South Asian Peacemakers

I suspect that Pakistani Vlogger Mariya Tarik will someday become a university professor. And, she will be a fantastic instructor when she starts teaching. I have learned from her videos that she has completed her MPhil degree, a halfway step in some countries towards completing your PhD. She does both monologues and public discussions on controversial issues with the public in Lahore. The Socratic dialogue style that she uses demonstrates a keen intellect and it is especially remarkable how she is able to get people to think when she poses her questions. Mariya asks difficult questions and she is not afraid to talk about issues that many might be scared to discuss in public. Follow her tone of questioning, however, and it is clear that she is looking at directing both her audience's and her counterparts' thoughts towards helping sort contentious issues out in promoting the idea of peace. Do follow this lady. She is brilliant.

I learned about Saima Pirzada only a short while ago. I learned about her from my friends Sameer Khokhar and his business partner Mahesh Punjabi, who are legends in the world of Vlogging in Pakistan, as well as in the support of minorities of all kinds in the country. It is heartwarming to see a sensitive and always cheerful young woman working hard to not just show minorities in her country in a sympathetic light, but also put in a lot of effort in her choice of music. Her husband seems to prefer staying anonymous and he only makes a brief appearance along with her occasionally, but she must enjoy his wholehearted support because the work is absolutely top notch. Please follow the young couple and support their efforts at peacemaking.

One more Pakistani Vlogger who works hard to bring the world the latest on hundreds of abandoned and some in-use places of worship in his country, is Shahid Shabbir. When he started his Vlog, he looked at the many rich cultural and religious traditions that originated in Pakistan and that survive today. His recent work has focused upon Sikh places of worship in the country. The provinces of Punjab and Bengal weere the ones that split in the main when the British partitioned India and caused bloodshed that saw millions slaughtered, women abducted, and worse. Decades later, old sorrows and hatreds dominate the discourse on either side of the border. Shahid Shabbir's attempts at portraying historical monuments, minorities and their culture as it remains in Pakistan in a positive light, is most welcome as a peacemaking attempt. May he succeed beyond his own dreams!

Rehan Allahwala is a man with much to commend him. From a successful background in technology entrepreneurship to his current aim of promoting education, encouraging both the financially weak as well as members of the minority in Pakistan to take entrepreneurship up, and with very strong video production skills (he likely has a superb team to film and edit his videos) his work in promoting peace is exemplary. I would sincerely hope that his attempts at fanning the sparks of curiosity that exist in most peoples' minds into warming and constructive flames succeed in a big way. This is one more good-hearted individual whose success is certain to make the world a better place.

The two young ladies in this series are Dua and Kainat. I have not been able to figure their brother's name out yet, and will post it when I figure it out. I just need to watch more of their videos when I have time. It is both cute and sad to see these kids struggling to understand some of the chaste Hindi commentary on the videos that they review. Under better circumstances, they would be able to converse and make friends with girls of their age across the border, and both sides would understand what the other spoke. That said, this is yet another family of young people working hard to try and promote a positive and sympathetic understanding of the other side.

The first peacemaker whom I would like to feature is a young gentleman whose name is Sameer K. His videos feature several interesting subjects focused upon life and culture in Karachi and in Sindh. Sameer Bhai is a Muslim, but he goes out of his way to seek friends from the Hindu minority in the area and show the world their way of life. Together with this, he brings movie reviews when he can (the recent tense situation between India and Pakistan has hurt the entertainment and sports industries on both sides) and there is always something interesting to look forward to in his posts. His channel is updated almost daily, and the recent features of Pakistan's tiny Hindu majority city of Mithi and of the Tharparkar area have been beautifully done. A must watch. Languages: urdu and SIndhi. Hindi speakers would understand everything that is spoken. Occasionally, he has Gujarati speaking guests.