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aman ki asha Destination Peace

INTERNATIONAL

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Wednesday, January 2, 2013

AN INITIATIVE OF THE JANG GROUP AND THE TIMES OF INDIA

COMPETITORS, NOT ENEMIES

The spirit of Aman ki Asha is embodied in the gesture of an Indian who gives a Pakistani a free ticket to the
first Twenty20 cricket match between India and Pakistan in Bangalore

Pakistan cricket fan, Mohammad Bashir from Chicago, holds a paper which reads Please I
need one ticket India Pakistan match as he stands in front of the Chinnaswamy Stadium, the
venue of first Twenty20 cricket match between India and Pakistan, in Bangalore, India, on
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012.

Sometimes, calamities
unite us more

By Ilmana Fasih
s thousands of people on both
sides of the India Pakistan border
mourned the death of the Delhi
gang rape victim, someone commented on Aman ki Asha Facebook group: Well, the Delhi rape
proceeds from a common mindset. The negatives unite us just as well as the positives.
Sometimes, calamities unite us more,
came a response.
The conscience-shaking brutal rape and
subsequent death of the anonymous student
from Delhi (who is referred to by different
names by various sections of the media) has
made us rethink how common our pains are.
Beyond this tragic incident, looking
through the e-newspapers from the subcontinent, there is hardly a day without some incident of rape being reported. Be it the gruesome gang-rape of a medical student at a bus
stop in a megacity, or a six-year-old girl raped
by local goons in a village, or a girl raped
while partying with friends in the posh area of
another city, or a teenager gang-raped and
then asked to patch up by accepting money or
marrying one of the rapists in a town. Can you
guess which side of the border each case belongs to? The scenarios differ, cities differ, but
the crime remains the same. The mindset
stays identical. Age is no bar. Infancy upwards, one finds women and children of all
age groups being subjected to rape and sexual abuse.
Unfortunately this is one situation where
the human race seems to have achieved a no
barriers of age, color, creed or class, the
world over.
Hard to digest, but rapes are on a steep rise
in the subcontinent.
In 2011, 568 rape cases were reported in
Delhi, and 459 in 2009 (National Crime Reports Bureau) .The figures given by Delhi Police reveal that a woman is raped every 18
hours or molested every 14 hours in the capital.
Similarly in Pakistan, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, estimates that every two
hours a woman is raped in Pakistan and every
eight hours a woman is subjected to gangrape.
The Additional Police Surgeon, quoted in a
2008 newspaper report, estimated that at least
100 rapes are committed in Karachi alone
every 24 hours, although most are un-reported.
If these are the statistics of two megacities,

B R I E F S

Mohammad Bashir (second left) reacts as Indian fan Sudheer

Kumar (right), shouts slogans while talking to a television
reporter in front of the Chinnaswamy Stadium, the venue of
first Twenty20 cricket match between India and Pakistan, in
Bangalore. Photos: Aijaz Rahi /AP

The conscience-shaking brutal rape and subsequent

death of the anonymous student from Delhi is not Indias
issue alone and the grief is not for one case alone

Bakht Arif: A cry from the heart against human violence and apathy. Listen to Bakht Arif, from Pakistan,
from that side of the international border. She sings for all the Zinda Lash, here, there and everywhere - ,
Bakht Arif, from Pakistan, sings Zinda Lash for Patronizing Indian Politicians (No, Dont Listen to Honey Singh),
Kafila.org, Dec 26, 2012
one can fathom what would be the situation in
the other smaller towns and villages. It is well
known that the majority of the rapes in India,
Pakistan and other South Asian countries are
never reported, and just a handful of the perpetrators are ever punished.
The tragedy is amplified when inane solutions are offered like: Women should not go
out late at night or Women going out late
night should be accompanied by a male. In
the Delhi gang rape case, the solution of an
accompanying man clearly failed.
Women are advised not to wear western
clothes, or more ridiculous not to eat chow
mein or not to carry mobile phones with
cameras. Some even advise women to not report the attack if there are not enough witnesses.
But none of this well-meaning advice takes
into account why rapes occur. It is not because
the woman was dressed so, or walked alone
on the street late at night, or was attending a
party with her friends or ate a certain kind of
food. No. Rape occurs because some men

want to rape. And why do some men want to

rape and not others? Rape is the culmination
of a series of systematic experiences that a
man is exposed to, from infancy to manhoodin which he is told, with or without so
many words, that he is stronger, and a woman
is not just weaker, but a commodity at his disposal. Rape is a way to display power and superiority.
So long as this mindset persists, legislation
and punishment will never be enough of a deterrent. This tends to get overlooked in all the
outrage at the gruesome details of the Delhi
gang rape, that has led to demands for the
severest of punishments, even public hanging
for the perpetrators.
Without undermining that tragedy it is important to remind ourselves of the countless
cases of rape and sexual harassment that are
routine on both sides of the divide. Those
who survive suffer psychological trauma,
often far from the media limelight, mostly in
silence.
Rape survivors are often pressured by the

Mekaal Hasan Band India

tour 2013
ekaal Hasan Band is touring India
with shows in Ahmedabad, Mumbai,
Delhi and Jaipur with original line
up of Javed Bashir on vocals, Mohd Ahsan
Papu on flute, and Mekaal Hasan on guitar.
Dates and venues are:

Jan 5th 2013, Karnavati Club,

Ahmedabad
Jan 6th 2013, Natraj Gardens, Mumbai
Jan 8th 2013, Blue Frog, Mumbai
Jan 13th 2013, Blue Frog, New Delhi
Jan 14th 2013, Siri Fort Auditorium,
New Delhi

