Comparing Pakistan with Bangladesh: Is South Asia Moving Toward Secularism?

Bangladesh has recently upheld a decision to ensure the separation of politics from religion. Arshi Saleem Hashmi, member of SAVE Pakistan, compares the situation in Bangladesh with that of Pakistan in a new article published by the Institute of Regional Studies, arguing that Bangladesh is creating the secular state that Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, envisioned for his country.

BANGLADESH BAN ON RELIGION-BASED POLITICS: REVIVING THE SECULAR CHARACTER OF THE CONSTITUTION

The decision of the Bangladesh Supreme Court regarding the ban on religion-based politics must be seen in this historical perspective. It reflects the ideology of the country’s founding fathers and has restored the original Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. Following the SC Appellate Division’s decision upholding the High Court's landmark verdict of 29 August 2005 that declared the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment (1979) illegal, the ban on formation of political organizations based on religion was restored. The verdict also paved the way for ensuring secularism as the “cornerstone” of the Constitution. The Supreme Court decision vacated the stay it had granted the then BNP-JI-led government the same day that the HC judgement was announced in August 2005. (The SC Appelate Division’s verdict, which was issued in January 2010, became trapped in an appeals process until 29 July 2010.) According to Bangladeshi Law Minister Shafique Ahmed, carrying out activities of any political party based on religion is a punishable offence under the Special Powers Act. Political parties and other organizations using religion as their guideline stand banned with the annulment of the Fifth Amendment.

In the wake of this verdict, the Election Commission of Bangladesh, on 26 January 2010, asked the three religion-based parties — Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh, Khelafat Andolan and Tarikat Federation — to amend their charters as they were in conflict with the supreme law of the land.

It is important to note that unlike Pakistan, in Bangladesh, the Awami League gave the nation its first constitution within one year of independence, based on the four cardinal principles — secularism, nationalism, socialism and democracy. Bangladesh became the third major Muslim country to officially embrace secularism after Turkey and Tunisia. This way a secular state that Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, had in mind when he spoke on 11 August 1948 about the basic characteristic of the newly independent nation-state Pakistan, Bangladesh in 1971 fulfilled his dream by separating the affairs of the state from religion.

Mohammed Ali Jinnah envisioned Pakistan not as a place for the ingathering of all Muslims from distant lands the way Israel sees itself regarding Jews, but as a place where Muslims of the subcontinent could feel safe economically and politically. It has very clear geographical limits, not really what today’s Islamists desire to make Pakistan as a political centre for the Muslims all over.

The most quoted and clear speech in terms of what Jinnah had in mind for Pakistan, is when on 11 August 1947 speaking in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, he stated:

There is no other solution. Now what shall we do? Now, if we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous, we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor. If you will work in co-operation, forgetting the past, burying the hatchet, you are bound to succeed. If you change your past and work together in a spirit that everyone of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this State with equal rights, privileges, and obligations, there will be no end to the progress you will make. I cannot emphasize it too much. We should begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all these angularities of the majority and minority communities, the Hindu community and the Muslim community, because even as regards Muslims you have Pathans, Punjabis, Shias, Sunnis and so on, and among the Hindus you have Brahmins, Vashnavas, Khatris, also Bengalis, Madrasis and so on, will vanish. Indeed if you ask me, this has been the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain the freedom and independence and but for this we would have been free people long long ago. No power can hold another nation, and specially a nation of 400 million souls in subjection; nobody could have conquered you, and even if it had happened, nobody could have continued its hold on you for any length of time, but for this. Therefore, we must learn a lesson from this. You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State. As you know, history shows that in England, conditions, some time ago, were much worse than those prevailing in India today. The Roman Catholics and the Protestants persecuted each other. Even now there are some States in existence where there are discriminations made and bars imposed against a particular class. Thank God, we are not starting in those days. We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State. The people of England in course of time had to face the realities of the situation and had to discharge the responsibilities and burdens placed upon them by the government of their country and they went through that fire step by step. Today, you might say with justice that Roman Catholics and Protestants do not exist; what exists now is that every man is a citizen, an equal citizen of Great Britain and they are all members of the Nation. Now I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.

