Lagay Raho, Media Bhai (Keep At It, Brother Media!)

See article below, posted with this comment by Shaheryar Azhar, Moderator, The Forum: ”What is amazing is that people like Kamran Khan, Shaheen Sehbai and then politicos like PMLN (and PPP to be sure as in 1999) and everyone in between have such low opinion and regard for democracy that for all kinds of invented reasons they are ready to sacrifice it at a drop of a hat. They are or unwittingly become instruments of the Army. No one has the mental toughness to ask the difficult questions or patience to let the political process sort out the incompetent and the corrupt overtime. Irony of irony is that, in turn, each of them have themselves been a victim of the same establishment whose line they now toe. What accounts for this short-sightedness? Are they too self-absorbed, too bereft of core beliefs, too egotistically driven, too lacking in wisdom to see the circus of repeating rings! This is a great article by Sadiq Saleem because he is raising the logical issues – one can already see an alternative narrative developing here, which can, one hopes, lead one day to the true practice of the Charter of Democracy.”

Lagay Raho, Media Bhai (Keep At It, Brother Media!)
The News, November 04, 2009
By Sadiq Saleem

On Monday, November 2, thirty-five innocent Pakistanis lost their lives to a terrorist attack. These were ordinary people, standing in line at a bank to receive their monthly salary. They must have gone there with plans of spending that money on their parents, wives, children, brothers and sisters. But for the Pakistani media, especially the TV anchors who have now become the arbiters of what is important and what is not, the death of these poor people was not important. With their usual cast of characters from —Jamaat-e-Islami to Imran Khan to the two Muslim Leagues— the electronic media that day was exclusively focused on the so-called NRO issue.

Although the PPP has defused the matter by withdrawing the ordinance from Parliament, there is something artificial about the manner in which the matter of the NRO was made the primary focus of national discussion. The NRO issue took over from debate over the Kerry Lugar Bill, which also died its natural death. Those in the media who considered the Kerry-Lugar Bill a matter of national sovereignty have not even asked the PML-N or PML-Q to bring their own resolutions in the National Assembly on the matter.

Now that Hillary Clinton has spoken, the two Muslims Leagues would not dare condemn the US through a resolution in Parliament. The purpose of the fuss over the bill, like the NRO non-debate, was to undermine the Zardari presidency. The Pakistani military is fighting the battle for the country’s survival in Waziristan.

For years at least some of our anchors have claimed that the Mehsud militants are backed by foreign enemies of Pakistan. But neither the war in Waziristan nor the terrorist attacks in Rawalpindi have received the kind of attention that befits them. For the overzealous TV anchors, the real issue is how to embarrass President Zardari. Some of them claim they have the establishments backing in doing so.

Those striving for a Constitutional knockout of President Zardari need to reconsider whether they will accomplish anything even if they succeed. The first consequence of such a knockout would be to give the PPP and the Bhutto-Zardari family the mantle of victimhood once again. After the initial grumbling is over, the People’s Party will most likely rally round the family that has given the greatest sacrifices for it. Even if Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani becomes part of the knockout plan, which is highly unlikely, he would be reduced to the same position as Farooq Leghari was within months of his action against Benazir Bhutto in 1996.

If the fingerprints of the establishment are found in President Zardari’s decapitation, as the anti-Zardari anchors and columnists claim, it would revive in all likelihood the anti-establishment polarization that the military sought to end by withdrawing from politics after the eclipse of General Pervez Musharraf. In any case, why should the establishment become part of an anti-Zardari game plan if all it would do is bring Mr Nawaz Sharif to power?

The issue of civil-military relations will certainly not be resolved to the establishments satisfaction because if Mr. Nawaz Sharif rises to power with the weakening of a Zardari-led PPP then he is unlikely to be more deferential to GHQ.

Since the unfortunate era of General Ziaul Haq the Pakistani establishment has had a pro-Jihad faction that operates politically through the media and various political actors. These people did not respect General Asif Nawaz, General Abdul Waheed, or General Jehangir Karamat. General Pervez Musharraf pleased them by championing adventurism in Kargil but lost their backing in the post-9/11 context. Now, too, it is not General Ashfaq Kayani who wants an army (or establishment) role in politics. It is the beneficiaries of Jihad Inc., including the many media figures beholden to the Jihadis, who want to shoot at a liberal government using the establishments shoulder.

If Pakistan will gain nothing from upsetting the applecart, why are some people so insistent on continuing to distract the nation from fighting terrorism and from sympathizing with terrorist victims? Why not allow the Parliament to decide matters even if it is with a single vote? Why don’t the TV anchors ask Imran Khan how he can judge the government’s actions and claim to speak for the people without being elected? Why is every initiative of PML-N a media initiative and never brought to the elected chambers? Is it not the purpose of democracy to find a way to get past issues instead of getting bogged down by them?

The media, especially its electronic manifestation, seems like a bunch of quacks (fake doctors) that keep generating campaign after campaign against someone they dislike (President Zardari). It is time the people fight back and say let there be some sanity in the country. Let priorities be priorities.

Like the title of the Hindi movie Lagay Raho Munna Bhai, we need to learn to ignore the TV anchors and say Lagay Raho media Bhai and pay attention to the lives of people instead of the artificial politics of talk shows. If the talk show crowd has evidence of corruption, let them take it to the independent judiciary, which they claim they got restored. If there is an issue that requires Parliamentary attention, let Parliament vote on it. It is time for real action, not media campaigns.

For twenty-four hours after a tragedy like the Rawalpindi terrorist attack, the nation should be allowed to grieve and sympathize with the victims. The media and the establishment some anchors so frequently quote should give the people a break.

Sadiq Saleem is a businessman and part-time analyst based in Toronto, Canada.

The long war – Personal Political column in Hardnews

Oct 22, 2009: Slightly amended version of my column for Hardnews, November 2009 issue

PERSONAL POLITICAL

Beena Sarwar

My 13-year old daughter and her friends were thrilled when the government announced a nation-wide closure of schools for the rest of the week. Their joy dimmed when they learned why: suicide bombers at Islamabad’s co-ed Islamic University had killed several students. Amidst fears that more educational institutes would be targeted, armed forces-run schools were already closed.

Pakistan is at war. The entire country is the battleground. The series of bomb blasts gained momentum as expected, in the run-up to Oct 17 when the army launched its ground offensive in South Waziristan.  During the first two weeks of October, militant attacks killed over 150 people, including some 40 on a deadly Thursday in Lahore, Kohat and Peshawar.

“These strikes seem to say to security forces ‘the more you come after us, the more we’ll go after you,” commented a BBC reporter in Lahore.

There isn’t much option. Many among even those who on principle oppose military intervention say the military action should have started much earlier – in conjunction with a well-thought out political and development strategy. It didn’t because then self-styled ‘Chief Executive’ and later ‘President’ Musharraf wanted to hunt with the hounds and run with the hares.

