KARACHI: At ‘Unsilence Pakistan: A Tribute to Sabeen Mahmud’, the murdered activist was remembered first under the fading light and then the starless night sky at Arts Council’s open-air auditorium. It was an event of tear-filled eyes, of choked throats, of reminiscent nods and of fond memories left behind. An event where Sabeen’s legacy was carried on.

It was fitting then that the opening speaker was mentor Zaheer Kidvai – the man who saw Sabeen become the woman she became.

“Never have I seen a woman more capable of doing whatever she set herself to do,” said Kidvai. “She wanted to change the country, she wanted to help.”

Two speakers later came writer Muhammad Hanif, bringing with him all of the wit he is renowned for. “We journalists are told to add the word ‘alleged’ before any fact we are not sure of or when we want to protect someone’s reputation,” he started off. “So when the journalists in the audience publish this tomorrow, please add the word ‘alleged’ wherever you see fit in order to save me.”

But that light humour and sharp wit was only building up what he was going to say next; a rhetorical question – half to himself, half to the audience – that lingered uncomfortably in the thoughts of all who heard it. “Sabeen’s last show was ‘Unsilence Balochistan’ and this one is ‘Unsilence Pakistan’. I don’t know whether this is a step forward and we are now trying to cover the entire country or whether it is a step backwards and we are afraid of highlighting Balochistan,” he said, before perhaps answering his own question. “I guess some part of us is scared.”

Like most of Hanif’s monologues, this too included topics and individuals unpublishable – discussing the greed, corruption and fear mongering of media moguls, the army and religious leaders – but too often he struck close to home. “Balochistan is a topic that we must avoid in order to survive in this country,” he said. “And those who raise it outside the country are branded traitors.”

The wit of Hanif gave way to the passion of bonded labour activist Veeru Kohli and Baloch rights activist Mir Muhammad Ali Talpur. The latter was part of the talk at T2F after which Sabeen was gunned down on April 24. “That day we were the ones who talked about Balochistan, and she was the one who paid the ultimate price,” he said, a voice filled with emotion and perhaps misdirected guilt. “But it is something that needs to be talked about. As they say, ‘What you allow is what will continue’. “Wo shaks hi kia jo der jaye halaat ki khuni gardish se. Us daur me jeena lazim hai jis daur mei jina mushkil ho.”

Talpur did, however, have a parting warning for ‘those who are destroying Balochistan’. “Though the mills of God grind slowly. Yet they grind exceeding small.”

Professor Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy took the stage shortly after. “I was introduced to Sabeen some 15 years ago,” he said. “But I stand not alone in being hurt at her murder. I wanted to criticise certain organisations but they told me to instead focus on the National Action Plan.”

Hoodbhoy’s words, direct and upfront as they were, may have earned him the ire of some. “Interior minister Chaudhry Nisar said that 10% of all seminaries are promoting and instigating terrorism in the country. That is an alarming large number but it highlights the government’s weakness that they backed down on their decision to take action against such institutes on Fazlur Rehman’s demands.”

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan director IA Rehman was the last speaker on the night. “I am happy to say that Sabeen’s work continues,” said the 85-year-old. “They took her life but they cannot take away her work and her ideas.”

However, Rehman bemoaned the streak of violence present in Pakistani society. “Once we used to hide our murderers, now we flaunt them with pride,” he said, before taking a gander at the reason for this increase in bloodshed. “Non-state violence is nothing more than the reflection of the state’s violence.”

As the clock ticked towards the event’s end and the last of the speaker had left the stage, it was clear that the echoes of Sabeen rang as loud, clear and proud as they ever had; but after hearing the speakers highlight the plethora of problems facing Pakistan, the echo seemed but hollow in this festival of chaos.

Express Tribune

KARACHI: The Concerned Citizens for Peace (CCP) is holding a public gathering today (Saturday) at The Arts Council, Karachi, from 6pm to 9pm to commemorate the late Sabeen Mahmud, founder of PeaceNiche and T2F (The Second Floor), and to pay tribute to the other fallen heroes – journalists, workers, and activists – who have been silenced for standing up for justice and freedom of expression in Pakistan.

Sabeen was murdered on April 24, 2015, as she was returning home after organising a discussion on human rights abuses in Balochistan. Her assassination was not the first of its kind, and it took place on a continuum of such developments in Pakistan, along with legal and policy measures that are poised to infringe on civil liberties, such as the action in aid of civil power, Pakistan Protection Act, setting up military courts, and now the proposed cybercrime bill. Speakers at the gathering will address key areas where freedom of speech and those who exercise this freedom are particularly at risk.