Pakistan went on enforcing its religious identity where religion became everything, from domestic to foreign policy to culture to social issue to personal; becoming very much the business of the state. Bangladesh pursued, at least in the beginning what Jinnah had envisioned about the new Muslim State in the subcontinent.

To read the full article by Arshi Saleem Hashmi, follow this link.

Radio Deradicalization Campaign Broadcasts in Pakistan

Radio is one of the most widely used forms of mass communication in Pakistan. A new program is using the incredible potential of this medium as a way to foster non-violence and tolerance within society.

The Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) and the Radical Middle Way (RMW), a UK-based organization, set on air an FM Radio Deradicalization Campaign in Pakistan in national and regional languages on 1st March 2011. The PIPS has collaborated with the RMW to produce and disseminate this campaign as part of its Deradicalization Plan (2007-13). The purpose is to counter the extremist ideologies at societal level by creating awareness among the people about Islamic messages of peace, tolerance, religious harmony, peaceful co-existence and social welfare.

This campaign, which is totally non-political and non-sectarian in its content and objectives, includes 36 programs in Urdu, Punjabi, Pashtu and Potohari languages which are classified into following four themes: Talk shows series; Radio drama series; Radio feature packages; and Lectures. The campaign is currently being broadcasted, at its first stage, in major cities of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa by leading local FM radio outlets.

Recordings of the selected programs will be soon placed at Pak Institute for Peace Studies’ website www.san-pips.com.

SAVE Yemen Thoughts on International Women's Day

A member of SAVE Yemen reflects on the unstable situation in the country and remembers the women of Yemen who will not be celebrating International Women's Day this year.

Tomorrow, March 8, women worldwide will celebrate the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. These women celebrate women’s successes and all their political, social and economic achievements. This global event is meant to connect all the women around the world and to highlight the inequalities that need redressing.

Yemen is going to celebrate it too and join the global events that will take place on such an occasion. However, this year and particularly at this time, things are different here. Despite all the challenges that it faces, Yemen lives in a historical and critical moment.

The Yemeni people are on alert as the wind of change has swept from Tunisia and Egypt to Yemen. Like other Middle Eastern countries, young people are the fuel of these new revolutions. Protests in Yemen (in Sana’a, Taiz, Aden and other Yemeni cities) become semi-daily and protesters’ camps occupy squares in those main cities. Killing and injuring protesters has darkened Yemeni lives but also pushed them to continue protesting.

In such an atmosphere, there is not much to say about March 8 and the desire to celebrate it becomes even less. In Yemen at present, people have stopped talking about pressing issues like illiteracy, poverty, unemployment or terrorism. The people, old and young, talk about change and how to topple Saleh’s regime. I wanted to collect some voices on the occasion of International Women’s Day, but all they wanted to talk about was “revolution” and “ousting the current regime”. One of my male colleagues ridiculously commented "what about having International MAN Day"!

In fact, I do not remember when Yemen started to celebrate International Women’s Day, but I have attended a number of these celebrations over the past few years. I do still remember last year’s celebration. It was a big conference in which women from all walks of life in Yemen came and participated. A number of papers were presented. Most of the papers were gender-based, addressing issues like inequality in political, social and economic life. I met a number of extraordinary and pioneering Yemeni women. On March 8 2010, I met Jennifer from the German embassy to whom I introduced SAVE Yemen and who then introduced SAVE Yemen to Yemen Gender Network and other activities. Jennifer has just left Yemen but on such an occasion I cannot forget such a wonderful woman, who is not a Yemeni, but she has given a lot of her time and effort to lift up the status of Yemeni women. Such women make us, Yemeni women, feel connected with other women globally.

"This International Women's Day, we should go to any village in Yemen and live one day with those hard-working women, honor them and show them some appreciation."

However, despite the advantages of celebrating the March 8, it saddens me that the majority of disadvantaged Yemeni women are left out. It saddens me that in these events, I just see those few educated and elite women. This is not representative of the majority of Yemeni women.

In Yemen the majority of women are illiterate and live in rural areas where they are less connected with media and information sources. Those women won't celebrate the March 8. They have simply never heard about this day, so it is meaningless to them. Actually many Yemeni women would be surprised to know that some countries observe the March 8 as a national holiday.