His U-turn from Pakistan’s traditional pro-jihadi, anti-India policy under American pressure following the attacks of ‘9/11’ did not include a crackdown on ‘home grown’ outfits like the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, patronised by Pakistani intelligence agencies to keep the fire smouldering in Indian-administered Kashmir (remember, Musharraf was the architect of the disastrous Kargil war which proved so costly in human and material terms and raised global alarm bells due to Pakistan and India’s nuclear-armed status).

Militant attacks in Pakistan gained intensity as it became clear that the government elected in the February 2008 polls would not follow Musharraf’s dual policy. For the first time, a Pakistani government has acknowledged that ‘India is not the enemy’ and has rejected the use of religiously motivated violence.

The nation is paying a heavy price for this resolve: over 8,000 people have been killed so far this year, compared to nearly 200 in 2003. The over 22,000 people killed since include over 2,500 security personnel, 7,000 civilians and 5,900 insurgents (figures compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal – http://www.satp.org/).

Bereft of official patronage and under attack by the army, militant groups are retaliating with a vengeance — the Afghan Taliban, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (a grouping of tribal factions along the Afghan border), the international Al Qaeda and the ‘home-grown’ militants. They are not a homogenous entity, but they share the same ideology supposedly based in Islam but actually rooted in the drive for political power. It includes a desire to keep women out of the public sphere, prevent anyone from having any fun, and using vigilante actions to punish perceived moral transgressions.

Funny, that sounds like Pakistan under the Gen. Zia ul Haq, or his friends and masters, Saudi Arabia – or the ‘Saffron Brigade’ of India. Not so funny, when you consider Big Brother America’s links with Zia and the Saudis. Pakistan fought the first Afghan war at America’s behest. The CIA cynically used religion to turn that war of national liberation into a ‘holy war’. That wheel has come full circle.

Eqbal Ahmad's essay is available in book form from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Terrorism-Theirs-Ours-Eqbal-Ahmad/dp/1583224904

Dr Eqbal Ahmad in his prescient talk ‘Terrorism, theirs and ours” (University of Colorado, Boulder, 12 October 1998,) noted the distinction between the ‘Greater Jihad’ which involves the struggles with self and the promotion of the ‘Lesser Jihad’ which involves violence. This distinction was blurred as ‘jihad’, which had disappeared as an international violent phenomenon in the last four hundred years “was revived suddenly with American help in the 1980s” after the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. “The US saw a God-sent opportunity to mobilize one billion Muslims against what Reagan called the Evil Empire… CIA agents starting going all over the Muslim world recruiting people to fight in the great jihad. Bin Laden was one of the early prize recruits…”

Dr Ahmad had predicted this coming home of the chickens to roost. There are no short cuts to winning this war – which is no longer America’s war alone but our’s too. Pakistan needs international and domestic support for this, not only for our own sake, but for peace everywhere.

Until then, my daughter and her friends can look forward to un-scheduled school holidays with mixed feelings of dread and delight.

(ends)

The MF Husain controversy: Identity, intent and the rise of militant fascism

I wrote this essay for Nukta Art in September, for its November issue which has just been published

Beena Sarwar

Communalism Combat cover, March 2009: Fighting back

The campaign against the iconic Indian artist Maqbool Fida Husain, perhaps the most prominent living symbol of art under attack, is part of the political fight for India’s soul – secular democracy versus a ‘Hindu’ state.

Several interrelated issues arise from this situation, linked with intent, identity, politics, religion, the role of the state, and of course the nature of ‘art’ itself. The illogical controversy has unfortunately been allowed to overshadow the artist’s phenomenal, critically acclaimed work itself both in India and abroad.

The viciousness against Husain despite his public apology forced him out of his country in 2007 at age 92, fearing for his very life. The attacks on him go beyond to verbal abuse and the court cases for “obscenity in his paintings” and “causing offence to religious sensibilities” and at least one criminal case under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, by a Muslim complainant in Gujarat (over 1,200 cases were pending against him in 2006[1]).

In 1998, Bajrang Dal activists attacked Husain’s house and vandalised art works. The Hindutva lobby has also attacked and threatened art galleries in India as well as in London exhibiting his work resulting in several shows being closed down. There have also been various incitement to murder him or cause bodily harm, ranging from chopping his arms off (the Madhya Pradesh Congress Minority Cell vice-chairman Akhtar Baig offered Rs11 lakhs to anyone who did this) to gouging his eyes out. In Feb. 2006, Ashok Pandey, the ‘president’ of the little-known ‘Hindu Personal Law Board’ (apparently emulating the well-established Muslim Personal Law Board) in Lucknow “put a Rs 51 crore (USD 11.1 million) bounty on Husain’s head, matching a similar bounty issued by a fundamentalist Muslim politician for cartoonists who lampooned the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in the Danish and world press,” reports Deeksha Nath, an art historian, critic and curator based, writing in the Art AsiaPacific magazine, Fall 2006 (article emailed to this writer).

Brouhaha over 'Bharatmata' (named by the buyer), here seen on the cover of the exhibition brochure

It seems to not matter that Husain’s intentions are based in reverence for the Hindu culture. He talks about being inspired by Hindu mythology and seeing purity in nudity, a belief reaffirmed by his study of the Hinduism.

Husain “is a prime target precisely because he is a Muslim,” notes the prominent photographer and artist, Ram Rahman. “The Hindutva attack on him has nothing to do with his iconography or the so called ‘protection of Hinduism’. It has solely to do with mobilising the cadres of the communal political forces.”[2]

It is no coincidence that the first case against Husain for offending Hindu religious sensibilities was registered in 1996, as the Hindu right reasserted itself — decades after he began painting.

“The Hindu extremists are reacting to the Islamic movement, and trying to formulate their ideology on the Jamat-e-Islami, which they see as a strong masculine ideology that they want to emulate,” an Australian Ph.D student who conducted field research in the 1990s in Bombay and Lahore told to this writer during an interview in 1999[3].

This ties into the perceived injustice “in taking Hindus for granted while appeasing Muslim sensibilities,” observed by the London-based writer Salil Tripathi. Commenting on the “growing assertiveness of  Hindu nationalists since the 1990s”, he adds, “Because of the amount of attention Muslims have commanded when they have been offended by images they consider blasphemous – a concept alien to Hinduism – Hindus want equal treatment. They want the right to be offended”[4].

Husain is the most prominent target of this campaign that has its mirror images on our side of the border. It includes attacking women deemed to be dressed ‘inappropriately’ and bullying other artists and writers for perceived transgressions. In May 2007, activists of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got a final-year art student arrested for his work displayed at the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara (former Baroda).

Protestors condemn the arrest of an art student at Maharaja Sayajirao University. Photo courtesy NYT

The student, Chandramohan, had put up work as part of an examination display including the depiction of a multiple-armed female form wielding weapons and giving birth (echoes of the Hindu deity Durga). In response to Chandramohan’s arrest, his fellow students put together material from the art history department archives and mounted an exhibition “to underline the obvious: that even ancient Indian art is replete with explicitly erotic forms,” as the New York Times reported[5].

