Peace and Democracy in Pakistan: What are the Prospects and Why Does It Matter?
Relations between the United States and Pakistan are at an all-time low, following incidents involving U.S. and NATO forces either inside Pakistan or along its border with Afghanistan. In addition, Pakistan has been convulsed by a rash of anti-government bombings and assassinations. With the U.S. preparing to draw down its forces from Afghanistan, can Pakistan move towards peace, democracy and stability under such conditions, and why should this matter to Americans?
Beena Sarwar is a leading Pakistani journalist, artist, and democracy, human rights and peace advocate. She has worked for newspapers in Karachi and Lahore and was the founding editor of the Pakistan weekly “News on Sunday.” She has written extensively for the InterPress News Service, made several films and television documentaries, and has degrees in Art and Literature from Brown University (1986) and in Television Documentary from London University (2001). She was a Nieman Foundation Fellow at Harvard in 2006 and a Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy (Harvard Kennedy School) in 2007. She is currently a Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance at the Harvard Kennedy School and edits and commissions articles for Aman ki Asha, a peace initiative between the two largest media groups of Pakistan and India, the Jang Group and the Times of India. She maintains a political blog titled “Journeys to Democracy” (http://beenasarwar.wordpress.com).
Please note: Beena Sarwar has kindly agreed to appear at the forum, due to Zia Mian's unexpected and urgent travel to Pakistan