There will be talks and recitations by writer and women’s rights activist Amar Sindhu, professor and educationist Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy, literary figure and activist FahmidaRiaz, journalist and digital rights activist Farieha Aziz, actor Fawad Khan, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Director IA Rehman, Baloch rights activist Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur, bonded labour activist VeeruKohli, friend and mentor of Sabeen Mahmud ZaheerKidvai and journalist and novelist Mohammed Hanif.

Sounds of Kolachi, a collaborative musical project, will perform resistance songs at the end of the event.

Farieha Aziz, director of Bolo Bhi, has said that the proposed cybercrime bill will directly impact the freedom of expression of Pakistanis.

“The cybercrime bill will affect the average user’s entire activity on the Internet.” Aziz said. “Sending someone an email without getting their permission first could become a crime. In addition, the PTA has been given the power to wipe out anything it considers objectionable from the Internet.”

Journalist and author Mohammed Hanif, who will be speaking at the event, recently highlighted the dangers for journalists in a video message recorded for the CCP.

“A trend has started to silence voices that are unpopular in certain quarters,” Hanif said. “Some voices are bought into silence, some are given jobs to silence them; some are silenced by not giving them a platform. If you are a journalist in Balochistan or the tribal areas, your expected lifespan becomes half that of the average Pakistani’s. Dozens of our fellow journalists from these areas have either been killed, or have left journalism, or have been forced to leave the country.” However, Hanif said we must not think that with the silencing of Sabeen’s voice, the whole city of Karachi should go dumb with fear. “It is critical that we come together,” he said.

Daily Times

Gunmen on a motorcycle attacked activist Sabeen Mahmud, the director of The Second Floor (T2F) on April 24 in the Defence area, as she was leaving her cafe, where she held art exhibitions and talks, just after hosting a discussion on disappearances in Balochistan.

The investigators found spent bullet casings at the scene but drew a blank.

“That suggests that a new group or new weapon has been used in the killing,” said a law enforcement official, requesting anonymity.

Police said their only witness is Ms Mahmud’s mother, who was with her and was wounded.

The investigators suspected that the killers had a back-up team of two men on a motorcycle and the police were examining the CCTV footage.

Desperate for clues, they were monitoring social media in hopes that loose talk could provide a lead, said another senior law enforcement official.

Ms Mahmud had told friends that officials of the Inter-Services Intelligence visited her in 2013 to ask about her work and finances, the law enforcement official said.

She had recently asked friends if she should go ahead with the Balochistan talk, he added.

The army condemned her killing, saying its intelligence agents would help in the investigation.

Human rights workers have not been reassured.

“There’s a lot of fear among the people, about whoever speaks out about Balochistan, what’s going to happen,” said Rukhsana Shama of the rights group Bedari. “It’s easy to point fingers at the agencies but no one knows.”

Third party

The first law enforcement official said her killers might have taken advantage of the tension between the authorities and Ms Mahmud over her Balochistan activism.

“Our hunch is that some third party exploited the standoff,” he said, suggesting India.

The case was unlikely to be solved if any security agency was behind it, the first official said.

Suspicion that Pakistan’s intelligence community was somehow responsible for the killing, in a bid to silence dissent, is dangerous to national security, said political commentator Moeed Pirzada.

“It is of vital importance that intelligence agencies work hard to expose the murderers, to restore trust between the state and its most aware citizens,” Pirzada added.

Series of protests from Thursday

Civil society on Tuesday decided to organise a series of protests from Thursday against Ms Mahmud’s killing, adds our staff reporter.

Participants in a meeting held at the Karachi Press Club decided to campaign for the fair and speedy investigation into Ms Mahmud’s murder.

“We the concerned citizens for peace held a meeting at the KPC in protest over the assassination of Sabeen Mahmud, a champion for love, peace and free speech,” said a statement. “The participants at the meeting also decided to hold a series of protests, first of which will be held on April 30 outside the KPC at 4pm.”

The people demanded justice for Ms Mahmud and that her killers be arrested and brought to trial, said the statement.

It added that a series of protests would take place every evening from 8-9pm at Clifton’s Teen Talwar.

“We appeal to all those who believe in justice and peace and are concerned about the violence in the city to participate in large numbers,” it said.

Daily Dawn

ISLAMABAD: Outrage against the murder of director of The Second Floor (T2F), Sabeen Mahmud, shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Karachi on Friday, continues with Sunday seeing more world capitals demanding from the government that the perpetrators should be swiftly brought to justice and citizens guaranteed their constitutional right to freedom of expression.

Canadian High Commissioner Heather Cruden in a message said that her government looks forward to a full investigation by Pakistani authorities. “We hope the Sindh government will identify and bring to justice those behind her murder and this attack on free expression, “she added.

While extending her sympathies, Cruden said the Canadian High Commission was deeply saddened by the murder.“Sabeen Mahmud was a passionate advocate of the arts and of freedom of expression. Ms. Mahmud was the architect of The Second Floor or T2F, a centre for culture, arts and discussion in Karachi. Her loss will be felt by this and generations to come,” she said.