Pakistanis will also find the next development eerily familiar: the university’s vice chancellor who “had a known ideological bias” according to a prominent art critic, took the predictable action of appeasing the extremists’. acting in the name of religion rather than standing by the student. He demanded an apology from the acting dean of the art department and ordered the protest exhibition closed down. When the acting dean refused, the vice-chancellor suspended him, had the protest exhibition taken down and sealed the art history archives.

Husain has been painting images based on Hindu mythology for years. He made some of the paintings, that are now controversial, back in the 1960s for the political campaign of the prominent freedom fighter and socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia (1910-1967) which included a Ramayan Mela in the rural hinterland. Lohia “had great love” for the Ramayana and for Ram, whom he referred to as “an embodiment of dignity”[6].

The 1996 case against Husain focused on work created in 1970 when he first painted from the Mahabharata. By then he was already considered India’s greatest living artist — feted, recognised and the recipient of numerous awards.

“Bold, vibrant depictions of India’s great guiding narratives, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, have been a means for Husain to explore and confirm his Indian identity.  His work goes beyond the simply narrative to illustrate the Mahabharata’s larger truths and their relevance today,” affirms Dan Monroe, director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum, which showcased Epic India: Paintings by M.F. Husain, a solo exhibition from Nov. 4 2006 through June 3, 2007, focusing on the artist’s 40-year fascination with the Mahabharata[7].

It is noteworthy too that Husain himself never titled the painting that catalysed the 2006 controversy that forced him abroad, again much after it had been painted. An anonymous collector who had bought the work captioned it ‘Bharat Mata’ (Mother India) when donating it for a charity auction organised by an art gallery and an NGO to – wait for it — raise funds for survivors of the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir.

Militant fascism was on the decline when Husain, a former cinema billboard painter, established himself as an artist of repute in the late 1940s. Today, artists face “a situation where they need to find newer strategies to deal with censorship of various kinds”, notes the veteran artist and writer Gulam Sheikh in Vadodara (former Baroda).

“Some have already developed a new linguistics commensurate with demands of changing socio-political scenario. Older lingustics used in many works displayed prominently in those days may be considered contentious now and come under attack,” he wrote in an email exchange with this writer. “The rise of political right  in the last three decades has greatly contributed to  creating a climate of intolerance as greater media coverage of art market (not art!) has brought modern art in the larger public domain.”

It is widely acknowledged that the Indian art market would not be where it is without Husain. As a report in Frontline magazine put it: “Husain’s role in putting India on the world art map is phenomenal. He is also one of the principal forces behind the world market boom for Indian art.” (Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta, ‘Art on trial’, Frontline magazine, Sept 13-26, 2008).

In 2008 this market was estimated at Indian Rs.1,500 crore, growing at 35 per cent a year, according to Sunil Gautam, the managing director of Hanmer MS&L which organised the India Art Summit 2008 in Delhi – an event aimed at tapping this market, and “the first full-fledged corporate initiative in getting 34 art galleries from India and abroad on one platform” as Frontline commented, noting that many artists believe that without Husain’s contribution to art, an event like the India Art Summit would not have taken place in Delhi.

And yet, under pressure from the Hindu extremists, unwilling to let the Summit be “derailed by controversies attached to one artist” the organisers excluded Husain’s work. In support of Husain, SAHMAT (the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust) organised an exhibition showcasing reproductions of Husain’s paintings and some photographs of the artist in front of its office.

Framed print after vandalisation at the Sahmat exhibition

Despite SAHMAT’s request for police protection, the then little-known Sri Ram Sena attacked and vandalised the exhibition. The state’s capitulation to the forces of extremism is also evident in the lack of acknowledgement of a petition to the President in 2006 by over 100 Indian artists, writers, directors, musicians urging that Husain be honoured with the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest award.

The Indian government does not want to be seen to “be appeasing the minorities” as Ram Rahman put it – but apparently it has no problem in appeasing those who use violence to push their views through. A tale only too familiar for us in Pakistan, and increasingly, around the world.

(ends)

[1] Salil Tripathi, ‘The right to be offended’, International Herald Tribune, May 29, 2006
[2] Ram Rahman, ‘Why is he in exile?’, Indian Express, Sep 15, 2007 (reproduced in Communalism Combat, Sept 1, 2007)
[3] Lahore, Feb 24, 1999. Due to threats from expatriate extremists on her return to Australia, the researcher has requested anonymity.
[4] ‘The right to be offended’, International Herald Tribune, May 29, 2006
[5] Somini Sengupta, ‘At a University in India, New Attacks on an Old Style: Erotic Art’, NYT, May 19, 2007
[6] www.drlohiacentenary.org
[7] ‘Epic India: Paintings by M.F. Husain at Peabody Essex Museum’, Art Knowledge News, October 5, 2006

‘Tashakor, Zinda Dillan-e-Kabul’

This article, published in The News on Sunday, Footloose page, Nov 1, 2009 , is an expanded version of my previous report for IPS on the Kabul trialogue

Kabul looks battered. Dusty brown hills form the backdrop wherever the eye turns. Yet it is a city struggling to regain its former glory

By Beena Sarwar

Locals cycle past the ancient wall of Kabul

It was once known as the city of flowers, said Zahira Khattak, the ANP activist who grew up in Kabul. Now, the only flowers visible in the city provide splashes of colour through the all-pervasive dust at a few isolated roundabouts — and at the splendid, renovated Bagh-e-Babar (Babar’s Garden) on the city outskirts, the last resting place of the first Mughal emperor.

The city still looks battered — but often that’s because old buildings are being knocked down to make way for high-rises. Some gracious old buildings still stand tall in the midst of the dust and rubble. A series of upmarket high-rise apartment blocks emerge from the dust on the road from the airport. Air-conditioned shopping malls and boutique restaurants cater to the crowds of expatriate workers resident in Kabul, and the Afghani rupee has a better value than the Pakistani rupee. Noisy, unruly traffic bumps non-stop over the unpaved streets. Traffic lights are conspicuous by their absence. There are security barriers everywhere and few women are visible on the streets. The markets close early, but this city is nowhere close to giving up.

Giant poster of Karzai surveys a Kabul street

Things were much worse 10 years ago, when Nafisa Shah, now a PPP parliamentarian, visited Kabul on a reporting assignment for Newsline magazine. “It’s a hundred times better now,” she commented. We were attending a ‘women’s peace trialogue’ bringing together women activists, politicians and journalists from Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, organised by Dr Radha Kumar, Director Peace and Conflict Programme of the Delhi Policy Group.

Dusty brown hills form the backdrop wherever the eye turns, with houses creeping up their slopes as the city bursts out of its seams. The Intercontinental Hotel where we stayed is perched on top of a hill. Every window yields more vistas of hills on the horizon.