I feel deeply sad, not because of the meaninglessness of March 8 for most of Yemeni women, but for the hardships they still live in. These women are vulnerable because they are deprived of proper education, of access to health services, of economic independence, and of political and social empowerment.

I was talking to one of my friends who happened to be in Abyan (a Southern Yemeni governorate) where she met local women. Those who follow Yemeni news will know Abyan as a place where a number of terrorist incidents took place. I was really shocked to hear from her how the illiteracy of those women was exploited. The women were providing the terrorists with food and shelters without knowing their bad intentions. The women were simply told that they were guests, and as such they had to give them hospitality (hospitality to the guest is a must and a feature of Yemeni culture. It would be an insult if a guest received no hospitality). Those women live with guilt after knowing they hosted the killers and attackers. "I cannot believe I have indirectly taken part in killing innocent people. I will live with this guilt forever. We are simple illiterate women; we do not know how to differentiate between the terrorist and the innocent. We do not have a clue and nobody has advised us," one of those women explained.

Looking at such a tragic story, it re-enforces the importance of working with mothers. A global initiative that SAVE began last year under the Mothers for Change! campaign calls for counter-terrorism initiatives to work closely with mothers.

Finally, apart from holding conferences, workshops and similar events on International Women’s Day, I wish to celebrate it differently and do something concrete for women who are in need of support and empowerment. For example, if we could just go to any village in Yemen and live one day with those hard-working women, honor them and show them some appreciation.

I just wish on the day of 8th of March that we could connect the Yemeni women with their sisters around the globe - every Yemeni woman would wait for such a day impatiently. Will this day come?

SAVE Indonesia: Celebrating mothers on International Women's Day

A statement from Lily Zakiyah Munir, SAVE Indonesia coordinator

Women are pillars of the Nation; if they are good, so is the Nation;
If they are bad, so is the Nation.

The above saying of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has inspired Indonesian women to engage in a movement to promote peace. Through the Mothers for Change! Campaign, Indonesian women envision to nurture peace in society starting with the smallest social unit, our family. We believe that women and mothers are the first school for children, through whom peace values are implanted and nourished.

As change agents for peace, women should undoubtedly be peaceful individuals themselves. They would not be able to radiate peace to others if within themselves there are seeds of anger, frustration, or hatred. They should let go all burdens and negative feelings and come out as forgiving and positive-thinking personalities. Through participatory, reflective sessions of our Mothers for Change! workshop, this was made possible. In the quiet time, where there was no disturbance or interference, women contemplate and communicate with their inner hearts. Slowly and quietly, they unveiled problems encountering them in life. Story telling was an effective method to share problems with others, and peaceful minds will be achieved as a result.

Hearing the stories of these mothers for change, I was amazed by their strength and resilience to endure the hardship. Their problems were varied from economic, violence, discrimination, to multiple burdens, polygamy and insulting treatments. Nature seems to have given women extra powers, physical and emotional, to resist patriarchy’s unjust and discriminatory attitudes to women. It is unfair and unjust to let the situation remain unchanged. Mothers for Change! Campaign has been launched in Indonesia in response to an ardent desire for a peaceful society where women, men, and children co-exist peacefully in an equal and mutually supporting gender relation.

To commemorate the International Women’s Day 2011, it is timely that we rekindle the spirit for gender equality and justice as reflected in Indonesia’s constitution and in international conventions and declarations. This vision will not be achieved without support and participation of other segments of society especially men. The hierarchical gender relation should be replaced with a more just egalitarian relation. Power should be newly defined to mean sharing and empowering, and not dominating or oppressing. Cultural taboos and stereotypes inhibiting women from making progress in the public sphere should be removed. Roles and responsibilities should be equitably shared, to end the multiple burdens saddled on women. Only then can the Prophet Muhammad’s saying above be materialized, i.e. a good nation with the contribution of half of its population, the women. Happy Women’s Day 2011.

SAVE Sisters Celebrate International Women's Day

Women without Borders / SAVE has gathered the voices of women from around the world to celebrate the occasion of the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. The below statements remind us of the strength and commitment of our sisters around the globe.

