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Wednesday, October 1, 2014

We are brothers and sisters,

closer than friends Dr Sunil Jogi

S
By Raja Zahid A. Khanzada

A leading humorous
poet and head of
the Hindustani
Academy in India
talks about his
desire for peace
between his country
and Pakistan

unil Jogi, a humorous poet from

Uttar Pradesh, India, was recently in Dallas, Texas, to participate in an Urdu-Hindi
mushaira held here recently, where he held
the audience enthralled with his witticisms and poetry.
I caught up with him afterwards for an exchange of views
on India-Pakistan relations. Dr
Jogi, 42, who obtained his PhD
in Hindi from the prestigious
Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi, is
Chairman of the prestigious autonomous Hindustani Academy,
revived earlier this year after a gap of
nearly two decades. Founded in 1927 with
Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru as its first chairman,
it propagated Hindi and Urdu, giving awards
to litterateurs in recognition for their contributions to Hindi and Urdu.
The lively young poet has served as a private secretary to Indias Parliamentary
Speaker but refuses to take part in television debates and talk shows because they
increase hatred, as he says.
The lively young poet has served as a private secretary to Indias Parliamentary
Speaker but refuses to take part in television debates and talk shows because they
increase hatred, as he says.
He participates frequently in mushairas
in India and abroad, up to two dozen a
month, he estimates. This takes a toll on his
family life; he misses spending time with his
two-year old daughter, but it is a sacrifice he
gladly gives.
He wants to see everyone smiling and
to see love in everyones hearts, regardless of caste or religion. About India and
Pakistan he says, We are brothers and
sisters, closer than friends. We have
boundaries but this will not break our relationship. Those boundaries are about
politics but the thing to realise is that
when a terrorist strikes he doesnt see
how many Hindus died and how many

Dr Sunil Jogi: If I am invited to Pakistan, I will surely go. Photo: Nizar Ali
Muslims, how many Christians or Sikhs.
lahs. We all know what is right and wrong,
Asked about the impression in Pakistan
all religions want peace.
that Indian political leaders dont want
He believes that the people have the
friendship with Pakistan, he firstly dispels
power to change such politicians. The
the notion that he himself is a politician.
media are the most powerful resource and
I am a poet, writer and human being. As
can play a role in bringing peace to the refar as politics is concerned, there will algion, he says, but unfortunately their focus
ways some people who will foster hatred for
is on power politics and disturbances rather
their own vested interests otherwise their
than giving voice to those who want peace
shop will close. If the masses send them the
and friendship.
clear message that this wont work, they will
What about the impression that India
change their behaviour. The divisions come
doesnt want friendship with Pakistan, espefrom terrorists, mullahs and pundits, alcially after the Indian Foreign Secretary canthough we also have good pundits and mulcelled talks at the last minute recently?

Shabnam Virmani and Vipul Rikhi perform and lead

discussions at the Kabir Festival.
Photos: Maha Salman, Bilal Ahmed Khan

screened on Tuesday, interweaves the folk music traditions of Kabir with the life and music of the late
classical singer Kumar Gandharva.
Wednesdays film Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein:
Journeys with Sacred and Secular Kabir focuses on
the life of Prahlad Tipanya, a Dalit singer. The story
that unfolds shows how the Kabir Panth sect deifies
the mystic weaver who spoke his poems in the market place, while the social activist group Eklavya appropriates his secular aspects.
The last film Chalo Hamara Des: Journeys with
Kabir and Friends interweaves the stories of Indian
folk singer Prahlad Tipanya and North American
scholar Linda Hess. The film journeys through song
and poem into these two lives, brought together in an
unlikely friendship by the cross-cultural resonance
of Kabir.
The festival also features sessions like the one
by activist and teacher from Mumbai Chintan Girish
Modi on Tuesday titled The Brave Parrot and the
Partition: A Kabir song and Stories of
Confliction Resolution.
The session draws inspiration
from a song in the oral traditions of
Kabir, about a parrot who rushes to
rescue her beloved tree in a forest engulfed by fire. Through this parable,
Chintan invites participants to reflect
on the connections between this
story and the Partition of 1947. Other
sessions include Mantos Dekh Kabira Roya, a
reading by Raza Naeem, as well as Bhakti and Baul
poetry and songs by Shabnam Virmani and Vipul
Rikhi.
The session Seeking the Beloved on Wednesday
focuses on the stories of five famous folk legends of
Sindh through the poems of the Sufi poet Shah Abdul
Latif Bhitai, with Vipul and Shabnam drawing on their
forthcoming book I Saw Myself based on the poetry
of Shah Latif and Kabir in Kutch. The session involves
story telling, video clips, conversation and song, illustrating some of the texts through live music.
Thursday, Oct 2, features a session on Womans
voice in Mystic Poetry, raising questions about
whether these poems reflect the limitations of traditional gender roles, and reinforce them, whether they
defy binary gender identities, or both.
The festival ends with a Sufi and Bhakti evening
presented by Shabnam Virmani and Vipul Rikhi.
This is the first time that the Kabir Project is being
shared in Pakistan so extensively. The festival is
open to students, faculty, and community members
interested in the world of mysticism, film making,
and literature.