Two and a half days is not enough to know a city, especially when you are in a two-day seminar from morning till evening. Still, one gets a flavour from some wanderings — and from the Afghan women at the trialogue, convened as an ‘aman jirga’ (peace council).

Apparently this is not a new concept. Zahira Khattak says that women have been sitting in jirgas at least in Afghanistan “for 5000 years. We have jirgas all over Pakistan’s tribal areas also, and we thought why not introduce this concept. We waited for a long time to see what the men would do for peace. There are like-minded women in Pakistan, in India, in Afghanistan, why not get together, make our voices heard by the people in power? There are many suspicions and mistrust between our three countries although we have so much in common. At this meeting, we were able to overcome that.”

Her story illustrates the linkages between Afghanistan and Pakistan. She was a student when she met Afrasiab Khattak, now a Senator who heads ANP’s provincial chapter, who had fled to Afghanistan from Gen. Ziaul Haq’s martial law in the late 1970s. The couple returned to Pakistan after Gen. Zia’s death in 1988. Their daughter Zalla, currently studying in New Delhi, was the trialogue secretary.

Chilling out at Sufi's on our last night in Kabul

The Kabul meeting, held at the aptly named Central Hotel, was a follow up to an April 2009 trialogue in New Delhi between Afghan, Indian and Pakistani women, and an earlier all-women peace meeting convened by Pakistani activists in Peshawar.

The Indian singer ‘Ghazal’ Srinivas, in Afghanistan on a promotional tour, kicked off the meeting. He remembered the 2006 Pakistan-India walk from Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia in Delhi to Hazrat Bahauddin Zakiaria in Multan that he participated in. A Guinness world record holder for singing the same song in a hundred languages, he acknowledged the diversity of the participants by singing in Dari, Pushto, Hindi, Farsi and Urdu.

“We Afghans are in need of peace,” said Afghan parliamentarian Shinkai Karokhel. “We suffer from insurgency under the banner of religion or liberation war… We lose our lives, our lives, our heritage, our honour, our children, our schools…”

Radha Kumar summed up the aims of the meeting: to “foster and sustain peace, deal with conflict and post-conflict situations, fight for women rights and human rights, ensure women’s greater political participation, and make women visible at decision-making especially peace negotiation tables.”

There was much appreciation for the Pakistan Women Parliamentary Caucus, chaired by Nafisa Shah. The Caucus, she said, “is a group of women working above party lines and despite differences for common goals. It is an attempt to build the politics of reconciliation, which is not about assigning blame but on overcoming it. It is not about revenge, but about the politics of alliances. It is an example of how we have reconciled with our past and how we have made our differences far smaller than our common goals.”

Armed guards keep watch over the open courtyard as crowds gather for a concert by Tajik women

Music by Fahad Darya, a popular Afghan singer rocked the hall prior to the second day’s proceedings. “I didn’t expect to hear Afghan heavy metal,” grinned Alex de Montjoye, a young intern working with the Delhi Policy Group — the only male present apart from translators and waiters.

Her shoulder-length hair brushing a smart trouser suit, Dr Alema — “many Afghans have just one name” — handed out circular blue badges, featuring a dove and white lettering: “Afghan Civil Society Organisations Network for Peace” which hosted the meeting. She coordinates the German-funded Civil Peace Building Program that in September organised a series of peace events including paintings by children and a music concert for 5,000 at the Bagh-e-Babar.

At a tea break, the high profile Afghan parliamentarian Shukriya Barakzai chatted with former Pakistani senator and federal minister Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli of the breakaway Pakistan People’s Party (Sherpao) group and Indian academic Renuka Mishra. The former two had participated in the first Afghanistan-Pakistan peace jirga of August 2007 in Kabul, attended by over 600 chieftains, tribal elders and politicians, including a hundred women. Shukriya Barakzai had presented the vote of thanks to the entire jirga on behalf of Afghanistan.

The follow-up jirga planned in Pakistan has yet to take place. Activists are pushing for the inclusion of women in the ‘jirga gai’ (executive council) being formed with 25 representatives from each side “like in the main Jirga,” said Aneesa Zeb. “Moreover, it should be a continuous process. Regular meetings will bring contentious issues to the table and help us move forward.”

The Kabul meeting stressed the inclusion of women in peace negotiations particularly given the threats women face in the domestic sphere and by radical groups. Added to these threats are policies and laws that reduce women’s rights. It was in fact the “disappointing” first draft of personal law that catalysed Afghan women to hold “the first demonstration in Afghanistan”, said activist Nargis Nehan, noting that “most of the laws and regulations are drafted by (male-dominated) political parties and government”.

The meeting’s recommendations included working towards a Women’s Peace Commission comprising 15 women from the region, a multi-lingual website enabling participants to exchange strategies, ideas and experiences, and a subsequent trialogue in Pakistan.

Blue masjid in central Kabul

“Afghan women have been bearing this conflict for 30 years,” notes Bushra Gohar. “How they have dealt with it, we also learn from them. So Kabul was the right place and next we are going to meet in Peshawar hopefully and continue with this process.”

“We are aware we have so many internal problems,” says Indian journalist Jyoti Malhotra. “Our armies are conducting many operations against their own people… I’m not saying we’ve resolved all the questions or found their answers, but this is a very good start, and it is very necessary to take it forward.”

There was little time for sightseeing or shopping but on the second day, I snuck out for lunch. It was a strange experience to be walking down a Kabul street, feeling perfectly safe but conscious of my uncovered head. Haider Ahmedi, an actor and filmmaker I know from the Women Broadcasting for Change network, took us to Sufis, a ‘designer restaurant’ with traditional floor seating as well as western-style tables. Behind the tastefully decorated courtyard where we sat rose a monstrous three-storey house. The war has obviously hugely enriched some people.

Afghan women are tremendously strong and capable, perhaps because of the adversities they’ve had to deal with. No surprise that the managing director of Afghanistan’s largest media group, Killid, is a woman — Najiba Ayubi whom I had met in Jakarta last year. Ever good-natured and hospitable, she took some of us to the Bagh-e-Babar — lush gardens carpeting a hillside, full of groups of men, families with children, and couples (some holding hands). Security guards with guns kept watch. Some, still in uniform but apparently off work, lolled about on the grass. One of them called out a greeting.

Almost every Afghan we encountered spoke some Urdu, having either transited through Pakistan or lived their as refugees (mostly with warm memories). A jeweller Najiba took us to was a devotee of Hazrat Data Ganj Bukhsh. Besides the Kabul shop, he has an outlet in Lahore’s Liberty Market as well as in Delhi. He told us that Najiba could have his entire shop, if she wanted because she had got a spiritual leader who has a daily programme on a Killid Radio Show, to call him.

