“It’s just a game” doesn’t apply to any cricket match between India and Pakistan. But in recent years, fans have been stepping beyond national positions to support the other team even while rooting for their own, and to point out that yes, it is just a game. And that it’s better to fight on a sports ground than the battlefield. Continue reading
Filed under: Art and activism | Tagged: #khelnedo, Cricket, icc champions trophy, India, Pakistan | 1 Comment »
Cross-posted from Aman ki Asha
Pope Francis arrives in Assisi, Italy for the World Day of Prayer for Peace at the Sacred Convent, Sept. 20, 2016. Credit: L’Osservatore Romano
India Pakistan peace supporters have participated in several global prayer vigils in past years. What have these actions accomplished? We don’t know for sure but we believe that there is power in prayer, individual and collective, by persons of any faith or secular vision. Perhaps things would be even worse if we didn’t. We share here an appeal from a humanist of the highest order. Continue reading
Filed under: Interfaith, Peace | Tagged: #pray4peace, India, interfaith, Minute for peace, Pakistan, Pope Francis, pray for peace | Leave a comment »
Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik’s piece for Raksha Bandhan at Puri beach, Odisha, with a message urging India and Pakistan to “Stop Bullets, Be Friends” (file photo, 2015)
Nice to see the mainstream media take note of this privately shared resolution urging India, Pakistan to resolve tensions through dialogue. Some pretty big names on board – check the updated list at the Aman ki Asha website at the end. Over 100 people endorsed it today, bringing the number to over 350 in just 48 hours.
Nandita Das. Photo by Marjolein
Pebbles in the pond – Lalita Ramdas in The News on Sunday
Why This Powerful Message From Indo-Pak Peaceniks Matters During Our Troubled Times – HuffPo
Indians, Pakistanis Ask Governments to Set Up ‘Uninterruptible’ Bilateral Dialogue: The Wire
Over 250 prominent Indians, Pakistanis sign powerful message for peace: Express Tribune
Indians and Pakistanis finally raise a mutual voice for peace: Hato Bacho
India-Pakistan people’s peace resolution: Throwing a pebble in the pond – Newsin.Asia
Thought Leaders from Pakistan and India call for uninterrupted, uninterruptible dialogue: Daily Times
Citizens of India and Pakistan Call for Peace: The Citizen
Indo-Pak civil society calls for uninterrupted talks: Dawn
India-Pakistan people’s peace resolution: Throwing a pebble in the pond: Aman ki Asha
Filed under: Pakistan-India, Peace | Tagged: actors, artists, doctors, India, journalists, Pakistan, Peace, soldiers for peace, teachers | Leave a comment »
Music legend Shubha Mudgal is among the signatories
A valiant effort by concerned citizens of India and Pakistan to stem the tide of hatred, bigotry and violence, this Resolution has hundreds of endorsements listed alphabetically below. The Resolution is now online at this link. Please sign and share.
Peacemongers call for India, Pakistan to resolve differences through dialogue
With tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan on the rise, some concerned citizens from India and Pakistan have come together to formulate a statement expressing their deep concern at “the current rise in animosity and antagonism between India and Pakistan”. The resolution urges “both governments and their security establishments to take all steps possible towards improving relations”. Continue reading
Filed under: Pakistan-India | Tagged: India, Kashmir, militancy, Pakistan, Peace, terrorism | 19 Comments »
Wrote a short piece last night for the Women’s Regional Network, published on their original content blog. Honoured to be in the company of women like Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal in India, Najla Ayoubi in Afghanistan and others Pakistan taking on issues like how Street Harrassment is Hurting Afghanistan’s Democracy and Development, Young Pakistani Women Recognized for their Achievements, The Rise of Online Trolls in India, Countering Violent Extremism and more. My brief contribution Borderless Issues: Mothers in Conflict also copied below: Continue reading
Filed under: 'War on terror', 'Internally Displaced Persons', Violence in the name of religion | Tagged: Afghanistan, India, Mashal Khan, mothers, nusrat ara, Pakistan, sons, terrorism, women in conflict, women peace prize nobel | Leave a comment »
Here’s the story I wrote for The Wire about journalism student Mashal Khan and his barbaric murder on campus yesterday – a tragedy I felt quite gutted by and felt compelled to write about (text below). For a short, sharp analysis of the phenomenon that led to the brutality, read Raza Rumi’s piece in The Daily Times, ‘Blasphemer Hunting must Stop’.
