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Participants:
Mubasher Bukhari, Pakistan based journalist, President of Media Foundation 360 who presently works for Reuters.
Ali Aftab Saeed, Journalist, musician and a campaigner for Human Rights. Notably, Ali Aftab has been instrumental in spreading the message of Human Rights through his music.
Today, Asia straddles multiple challenges ranging from poverty, inequality, gender and threats to minorities. With South Asia as the focus of the talk, our participants commenced the discussion by recalling the recent violence against Christians in Jarranwala, Pakistan. While the swift response of the state was worth acknowledging, the prevalence of such culture was alarming for Pakistani society. Similarly, trends in India cannot be ignored where certain incidents are worrying. Time and again, regimes in Asia have used state power to oppress minorities, either to favour certain vested groups, appeal to vote bank Politics or even as part of a conflict economy. Possible solutions fall into two categories: the Humanitarian Side, which calls upon governments to be more sensitive towards Human Rights issues, and the quantitative side, which deals with the state’s role in fixing accountability on the perpetrators of crimes.
However, as South Asian economies continue to grow, some of these problems are expected to be addressed as states acquire greater resources to devolve on social issues. That being said, there is much more to be done for which citizens, civil societies and governments need to deepen cooperation. Powerful states need to shed their big-brother attitude towards small states.