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The News International, Wednesday, April 21, 2010 AN INITIATIVE OF THE TIMES OF INDIA AND JANG GROUP OF PAKISTAN

Dear hate-mongers:
Sirf Aman ki Asha nahin hai!

Arts across borders:

a series of conversations
Since Aman Ki Asha started on Jan 1, 2010, Ive been having conversations with friends on either side of the Pakistan-India border. This is the first of a series related to cross cultural exchange in the subcontinent.
Shafqat Amanat Ali: We must all take that small step toward friendship

hafqat Amanat Ali: His hits include critically acclaimed successes such as Yeh Hosla haad Ali: The talented young director of popfrom the film Dor; Karan Johars film Kabhi ular Bollywood films like Saathiya (2002), Alvida Na Kehna and My Name is Khan both had Bunty Aur Babli (2005) and Jhoom Barabar musical hits sung by Shafqat, Mitwa and Tere Jhoom (2007) is the son of director/ producer Naina respectively. Muzaffar Ali, whose film Umrao Jaan with Rekha I asked him what he thought of the controversy informed an entire generin Bollywood over using Pakistani singers and muations aesthetic. The sicians such as himself, Atif movies songs still resAslam, Rahat Fateh Ali, Strings onate, and the atrocious and so on. pronunciation of Urdu by He says this is a controversy Urdu poetess and courtecreated by a minority of singers san Umrao played by and musicians in Bollywood, who Ashwariya Rai in a rehave a right to their own opinion. cent remake was the But mostly there are those who topic of much indignant want peace -- and a larger talent water cooler and drawpool to choose the right voice for ing room talk: people the right song. spoke about the older It makes sense to bring people version as if they together in friendship and toward owned it. The love for greater cooperation. Those who are all things Bollywood is against friendship are the supportundeniable, and this ers of terrorist acts in either counodd sense of propritry, he said. People who want peace, such as Karan Johar, went etorship that classic against the critmovies invoke, is a Shaad Ali: Any kind of ex true measure of the good except violence change is transcendence of the arts across borders. I asked Shaad about his personal experience with the cross-border exchange. My dai lives in Karachi and we've been in touch and very normal about it ever since I can remember. I love Wasim Akram and Imran Khan. I love Bakra Kishton Pe, and just saw Part 3 last night! In fact, I wanted to cast Umer Sharif in Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. I met him, finalised him but it didnt happen because he backed out for some reason. I asked whether, in future, he would consider using Pakistani singers like Karan Johar has done with Shafqat Amanat Ali and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, or whether he worries that it might cause more controversy that ace the message of pe may affect projects negatively. e want to spread The only music I heard from 1994 through R.M. Naeem: W ics and used voices from Pakistan, a very big 1996 was Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I have no issues or problem at all, yaar -- Im a global child step! Getting an icon like Amitabh Bachchan on and the world is my home. Id like anyone and everyone to work together. I think any kind of ex- board the Aman Ki Asha initiative will definitely change is always good, anything but violence make a big difference. We all hope this will con-

By Zarminae Ansari

tinue. I dont know what change will happen due to Aman Ki Asha, but we all have to take that small step toward friendship and at least be able to say that this is MY contribution. We made a UNDP documentary called Moving Closer. The Fuzon video of the song Deewane with the Bollywood start Urmila Mandotkar was based on this. This was our contribution. We can say we stepped up, made the effort and whether or not it makes a difference- we took a step a step toward moving closer.

porary artists, he uses digital prints that satirise pop-culture. He has participated in leading international art exhibitions and his work has been collected by major museums and galleries around the word. He often uses tiny pixelated images from aspects of Pakistani pop-culture -such as the obsession with Bollywood, patriotism, identity and extremism to create larger images and an even larger socio-political comment. One of his widely acclaimed digital prints about the Pakistan Day Parade, All Eyes Skywards shows .M. Naeem: R.M. Naeem, the deep contradictions in originally from Sind, who mainstream Pakistani socimade Lahore his home ety which is as passionate after studying at the National about patriotism as about College of Arts, Lahore. He runs Bollywood. The larger an artist residency program image is created with pixcalled Studio RM Residency. He els of smaller images, strongly believes that artists can which on close examinanow create a new, positive image tion are actually images of of Pakistan. In his last residency Bollywood films and acprogram, they had artists from tors creating the image of the region including Sri Lanka, spectators at the parade but were unable to get the Indian with their eyes raised to artists across after the the sky. Mumbai attacks. Rana, or RR as he popThe residency proularly known as, says that gram is an effort to create Rashid Rana: When allowed to meet he is actually better known a dialogue through visual freely we make relationships across the border than in arts, send a message to - Photo by Vipul Sangoi Pakistan. In fact, he is the world that if these five rated as one of the top ten contemporary artists artists can paint, live, talk about different issues under one roof, to sell in India. He credits this to a small incithen why not extend this experience to dent in 2003 when visas were relaxed between the rest of the country? We want to the two countries and he decided on a whim to spread the message of peace. I had so go to India for the weekend. There, he met cumany things in the pipeline with Indian rator Pooja Sood. On a later trip with his stugalleries before the Mumbai attacks. If dents, he met her again and was invited for a you have stable economic and political solo show. The rest, he says, is history. When people are not allowed to meet freely conditions then you can plan and act accordingly and have better chance to thats when we make incorrect statements grow. We need visionaries to guide our about each other. When allowed to meet freely nation. I want to give an ad in every we make relationships. Give me a restriction fee magazine and paper for such a vision- visa regime between the two countries and I guarantee you peace between the two nations. ary, he laughs ruefully. There is no other way. ashid Rana is such an acclaimed, and award-winning international artist that it The writer is an Islamabad-based arseems unfair to refer to him as belonging chitect who first formed friendships with to one place. However, he is mostly based in La- Indians as a teenager while studying at the hore. One of Pakistans leading young contemUnited World College in Canada Kashmir, a vibrant student movement represents the aspirations of thousands of Kashmiri youngsters. It is called the Jammu Kashmir National Students Federation (JKNSF) and is a vocal opponent of jihadi camps in the region. The outfit never finds a mention in the mainstream Pakistani media. Many of its activists have allegedly been abducted by agencies in the past. JKNSF posters featuring pictures of Bhagat Singh and Che Guevara are a common sight at most rallies. Danish Khan, a Kashmiri student, says: For most outsiders this is a unique phenomenon, but for the youth of Kashmir the life and struggle of Bhagat Singh is a source of inspiration and motivation. They see Pakistan as an occupying force just as Bhagat saw the British. In Balochistan, five military operations have been carried out against the nationalists. Thousands of Baloch activists have been picked up and remain missing. This year, some members of the Baloch Students Organisation gathered at Shadman Chowk to pay homage to Bhagat Singh, who is a source of inspiration to them too. Students and Leftist organizations arent the only ones endorsing Bhagat Singh ideals. Throughout the lawyers movement (2007-2009), responsible for the ouster of President Pervez Musharraf and politicisation of a large cross-section of Pakistani society, Bhagat Singhs slogans and the poems he would often recite such as Ram Prasad Bismils Sarfaroshi ki Tammana were often heard during the rallies. Umer Chaudhry, a young lawyer from Lahore who was at the forefront of the protests, says: In our part of the subcontinent, we conveniently forget the role played by non-Muslims in the struggle against British colonialism. The same fate befell Bhagat Singh. That he was supported by [Muhammad Ali] Jinnah is never mentioned in the textbooks. It is not surprising though. Bhagat Singh, a symbol of resistance, could never be the hero of a government that doesnt represent its people. In the search for an identity, many have gone outside the decadent ideologies manufactured by the status quo. One such search for an ethos of peace and an end to religious intolerance and liberty from oppression manifests itself in the adoption of Bhagat Singhs ideals and the revisiting of his legacy by many Pakistanis. It wont come as a surprise if in the coming years more Pakistanis discover Bhagat Singh and begin to question the social order of things. If that happens, then we might even succeed in rescuing these valuable figures from obscurity and make their ideals a reality. Younas Chowdhry younas.chowdhry@gmail.com Courtesy: Tehelka.com

