60 Pakistan artists have donated their works at a silent auction at Koel cafe in Karachi. Ends today (Aug 18) 6.30 pm. All proceeds will go to Pakistan flood relief work. See Express Tribune report at http://bit.ly/b8jeFG
Filed under: Floods | Tagged: artists, flood relief, karachi, koel cafe, koel gallery, Pakistan | 1 Comment »
Please see email below from friend and activist Naeem Sadiq re Aitemad Pakistan, an organisation formed for flood relief. This is a highly trustworthy (Aitemad in fact means ‘trust’) group of people most of whom I know personally, including the sender, Naeem Sadiq, Justice Fakhruddin Ebrahim, his son Zahid Ebrahim, Dr Samrina Hashmi, Dr Sher Shah Syed, Nazim Haji and others. Please spread the word. They are putting together and distributing 24,000 dry ration bags, to provide approximately two million meals (6000 families for 4 weeks). Each bag costs approx Rs.1500 (less than US $ 20 a bag).
Filed under: Floods | Tagged: donation details, Dr Samrina Hashmi, Dr Sher Shah Syed, fakhruddin ebrahim, flood relief, Naeem Sadiq, Nazim Haji, Pakistan, reliable NGO, zahid ebrahim | 2 Comments »
Following is list of donation links, relief resources, organizations and individuals working to support flood victims of Pakistan, compiled from a facebook note Do you want to do your part in helping the Pakistani people displaced because of the recent flash flooding? Here is How ! Some details below:
Besides sending cash through below the organizations listed below, you can support by providing following commodities (please do not donate old/expired stuff. Make sure edible items are hygienic and properly packed): >
Filed under: Environment | Tagged: floods, Pakistan, relief work | 25 Comments »
Flood affected villagers move to safer areas. Photo courtesy IDSP
On July 21, heavy rainfall in district Sibi and nearby mountains resulted in heavy floods in River Talli, destroying the safety dam of village Union Council Talli, District Sibi. Over 80 have died, and more than 150 are still missing. Over 57,000 people have been affected in Sibi, Lehri, Barkhan.The floods have damaged 90% of the houses, over 50% livestock and agriculture.
According to the district agriculture and revenue departments these floods have broken the past records of 1978 which also resulted in huge destruction.
A team from Dr. Quratulain Bakhteari’s well-regarded organisation in Balochistan, the Institute for Development Studies and Practices (IDSP) recently visited the affected villages and met with the people there. Dr Bakhteari has sent out an appeal urgently seeking the following items: Food Water Tents
Please contact: Alam Baloch / Safdar Hussain
IDSP – Sibi Campus, Near Radio Station, Luni Road, Sibi, Balochistan.
Telephone: office +92-833-500192 Mobiles: +92-331-8392503, +92-333-7801886
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IDSP-Pakistan, Pakistan [IDSP-PAKISTAN]. H.No. 7-A, Al-Mashraq Street, Arbab Karam Khan Road Quetta, Pakistan. T. +92.81.2471776, 2470243 F. +92.81.2447285. idsp@idsp.org.pk
Filed under: 'Internally Displaced Persons' | Tagged: Balochistan, floods, Pakistan, sibi floods | 2 Comments »
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)
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: absar alam, benazir bhutto arrival pakistan 2007, benazir bhutto murder, democracy, Karsaz blast, mohammed hanif, Newsline, Pakistan | 2 Comments »
JAN 1, 2010, ‘AMAN ITTEHAD’ – PEACE AND SOLIDARITY DAY
Please join us where ever in the world you are
Friday, January 1, 2010
2:30pm – 5:30pm
“Let’s stamp out injustice, light a candle each”
Rallies planned in Abbottabad, Haripur, Mardan, Karak, Swabi, D.I.Khan, Peshawar, Mingora, Lahore, Gujranwala, Multan, Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Badin, Jamshoro, Larkana, Sukkur, Hyderabad, Karachi, Loralai, Quetta and Islamabad
Working together for an end to intolerance, violence, injustice. and equal opportunities for all. Citizens across the nation come together on the first day of 2010 to usher in a decade of peace, justice, equity and tolerance. More than a hundred organisations across Pakistan including the youth, students, concerned citizens, media, lawyers, labour, NGO’s and academics come together to express their resolve to struggle for the right to ‘a life of dignity’.
