From our newsroom to you: Creating space for dialogue
Vol. 2 Issue 8. This edition highlights how lasting peace between regions in conflict requires inclusive dialogue, political will, and a commitment to human rights and justice.
Our team members are waging peace by meeting regularly with community members in Southasia and the diaspora to discuss the ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan. An exciting event coming up from the
platform is a discussion featuring young people’s voices from India and Pakistan, Sunday 25 May, 2025, 11 am ET/ 8 pm Pakistan / 8.30 pm India. Register here to join the event.We are also producing stories that highlight this issue and ways forward. Read on.
Earlier this month, Sapan News founder and Chief Editor Beena Sarwar and Associate Editor Pragyan Srivastava participated in a groundbreaking seminar organised at MIT by the newly formed South Asian Psychology and Neuroscience Association, SAPNA. Could Breaking the Cycle of intergenerational Trauma be the key to addressing some of the tension in the region? Read Pragyan’s insightful story here.
Well known activists Sara Hossain from Dhaka, Rafay Alam from Lahore, and Lalita Ramdas from Alibag, India, were among those who came together across Southasia and the diaspora for the Southasia Peace Action Network’s fourth anniversary event on the last Sunday of April. The discussion took on more urgency, took place as it did amidst rising India-Pakistan tensions in the days following the Pahalgam tragedy. Feminist activists Khawar Mumtaz in Lahore, and Khushi Kabir in Dhaka moderated and hosted the event respectively, with closing remarks by journalist Namrata Sharma in Kathamandu. Details at the Sapan News syndicated feature, ‘The Southasian People's Path to Peace and Cooperation: How to Move Forward?’ also by Pragyan, calling for sustained dialogue, and reaffirming a shared vision for peace even as India and Pakistan tensions escalated.
Want to renew your dedication to building a better society? Sign and share the Sapan peace appeal India, Pakistan: Stop the Hostilities! Join the more than 7,300 peacemongers who have already endorsed this powerful, nonpartisan appeal.
Amid regional tension, political scientist Swarna Rajagopalan in Chennai reminds us of the need to pause and breathe rather than allowing emotions to spiral into violent anger. Read her piece: The case for restraint in a time of conflict.
We also published our first Letter to the Editor - from Ranjini Rao, a consultant in New Delhi, writing to us on the occasion of iconic poet Rabindranath Tagore’s birthday, 7 May. She reminds us of Tagore’s belief that “Nationalism is a great menace. It is the particular thing which for years has been at the bottom of India’s troubles.” His voice, as she points out, “seems to have all but drowned out amidst the din of war mongers in his own motherland.”
Write to us @ Editorial@sapannews.com. Use the Subject line: Letter to the Editor.
Waging peace is like waging war. Both demand courage, discipline, strategy and hard work. The difference is that Peacemongers fight with words and hope rather than with weapons that cause death and destruction.
Thanks for reading!
Regina Johnson
Coordinating Editor
Sapan News
 | A guest post by
|