Kabir, shown on Monday, journeys through song and

poem into the politics of religion on both sides of the
border in India and Pakistan.
Koi Sunta Hai: Journeys with Kumar and Kabir,

For details about the Kabir Project, see

www.kabirproject.org. To attend the festival,
email: kabirfestival@gmail.com.

Kabir in Lahore

The four-day Kabir Festival in Lahore

ending on Thursday features the
acclaimed Kabir Project from India

four-day long festival in Lahore celebrating

Kabir Das, the revered 15th century poet and
mystic who defied the boundaries between
Hindu and Muslim, ends on Thursday.
The Kabir Festival (Sep 29-Oct 2, 2014) has been organised by the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Lahore University
of Management Sciences in collaboration with the
Kabir Project in India, a unique
and acclaimed initiative by documentary filmmaker and musician Shabnam Virmani.
The aim is to promote the
philosophy of spirituality and
harmony through film screenings, live musical evenings, photo
and video exhibitions, storytelling, and interactive sessions.
The performers include classical
Girish
an
and folk singers, scholars, artists, Chinti: sharing life
od
and students of Pakistan and M s through stories
on
India, who share a passion for the less
mystical world.
The festival features the well-known documentary
series on Kabir that has been years in the making, one
each evening, followed by question and answer sessions with the director Shabnam Virmani.
The first film Had-Anhad: Journeys with Ram and

AMAN KI ASHA BOOKSHELF

he peace process between India and Pakistan

took off with Vajpais offer of CBMs in October
2003 and initially showed a great promise. However,
by spring 2006 there were signs of a deadlock in official negotiations between the two sides.
Then back channel dialogues were started to remove those hurdles and according to some reports
the two sides had reached to a non-paper resolving
all conflicting issues including the longstanding
Kashmir conflict. But that non-paper never emerged
from the backchannel.
This book sheds powerful light on these develop-

THE FIRST STEP

LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK

Feedback, contributions, photos, letters:

Email: amankiasha@janggroup.com.pk
Fax: +92-21-3241-8343
Post: aman ki asha c/o The News,
I.I. Chundrigar Road, Karachi

India Pakistan Peace

Process:
A Strategy for Removing the

Deadlock in the Peace Process

By Saeed Ahmed Rid

VDM Verlag Dr. Mller

September 24, 2010

ment and suggests the ways and means for removing the deadlock in the peace process. The original contribution of this book lies with its fresh analytical perspective on India Pakistan conflict - a
combination of conflict resolution, conflict transformation and constructivist approaches in peace
studies.
Saeed Ahmed Rids book will be of immense interest for any academics, students, policy makers,
diplomats, journalists, politicians and general readers with an interest in India Pakistan relations and
want to see a durable peace in South Asia.

Please do not get this impression, because that person belongs to one party, he
responds. This is not the voice of all the Indian people. India means all the people in
India, not only the government or some political parties. If someone gets 25 per cent of
the vote they can become PM but what
about 75 per cent who didnt vote for them,
more then half the people in India dont vote
anyway. Prime Minister Modis electoral
win, he believes, was due to his development agenda as much as the peoples disenchantment with a decade of inept rule by
the Congress.