n March 23, there was a commemorative event in Lahore that ran contrary to the official discourse of the countrys history or rather, it was disowned altogether. Nevertheless, it cuts through Pakistans admixture of religiosity and nationalism. Some 30 defiant demonstrators stood for hours in the middle of Shadman Chowk, an affluent neighbourhood in old Lahore, through the afternoon, braving the scorching sun. The demonstrators comprised students from various universities of Lahore, civil society activists, factory workers, communists and even little children. It was at the same spot 79 years ago that Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were executed by the British government on March 23. The gallows of the nearby camp jail were housed here at the time. What remains now is a small roundabout with a fountain. Holding placards and chanting such slogans as Zinda hai, Bhagat zinda hai (Bhagat is still alive), We salute Bhagat Singh, Har zulm ka ek jawab, inquilab inquilab (Revolution is the answer to all oppression), they demanded that the Chowk be renamed Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk and declared a national heritage site. The protesters even installed a red signboard that read Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk. The organisers of the event said they decided to install the signboard themselves

A common hero
Bhagat Singhs legacy of liberty and social justice is being invoked by Pakistani civil society to fight for their rights.
after requests to the local N a z i m (mayor) and the government to do so went unheeded for years. The protesters remained there till sunset and departed after a candlelight vigil. Reviving Bhagat Singhs ideals is a necessity in Pakistan, where masses live in abject poverty and suffer from religious intolerance and imperialism, says Sonya Qadir, a student activist and participant. His legacy is a reminder that we are all human and deserve to be free from all oppression. This was no isolated event. The figure of Bhagat Singh, despite being ignored in all mainstream textbooks, has long been regarded as a symbol of resistance by a variety of groups across Pakistan. On March 23 last year, at a seminar on the subject of missing persons in Lahore, Punjab University student Amir Jalal walked up to the dais and delivered an impromptu lecture on Bhagat Singhs execution and sacrifice. As he finished, the audience ob-

Demonstrators in Lahore lobby to re-name Shadman Chowk after Bhagat Singh Shaheed. Photo by Rahat Dar served a moments silence in his memory. Bhagat too is a missing person and we need to find him in order to find ourselves, says Jalal, a PhD student. I felt compelled to speak out about him. Jalal used to be the convener of the now defunct University Students Federation (USF), formed in 2008 to oppose the Islami-Jamiat-e-Tulba (IJT), the student wing of the Islamic hardline group, Jamaat-e-Islami. Punjab University has been an IJT stronghold since it was installed during President Zia-ulHaqs dictatorship to suppress progressive, left-leaning and peace-loving student organisations. The USF brought this to the attention of the government and media, forcing the government to take action. Jalal adds: The USF endorsed the values of secularism, pluralism and democracy. We drew our inspiration from the ideals of Bhagat Singh, among others. We often discussed him during our study circles. In Pakistan-administered

