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Archives
Yearly Archives: 2008
Media’s role in war and peace
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
AT a time when the media in India and Pakistan is virtually driving South Asia to the brink of war, it is sad that journalists’ professional bodies have failed to moderate the hype that has been created. The only voice of sanity to be raised was that of 22 editors from the region — only three from Pakistan — in the form of a release issued by Kanak Mani Dixit, the editor of the South Asian magazine Himal (Kathmandu).
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Fading dream of social justice
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
IT wasn’t such a long time ago when a simple, soft-spoken man dressed in khaddar wearing dark-rimmed glasses used to be a familiar figure in Dawn’s office.
He would drop by for a chat to tell us about his social engineering experiments he was undertaking in Orangi, once described as Asia’s largest slum. Whether it was the drainage scheme, the school programme or the health plan he was dilating on excitedly, his zeal was always infectious. It compelled you to visit his projects to learn about them.
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No Time for War: A Call for Peace Amid Rising Nuclear Tensions between Pakistan and India
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: The WIP
Peace activists in Pakistan and India are attempting desperately to be heard above the din raised by warmongers – elitist by all counts and claiming to be patriotic as well – in the wake of the Mumbai carnage. Jingoism is in the air – be it from so-called nationalists (posing as analysts on television) advocating a nuclear attack for the defense of their country, or the man on the street. Be they from Pakistan or India, they speak of war with great abandon as if it is child’s play. For the electronic media it is a race for sensationalism.
• Peaceful protests are being held throughout Pakistan in what many are calling the most significant mobilization for peace in the country's recent history. Photograph by Naeem Sadiq. •
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1 Comment
Posted in Kashmir, Nuclear weapons, Politics, Terrorism and Violence, War and Peace
Tagged India, Opinion, Pakistan
Defeating Food Price Inflation: A Kitchen Garden in Every Home
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: The WIP
Pakistan has been hit by severe food price inflation – the worst in its 61-year history. The prices of many basic food items have more than doubled in the last year and poor families are now spending two thirds to three quarters of their monthly income on their meals alone.
• As food prices rise in Pakistan, some are turning to home gardens to put food on the table. Photograph courtesy of OPP-RTI. •
An Exercise in Self-Help: Pakistan’s Garage School Offers Its Students a Way Out of Poverty
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: The WIP
Anil is now a young man of 19, studying for his high school examinations at Bahria College. He is also working a summer job with a cell phone company to earn a few extra rupees for his family.
• Shabina (standing at left) and her first group of students at the original Garage School site. •
I have known Anil since he was a child, when he joined The Garage School in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi where he lived with his family. The school opened in 2000 when Shabina, an enterprising widow, decided to utilize her garage space to help poor children acquire some education. Anil was amongst the first 15 or so children who enrolled. Today he acknowledges, “Under the discipline and guidance of Madam, my life has changed.”
Female Workers Break Stereotypes in Karachi
On a narrow, unpaved Karachi street that has never had water service, a handful of men were digging a trench recently. They were digging it for their own water line, at their own expense.
For this part of Karachi, that’s normal. But surprisingly, for this part of the world, a woman was supervising the men.
Sabra Khadun has a cold, steady gaze and a stud in her nose. She explains that everybody on the street is donating money for the water line. Continue reading
Futile chase for justice?
Reviewed By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
They Hang 12 women in my
portrait gallery
By Syeda S. Hameed
Women Unlimited,
New Delhi, India
ISBN 81-88965-26-X
183pp. Indian Rs275
Violence against women has now come to be recognised as a widespread phenomenon that has historical antecedents. As many as 69 per cent of women have reported being physically abused by a man in their lifetimes, the UNFPA reports. Hence there have been organised and collective efforts by the United Nations to address this problem in a bid to check it. With so much being said and written about gender-related violence, one would not have expected a book on this subject to shock its readers.
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