Prominent Indian citizens condemn violence in Kashmir on Eid Day, demand inquiry

Posted on September 13, 2010 by beenasarwar

In a press note released today, prominent Indian citizens have condemned violence in Kashmir on Eid Day and demanded an inquiry. Received from People’s Initiative on Jammu & Kashmir (c/o Confederation of Voluntary Associations, COVA, 20-4-10, Charminar Hyderabad, A.P. India; Ph:+91-40-24572984; Email: covanetwork@gmail.com

Violence in Kashmir on Eid Day: Condemnation and Demand for Enquiry

SEPT 13: We condemn strongly and unequivocally the incidences of violence and arson in Srinagar on the day of Eid by some miscreants. Continue reading →

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Karachi today

Posted on August 3, 2010 by beenasarwar

Karachi, Aug 3: Tension grips the city today – the first of three days of mourning declared by the MQM – but some brave (and desperate) souls venture out.

A Walls ice-cream cycle vendor’s electronic bell (really annoying normally, but most welcome today) cuts through the humid air. I ask him where he’s coming from. Korangi, he says. Took a rickshaw. Buses weren’t running. 18 people died there yesterday. They (the miscreants) burnt the furniture market. But daily wagers like him have to risk going out. If they don’t earn, their families don’t eat.

Petrol pumps are closed. Our driver can’t make it because pumps in his area (Korangi) are closed and he has no gas in his motorbike. I have to attend a family wedding lunch. Pick up another guest. Drive to the other end of town. But it’s ok. Sparse traffic, lots of police vehicles, but calm.

Traffic picks up towards the evening as we head home. We notice a couple of overcrowded buses. As on any holiday, boys play cricket wherever they can – an open ground, a residential lane.

I head to office later – there’s a page to be made. Page designer Tanveer says he found a petrol pump open and was able to get gas to make it to work.

My colleague Muniba is thrilled to find an open khoka on main Drigh Road (now called Shahra-e-Faisal) where she could buy cigarettes. “There were about 20 people around that khoka,” she chuckles. “You know us cigarette addicts, we’ll do anything to get a ciggie.” Sadly, yes.

Geo News reports that 46 people have died since yesterday, over 123 injured. Several vehicles were torched, property destroyed. All leaders have “appealed for calm”. Tomorrow is another day.

p.s. Here’s the link to a radio interview I gave NPR’s The World (Boston) about this day (before I knew what the death toll was)

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Some thoughts on ‘Swat flogging video’

Posted on April 8, 2009 by beenasarwar

Girl being flogged: Still from the cell phone video circulated on the Internet and broadcast (repeatedly) on the private channels

Girl being flogged: Still from the cell phone video circulated on the Internet and broadcast (repeatedly) on the private channels

The ‘Swat flogging video’ has made headlines all over. Zubeida Mustafa in her excellent article in Dawn today, ‘A catalyst for change? analyses the reasons why

This para jumped out at me: “The Swat flogging video has brought people face to face with the reality of the emergence of extremism in the name of Islam. It has brought to the surface the paradoxes that had until now been swept under the carpet for expediency’s sake. The video has forced difficult choices on the people compelling them to at least think about issues that affect them very personally.”

Zia’s children, by Ayesha Siddiqa in The News, April 05, 2009 highlights the issue of ‘Islamic law’ or ‘Sharia’. She references the recent book by Tahir Wasti ‘Application of Islamic Criminal Law in Pakistan: Sharia in Practice’. Wasti, as she points out, has experience of both Islamic law and British common law. “This is the first detailed research enlisting the ramifications of the application of sharia law in Pakistan. tracing the historical roots of this phenomenon”.

For those who haven’t followed the issue or seen the video (warning, it’s graphic) check out Declan Walsh’s initial report on the issue in The Guardian, April 2, 2009 (two days before TV channels in Pakistan picked it up):

http://tinyurl.com/ck9wf9

Re: my own take – I’ve been swamped with the final editing of another documentary I’m making, but wrote something on the issue the other day that I will share after publication.

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Focus on women – Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, a docu on Swat and more

Posted on March 10, 2009 by beenasarwar
Still from my film 'Mukhtiar Mai: The struggle for justice'

Still from my film 'Mukhtiar Mai: The struggle for justice'

A collection of articles published around March 8, including mine for IPS and The News, plus articles by Kalpana Sharma, Cassandra Balchin, Zofeen Ebrahim, Ayesha Khan (study on Lady Health Workers in Pakistan), link to a documentary on a Swat schoolgirl and more. Another post pending on issues around the attack on Rahman Baba’s shrine near Peshawar, will compile and post soon.

‘A new political context for Juliet’ – my article for The News on Sunday, about women speaking out all over the country, attempting to exercise their rights to personal autonomy – in a post-colonial age that harks back to medieval times when women were considered family property

Women Defy Militancy, Patriarchy – story for IPS outlining the twin threats of militancy and patriarchy that women face in Pakistan
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46024

In both articles, I refer to a documentary ‘Class Dismissed in Swat Valley’ (NYT) that focuses on Malala, an 11-year-old Pakistani girl on the last day before the Taliban close down her school. A must see – very moving and informative – profiling the great courage of ordinary people under adversity
http://tinyurl.com/avq4c9

I learnt of this film through an article that Shabbir Imam in Peshawar forwarded from the Anchorage Daily News by Shehla Anjum, a Pakistan-born writer based in Alaska, ‘Taliban wages war against girls’ education in Pakistan’. The writer followed up the story in the documentary by contacting Malala and her father.
http://tinyurl.com/dmxtld

The IPS website – http://www.ipsnews.net – contains a link to the other articles around Women’s Day –
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/women/index.asp
This link includes other articles worth looking up, from Palestine and Afghanistan, and ZOFEEN EBRAHIM’S article about child marriage in Pakistan
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46022

KALPANA SHARMA in her column `The Other Half’ in The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, March 8, 2008, writes about the attacks women in India are facing – a chilling account of what looks like an Indian version of the Vice & Virtue dept of the Taliban that we are facing here in Pakistan…
http://tinyurl.com/bql9vg

CASSANDRA BALCHIN – a three-part series on the challenges faced by Muslim women around the globe and the debates within the Muslim world to deal with these challenges, the demand for equality within the family, and more, in Open Democracy – http://www.opendemocracy.net – I’ve shortened the three URLs for easy reference here:
Home truths in the Muslim family – The global pressure to reform Muslim family law is mounting
http://tinyurl.com/bxhf8v

Musawah: there cannot be justice without equality – Muslim scholars and activists from 48 countries launch a global initiative for justice with equality between men and women
http://tinyurl.com/akg2q8

Musawah: solidarity in diversity – a global initiative to reform Muslim Family Law finds solidarity in diversity and a growing convergence around human rights values.
http://tinyurl.com/bbvvhd

AYESHA KHAN’s recent study on LHWs and Women’s Empowerment in Pakistan can be accessed through the Collective for Social Science Research website
The study is at this link: http://tinyurl.com/cssr-lhv

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