Edit Schlaffer, Executive Director of Women without Borders / SAVE
We are looking back on 100 years of global women’s commitment to making the world a better place for everyone - for women, men and children. It has certainly been an uphill struggle and our journey is not yet over. Women have shaped the most important movement of the 20th Century, changing the way we live together in families, in communities, and in the public arena. Women have proven that they carry a lot of moral authority- corruption is at its lowest levels when women are involved in decision making bodies, good governance is more often executed when women are walking the halls of power, and civil society led by women is challenging despotic regimes. This global female energy will contribute to positive change. Women without Borders is proud to be a part of these exciting developments.

Today we announce the new SAVE Witness Project, which puts a face to the tragic aftermath of terrorist attacks. The project will create a network of eyewitnesses who provide the young generation with alternative role models. These witnesses will share their stories to promote reconciliation rather than revenge. SAVE Global is creating new pathways for the young generation to gain access to testimonials of the consequences of terrorism, in order to expose them to the reality of the dangers of extremist ideologies. Women as mothers, educators, journalists, and activists will lead the way for this SAVE Global Counter-Extremism Education Campaign. Rather than implementing an educational campaign years after the occurrences, the SAVE Witness project seeks to act swiftly and comprehensively at the height of the threat of terrorist activities around the globe.

We wish you a happy International Women’s Day, and congratulate you for taking a stand, both in your own life and for the advancement of the women around you. Let us not forget: the personal is political!


Nadia Al-Saqqaf, SAVE Yemen member and editor of the Yemen Times
During my work as a journalist and activist I have come across so many stories of women in Yemen whose lives could have been much better had they known that they had alternatives. “I did not know who to turn to”, “I did not think that I had a choice”, “I was too weak to object”, “I was told that my opinion did not matter” are a few of many statements I hear over and over again. These women needed to feel that they are not alone in their ordeal and that they have the right to better treatment, support and a dignified life. Unfortunately during conflict, women and children are always the most vulnerable. They are the first to be sacrificed and the ones hit hardest by tragedies. But they are also the ones who put the pieces together and find strength to reconstruct families and societies in the aftermath of disaster. Tapping into women as a resource of strength for any society is a sure plan for progress and stability. Today, Yemen is going through political instability as the tide for change sweeps across the region. Surprisingly it is a number of women who, alongside men, are leading this change. Yet as always, politics is made by men and victories are negotiated by men. It is in such times that we need to pay close attention to the women of the society and involve them in the decisions that will shape the future of the country. We need to empower women and involve them in decision making so that they feel that they have an alternative and that their opinions matter.


May de Silva, SAVE Northern Ireland member and Director of Women into Politics
On the 100th anniversary of the launch of International Women’s day it is important that we recognize that millions of women worldwide are still being discriminated and disadvantaged though war and conflict. I hope that through our partnership working with Women without Borders-SAVE, we can work towards including women as agents of change just as our sisters achieved 100 years ago. In Northern Ireland we continue to support the women through education and awareness raising sessions so that the ethos survives for decades to come.

Archana Kapoor, SAVE India coordinator
Indian women are articulate, argumentative and empowered. Their voice is being heard and respected both at home as well as in the Indian Parliament. Increasingly, they are at the vanguard of civil society movements demanding justice for their sisters and others. Whether it is in Kashmir or the conflict ridden areas of northeast, it is they who suffer the most when blood is spilled on the streets or their sons are killed. It is important that the voices of our sisters in different parts of the country get louder and stronger, that they are heard. It is important that women believe in themselves and realize that they can make a difference in the way peace is negotiated. Women have to join forces and come out on the streets to fight atrocities, be it in Kashmir or Cairo! It is time to get into the driver’s seat. SAVE India is helping women do just this and more. It is helping women realize their potential to make a difference both at home and outside.

On this International Women's Day, I would like to congratulate all those women who showed the courage to raise their voices against the tyrant rulers in the Arab world. I do hope that soon SAVE’s efforts will be able to throw out those who promote extremist ideologies and spread fear through acts of terror.

Siham Abu Awwad, SAVE Palestine member
The woman that can deal with her pain can deal with anything. I believe as a woman, a mother and a sister that I have the power to change the situation through my humanity and my strength. I believe in my voice. My voice can reach everywhere, demanding a safe future for my kids and my nation through me as a woman. Just believe in yourself.

