for Southasian land connectivity

Posted on November 15, 2011 by beenasarwar

Kanak collecting the earth from Fatehgarh Sahib outside Sialkot, the childhood village of 96-year-old Barkat Singh 'Pahalwan' of Jalandar, India at his special request.

I’m sure the Dixits – Kanak, Shanta and Eelum – have soon share photos, video and stories about their Spinal Beetle fundraising drive from Kathmandu to Peshawar but meanwhile, this brief update.

Many things about their journey were striking and moving. There’s the romance of driving from Kathmandu via Lucknow, Delhi, Agra, Amritsar, Lahore and Rawalpindi to Peshawar, much of it along the ancient Grand Trunk Road that dates back to the Maurya Empire (3rd century BC), later extended by Sher Shah Suri in the 16h century, from Calcutta to Kabul. Continue reading →

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Mumbai journalists visit Pakistan: a sign of hope; a warm welcome but no cellphone roaming

Posted on November 14, 2011 by beenasarwar

Mumbai for Peace: "SAY NO TO TERROR AND WAR! SAY NO TO VIOLENCE!"

Below, my comment in The News about the forthcoming visit of Indian journalists to Pakistan (The News also carried this report on their visit based on their press statement). As I wrote earlier, just one of these journalists has ever visited Pakistan before. A CORRECTION to my comment below: the Mumbaikars who formed the human chain on Dec 12, 2008 numbered not in the ‘hundreds’  but thousands. “Nearly 60,000 people including several celebrities… formed a 50 km long ‘human chain for peace’,” according to this report in The Indian Express (I found it after filing my story). One of the people behind this event, organised by ‘Mumbai for Peace’, was the journalist Jatin Desai, spokesman for the current delegation to Pakistan.

Situationer: Mumbai journalists’ visit: yet another sign of hope

 By Beena Sarwar

 The journalists from Mumbai landing in Karachi on Monday will arrive to a warm welcome – and no cell phone roaming. India and Pakistan both deny this facility that millions today take for granted, to each other, as foreign correspondents, businesspeople and others who travel in the region know all too well. Continue reading →

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Email exchange: Sanjiv Bhatt (day before his arrest), Badri Raina and Siraj Khan

Posted on October 1, 2011 by beenasarwar

Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt was on Friday detained in connection with an FIR filed against him by a police constable. File photo/PTI

Badri Raina’s poem on Sanjiv Bhatt posted to my yahoogroup and to this blog  on Sept 27 led to an inspiring and informative email exchange, on which I am privileged to have been copied. While compiling extracts for this post (with permission), I heard that Sanjiv Bhatt had been arrested (update: A court in Ahmedabad sent him to judicial remand on Saturday, to be be lodged in Sabarmati jail till his bail hearing comes up on Monday). 

“Sanjeev Bhatt’s arrest proves how frightened his detractors are,” tweeted @reenasatin.

Film producer Mahesh Bhatt (@MaheshNBhatt): “If there is one man who is fearlessly living the Gandhian creed in Gujarat it is Sanjeev Bhatt. Will our courts protect this Whistleblower?”

That, time will tell. Meanwhile, below, the correspondence, which began with Siraj Khan’s prescient email to me on Sept 27th: “Badri Raina’s poem is awesome. Sanjiv Bhatt needs to be protected. Unfortunately, he will not be allowed to walk away to get a hero’s status and have a fan club.”

My reply: “Thanks and I hope you are wrong about Sanjiv’s fate. Cc’ing to Prof Badri Raina, the poet, because I think you guys should know each other.” (See Bhatt’s last email of the series, just posted at the end). Continue reading →

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Salute to Sanjiv Bhatt

Posted on September 28, 2011 by beenasarwar

A poem by Prof. Badri Raina in New Delhi, honouring Sanjiv Bhatt, the IPS officer (Gujarat Intelligence) “who spilled the beans on Modi, revealing how at the meeting of Feb.,27, 2002 Modi had instructed the police to let the Hindus vent their anger; you can imagine what travails he is facing, having now even written an open letter to Modi on the subject of the riots.”

Sanjiv Bhatt’s response to Badri Raina: “Thank you very much for writing to me. Your poem has truly humbled me and further strengthened my resolve to ensure that Gujarat Riots of 2002 is never repeated anywhere in this country.”

