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.

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.

One more young Pakistani blogger, Suleman Saif blogs from his country's capital. Islamabad. What is common to his and other peace bloggers' efforts is the fact that they have to content themselves with watching videos of India on Youtube, and reacting online. The always sympathetic and friendly reactions show how much positive interest there exists, especially among educated young people on both sides of the border in the neighboring country. Before the internet, none of this would have been possible, of course! Hopefully, with so many peace-focused efforts, people on both sides of the border would be able to travel freely between the countries!

While several other peace bloggers who are from Pakistan are either university students or young professionals, Sohail Balkhi is someone who has worked in several countries, before returning to his country to work for peace. He helps students and newcomers to the workforce prepare for interviews and so on via motivational videos in addition to featuring interesting vignettes about both Pakistani's majority Muslim community as well as minorities there. What I find heartwarming is his always positive outlook and his frankness in not editing out uncomfortable aspects of history, even while he maintains this state of mind. His viewpoints about social media and instructions for newcomers to Vlogging are especially good starting points for those interested in taking this up either as a hobby or full time, and my guess is that his ideas are likely to have helped and influenced several others who have taken to peace blogging.

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.