Power of the people

Yemen's recent protests have been small in comparison to the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. Our parnter in Yemen and editor of the Yemen Times, Nadia Al-Saqqaf, asks whether the difference lies in culture, history, education or civil society.

Watching the news unfold in Tunisia, where mass demonstrations have recently forced the President to flee the country, creates mixed feelings in Yemen. Many of us are happy that the people of an Arab country are standing up for themselves and creating change in a peaceful manner. Personally, I am jealous, apprehensive and doubtful.

I am jealous of the Tunisian people’s strength and unity: how they managed to win the army over to their side.

I wonder whether something like this could happen in Yemen? Could the people revolt and demand dignity? And if they did, would the army be there to support them or would it instead be killing protestors and putting them in prison?

I fear that Yemenis would let each other down. The Tunisian protests began in a few towns in mid-December and spread in a scattered fashion. They were not organized by an opposition political party or by civil society organizations that herded them onto buses or paid for them to chant slogans as we see in Yemen.

Gradually more and more Tunisians took to the streets and joined hands in solidarity at each other’s suffering. There were in it together and knew that the way out required that they stood together united.

And I am also doubtful, doubtful whether Yemenis will stand up for themselves any time soon. Certainly not until they stop being sedated by qat and spending hours every day building castles in the sky. Do Yemenis really care about what is going on in their country?

Perhaps the fact that so many Yemenis are illiterate compared to the 100% literacy rate in Tunisia is a factor. But is feeling hunger, deprivation, and injustice dependant on education? Are educated people more sensitive to their physical and emotional needs than uneducated ones?

On the other hand Yemen has much stronger civil society than Tunisia with a more free and independent media and a semi-democratic system that allows for multiple political parties. Both of these were non-existent in Tunisia.

Or maybe it’s about history? Tunisians had their revolution 23 years ago compared to ours almost 50 years ago. Perhaps our revolution was so long ago that we’ve forgotten how to do it?

Yemenis are hungry, unemployed, uneducated, unhealthy and increasingly unhappy. How much lower do we need to sink before we stand up for ourselves and demand more respect from our rulers?

Originally published in Yemen Times on 15.01.2011

SAVE sisters Aicha El-Wafi and Phyllis Rodriguez at TED Women

Aich El-Wafi, mother of Zacarias Moussaoui, who has been convicted of conspiring to be a part of the 9/11 terror attacks, and Phyllis Rodriguez, whose son Greg was killed in the attack on the Twin Towers, talk about their unlikely but deep friendship at the first ever TEDWomen conference. The conference took place in Washington DC in early December, bringing together some of the world's most influential women and men to listen to inspirational talks about how women and girls are reshaping the future. To watch Aicha and Phyllis tell their story of forgiveness and reconciliation, watch the above video.

The Women's Dialogue: India-Pakistan, New Ideas for a New Way Forward

SAVE Global brought four leading experts in the field of conflict resolution and countering violent extremism from India and Pakistan to Vienna for a dialogue project presentation on 18.01.2011. Mossarat Qadeem, Executive Director of PAIMAN Trust, and Shabana Fayyaz, Professor at the Defense and Strategic Studies Department of Quaid-I-Azam University, travelled from Islamabad to meet Indian representatives Archana Kapoor, SAVE coordinator and founder of SMART NGO, and Anita Pratap, renowned journalist. Three of the women took part in SAVE Global's groundbreaking dialogue in Mumbai in November 2010, and presented their experiences, recommendations and strategic outlook for the future to a large audience in the Ringturm, Vienna. Anita Pratap and Mossarat Qadeem gave us their thoughts on why dialogue is so important to the relationship between India and Pakistan.

Anita Pratap

“Dialogue” often provokes yawns, rolling eyes of despair, even snorts of disdain. For too long, dialogue has not moved beyond endless rounds of blah-blah to tangible results. Yet, what is the alternative to dialogue? It’s either war or silence. War is not an option. Neither is silence, because it breeds and aggravates suspicion, hostility and misunderstandings.

