PPP Parliamentarian Sherry Rehman’s proposed AMENDMENTS TO THE BLASPHEMY LAWS ACT 2010 – posted by Marvi Sirmed at her blog
Filed under: Blasphemy Laws | Tagged: amendments, blasphemy laws, marvi sirmed, Pakistan, Sherry Rehman | 1 Comment »
Zekiye Eglar’s Punjabi Village in Pakistan (with my intro, epilogue & bio)
Posted on November 12, 2010 by beenasarwar
Thrilled to receive my copy of A Punjabi Village in Pakistan – Perspectives on Community, Land, and Economy by Zekiye Eglar, for which I wrote the Introduction, Conclusion, and Bio-note about Eglar, a Russian-Turkish anthropologist, protegee of Margaret Mead at Columbia University. Eglar provides a fascinating account of village life in Punjab, Pakistan, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when she lived in Mohla, a village not far from Gujranwala.
The OUP publication has compiled her out-of-print award-winning book (A Punjabi Village in Pakistan, Columbia University Press 1960) and its until-now unpublished sequel, (The Economic Life of a Punjabi Village), from a manuscript that Eglar’s friend and protege Fazal Chowdhry brought to the attention of Mary Catherine Bateson (prominent anthropologist, Mead’s daughter).
(I worked on the project for two years under Mary Catherine Bateson’s supervision, recommended to her by our mutual friend, the Iranian anthropologist Shahla Haeri).
From the OUP website: “This volume contains relevant insights into Pakistani society, particularly women, which are still pertinent today, as well as a more holistic and humanistic view of village life in South Asia. Eglar’s study is useful for precisely what she focused on—the patterns of ritual service and gift exchange which underlay every facet of life in a village.”
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Filed under: Pakistan | Tagged: anthropology, early life pakistan, Gender, gift giving patterns, margaret mead, Pakistan, punjabi village, vartan bhanji, zekiye eglar | 1 Comment »
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
Filed under: Floods | Tagged: dadu, donate, floods, goats, IRC, Khairpur, livestock, Pakistan, paws, sadiqa salahuddin | 2 Comments »
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: abhijeet bhattacharya, Activism, aman ki asha, danka, Gen. Zia, India, Pakistan, theatre | 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: aman ki asha, India, Media, Pakistan, stereotypes | 6 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;
Filed under: Progressive politics | Tagged: accountability, democracy, floods, judiciary, Pakistan, regime change | 6 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
Filed under: Floods | Tagged: eid at camps, floods, floods in pakistan, hyderabad, indus resource centre, IRC, Khairpur, Pakistan, relief camps, sadiqa salahuddin, tent city | 1 Comment »
Dear Angelina Jolie…
Posted on September 13, 2010 by beenasarwar
Angelina in Pakistan – ‘dressed accordingly’ (Sept 8, 2010)
Okay, I know I’m going to get flak for this from Angelina lovers and those who may not get my point, but I think it’s an important point to make. It has nothing to do with floods or flood relief, but everything to do with Pakistan’s image, especially pertaining to women. So here goes… Something I wrote a few days ago:
Dear Angelina Jolie
Hello from Karachi. I truly admire your work, your compassion, your raising awareness about those less fortunate, around the world. It’s wonderful that you were able to come to Pakistan again and meet with the flood victims. Your voice will go a long way towards bringing their plight to front stage, where it needs to be.
What I say next should not be taken personally. I am speaking as a woman who lives in one of the most misunderstood and maligned nations of the world. We, the women of Pakistan, have had to fight long and hard for our rights – and we continue to do so. One of the fights we are still fighting is the right to dress as we choose. Continue reading
Filed under: Gender | Tagged: Angelina Jolie, floods, gen zia media policy, gen zia pakistan, how to dress in pakistan, Newsline magazine, Pakistan, religion politics, Shimaila Matri Dawood, women pakistan, Zia ul Haq | 54 Comments »
Gainesville Muslims show how to react intelligently and peacefully
Posted on September 11, 2010 by beenasarwar
Just sayin' (pic from http://www.hiscrivener.wordpress.com)
Abdullah Shah, 5, visiting the United States from Pakistan with his parents, at an Ecumenical Prayer Vigil July 8 in Gainesville, Fla. — Photo by Scott Camil
Wrote this on Sept 9, before the pastor called off his silly, but potentially dangrous plan. beena
Muslims of Gainesville appeal for calm
Muslims of Gainesville, Florida, have appealed to fellow Muslims to remain calm in response to the ‘Quran burning day’ announced by a pastor in that city.
“Remember that this does not represent America, this does not represent Florida and this does not represent Gainesville,” wrote Mohsen Ali, a Gainsville resident of Pakistani origin in an email sent to friends on September 6, 2010, subsequently posted at various places including this blog.
Ali pointed out that Terry Jones, the pastor who announced this sacrilege heads a ‘fringe group’ — the little known Dove Church initiating the sacrilege reportedly has less than a hundred members. “This is not a global conspiracy against Islam, these are just few hate mongers trying to get attention.” Continue reading
Filed under: 'War on terror' | Tagged: 9/11, florida pastor, interfaith, koran burning, Pakistan, quran burning, Sialkot lynching | 3 Comments »