Thank you Sanjiv Bhatt. We need officers like you in Pakistan also. There are some mob violence murders disguised as ‘religious riots’ that could do with some whistle-blowing too. Here’s the poem: Continue reading →

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Indian pilot’s daughter writes a deeply touching reply to Pakistani pilot who shot her father’s plane down

Posted on August 11, 2011 by beenasarwar

Qais Hussain with his damaged aircraft during the 1965 war.

Thanks to Naveed Riaz in Lahore for the email that formed the basis of my report on Qais Hussain’s condolence note to Farida Singh, daughter of the Indian pilot whose plane he shot down during the 1965 war. Here’s another note Mr Riaz just sent to his email list: 

This profoundly humane episode continues to move ahead with Indian and Pakistani news channels and media bringing it increasingly to the fore today after Beena Sarwar in Karachi broke the story in Pakistan’s leading daily The News (Aman ki Asha).

Mrs Farida Singh, daughter of the deceased pilot of the Indian plane Jahangir “Jangoo” Engineer replied today to Qais’s letter of condolence four days earlier – see below (NDTV’s coverage this evening at this link). Beena’s article and Qais’s condolence letter here) Continue reading →

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After 46 yrs, the healing touch: Pak pilot says sorry for mistake

Posted on August 10, 2011 by beenasarwar

NOTE: Qais Hussain has clarified that he did not ‘apologise’ for what he did. His note was a letter of condolence and an attempt to set the record straight. He has written to Indian Express with this clarification

Front page report in The Indian Express Aug 10, 2011: After 46 yrs, the healing touch: Pak pilot says sorry for mistake (also would have been nice if they’d credited me or Aman ki Asha). Excerpts:  Continue reading →

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Pakistani pilot writes after 46 years to daughter of Indian pilot he shot down

Posted on August 9, 2011 by beenasarwar

Better late than never: Ex-PAF pilot Qais Hussain in Lahore, 2011. Photo by Naveed Riaz

Below: A report I did based on an email that Naveed Riaz in Lahore forwarded me, published on the front page of The News this morning with the Aman ki Asha logo. There has been a phenomenal response to this report, with most people lauding Qais Hussain’s courage in speaking out after all these years and writing what must have been a difficult letter. Here’s the link to my interview on PRI about it.

Pakistani pilot writes after 46 years to daughter of Indian pilot he shot down

By Beena Sarwar

Nearly half a century after shooting down an Indian civil aircraft under orders during the 1965 war with India, a Pakistan Air Force pilot has sent a condolence message to the daughter of the pilot of the aircraft he downed.

Qais Hussain, a rookie Flying Officer during the 1965 war, made this moving and humane gesture via email, expressing his condolences and providing details of the circumstances under which he shot down the Indian aircraft. The email is addressed to Farida Singh, daughter of the Indian Air Force pilot Jahangir “Jangoo” Engineer, one of the three famous Engineer brothers in the Indian Air Force. Continue reading →

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Thoughts on media, Mumbai, ‘terrorism’

Posted on July 14, 2011 by beenasarwar

The violence in Karachi today has overshadowed what happened in Mumbai yesterday. More on that later. Meanwhile, here’s a comment I posted to my facebook page (relevant to Karachi situation too?): Salam Mumbai. Hope the damage is contained. And – I understand the addiction to ‘breaking’ news, but wish we could do it differently. If there was no live TV, would terrorists put up such shows? …Death toll as reported this morning is 21. Even one is too much. I keep thinking of Sahir Ludhianvi’s universally relevant and humanitarian poem, ‘khoon apna ho ya paraya ho, Nasle aadam ka khoon hai aakhir…’ Here’s a response from Rakesh Sharma, a prominent documentary filmmaker from Mumbai: Continue reading →

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Indian and Pakistani Citizens Condemn Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Posted on July 14, 2011 by beenasarwar

Press Release: Indian and Pakistan Citizens Condemn Serial Blasts in Mumbai

We the citizens of India and Pakistan strongly condemn the inhuman and dastardly serial blasts in Mumbai on 13th July 2011 in which 21 innocent people were killed and over 140 injured. We offer our heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the bereaved families and pray for quick and complete recovery of all those injured.

It is clear that these blasts are a well orchestrated heinous conspiracy to derail the resumption of the dialogue and peace process between India and Pakistan that was stalled following the terrorist attack in Mumbai in 2008. Continue reading →

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