Sunset over Bagh-e-Babar

Najiba had got tickets for a concert by Tajik women in the ancient open-air stone courtyard adjoining the Bagh. Outside, security guards cursed and pushed back the hordes of men waiting to get in. The tension was palpable as we were whisked inside — the only four women present in the crowd besides a few among the row of young expat workers behind us, including some Pakistani girls. As darkness descended, armed security guards clambered onto the long catwalk-like stage, apparently to make their presence felt before Madina Saadat came onstage and blew us away.

Tajik singer wows a Kabul crowd

A petite young thing in a black leather skirt over tight black pants (she later changed into a shiny shalwar kameez-like suit) with a powerful voice, she smilingly accepted the notes (perhaps song requests) that men held out to her, hand on heart in that gracious gesture characteristic of the region. Cell phones lights pierced the darkness — lots of photos and videos were taken. There was much wolf whistling and dancing but no rowdiness, and hardly a beard in sight. Another singer came on, but Madina was clearly the favourite. A security officer rang Najiba’s cell to suggest we leave early, before things got more rowdy. Making our way out, we saw a few bearded, turbaned Taliban lookalikes at the back. They too seemed to be enjoying the music and dancing.

I left Kabul with memories of extraordinary warmth and hospitality, a city struggling to regain its former glory, and an expanded network in the ongoing struggle for peace. Tashakor, zinda-dillan-e-Kabul.

(ends)

“We Refuse to Be Held to Ransom By Terrorism”: Veena Masud, Pakistan Women’s Swimming Association

Veena Masud announcing at a national swimming meet, Karachi, May 2009. Photo: Beena Sarwar

I’ve been wanting to do a report on Pakistan’ women swimmers since March 2009, when I first heard Veena Masud speak at a Szabist seminar in Karachi.

Q&A with Veena Masud below; don’t miss the Footnote at the end, includes reference to an old Shoaib Hashmi & Samina Ahmed skit.

“We Refuse to Be Held to Ransom By Terrorism”

Beena Sarwar interviews VEENA MASUD, Pakistan Women’s Swimming Association

KARACHI, Oct 29 (IPS) – Karachi-based, Trinidad-born and educated Veena Masud is a school principal who wants to see Pakistani women shine in the international sports arena.

 

Veena Masud: a voice of courage. Photo: beena sarwar

Honorary Secretary of the Pakistan Women’s Swimming Association, president of the Sindh Women’s Swimming Association, and executive committee member of the Pakistan Olympic Association, she has cheered Pakistani swimmers as they returned to the Olympics after 40 years.

 

In 2004, Rubab Raza was just 13 when she won a wild card entry to Athens along with a male swimmer (MumtazAhmed). She was the first female swimmer to represent Pakistan at the Olympics. Four years later at the Beijing Olympics, Kiran Khan – another wild card entrant, from Lahore – swam for her country.

Pakistani female swimmers are making a splash despite the hurdles, which include “little government support” and social conservatism, Masud tells IPS. Excerpts from an interview.

IPS: Last weekend, after schools countrywide were closed following the suicide bombing at the Islamic University in Islamabad (Oct. 20) there was a major swimming competition in Karachi. How does the ongoing violence affect sport?

VEENA MASUD: Yes, that was the 18th Sindh Women’s Swimming Championship organised by the Karachi Women’s Swimming Association. The club where the event was being held told us categorically to cancel. But our sponsor said it’s up to us. We decided to go ahead. We are not afraid, we refuse to be held to ransom by this terrorism.

The club management then said if we could arrange our own security, we could go ahead. We had a massive turnout – 280 swimmers representing 22 institutions. They bettered 30 provincial records. See, 90 percent of Pakistanis want to go forward, get on with our lives. We can’t allow this (disruption) to happen.

IPS: You were born and educated in the West Indies. How did you come to Pakistan?

VM: I came back to my roots – my grandfather (in Trinidad) told me that one of my forefathers was from Sindh; he went on a ship to the West Indies as indentured labour.

My husband (a Pakistani) and I were in London when our son was born in 1979. We moved back to Pakistan because we wanted to bring him up here. I love it; the culture is so rich, and there is so much to offer.

IPS: You are not a swimmer, how did you get involved?

A. You don’t have to be a swimmer to be a coach, or a technical official. I coached my son (Kamal Salman Masud, now 30) in swimming. Until then, the army, navy and air force swimmers won all the competitions. My son set several national records. We’d be at the pool and his (girl) friends wanted to swim competitively too. That’s how it started.

Four of us (mothers) started the Karachi Women’s Swimming Association in 1991, mindful of the confines of Islamic culture. We had great difficulty getting sponsors for the First Sindh Women’s Swimming Championship – but 75 girl swimmers competed, representing local clubs and schools.

In 1994, the then Benazir Bhutto government agreed to host the Second Islamic Women’s Solidarity Games. Iran, the initiators of these games, insisted that swimming be included. The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and the Pakistan Swimming Federation (PSF) asked us to form the Pakistan Women’s Swimming Association.

The games went back to Iran when Pakistan couldn’t conform to standards but we encouraged the formation of women’s swimming associations. Sindh and Punjab (provinces) did that.

Before long women swimmers from the Pakistan Navy, Pakistan Army, Wapda (Water and Power Development Authority) and NWFP (North West Frontier Province) began participating. The Balochistan Women’s Swimming Association was recently formed.

Now, we have over 300 swimmers from 30 schools and clubs around the country.

IPS: How have Pakistan’s women swimmers fared internationally?

Veena Masud with some of Pakistan's top swimmers (photo courtesy Veena Masud)

VM: They’re improving all the time. Now a lot of our swimmers are doing ‘American A’ timings (coached by my daughter-in-law Melanie Masud, herself an ‘American A’ swimmer). They’re very tenacious and they have their parents’ support.

Fourteen of our swimmers at the Fourth Islamic Women’s Games (Tehran, September 2005), won 10 of Pakistan’s 19 medals. They came second in the swimming events and seventh among the 45 participating countries.

The introduction of the longer “fast-skin” swimming costumes made it possible for our girl swimmers to participate in international competitions. For the first time, Pakistan sent two women swimmers (Sana Wahid and Kiran Khan) to the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, July 2001.

When we convinced the Pakistan government to include women’s swimming in the 9th SAF (South Asian Federation) Games in Islamabad 2004, our girls took 14 medals, competing in the open arena on home ground for the first time.

Our swimmers returned to the Olympics after 40 years in 2004.

IPS: What about technical officials?

VM: This was initially one of our biggest drawbacks, not having any female technical officials. We have now trained up to 60 female technical officials to international standards and they are lauded everywhere. I’m really proud of our female technical officials.

Pakistan is the only South Asian country to have two female technical officials on the Asian list, and one on the international list.

All over the world women get the rough end of the stick, but we have four women out of 10 members in the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA). I was in fact the first woman inducted into the POA when the International Olympic Committee in 1992 stipulated that all national committees must have women.

