India/Pakistan upcoming peace events August 3-9, 2017

Posted on August 3, 2017 by beenasarwar

Haroon Khalid, author of Walking with Nanak, will participate in a live Youtube discussion on Monday, 7 August.

As Pakistan and India commemorate 70 years of their existence as independent nation states, what is striking is the people’s desire for peace and how those who govern them continue to thwart these aspirations. As media highlight the tensions what goes largely unreported is people on the ground continuing their efforts to push for peace. Below: a few on-the-ground upcoming happenings I compiled that seek to further understanding between the two nations. At the very least, they are all expressions of the desire for normal relations. Continue reading →

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The fisherman’s tragedy

Posted on July 20, 2017 by beenasarwar
Fishermen arrested-bars-getty

Arrested Indian fishermen in Pakistan lockup. File photo. Getty images

Something I wrote in anguish yesterday, published in The Citizen, The Wire and Aman Ki Asha…  Not only are fishermen punished harshly for crossing a border they cannot see, once detained they are treated like prisoners of war by the other country.

The India-Pakistan Fisherman’s Story: Caught, Jailed, Dies, Body Wrapped in Red Tape

Imagine you are a fisherman. Born into poverty. Born in a small coastal village in India. Or Pakistan. (Hardly a matter of choice). You lead a tough life, following the profession of your father and grandfather. You are barely literate. You spend your life eking out a bare existence for yourself and your family, chasing the depleting shoals of fish that the wind and tide drive further out to sea.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Human rights, Pakistan-India | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Remembering Indira Gandhi’s Emergency

Posted on June 27, 2017 by beenasarwar

Jaspal SinghEmail from friend Jaspal Singh on June 25, 2017 that I meant to post earlier about a situation that feels all too familiar to Pakistanis. The long-running democratic political process in India – interrupted only by Indira Gandhi’s three-year long Emergency in 1975 is one of the reasons the country has done so much better than neighbouring Pakistan. Until the current scenario where, fuelled by signals from the top, mob lynchings and vigilante violence in the name of religion are rising. Some argue that the Emergency sowed those seeds. Read on. 

Reflections. June 25,2017

Forty two years ago today, a state of emergency was declared in India by Indira Gandhi  I remember that day very clearly. I had summer job in Vermont and lived in this idyllic village west of Burlington. The rolling hills were full of flowers. There was a small mountain stream in my backyard. I would wake up and go for a bath in the stream. Every where greenery and flowers. It was like being in paradise. I had no TV, no radio. So I was cut off from the world. A friend  who lived close by came and told me that she had heard on the radio that the prime minister of India had declared emergency and thousands of people had been arrested.
Continue reading →

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India Pakistan cricket #KhelneDo

Posted on June 18, 2017 by beenasarwar

Ind-Pk-cricket-VOR“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 →

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A minute for peace with Pope Francis, June 8, 2017, 1:00 pm

Posted on June 7, 2017 by beenasarwar

Cross-posted from Aman ki Asha

A minute for peace, June 8, 2017, 1:00 pm

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 →

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India Pakistan people’s peace resolution in mainstream media

Posted on May 9, 2017 by beenasarwar
Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik - Raksha Bandhan piece at Puri beach- Odisha

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

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

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India-Pakistan people’s peace resolution: Throwing a pebble in the pond

Posted on May 7, 2017 by beenasarwar
Shubha_Mudgal

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: , , , , , | 19 Comments »

Women’s cross-border solidarity

Posted on April 26, 2017 by beenasarwar

Screen Shot 2017-04-26 at 11.35.04 AMWrote 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 →

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RIP Mashal Khan – University Student, Latest Victim of Pakistan’s ‘Blasphemy’ Vigilantism

Posted on April 15, 2017 by beenasarwar

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’.

Mashal Khan-poem

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.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Blasphemy Laws, Human rights | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Reflections on fascism, autocracy, media and the democratic political process

Posted on March 22, 2017 by beenasarwar

fullsizeoutput_153PRINCETON 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

Continue reading →

Filed under: democratic political process, Progressive politics, Violence in the name of religion | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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