When the price of onions rose from

Rs 5 to Rs 80, people were angered. They
are not blind, adds Dr Joshi. They can
see that the village farmer gets Rs 5 price
for his tomatoes that are being sold at Rs
80. Unemployment was the highest it had
been in ten years.
People want change and Modis party
reaped the benefit. He did not win because of being against Muslims or Pakistan. The people did not vote for or
against Muslims or Pakistan.
If Modi works more than 18 hours a
day for the nation, Ill salute him. If be
builds a road or provides electricity and
other utilities, they are for everyone, not
for Hindus or Muslims.
How can we bring India and Pakistan
closer?
We must give a message of peace,
which will bring more opportunities. I really want to go to Pakistan, he says. If I
can come to the United States why can I
not go to my neighboring country? If I am
invited to Pakistan, I will surely go.
The United States or China are not
going to resolve our problems, he adds.
We have to do it ourselves, a billion people in India, 180 million in Pakistan, 140
million in Bangladesh. If we come together, nothing can come between us.
Everyone should be able to go and participate in programmes in Lahore, Delhi,
Kashmir, exchange sweets at joyous occasions
He urges the India and Pakistan governments to encourage people who want
peace and love to visit each others country. Lets invite Bollywood stars, poets,
songwriters, to spread this message and
work together against terrorism.
The writer has an MBA, and Masters
in Political Science and Sociology. He is a
correspondent for Jang and Geo, based in
Texas, USA.
Email: zahid.khanzada@gmail.com

Turn disaster
into opportunity

AJK civil society urges the governments

of India and Pakistan to open LoC to send
relief goods to Kashmir Valley

Nature knows no boundaries. File photo/PTI

he governments of
India and Pakistan
must allow the people
of Azad Jammu and
Kashmir to send immediate relief goods for the flood-affected
people across the Line of Control (LoC), urged participants
at a meeting organised by the
Centre for Peace, Development
and Reforms (CPDR) in Islamabad recently.
The meeting aimed to analyse the post-flood situation
across the LoC and develop understanding about generating
collective civil society response to similar natural catastrophes in future.
A joint institutional mechanism across the LoC is imperative to save the precious lives
of people of LoC, said Amjad
Yousaf, Executive Director
Kashmir Institute of International Relations, Islamabad.
Participants agreed that
there is an urgent need to establish joint disaster management across the LoC, and to
share real time information for

timely responses to avoid the

loss of lives. The AJK government faces serious capacity issues and government institutions lack vision and strategy to
confront unseen catastrophes,
said participants in a statement
released to the media.
It appears that AJK government has not learnt much from
the earthquake of 2005 and
there is a need for more effective preparedness, said Ershad
Mahmud, Executive Director
CPDR. International charity,
welfare and relief organization
must be given immediate access across the LoC so that
they can help the marooned
people of Kashmir, said the participants, stressing that politics
must not hinder rescue and relief activities.
Zulfiqar Abbasi, founder
President, Joint Chamber of
Commerce and Industries
(JCCI) said that the JCCI could
play a vital role to support the
flood-affected people and that
this disaster could be turned
into opportunity if permitted by

Islamabad and New Delhi.

From the other side of LoC,
speaking via Skype Y.V.Sharma,
President, Jammu & Kashmir
JCCI expressed deep concern
for the devastating effects of
the unprecedented floods
which have caused havoc on
both sides of the Line of Control. The J&K JCCI would
make all possible efforts to
support traders affected by the
floods and to advocate for the
immediate resumption of the
trade, he said.
He appealed India and Pakistan to immediately repair the
road network connecting Azad
Jammu and Kashmir with Indian-administered Kashmir so
that trade and travel could be
resumed. Those attending the
meeting included Ambassador
Arif Kamal, Tahir Aziz from
Conciliation Resources UK, Dr.
Syed Waqas Kausar, Saleem
Bismil, ex-Secretary AJK Government, and research scholar
Rukhsana Saaid, among others.

A peace initiative whose time has come...

aka

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.