IPS: What hurdles do Pakistan’s women swimmers face?

VM: First of all, there is little government support or funding. Also, swimming is still an elite sport for women, because you have to be a member of a private club to participate.

We need to push for the government to build infrastructure for swimming all over the country and take women’s swimming to the corners of Pakistan, so that Pakistani women have the opportunity to be at par with women all over the world. Then there’s the conservative mindset – many people don’t want their daughters participating in sports, or in public events.

Still, I believe that being determined and strong and tenacious will in the end bring you medals. (END/2009)

FOOTNOTE: Against All Odds

Contrary to popular perception women’s sports were never banned in the country – but attempts were certainly made to sweep them out of sight. The worst days were undoubtedly the ‘Zia years’ – 1977-88, when the then military dictator Gen. Ziaul Haq tried to push women out of the public gaze in a bid to strengthen his ‘Islamic’ credentials.

“We used to wear shorts,” recalls a former sprinter, “but under Zia we had to adhere to a more restrictive dress code.”

Pakistani sportswomen are up against all kinds of hurdles, but they refuse to give up.

Popular satirist Shoaib Hashmi highlighted this in a theatre skit which has him interviewing ‘Captain Samina’ (Ahmed) of Pakistan’s women’s hockey team. “Yes, we’ve had problems,” she tells him. “First they told us we can’t play wearing shorts, so we switched to track pants.”

The dress code changed from track pants to shalwar kurta (long tunic over baggy trousers), “but they said that was un-Islamic too. So then we had to wear burqas (top to toe covering). We even agreed to that but then they said that people will still know that there are women under the burqas.”

“So then what did you do?” asks Hashmi.

“Oh now we are sure to win,” says the ‘captain, “because under each burqa is (she rattles off the names of the male hockey team).”

“Women in sports have continued to flourish in their own limited circuit in spite of the constraints, quite poor training facilities and a lack of substantial financial support,” notes prominent sports journalist Gul Hameed Bhatti.

“When Rubab (Raza) went to Athens in 2004, she revealed that she hardly got an equivalent of 30 dollars per month from the Pakistan Swimming Federation. She couldn’t engage the services of a foreign coach to train her for the Olympics but her parents were very supportive and took on almost the entire financial burden of getting her ready for the big event.”

Women participate in various sports all over the country – cricket, hockey, track, swimming, football – even participating in international competitions.

They face a lack of government support and patronage, and constant threats from religious hardliners who disapprove of women being visible in any public sphere.

The disapproval takes the form of public protests – as when Pakistani female swimmers first competed at the international level – to physical attacks, like the disruption of the mixed-gender mini-marathon in the small town of Gujrat in Punjab province in 2004.

(ends)

Dirty Tricks Brigade grinds on: “Salary for a Member of NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (MNA) (No wonder we are in this mess)”

The allegations below about Pakistani parliamentarians’ salaries and perks have been emailed around since at least 2006 and found their way into various blogs and websites. I thought the figures appeared to be inflated but didn’t bother digging into the matter until a well-known journalist and women’s rights activist forwarded it from Shaheen Attiq-ur-Rahman (daughter of General Atiq-ur-Rehman, former parliamentarian and a member of the PML-Q).
Reminds me of the fraudulent photos circulated allegedly of Benazir Bhutto’s ‘palace’ in Dubai that people kept emailing around… – ‘Dirty Tricks Brigade’ refers to my article of Jan 9, 2008

I sent on the email to a parliamentarian I trust for verification: Bushra Gohar of the ANP. See her response below – which I forwarded to my journalist friend some days ago, suggesting that in the interest of fairness she circulate it to her list also. She hasn’t done that so far, or responded.

p.s. I also subsequently found this excellent article by Babar Ayaz in the Business Recorder, July 10, 2006, ‘Salaries and perks of elected representatives’, that bears out Bushra Gohar’s comments

From Bushra Gohar, Oct 20:

I really wonder who circulates these. UNDP has done a booklet on the MNAs salaries and perks and privileges. Also, the assembly could provide the breakdowns.

I received roughly Rs. 16,00,000 +- for a year all inclusive. It is about 12000 per month or so more than an MNA because I chair a standing committee. We have to pay for utilities and telephones at the lodge ourselves and I don’t take the business class tickets we are entitled to.

As a chair I am entitled to five support staff, an office and a vehicle with a fixed fuel at 360 litres per month of which I have used less than a 100 litres. The staff assigned to me from the available NA staff pool was highly incompetent and inadequate so have let go of them and will wait till I can get at least one professional. I still am waiting for my office to be ready. Anyway don’t know what it costs to maintain these offices or salaries of the staff assigned to chairs. Similarly the cost incurred to hold assembly sessions.

Thus I would say an MNA gets approx Rs. 120,000-125,000 all inclusive of which the monthly salary is approx. Rs. 35,000 – 40,000. Whereas chairs and parliamentary secretaries get a little more.

Can send details when I get back. However, must say for the corrupt both in and outside the parliament the sky is the limit…Best regards, BG

Below, the email forward that has been doing the rounds since 2006

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Shaheen Attiq-ur-Rahman
Date: Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 6:04 PM
Subject FW: Salary for a Member of NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (MNA) (No wonder we are in this mess)

Assalam-o-Alaikum
Salary & Govt. Concessions for a Member of NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (MNA)
Ø Monthly Salary : Rs. 120,000 to 200,000
Ø Expense for Constitution per month: Rs.100,000
Ø Office expenditure per month: Rs.140,000
Ø Traveling concession (Rs. 8 per km) : Rs.48,000 (For a visit to ISLAMABAD & return): 6000 km
Ø Daily BETA during Assembly meets: Rs.500
Ø Charge for 1st class (A/C) in train: Free (For any number of times all over PAKISTAN )
Ø Charge for Business Class in flights: Free for 40 trips / year (With wife or P.A.)
Ø Rent for Govt.. hostel any where: Free
Ø Electricity costs at home: Free up to 50,000 units
Ø Local phone call charge : Free up to 1,70,000 calls
Ø TOTAL expense for a MNA per year : Rs. 32,000,000 Ø TOTAL expense for 5 years : Rs. 1,60,000,000
Ø For 534 MNA, the expense for 5 years : Rs. 85 , 440,000,000 (more than 800 Korores)
And they are elected by THE PEOPLE OF PAKISTAN, through a democratic process of this world, not intruded into the assembly on their own or by any qualification. This is how all our tax money is been swallowed and price hike on our regular commodities… Think of the great democracy we have……………
PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO ALL CITIZENS OF PAKISTAN ….WHO ARE GIVING VOTES TO THESE POLITICIANS……?

