March 15, 2010: Peace & Harmony News from S. Asia
Pritam Rohila
www.asiapeace.org & www.indiapakistanpeace.org
4410 Verda Lane NE, Keizer, OR 97303, USA
asia...@comcast.net
March 15, 2010: Peace & Harmony News from S. Asia
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndiaPakistanPeaceDay
&
http://groups.google.com/group/peace--harmony-news-from-south-asia
IN THIS ISSUE
*Pakistan: Plays and books, not bombs, Beena Sarwar, March 12, 2010
http://beenasarwar.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/personal-political-plays-and-books-not-bombs/
"New Karachi literary festival hopes to turn page on bombs," trumpeted
a headline in the Independent, UK.
Inspired by Jaipur, the festival in March "may not turn the page on
the bombs," as Siraj Khan, a Boston-based Pakistani commented in an
email, "but it is very inspiring. In my recent 7-month stint in
Karachi, I saw and felt this breath of fresh air myself. This has not
happened overnight and it's not just the new crop of writers who are
turning the tide."
The event, sponsored by Oxford University Press and the British
Council, will cater to readers of English. The First International
Urdu Conference in Karachi, November 2008, showcased several Indian
writers. Last November, the inspiring five-day event included a music
festival although ongoing tensions between Pakistan and India barred
the Indian delegates from attending.
Prominent scholar Dr Gopi Chand Narang addressed the gathering via
telephone from New Delhi. `My heart is with the people of Pakistan in
Karachi and I hope the condition in your country improves soon,' he
said, to rousing applause.
Siraj: "I do hope and pray that our youth get more engaged in reading
books rather than blasting bombs."
This bomb culture stems of course from attempts to convert Pakistan,
from 1979 onwards into a centre of Islamic `jihad', by the military
dictator Gen. Zia acting at America's behest to oust the Soviets from
Afghanistan. The peculiar relations between Pakistan and India are
part of that narrative: the pro-jihadi mindset is also virulently anti-
India.
I recently had breakfast with an Indian journalist living in Karachi,
married to a Pakistani. She must return to Delhi every three months to
renew her visa. She can't work in Pakistan because only two Indian
journalists can work in Pakistan (and vice versa). The irritants
include her Indian friends' one-dimensional views about Pakistan.
"They thought I would have no freedom, that there are no coffee shops
or women wearing jeans. Ok, so we can do this only in this part of
Karachi, but at least it's there."
Yes, there is violence and bomb blasts in Pakistan. But there is more
to life than that. Visit the Danka website (danka.com.pk --started by
a young Austrian who fell in love with Pakistan) to sample some events
in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad -- art exhibitions, book readings,
seminars, plays, fashion shows, musical evenings, hip hop and salsa
dance classes, yoga...
There's the fortnightly Critical Mass cycling event in Karachi I've
been meaning to join. There's the annual All Pakistan Music
Conference, held in Lahore for years and more recently, in Karachi
too.
Recently, I attended a talk on `youth and science' organised by Sindh
Awami Sangat, a socialist youth group from low-income localities.
College students, including some girls, most in hijabs, crowded the
seminar hall (made by breaking down the dividing walls in a flat) of
the Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences.
"Jihad," said Adnan Sabzwari, the young scientist and educator who
addressed them, "is not strapping yourself with a suicide vest and
blowing up people, but making life better for the hungry and the
poor." He got a standing ovation.
Sindh Awami Sangat activists were active in a commemoration recently
to honour the Democratic Students Federation, a movement that rocked
the country in the early 1950s. The inspiring (as many termed it)
event, featuring a documentary, speeches, music and song, drew
students and old leftists, packing the 1000-seater auditorium.
The Classic and Vintage Car Show drew record crowds in its sixth year
running. "We still plan to hold a joint rally with our Indian
counterparts," said an organiser, referring to a plan scuttled earlier
due to tensions between the two countries.
For three weekends in February, stand up comedian Saad Haroon
performed at sold-out shows (I couldn't get tickets).
Last weekend, a friend's 16-year old son and his friends produced a
play in English that they wrote, directed, acted in, and marketed. The
suspense thriller dramatic, funny, and slickly done, ran to full halls
both nights, raising over a lakh of rupees for a welfare organisation
run by students.
P.s. It was a query about the March literary festival from Mayank
Austen Soofi, a Delhi-based journalist, that got me thinking about all
this. Mayank runs the blog "Pakistan Paindabad" (http://
pakistanpaindabad.blogspot.com/)
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EXPLANATION/DISCLIMER: The above is a selection of news stories
pertaining to South Asian governments, civil society organizations and
individuals working together on projects of mutual benefit including
peace and communal harmony, and those relating to attempts to improve
the condition of South Asian peoples, especially women and children.
ACHA does not approve of or subscribe to any "disharmonizing
language" (including terms such as POK or IOK) used in these items
selected from various publications. Readers may exercise their
linguistic judgment and ignore any biased language.