Tag: activist

  • Sheema Kermani expelled from British High Commission event for chanting ‘Ceasefire Now’

    Sheema Kermani expelled from British High Commission event for chanting ‘Ceasefire Now’

    Classical dancer and activist Sheema Kermani was “ejected” from an event held at the British High Commission in Karachi for raising a slogan in favour of the people of Gaza.

    Ms Kermani, founder of Tehreek-i-Niswan, was invited for an event in the High Commission to celebrate the birthday of King Charles III on Friday with many other artists also present. “They were all congratulating the British Government and the royal family without any mention of the atrocities taking place in Gaza. I just had to do what I did. I couldn’t stay silent. Sadly, when the other guests saw me being thrown out and my leaving, none of them, not even one of them, decided to also take a stand and join me,” she told Dawn.

    Sheema raised the slogan of “Ceasefire Now” as the speakers were making speeches and sending congratulatory messages to Britain. Security personnel instantly took charge and tried to force her out of the event. “That’s when I asked them to not touch me as I would see myself out,” Ms Kermani stated after the regrettable incident.

    A spokesperson for the British Deputy High Commission responded to the incident by saying that Ms Kermani was shouting during “an important speech about climate change in Pakistan by the British Deputy High Commissioner”. It was then that the “security personnel came forth to stop her from shouting. But then she left on her own. So it won’t be correct to say that we threw her out.”

  • Author Arundhati Roy to be prosecuted in India for 2010 speech

    Prolific writer Arundhati Roy, the only non-expatriate Booker prize winning author of The God of Small Things, is one of the most high-profile critics of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a voice for the voiceless in her country.

    Amidst the dire situation of press freedom in India, the author may face prosecution for a speech she delivered in 2010 about Kashmir, as per media reports. A top-official in New Delhi, VK Saxena, has given approval for the case to proceed before the courts. According to Saxena’s directive, Roy and her co-defendants were allegedly advocating for the secession of Kashmir from India at a public function and that is enough evidence for a legal case.

    Under the Modi Government, sedition laws are often used to curb the freedom of expression and journalism, raising a question over the so-called biggest democracy’s principles. Added to that are PSA laws exclusive to Jammu and Kashmir which allow detention of individuals “preventively” for up to two years, without a trial or warrant. In IOK, a number of journalists have been held in detention.

    The revocation of Article 370 ensuring the special status of Kashmir on August 6, 2019, has caused voices like Roy to become more loud. “In Kashmir when we wake up and say, ‘Good Morning’ what we really mean is ‘Good Mourning,’” exclaimed one of the characters from her novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Her house was besieged when the speech became public and the complaint that lodged against her has now proceeded after 13 years.

    Roy, now 61, has always been fearless in her expression and is known for her work as a journalist, activist and a novelist. Her work is a scribbled protest whereas her speeches and the articles she reads in conferences is vocal dissent in the face of oppressors. In one of her famous speeches, she voices out the basic facts of Kashmir’s reality that “it is not an integral part of India and even the Indian Government has accepted this years back in the UN.” Her latest book Azadi Freedom, Fascism, Fiction is an honest account of the situation of minorities, Dalits and activists in India.

  • Jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi wins Nobel Prize

    Jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi wins Nobel Prize

    A jailed Iranian women’s rights advocate, Narges Mohammadi, is the winner of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her fight against the oppression of women and advocacy for social reform.

    She was awarded the prestigious prize on Friday, while she is till behind bars, for her efforts to promote human rights and freedom for all”, as stated by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

    “Her brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs. Altogether, the regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes,” head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, said in Oslo during the announcement.

    51-year-old Mohammadi is an Iranian human rights activist who has played a leading role in the campaign for women’s rights and the abolition of the death penalty in the country.

    She is currently serving a number of sentences in Tehran’s Evin prison, adding up to about 12 years of jail, including charges of spreading anti-state propaganda.

    Mohammadi is the deputy head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, a non-governmental organisation led by Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

    The New York Times approached her after she was named the winner. “I will continue to fight against the relentless discrimination, tyranny and gender-based oppression by the oppressive religious government until the liberation of women,” she stated.

    “I also hope this recognition makes Iranians protesting for change stronger and more organised. Victory is near.”
    On the contrary, Tehran has accused the Nobel committee of politicising the issue of human rights.

    “The action of the Nobel Peace Committee is political move in line with the interventionist and anti-Iranian policies of some European governments,” Nasser Kanaani, a spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said.

    “The Nobel Peace committee has awarded a prize to a person convicted of repeated law violations and criminal acts, and we condemn this as biased and politically motivated,” he added in a statement carried by state media.

  • ‘I wrote a letter to PM Khan about women’s rights in Afghanistan, have not received any response’: Malala Yousafzai

    ‘I wrote a letter to PM Khan about women’s rights in Afghanistan, have not received any response’: Malala Yousafzai

    Nobel Peace Prize laureate and education activist Malala Yousafzai, during a conversation with Dawn News programme, ‘Live with Adil Shahzeb’, said, “I wrote a letter to the prime minister about women’s rights in Afghanistan but so far have not received any response.”

    Anchorperson Adil Shahzeb questioned Malala on girls’ education, a cause she has been advocating and supporting for years. Malala expressed her worry over the situation in Afghanistan.

    “The current temporary restriction on girls’ education [in Afghanistan] shouldn’t turn out to be as long as in their (Taliban’s) first tenure [in the government], when the ban stretched for five years,” she said, adding that she feared something similar. “We don’t want a repeat of their previous rule.”

    When asked about Pakistan’s role for girls’ education in Afghanistan, she said “I am very much hopeful that Prime Minister Imran Khan would … champion [the cause],” she said, urging him to push the Taliban to ensure female education and women’s rights in Afghanistan.

    Speaking about the Taliban in general, the Nobel laureate said, “One should not differentiate between the good and bad [Taliban] as their thinking is the same — of repression [and] forcing their own laws,” further adding, “I do not see any justice system in their governance, but Islam is based on [the principles of] justice,” she said.