‘Kary Logar’ ain’t the issue

My article on the ‘Kerry Lugar Bill’ and the crisis Pk faces today – a slightly edited version of which was published in Dawn today as KLB is not the issue

Photo from the demonstration on Oct 11. Courtesy www.dawn.com

Beena Sarwar

As pressure mounted in South Waziristan with the army action, and retaliatory bombings began, a demonstration in Karachi by parties that claim religion as their raison d’etre underscored some key conflicts Pakistan faces: the requirements of justice under due process of law versus tribal, extra-judicial punishments, tensions between the elected civilian government and the ‘establishment’, and conflict between a long-standing foreign policy versus new domestic compulsions.

The demonstration symbolised the two options ahead: the long road towards becoming a modern, progressive democratic nation — or descent into the retrogressive order envisioned by the Taliban and their supporters.

Ostensibly railing against proposed changes in the controversial ‘Blasphemy law’, speakers slammed the ‘Kary Logar Bill’ and its supporters like Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and Pakistan’s ambassador to USA Husain Haqqani. They supported the armed forces’ stand against the Bill (subsequently signed into law, drafted by American legislators for the American, not the Pakistani government, to approve).

The traditional nexus between the religious right and the military is no secret. Superficial divisions surfaced after the army, under Gen. Musharraf, took a U-turn on its traditional pro-jihadi stand following the cataclysmic events of 9/11 but the bond remains strong. They share notions about defending Pakistan’s ideological frontiers and the ‘real enemy’ (India), and distaste for democracy (especially the Pakistan People’s Party).

These views found echo in the cacophony of knee-jerk protests against the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act 2009. Those who went against the tide were dismissed as ‘American lackeys’ – although the military (annoyed at being by-passed this time) has for decades taken far huger amounts of aid with various undisclosed conditions leading to repercussions that reverberate today. But conditionalities were unacceptable when the aid went to social sectors under civilian rule – education, health and energy.

The Act was in the works for nearly two years, since before this government took over, the result of sustained efforts by various people, not least the late Benazir Bhutto, to make America realise it must deal with elected representatives. It is a belated response to the long-standing and justified criticism of past policies of supporting military governments in Pakistan, as acknowledged by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barrack Obama.

Washington is obviously – and understandably – concerned that American taxpayers’ money is not used for illegal and dangerous activities, as any accountable, elected government would be (a good lesson for Pakistanis to learn). The wording of the Act, even after the explanatory note, makes it more difficult to repeat past mistakes. Pakistan must now ensure that the US itself sticks to this commitment and vice versa – concerns based on past betrayals.

The alternative to this ‘enhanced partnership’ is a continued one-dimensional (security-based) relationship with America at the expense of democratic institutions in Pakistan, and continued mediations by countries like Saudi Arabia with even more dangerous vested interests and agendas. Such agendas have directly contributed to a rise in religious extremism, sectarianism, and misogyny in Pakistan, and restrictions in how Pakistan deals with other (Muslim) countries.

The Pakistan army’s protest proved to be a storm in a teacup as some had predicted, but the tantrum did get them more direct military aid prior to the ground offensive in South Waziristan. It also makes it more difficult for the civilian government to take any credit for restarting the economy and for creating a political consensus against the militants.

The demonstration against  ‘Kary Logar’ illustrated the irrationality and anti-Americanism that triggered the anti-Bill wave. Speakers accused America of using the Bill (President Obama had not yet signed it into an Act) to amend the ‘Blasphemy law’ –even though several Islamic scholars and jurists have recommended review and even repeal for the sake of justice and humanity, the essence of the Islam.

Ideally, of course, Pakistan should not require aid. Hardly realistic after decades of dependence but still, a long term goal to aspire towards. Another goal to aspire towards is for the civilian government to control the army and not the other way around.

Pakistan’s armed forces need to focus on the fight against the militants. Public sympathy is swinging in the army’s favour but it will take a lot more to weed out elements sympathetic to the Taliban/Al Qaeda from the ranks of those who were until recently handlers for their jihadi partners.

The armed forces are also still struggling to regain credibility lost during the Musharraf years (hence Gen. Kayani’s stance after taking over as COAS, that no army person would meet politicians without due clearance). But old habits die hard, as evidenced by the politics played during the Sharif-led ‘long march’ and by the covert ‘midnight meeting’ of Shahbaz Sharif with the COAS, which hardly conformed with due process for such meetings laid out by the Defence Ministry.

The daring attack and siege of the GHQ rallied opinion around the men in uniform. Confusingly, this includes religious right-wing parties linked to the very forces the army is pitted against (not so confusing when one remembers the generals who termed the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan as true ‘patriots’ after they offered to fight India in the post-Mumbai attack fallout).

These ‘patriots’ are now attacking targets everywhere, ‘hard’ or ‘soft’. Their ideological brethren in other organisations are mounting attacks in neighbouring countries – most recently, Iran and Afghanistan. Rather than be defensive and deny the complicity of Pakistan-based actors in such attacks, the government and army need to accept this possibility, plan preventive measures, and charge, try and punish those who are arrested. They need to be on the same page and work together for the direction Pakistan needs to move towards. This goes for pro-democracy elements in civil society too.

Pakistan joined this war at someone else’s behest and with someone else’s money decades ago. But right now, the entire country is the battleground and entire population potential targets as underlined by the despicable attack on the Islamic University in Islamabad. We cannot win it with a half-hearted anti-‘jihadi’ stance that sees fit to use ‘good Taliban’ against ‘bad Taliban’ — and unless the ‘establishment’ (army-bureaucracy-intelligence agencies) removes its traditional anti-India blinkers.

A 1991 NYT report, sadly still relevant

Shaheryar Azhar, moderator The Forum, makes some relevant points based on ‘In Pakistan, War Stirs Emotions and Politics’ by Barbara Crossette, Feb 1, 1991, New York Times.

In Pakistan, War Stirs Emotions and Politics

By BARBARA CROSSETTE, Special to The New York Times
Published: Friday, February 1, 1991

Reactions to the American-led war against Iraq have created political havoc in Pakistan, where the Government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been trying to stabilize the country and restart the economy after a year of domestic turmoil.

A rift of unpredictable consequences has opened between the Prime Minister, who generally supports the Saudi Arabian and allied view on Iraq, and the Pakistani military, which is still smarting from the cutoff of American aid in October. [Complete article here]

Azhar writes:

Few lessons stand out in stark relief:

- The Pakistan army was on the wrong side of history in the first Gulf War as it is today on the Kerry-Lugar bill

- The emotional Pakistani public and media, then as now, are always eager to jump on Army’s bandwagon abandoning in a heart beat all pretense at reason, logic and reality.

- Pakistan’s politicians when in power (and thus saddled with the burdens of governing) always seem to take the right course while Pakistan’s politicians when out of power act against their better judgment and also jump on Army’s bandwagon for taking cheap shots at the government. In this example, Prime Minister Sharif played the role that President Zardari/Premier Gilani are playing today on the Kerry-Lugar bill and the War on Terrorism while PPP under Benazir Bhutto played the role that PMLN under Sharif is playing on those two key issues. Notice that the parties of the right never learn and never change. They are the Neanderthals that stalk this poor and blighted land.

