SANSAD
Dear Friends,
“SANSAD urges you come out to mourn these intellectuals in Pakistan, one a journalist and the other a professor, to protest their killing and stand in solidarity with those in Pakistan and in the diaspora who are struggling for a democratic, pluralistic and secular Pakistan.”
(Please help us to spread the word and distribute widely. See attached poster for more details)
Dear friends,
Nothing can be more disheartening, than news of someone’s brutal murder. Saleem Shahzad, a veteran Pakistani journalist and a loud voice of reason was first abducted and than killed by the forces of dark in Pakistan. Saleem Shahzad who had just turned 40 was a true professional investigative journalist, who wrote extensively on issues pertaining to global security, especially on Pakistani military and religious militant movements in the Muslim world. Just after two days of this brutal murder some ‘unknown’ people killed one of the most respected intellectual and writer from our Baluchistan province Prof. Saba Dashtyari Baloch. He was professor at University of Balochistan, Queeta. We never met Saleem Shahzad or Professor Saba Dashtyari personally but we the members of Committee of Progressive Pakistani Canadians here in Vancouver like many others living in Pakistan and hundreds of thousands of conscious people elsewhere in this globalised and interconnected world were saddened, alarmed and got angry over these brutal killings.
Enough is enough. Pakistan’s civil society and the Pakistani diaspora here who believe in a democratic, pluralistic and secular Pakistan is now standing up and saying we have had enough of being hijacked by imperialistic forces, Mullah (religious cleric) & military alliance.
To protest the brutal killing of Saleem Shahzad, a journalist, and to condemn the assassination of much respected Baloch intellectual Professor Saba Dashtyari, Committee of Progressive Pakistani Canadians has organized a Candle Light Vigil. If you also wish to see Pakistan a socially progressive, politically democratic and secular country, than please come and join the Canadian Pakistanis and South Asian diaspora here to lit a candle and show support to slain Saleem Shahzad and Prof. Saba Dashtyari’s families, Pakistani journalists and the voices of reason of civil society in Pakistan.
The program is as under:
Candle Light Vigil in the memory of slain journalist Saleem Shahzad & Professor Saba Dashtyari
Hum jo Tareak rahoon mein marey gaye/ We, who were slain in unlit pathways…” Faiz
When: 7.30 pm, Sunday, June 12, 2011
Where: Holland Park, (Corner of King George Boulevard and Old Yale Road), Surrey, BC.
Organized By: CPPC (Committee of Progressive Pakistani Canadians)
Endorsed By: FVPC (Fraser Valley Peace Council)
SANSAD (South Asian Network for Secularism & Democracy)
Shahzad Nazir Khan
On behalf of members and executive of
Committee of Progressive Pakistani Canadians, Vancouver Chapter