Facebook post by Mashal Khan with an Urdu couplet (roughly translated): Along the way sometimes I feel / As if those hidden eyes are watching me.
Filed under: Blasphemy Laws, Human rights | Tagged: 295-C, blasphemy, Mardan, Mashal Khan, Naimat Ahmar, Pakistan, right wing, vigilantism | 4 Comments »
PRINCETON BLOG: Something I wrote for my class blog at Princeton University where I taught a journalism seminar this past semester, based on a lecture soon after the US Presidential elections, by Egyptian journalist Yasmine El-Rashidi, a fellow visiting Ferris Professor of Journalism with the University’s Council of Humanities
Filed under: democratic political process, Progressive politics, Violence in the name of religion | Tagged: autocracy, democracy, democratic political process, Egypt, fascism, India, Media, Muslim Brotherhood, Pakistan, Princeton blog, social media, usa | Leave a comment »
Sharing details of two very relevant films by Pakistanis whose work I’ve seen and liked: Rahm (Mercy), the movie, in London and Glasgow this Friday…
…And upcoming, seeking support: Forbidden Steps – a feature film that aims to humanize a faith and a people that have long been misrepresented; writer/director Iram Parveen Bilal’s earlier work includes Josh based on Karachi’s Khana Ghar, and The PHD Movie.
Filed under: Art and activism, Islam, Pakistan | Tagged: #MuslimBan, Dance, film, movies, Pakistan | Leave a comment »
Sehwan: Women and children in the courtyard. Photo: Beena Sarwar
Wrote this in one go about the suicide attack at Sehwan Sharif that claimed over 80 lives. Sick at heart but not giving up. Thanks to friends around the world, especially in India for their messages of solidarity, to the Wire for publishing it so fast and editor Siddharth Varadarajan for the photos used with the Wire piece. We had gone to Sehwan together, along with Nandini Sundar and Aslam Khwaja. Extracts from my article:
I wonder if the bangle sellers outside the shrine are alive. I still have some chunky glass bangles I bought, bargaining more for the sake of it than to save money.
Did the woman bouncing a little girl on her shoulders, chanting and dancing to an inner beat before the drums sounded, go back last Thursday? Did they survive the blast? Continue reading
Filed under: 'War on terror', Terrorism, Violence in the name of religion | Tagged: Dhamal, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Pakistan, Sehwan, shrine, suicide attack | 2 Comments »
Ruqaiya Hasan, Hong Kong, Feb 2015. Photo by Lexie Don
Thrilled and excited to share this news from my mother, Zakia Sarwar, founder member of the Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers (SPELT), about the online course for teachers’ professional deveopment that was her sister, my khala ammi Dr Ruqaiya Hasan’s dream
PRESS RELEASE: 11 February 2017
Professional development online course for teachers in Pakistan kicks off
Project posthumously takes forward globally renowned linguist Dr Ruqaiya Hasan’s dream and intellectual legacy
KARACHI: The posthumous launch of an online course for Pakistani teachers designed by the internationally renowned linguist Dr Ruqaiya Hasan kicks off February 11, 2017, taught by Dr. Carmel Cloran, Dr. Hasan’s colleague and co-researcher from Macquarie University, Sydney Australia. Continue reading
Filed under: Education | Tagged: ASFLA, Australia, Carmel Cloran, EFL, ELT, Linguistics, MAK Halliday Centre Hong Kong, Pakistan, ruqaiya hasan, SFL, Systemic functional linguistics, TESOL | 1 Comment »
Journeys to democracy 