Lahore

Cartoon by Bottomline, uploaded by Pebotuwa

Dead men on pitches,
Bullet wounds for scores–
‘Is this the new cricket?’
The gentlemen groaned.

They stopped wearing chest guards,
And switched to bullet proof vests–
They stopped looking at the ball,
In order to drop down just in case–

‘They’ll all be bowled for a duck!’
The fans screamed in the stands–
But the players, didn’t give a fuck,
‘Cos their lives were in the devil’s hands–

When the war came to cricket,
The world stopped and stared–
Not since Munich,
Had someone so dared.

Another war crime painted
Another terrorist escaped
Traces of blame faded
Not one of ’em, could be traced

Oh some of them were captured
And were interrogated in due course
But they never revealed their masters
Not under the worst form of tortures
Because even they didn’t know.

And so the incident passed,
The shock slowly faded,
And soon a movie was made,
That rivalled ‘Machang’ in it’s fame.

Halik Azeez is a Core Group Member of BB, blogs under a pseudonym elsewhere and read this out at the open mic held recently. His views are his own..

BB Pakistan Revival Blog

A few BB-ites in Pakistan have set up a Beyond Borders Pakistan Blog, to reactivate Beyond Borders in Pakistan.

Here’s a few key paragraphs from the Sunniya’s post outlining why she started the blog:

Beyond Borders Pakistan started under British Council in 2003. Several projects were conducted for the welfare of the society and to create awareness about issues like education, health, drug abuse, child welfare, child education, child molestation etc. A group of about 60 individuals from all 4 provinces of Pakistan got together to make a difference. Sadly, beyond borders group disintegrated once funding and support from British Council came to a halt. This happened in May 2006 and slowly all members of BB Pakistan moved on to do individual tasks. However, the spirit of Beyond Borders stayed with each one of us. Some of us managed to stay in touch over the course of the past 2 years and some even tried meeting up and catching up with what was going on with life in general.

[..] we have decided to revive Beyond Borders Pakistan independently without British Council’s support. We have no funding, all of us are in different parts of the world, there is loads to do and somehow we don’t know where to start. So through several talks and suggestions over the last 2 years, we have decided to raise our voices once again. This time we will start by projecting ourselves through the internet and other medias. This blog will be a platform for raising our concerns, debating issues and getting our voices heard.

And inshaAllah we believe that one day Beyond Borders Pakistan would be in full action again and together we will be able to make a difference. [link]

As of now Beyond Borders functions in Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh as youth-led voluntary organizations working on issues related to the themes of Identity and Diversity and Active Global Citizenship. Beyond Borders was set up as a learning and networking project by the British Council. Find more about us here. If you like what we do, join us!. Changing the world can be fun.

“WAKE UP!!!” A campaign against honor killings

Violence against women takes a dismaying variety of forms, but the worst form which snatches away the lives of millions of women each year are “honor killings”. For a lot of women in some parts of the world, the prospect of an honor killing is a bitter reality.  Each year, uncountable amount of women are killed, burnt, sold, exchanged and handed out to different tribes for compensation for a conflict in the name of honor.

From thousand years, women suffer in the form death……..which to their men is restoration of the man’s honor.  Women even faintly suspected of an ‘inappropriate’ relationship face hideous forms of violence. They are stoned, shot, beaten until death, and attacked by axes by their brothers, fathers, husband and even cousins.

Women keep on being victims to this merciless tradition and shed their blood for a custom which has not assigned by any religion, any culture, but only an imagined honor.

WAKE UP!!! Campaign against honor killing is a movement which aims to bring small changes in the lives of these victims of ‘honor’. Targeting around 5000 people, the campaign would work towards raising the voices of those women around the world who have been forever silenced by these hideous customs.

WAKE UP!!! is currently at work here in Pakistan; soon we will be launching its website for online membership for international change agents. For the moment you can support by,

• Joining our Facebook group and showing solidarity with the cause.

• Helping us spread the word about the campaign by posting this information (emails, blogs, etc.)

• Writing in your thoughts and your feelings about this crime for our campaign e-newsletter.

•  Participating in discussions, or if you know of a community affected by “honor killings” then by sending us more information,  pictures, or videos.

• Identifying as a Change Agent! in the cause against honor killings

To get involved in the campaign or for more information  please contact khalidabrohi_traditional@yahoo.com

WAKE UP invites you to be a part of this Global campaign and be the change agents against honor killing!!!
–  Khalida Brohi.

Khalida is deeply involved in the WAKE UP!!! Campaign working with Participatory Development Initiative, an organization based in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. She’s also an action partner for Oxfam International Youth Partnerships where she had her first interaction with Beyond Borders.