assured you wont get any. Peace mythis guy No One Lives On No must be in Bombay to do Mans Land recce for his ISI brothers Living in No Mans Land This time from dushman is not just any mans job. India! Nevertheless, what reWhen trapped amidst the ally intrigues me in these mircrossfire of Hate, cynicism is ror image emails from across culture, jingoism is the jargon the border is the sense of bigand apathy the attitude: Toler- otry, mistrust, fear and prejuance is a very intolerant idea dice that the respective secuand Peace, like War, is serious rity apparatuses of both India business. Hence, a face-off and Pakistan have injected and with Difference is not for the catalysed in the sentiment of diffident. each others populace. I can To absolve myself of any interchange RAW and ISI charges of snobbery, let me in such messages from Pakclarify that I dont istanis and Indians make these proclarespectively, without mations from any essentially changing position of authority. the meaning. Neither can I claim As the wellto be a peace acknown writer tivist like some of Muhammad Hanif my respected menaptly put it: Both tors, nor do I feel I the agencies have have adequate intelhad a brilliant record lectual capital to construct of creating mayhem in the profound theories of conflict. I neighbouring countries. Both am just an adman, a struggling have a dismal record when it songwriter-singer, a rambling comes to protecting their own intermittent writer, who is ex- people. (The Times of India, tremely proficient in receiving January 9, 2009) and returning Facebook Consequently, these agenfavours. My thoughts are pri- cies have hijacked or at least marily rooted in my varied per- somewhat overshadowed the sonal experiences as a nascent representative identity of their student of human behaviour or own nations in the imagination at most someone who day- of the other. And, to such an dreams about Peace. extent, that even a harmless This is not another prosaic artist/adman can be misconUtopian narrative about how strued as a (double!) agent unbounded love for the other and can generate scepticism in exists on both sides of our bor- the nave desi mind just beders, the similarities of our cause he talks Peace has composite South Asian cul- Peace become so unimaginable ture, my Trinity College desi that it ironically invites and stirs experience or the various trips unnecessary jingoism? Maybe I to meet close friends and work should just stick to romantic lolin beloved India. Or how I lypop songs. have received numerous heartArre bhaya, yes, I was in ening letters, e-mails and Mumbai for a recce -- but for heartfelt warm songs and music messages from videos only! And pacifists, romanif I was an ISI tics, peaceniks, agent bhai, you idealists, regionwouldnt find alists and young I will keep dig- that out anyDesis across the ging deeper and ways! Dont you globe after my understand the previous idealis- fight for Peace, game plan? Why tic article A would we need proud Lahori at believing that it them if we didhome in Bombay may or may not nt hate each (The News, other? They Aman ki Asha arrive within my would be out of page) and peace lifetime, and jobs! Dude, I No anthem feel bad for hoping that Saazish, No them. They have Jang (up on my actually become Aman ki Asha website). Its my friends, will one day since I am often time to play Side B the bad bitter their radar. transform into on In side I rarely bring fact, I say up. dump just Aman lets Peace and beShahvaar Ali Khanna/ come even stauncher enemies Shevi Singh RAW Indian so their business thrives. agent Aakhir unn ke bhi biwi My email inbox is infested bachey hain! with hate mail from some of my dearest fellow countrymen, The Funeral of Hate who obviously love me just as Your hatred might or might dearly. Honestly, it seriously not melt now. The choice benever mattered to me whether fore me is very clear. Do I I was a Khanna, a Singh or want Quaid-e-Azam M.A. Jinnah, Jaganath Azad and Faiz even a Kahn. Ahmed Faizs Democratic-Plural-Secular-Welfare Nation Tu Hindu banega, na Musalman banega State of Pakistan that wants Insaan ki aulaad hai, Peace within and without? Insaan banega Or will I let the Theocratic Sahir Ludhianvi Conservative-Islamic-National Security State of Zia-ul-Haqs, Most of us inherit our reli- Maulana Maududis and Zaid gion by accident. I am no Hamids of the world have the anomaly. What we perhaps better of me? I have made my dont inherit is civility. Thats decision. Its time for my felan acquired taste. low Pakistanis to make theirs. So at the risk of sounding Indian friends can decide beclichd, why do I need to tell tween Gandhiji and Nathuram you that My Name is Khan Godse. and I protect my identity with I know that the funeral of a vengeance? Why should I Hate is a distant dream. have to regurgitate my loyalty Nonetheless, with a spade in to my own country in essays, my hand and hope in my casual discussions and other heart, I will keep going against podiums, when discussing my the grain till utopia arrives. I rather congenial experiences will keep digging deeper and in and with India? Why should fight for Peace, believing that I have to wear the proud Pak- it may or may not arrive istani badge on my already within my lifetime, and hoping green and white sleeve? Why that Aman ki Asha will one should I have to prove my love day transform into just for my country, where I was Aman. Thats exactly why born and raised and where I Mujhe sirf Aman ki Asha nurtured all my dreams? Why nahin hai! do I need to tread a cautious Stay tuned for more stories path sometimes on the fringe of hate from No Mans Land. of apology when arguing for Obviously, for some, hate is pluralism and regionalism? more exciting and spicy than And, for the sake of argument, Peace. why cant a Hindu Khanna or Peace Zindabad, Pakistan a Sikh Singh be a Pakistani? Zindabad! Why do you need to call me Khanna to make me an InThe writer is a peacenik dian agent? Cant a Khan be and ad man currently an Indian? Dont you watch working on his music movies? Or at least, cricket? album including a peace You must have at least started anthem No Saazish, following ladies tennis now! No Jang, and two feature I dont owe you any of film scripts. Email: these explanations, and rest khanshahvar@gmail.com

By Shahvaar Ali Khan

DESTINATION PEACE LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK

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A peace initiative whose time has come... 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.