The India-Pakistan dialogue has been going on for decades, in fits and starts. It’s a button that is switched on or off by the ruling establishments depending on the political climate. Given that war between two nuclear nations is an unthinkable prospect, the challenge lies in fostering a dialogue process that is not hostage to events and provocations. When the situation turns ugly, dialogue should not be suspended because the need to talk to each other is even greater. Acrimonious dialogue is better than silent, festering rancor, which only exacerbates existing tensions. At the very least, dialogue is therapeutic because it enables both sides to vent grievances and complaints. It is also an opportunity to hear the other, which is the first building block to better understanding.

A strategic move toward sustainable India-Pakistan Dialogue is to expand and deepen civil society linkages. Time has come for women in both countries to take a dynamic role in building peace through dialogue. Women traditionally are both, good talkers and listeners. The skills and efforts of women, visible today in every arena from business to politics, must be harnessed to dialogue and peace-building. One new way forward is to create a network of women in India and Pakistan as a pressure group to urge establishments on both sides to keep dialogue open, continuous and focused on trans-border collaborations that bring tangible cultural, economic and peace dividends to both peoples. Government-led dialogue should always be anchored in emphasizing the commonalities and shared interests (culture, sports, business, entertainment), while striving to narrow the differences (political and military).

Another significant new idea to take India-Pakistan dialogue forward is to use women power to bring about a paradigm shift. For too long, our economy has been measured solely by GDP growth, even though study after study has shown that GDP rates fail to capture social, human and environmental costs. We have to move to a system that measures the well-being of a nation – as seen in improved education, equality, health-care and jobs. Indian and Pakistani women power is needed to coax their governments that scoring higher on the UN’s Human Development Index should be a much bigger national priority than it is today. As a tonic for social well-being and as an antidote to extremism, SAVE chapters in India and Pakistan can launch a joint advocacy campaign to lobby their nations to pledge 1% of their budgets to income-generating projects for youth.

Studies have also shown that happiness – which each and every human being on this planet seeks – comes from enjoyable work, group activities and good relationships. Women as nurturers of relationships - as wives, sisters, daughters and mothers - can become engines of well-being and happiness in their families and communities. Extremism usually springs from grievances (real or perceived) and identity-related issues. Women networks can encourage women to reclaim their rightful role as repositories of national identity, culture and language to impart confidence and self-esteem to every family member.

All cultures place a high value on tolerance and mutual respect. Extreme ideologies and toxic arguments infect the mind, body and spirit of the young. Women need to use their traditional strengths and gentleness to bring back civility in public discourse. This civility starts at home.

Mossarat Qadeem 

India and Pakistan must move forward on a route to a greater dialogue to save the nations from plunging into poverty and a weakening of the civil system where the army has an edge due to the ongoing conflict of the last 63 years. A number of peace dialogues have taken place at different levels since 1947 but many a time, negative results have disappointed both nations because clear objectives and road map were not set as the parties lack the political will to implement the decisions in their true spirit and essence.

So far women have been missing from the peace dialogue between the two countries. Sometimes however, they were included but could not play any significant role. Civil society:  the third side is like an immune system against violence and women in particular can play a momentous role in bringing in thaw between Pakistan and India. It is high time that women from both sides should come forward and engage in a dialogue on a regular basis. This will give us the opportunity to Think and Talk Together that will allow Our Collective Common Sense, Wisdom, and Potential to Flourish. Through the dialogue, women will address the problems and come up with joint recommendations for their respective countries. This will be the first time that such a dialogue of women peace activists will be initiated where women addressing misconception, misperception and building on commonalties like culture, history and tradition, build bonds of peace which will not be shattered by extremist incidents. The group will act as a pressure group advocating for peaceful relations not only with their respective government but also with international organizations and third countries to help support peace initiatives between the two countries.

SAVE Global Film Trailer

SAVE Global in cooperation with Zia Trench have created a new SAVE trailer.

SAVE India Promo from Zia Trench on Vimeo.

Speaking Out Before it is Too Late! Women Know How

Guest Commentary by Edit Schlaffer in Die Presse, 17.01.2011.