Join us…. for neither can we afford the luxury of indifference nor a lack of expression of the values that we hold so close to our hearts. Let our resolve find expression. We are one and we are all equals.Solidarity Day marks the beginning of a journey of building trust between citizens and the strengthening of democratic values and institutions.
For more details, contact Ali Asghar Khan
Filed under: Peace | Tagged: ali asghar khan, aman ittehad, oak foundation, Pakistan, Peace | 1 Comment »
Thanks to Zubeida Mustafa for her well-researched and timely article in Dawn today Students who set the tone. Just a small clarification re the comment that “Most of the founders gave up their activism — as daughter Beena confirms for Dr Sarwar”. This is only partly true. These students did not become “professional student activists” or go into active politics. As Zubeida Mustafa notes, many of them did carry on their work in other ways. Speaking of Dr Sarwar – besides supporting progressive causes in whatever way he could, he was involved with the professional body of doctors, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), was a member of the PMA delegation to then East Pakistan, wrote regularly for the Pakistan Medical Gazette (that he and other colleagues founded, at a meeting in Quetta), was twice elected PMA Secretary General and worked for a health policy along with his colleagues during the Zia years – a time when PMA was a significant platform for dissent against military rule (see Dr Badar Siddiqi’s citation) at the May 31st meeting at PMA House.
Details of the Jan 9, 2010 event mentioned in Zubeida Mustafa’s article are available the Dr Sarwar blog as well as at the Facebook Event. We particularly invite young people and students to attend the event in order learn about this little-known part of our history, at a time when student unions have been restored in principle.
Filed under: Dr M Sarwar | Tagged: 1950s student movement, Gen. Zia, health policy, Pakistan, pakistan medical association, Pakistan Medical Gazette, PMA, Zubeida Mustafa | Leave a comment »
Article posted to my yahoogroup in June 2002 – the Rs 4000 minimum that Ali Nawaz from Balochistan talked about now would be more like Rs 10,000 (right, economists?). Although little has changed for him and people like him, the ‘Balochistan package’ and the historic NFC award agreed upon on Dec 11 at least offer some hope in terms of more equitable resource distribution and opportunities. This is the difference between dictatorship (no matter how mild) and democracy (no matter how messed up)
The News on Sunday, Jun 16, 2002
A Peace Convention and the wisdom of Ali Nawaz
by Beena Sarwar
Ali Nawaz works at a motorcycle factory at Hub Chowki in Balochistan, near Somiani, the sun-baked coastal area from where Pakistan recently test-fired the nuclear-capable Abdali missile as a warning to a war-ready India. From here, it takes over two hours to get to Karachi, driving east along the coast of the Arabian Sea. On Saturday June 8, along with some two dozen of his fellow workers, Nawaz made this journey using the factory van headed to the noise and rush of Saddar in the heart of Karachi.
The motorcycle workers are not interested in the bazaar; besides the fact that they can’t afford the goods on sale, there are more important things on their mind — like the Peace Convention organized at the Karachi Press Club by the Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) and the National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan.
As many as twenty five out of the forty one workers at Nawaz’s factory attended the Convention of their own accord. Why? Continue reading
Filed under: Peace | Tagged: Balochistan, Pakistan, Pakistan-India, peace convention, Sobho Gianchandani, workers | 3 Comments »
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.”
by SYED SHAHID HUSAIN Continue reading
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: A Q Khan, Asif Ali Zardari, corruption, democracy, kickbacks, Muhammad Akram Sheikh, musharraf, NAB, Pakistan, submarine deal | 6 Comments »
Journeys to democracy 