The European Union Delegation to Pakistan in a local statement while condemning Sabeen Mahmud’s killing said in a statement, “The EU Delegation calls on Pakistani authorities to ensure that the perpetrators of this cowardly act be swiftly brought to justice. All citizens of Pakistan must be guaranteed their constitutional right to freedom of expression and to engage in democratic debate freely and without fear.”

Earlier, the US embassy had also “strongly condemned the murder”, and offered “deepest condolences”, but its statement fell short of demanding that Sabeen’s murderers be brought to justice.

Meanwhile, media reports quoted the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman as saying, “We categorically deny involvement in the murder of Sabeen Mahmud.”Acting President Raza Rabbani has ordered immediate arrest of the killers within three days while seeking a detailed report from the Sindh government.Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has already directed the Sindh police to investigate the assassination.

The News

KARACHI: Sabeen Mahmud, the respected human rights and free speech activist was killed by unidentified gunmen on Friday, April 24 in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city. Mahmud, who was founding director of T2F community centre, was shot around 9pm as she was on her way to home with her mother after hosting an event ‘Unsilencing Balochistan” on the disappeared people of Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province.

According to the police reports Mahmud was intercepted by armed men in two motorcycles, who opened fire from both sides of her car. She was fatally injured with bullets that went through her shoulder, chest and abdomen. Her mother was also injured in the attack and is recovering.

She was the director of The Second Floor knowingly T2F a café and arts space that has been a foundation of Karachi’s activists since 2007. T2F, described as a community space for open dialogue.

The murder has been widely condemned by people from all walks of life.

Pakistan Press Foundation

The post Prominent Human Rights and Free Speech Activist appeared first on Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF).

KARACHI: Sabeen Mahmud, social media campaigner and human rights activist who founded the social forum T2F, was shot dead on Friday evening, minutes after the end of an interactive discussion ‘Unsilen­cing Balochistan’ organised by her and attended by journalists and rights activists, including the founder leader of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, Abdul Qadeer Baloch.

Karachi-South Deputy Inspector General of Police Dr Jamil Ahmed ruled out the killing as result of a mugging attempt and said she had been attacked deliberately but he could not share any possible motive.

“She was returning home with her mother in a car after the seminar she had organised on Balochistan,” he said.

“It’s an incident of targeted killing, but we are not aware of any threats she had been receiving. The investigations are on and it would be too early to speculate about the motive behind the killing,” the official said.

Defence police SHO Kansan Dean said pillion riders on a motorcycle attacked Ms Mehmud and her mother on Sunset Boulevard in DHA Phase-II after they had left the T2F in a car. Both of them suffered bullet injuries and were taken to a nearby private hospital where doctors pronounced Sabeen dead.

Her mother was shifted to the Aga Khan University Hospital.

The body was taken to the Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre for post-mortem.

“She sustained four bullet injuries on her face, neck and chest,” police surgeon Dr Jalil Qadir said. Her autopsy, conducted by senior medico-legal officer Dr Nasreen Qamar, also showed injuries on her arm and shoulder that might be bullet exit wounds, added the police surgeon.

Half an hour before her murder, Sabeen Mehmud’s Facebook status read: “Unsilencing Balochistan (Take 2) with Wusatullah Khan, Mama Qadeer, Farzana Baloch and Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur. Moderated by Moneeza Ahmed.”

“It appears that an attempt is being made to silence human rights defenders or those who take up the causes of the people,” the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Chairperson Zohra Yusuf said after the incident.

“This is a shocking event for the city and citizens as T2F has been providing a space to the people to express their views,” the prominent rights activist said. On Thursday at 6.30pm, Sabeen Mehmud had also organised a seminar about the Balochistan situation, she said.

“It was the same seminar which was organised by LUMS (Lahore University of Management Sciences) where three speakers – Mama Qadeer, Farzana Majeed and Mohammed Ali Talpur – were the same, but it was cancelled under alleged pressure of ISI,” the HRCP chief said.

“It can’t be said categorically that her murder was linked with this event,” Ms Yusuf said.

“As Ms Sabeen has been consistently providing the space of T2F to discuss the issues of human rights, cultural diversity etc due to which she had received threats, prompting her to hire the services of a security guard,” she said.

“She was trying to promote liberal and rational thinking, which is lacking in society,” said Ms Yusuf.

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, who is in charge of the home ministry, sought a report about the incident and ordered the city police chief to arrest the killers.

Karachi police chief Ghulam Qadir Thebo formed a special team, headed by a DIG, to investigate the murder, according to a spokesman.

Dawn

The post Rights activist shot dead after seminar on Baloch issue appeared first on Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF).