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Mumbai pays homage to Pakistani activist Sabeen

As an Asia 21 fellow, Sabeen was an advocate for building bridges between India and Pakistan and an activist for free speech within the country.

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People protest the death of Sabeen Mahmud
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To commemorate the memory of Sabeen Mahmud, the free speech activist from Pakistan who was shot dead in Karachi in April, the Asia Society India Centre is organising a discourse on May 15 at Sitara Studios in Dadar. Titled 'Celebrating Dosti and Democracy: Sabeen Mahmud', the event will see discussions, poetry readings and more with regards to freedom of speech, expression and democracy.

The event is said to be attended by noted documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, comedian and writer Varun Grover who has a show called 'Aisi Taisi Democracy', alongside Patchwork ensemble who will be reading out Perumal Murugan's poetry. Murugan declared himself dead as a writer after being attacked by local religious groups.

Danish Hussain, a poet, actor and theatre director known for reviving the art of Dastangoi; an Urdu storytelling art form will be anchoring the event. "The programme is not just about Sabeen alone. It's about providing space to unheard and marginalised voices. It is about alternate spaces that give a platform to these voices to speak for themselves and have a dialogue with people willing to have it. These spaces are of high importance as they showcase the unglamourous and what mainstream is not interested in," he said.

Munizae Jahangir, a TV journalist from Pakistan will also join in the conversation through Skype. The Facebook invite described Sabeen Mahmud as a person who established a not-for-profit organisation "to promote democratic discourse and conflict resolution through intellectual and cultural engagement," called The Second Floor (T2F).

As an Asia 21 fellow, Sabeen was an advocate for building bridges between India and Pakistan and an activist for free speech within the country. In her last hours Sabeen had organised and led a talk titled "Unsilencing Balochistan" in the space at T2F.

“Sabeen was a part of the Asia 21 young leaders and women leaders programs at Asia Society. Through the event tomorrow we are celebrating free speech and democracy. South Asia has seen a spate of incidents - Sabeen's murder, killing of bloggers in Bangladesh and today's incident in Karachi. It is important to have open discussions and confront problems instead of fearing or hiding from them. It is encouraging to see that several programs commemorating Sabeen were held in Pakistan” said Ms. Bunty Chand, Director at Asia Society India Centre who said to have met Sabeen twice.

"After Sabeen's death, a few of us got in touch with the Asia Society with the hope of organising something in her memory, as Sabeen was an Asia Society Fellow. Though the event has been organised by Sitara Studio and the Asia Society, it is also a voluntary affair, with important inputs from Jugal Mody, Annie Zaidi, Chintan Modi, Subuhi Jiwani, many of whom have been to Pakistan and were acquainted with Sabeen's work. Besides this, there are the artists and speakers of course, who are volunteering their time and skills to support the theme," said Shubhangi Swarup, head of programming at Sitara Studio.


Entry free: For details, email: asiasocietyindiacentre@asiasociety.org

 

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