Understanding, reconciliation, forgiveness, compromises, and ideals are not terms that we immediately associate with negotiations at the international level. But why don’t we? The answer is alarmingly simple: these characteristics are not particularly masculine in a classical sense, and the unwritten rules of Realpolitik are still based on power and dominance. The presence of women at high-level international summits is still an exception, and should not lead us to believe that the iron-clad agreement has been broken: there is still no room for women at the men’s table. This reality may be unfair, but it would not further bother us were it not for the fact that we cannot be certain that our futures lie in safe hands. We live in a global climate of fear, which maintains its balance by a through a curious paradox: state and non-state actors resolutely remain on opposite sides of the negotiating table—armed, often full of hate, suspicious at best; sometimes defensive, but generally in favor of total annihilation of the other party. This path is archaic and destructive, and has been dominated by men to date.

Global political power dynamics as well as gender roles have recently been turned upside down; now, increasing numbers of women are determined to be included in the security arena. They no longer simply let world events pass them by—a familiar, but often catastrophic tendency of past eras—and do not settle for the role of observer or of victim of riots, assault, and war.

Women have the potential to launch a new movement specialized in building bridges with ‘the other side’ and learning about “the enemy,” which motivational factors are at play, and how the hostilities can be transformed. The courageous dialogue currently taking place between a group of Indian and Pakistani women, who decided to meet during the anniversary of the Mumbai attacks at the Taj Hotel in the besieged city, is just one example of how new paths toward a future for both countries beyond hardened enemy lines can be established and secured.

In late November 2010, a delegation of Pakistani women traveled from Islamabad to Mumbai to develop joint strategies for a new, action-oriented dialogue. The trip was no simple touristic undertaking; half a century after partition, which had been accompanied by violent riots, and nuclear armament on both sides in recent years, the women now decided to take the first step toward change. They committed to engaging in a new dialogue and not falling victim to the old trap of talking without taking concrete action. SAVE, the world’s first female counter-terrorism platform, brought the group together. Both sides agreed to directly address the reality of what is happening on the ground and to openly speak about terrorism, but without pointing fingers—their goal is to achieve an emotional breakthrough.

This august resolution has been tested many times, for example when the organizer of the Indian delegation suggested that the group walk the ‘trail of terror’—that is, to visit the sites that were attacked on November 26, 2008. The women began at the Gateway of India, where the terrorists ditched their boats to enter the city, and then proceeded to Café Leopold, where young Mumbai inhabitants mixed with tourists from around the world—a scenario that the armed fanatics clearly did not approve of. They continued to Cama Albless Hospital, where they stood with a young widow from Pakistan who lost her husband in an attack in the Swat Valley, and took in the wall surrounding the hospital, which is still peppered with bullet holes. It is here that Ashok Kamte, Mumbai’s Associate Commissioner of Police, desperately fought with Ajmal Kasab, the young Pakistani terrorist. Kamte managed to shoot and injure Kasab, but paid for his valiant efforts with his life.

Vinita, his young widow, is also part of this women’s dialogue. Two fateful incidents brought these women together: shots fired in distant Pakistan and shots fired here in a narrow back alley behind a hospital in Mumbai.
The label ‘victim’ does not fully apply to these dynamic women. Yes, they experienced grief and desperation, but they came together in Mumbai to speak about finding new ways out terrorism, mutual stigmatization, and defamation. The attempts to overcome fear of ‘the other side,’ to speak openly about divisive factors, and to carefully stake out the terrain for shared activities have been successful.

This program is ambitious; a joint meeting currently underway in Vienna is taking concrete steps: it is an exploration of how to establish a dialogue process between both parties to overcome isolation and violent extremism. Women are perfectly positioned to spearhead this program in their respective societies, as they play a central role in their families, in the educational realm, and in daily community activities, and can thus uniquely identify dissatisfaction and frustration and counteract these sentiments with the appropriate tools.

Hillary Clinton has identified development as a central pillar of the global security structure. Poverty, exploitation, corruption, and dominance by a ruthless elite facilitate the growth of extremism, paving the way for religious and political fanaticism. Bertha von Suttner, an Austrian visionary and the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, shows us the way: “Those who want peace may not be silent.”

Original article (German): diepresse.com/home/meinung/gastkommentar/625793/Sprechen-bevor-es-zu-spaet-ist-Die-Frauen-machen-es-besser