Indian cricket fan Sudheer Kumar (fourth left) gave Mohammad Bashir (third left) a ticket for
the match free of cost. Here, they hold the flags of two countries joined together in front of the
Chinnaswamy Stadium before the first Twenty20 cricket match between India and Pakistan.

police or local goons to hush up the matter either, to accept money, or worse still, marry the
rapist. Many commit suicide, or live with permanent scars. The rapists often roam scot
free, posing a threat to the survivor who does
not even dare to raise her head for justice.
Insisting on the death penalty in an isolated
case that has shaken people cannot be a solution. Studies have shown that the certainty of
punishment, rather than its severity, is a
greater deterrent to crime.
We also need to look towards at preventing this crime rather than just push for a punishment after a case gets highlighted.
Foremost, each of us, irrespective of gender, which empathises with the Delhi student
who was gang-raped, or any other faceless
rape victim, needs to strive to ensure every
woman in our sphere of influence feels secure
and gets due respect. One of the signs of evolution in human beings is the neo cortex which
enables us to restrain behaviour and train our
minds. We need to use it to ensure that we
dont force anything upon any woman or indeed anyone in a more vulnerable position.
Secondly, we need to empower girls with
the right information and stop making rape a
taboo issue for their innocent minds. It is
more important to teach a girl to be assertive
than to try and protect her. Look up as you
walk and stand up straight; pretending as
though you have two big panthers on either
side of you as you walk may sound silly, but it
can help boost confidence, suggests a self
help site on rape prevention. Attackers are
more likely to go for those who they think cannot defend themselves.
Given that over 90% of the perpetrators are
known to the victims, girls (and boys) must be
taught that if they feel uncomfortable with anyones touch - even if it is an uncle, a cousin or
a friend they must trust their gut and not let
it continue. Thirdly, if we cannot change the
mindset of some grown men, we can at least
guide our sons, right from babyhood, to respect women and not consider them a commodity that is available. Last but certainly not
the least, for those who cannot change their
mindsets, a real need for certainty and not the
severity of punishment to the rapist, as a mode
of deterrence, is mandatory.
Shocked after the demise of the Delhi
paramedical student, I tweeted: Her sacrifice
must no go in vain. Let us rise to make violence against women a history. Knowing the
scale of the menace, this may be wishful thinking, but we need to keep striving to make it a
reality.
The writer is an Indian gynaecologist
married to a Pakistani, a proud Indian
Pakistani dreaming of a peaceful, healthy
and prosperous South Asia.
ilmana_fasih@hotmail.com.
She tweets @zeemana

Best wishes for the year that has

just begun to all our readers and
supporters. May 2013 be kind to
everyone, especially India-Pakistan
relations
Aman ki Asha

HOME-BASED WORKERS

A cross-border
collaboration
epresentatives of the inter- their organisation with the relevant
nationally recognised Self government department, as a Union,
Employed Women Associa- Association, or Community Based
tion (SEWA) Academy, Organization.
India, visited Pakistan for the first
Namrata Bali stressed the need
time, and conducted a workshop in to strengthen womens initiatives to
Lahore to train home-based workers build peace in the region and
from around Pakistan.
strengthen the poor, marginalized
HomeNet organised
the three-day training
held last week, led by
SEWA Academy Director Namrita Bali, Program Coordinator Sapna
Raval, and Trainer Rema
Kapur, along with Renu
Golani, Program Manager, HomeNet South
Asia.
Home-based workers
from eleven cities in
Pakistans
four
provinces attended the Indian and Pakistani home-based workers unite
training, aimed at build- in Lahore. Photo: Rahat Dar
ing leadership and organising capacities.
sections of society. Her message for
Organisers hope that sharing the Aman ki Asha was to open doors for
success story of the SEWA move- women to learn form each other and
ment and information about organi- utilize South Asian resources to build
sational strategies will help home capacities.
based workers in Pakistan to
HomeNet Pakistan intends to
strengthen their own movement.
continue the collaboration with
Ume Laila, Executive Director SEWA to organize more trainings
HomeNet Pakistan explained how for women home-based workers
home-based workers can register in Pakistan.

Pakistani lawyers book on Sarabjit Singh

akistani advocate Awais Sheikhs book "Sarabjit Singh: A case of mistaken identity" is being launched in
India, in Delhi on Jan 5, Amritsar 6th, Chandigarh 7th, Jaipur 9th, Lucknow 11th, Patna 13th, Kolkata
15th and Mumbai 17th.
The people of South Asia have suffered because the governments of Pakistan and India have failed to shed
their legacies of hatred and mistrust to forge ties of friendship and cooperation, writes well known journalist Zubeida Mustafa in the preface.
One victim of this failure has been a man called Sarabjit Singh. According to the author of this book,
Awais Sheikh, Sarabjit, who has been charged with espionage and has languished in a Pakistani prison for 22
years, is actually a case of mistaken identity. What is more important is that it emerges clearly that Sarabjit
has not received a fair trial. The quirks of international relations and a flawed legal system have combined
to determine the unhappy fate of this man. Justice demands that it must not be so.
A 22-member Pakistani delegation expected to participate in the book launch along with Awaish Sheikh,
includes lawyers, businessmen, and other India-Pakistan peace activists. Their travel depends on the visas
coming through in time, which at the time of writing, are still not certain.

Advocate Awais Sheikh

THE FIRST STEP

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A peace initiative whose time has come...

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Destination Peace: A commitment by the Jang Group, Geo and The Times of India Group to
create an enabling environment that brings the people of Pakistan and India closer together,
contributing to genuine and durable peace with honour between our countries.