- To paraphrase from this story: “In Pakistan, journalism has become the first casualty of the Kerry-Lugar bill.” Self-described ’senior journalists’ like forum member Shaheen Sehbai (this moderator is very sorry to point out) and others like Hamid Mir and Kamran Khan are guided by what? Need one point out?

There is still time for the Army, PMLN and the Media to learn from the past and refrain from upsetting the democratic apple cart. Otherwise we know what happens to those who never learn from the past: They are condemned to repeat it! Shaheryar Azhra, moderator, The Forum

When a kiss is not just a kiss

This tantrum at the Lahore University of Management Sciences about a peck on the cheek is indicative of the mentality (justifying vigilante action against perceived moral transgressions) that led security guards to shave the heads of a poor couple chatting under a tree at Faisalabad (formerly Lyallpur) Agricultural University.

See follow up letter from Ghazala Rahman about the vigilantism and harassment going on in Model Town Park, Lahore

Catch any mullah type condemning the attack on the co-ed (but segregated) Islamic University that killed so many students

DEVELOPMENT-SOUTH ASIA: Women’s Peace Offensive

Analysis by Beena Sarwar

A collective aspiration for peace brings together women from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Photo:Roshan Sirran

KABUL, Oct 18 (IPS) – ‘Give peace a chance’ may just be another cliché for many, but for women who have suffered the ravages of war, endless strife and other forms of conflict, joining hands to find meaningful solutions to their collective aspiration lends it a whole new meaning.

Within the South Asian region, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan have for decades been torn by internal and external conflicts that have cried out for, but have not quite found, a lasting resolution.

“We waited for a long time to see what the men would do for peace,” Zahira Khattak, a member of the think-tank formed by Pakistan’s Awami National Party (ANP), told IPS.

For Khattak and scores of other women in this region, not only has peace proved elusive, they have also been left out of much of the peace efforts by their respective states.

“Why should this be so?” argued Khattak. “For 5,000 years women have been sitting in ‘jirgas’ (tribal councils), at least in Afghanistan. We have ‘jirgas’ all over Pakistan’s tribal areas also, and we thought why not introduce this concept?”

Aware of the repercussions of remaining silent on a host of issues, including peace and security, that affect them as much as men, women today are increasingly raising their voice in a bid to be heard in the corridors of power and at the policymaking levels.

For months now, women from the three states have been strengthening their alliances, which they hope will be a vital bridge to peace in their region. Khattak said that since so many women in these three countries have similar views on peace, “we thought why not get together and make our voices heard by the people in power?”

“There are many suspicions and mistrust between our three countries,” she added, “but sitting together and talking, we find we have so much more in common.”

Their first trialogue in April 2009 in New Delhi was an auspicious start of their collective peace efforts. It followed an all-women peace meeting that activists in Peshawar, capital of Pakistan’s beleaguered North West Frontier Province, convened on Women’s Day, March 8, 2009 – a day they celebrated as ‘Peace Day’, explained Khattak.

Inspired by the results of these meetings, delegates from the three South Asian countries gathered anew early this month for their second peace trialogue. The battered city of Kabul hosted the unusual gathering of women activists, politicians and journalists.

“We are aware we have so many internal problems,” said Indian journalist Jyoti Malhotra in an interview with IPS. “Our armies are conducting operations against their own people. . . . I’m not saying we’ve resolved all the questions or found their answers, but this (trialogue) is a very good start, and it is very necessary to take it forward.”

Ongoing tensions in Afghanistan, worsened by the contentious outcome of its recent elections, are a constant reminder of the need to work together to achieve the elusive dream of a just peace.

“We Afghans are in need of peace,” Afghan parliamentarian Shinkai Karokhel told the gathering. “We suffer from insurgency under the banner of religion or liberation war… We lose our lives, our heritage, our honour, our children, our schools…”

Dr Radha Kumar, director of Peace and Conflict Programme of the Delhi Policy Group, which convened the unconventional ‘aman jirga’ (peace council), summed up the aims of the meeting: to “foster and sustain peace, deal with conflict and post-conflict situations, fight for women’s rights and human rights, ensure women’s greater political participation and make women visible at decision making especially peace negotiation tables.”

The meeting stressed the inclusion of women in peace negotiations, particularly given the threats they face from warring groups and the constant need to assert their rights in the face of repressive laws targeted at them. Speaking at the conference, Afghan activist Nargis Nehan noted that “most of the laws and regulations are drafted by (male-dominated) political parties and government.”

Gatherings like this provide participants with the opportunity to learn from one another. “Afghan women have been bearing this conflict for 30 years,” Pakistani parliamentarian Bushra Gohar of the ANP told IPS. “It is inspiring to hear how they have dealt with it.”

Besides sharing experiences, participants focused on trying to find solutions to their common concerns. Their draft plan of action included working towards a Women’s Peace Commission comprising 15 women from the region, setting up a multi-lingual website to facilitate further exchange of ideas and experiences, and holding a follow-up trialogue in Pakistan some time next year.

“Women can be influential if empowered; we represent not just women but also the men in our lives – colleagues, friends, husbands, brothers, sons,” said federal minister Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli of the breakaway Pakistan People’s Party (Sherpao Group).

While women in the three neighbouring states are slowly building alliances towards peace, they still have to constantly fight for their right to be heard and treated as equals in their male-dominated societies.

Tahirkheli and Afghan parliamentarian Shukriya Barakzai were among the hundred or so women who took part in the first Afghanistan-Pakistan peace ‘jirga’ of August 2007 in Kabul, attended by over 600 chieftains, tribal elders and politicians.

It remains to be seen, however, whether such gatherings will continue to include women. The Aug 2007 ‘jirga’ was supposed to be followed up by a ‘jirga gai’ (executive council) with 25 representatives from both states and held in Pakistan. Although it has yet to be convened, several members have been nominated to it – but without women, noted Tahirkheli.

“Women should be included like they were in the main ‘jirga’,” Tahirkheli told IPS. “Moreover, it should be a continuous process. Regular meetings will bring contentious issues to the table and help us move forward.”

But whether they are included in the planned ‘jirga gai’ or not, the women who trooped to the Kabul trialogue are determined to forge ahead with plans to meet in Peshawar for their third such gathering next year.

Many have stayed in touch with one another, strengthening ties and forging a common bond built on their collective desire for peace. It is also a bond that transcends their differences.

Parliamentarian Nafisa Shah of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party said that women engaged in Pakistan’s Parliamentary Women’s Caucus, which she chairs, “have reconciled with our past and … made our differences far smaller than our common goals.” The caucus brings together women across the party divide.

Such alliances are manifestly no longer confined to Pakistan’s parliament. Within the region, at least among women, broader alliances are taking shape.

The process may not yield any immediate results, but the very fact that it is continuing bodes well for the prospects of genuine and lasting peace in the region.