Latest news with #Kafila
The Wire
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Wire
Another Road From ‘15 August'
Reflections from a time when between 'the garden of Lahore' and 'the dawn of Banaras', there was a dream of a peaceful future. The gate on the Pakistani side of the Attari-Wagah border post, as seen from the Indian side on the 79th Independence Day, near Amritsar, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. Photo: Shiva Sharma Pandraah Agast (15 August), Swatantra Diwas, is our cherished day – a reminder of when we heard our beloved leaders speak from the ramparts of Lal Qila. We heard India's prime minister speak from Lal Qila this morning, the emblem of the Mughal dynasty. Will this 11-year-old dispensation issue an edict changing the name of Lal Qila, amongst many monuments it wants renamed? I wonder. The vortex closes around me. As I draw to the end of my life, I watch the effort to rip 'Muslim' off from the Indian fabric. Yesterday on the front page of The Indian Express there was a full-page ad for a book called 'Kafila'. From the blurb I gather that the book is set in 1947, about the killing, looting and raping in a place in Punjab called Jhang. No author or publisher can afford publicity of this magnitude. The ad has been put out to stoke hatred towards Muslims. It is a prime example of communalism spreading its tentacles. Parallel to Kafila is a narrative, Panipat written by a woman in 1947. The story is narrated in first person by Panipat (the place) itself. It is about Muslims uprooted and driven out. Their Hindu neighbours are desolate and bereft. Panipat mourns at the destruction of her Ganga-Jamni Tehzeeb. Two days ago there was a memorial meeting for a person who stood tall for Hindu-Muslim unity and for composite culture. His name was Sumit Chakravartty, who passed away last month. Over the last 35 years he was part of the people-to-people contact on both sides of the Wagah border, of Pakistanis and Indians who tried to bridge this chasm by extending the hand of friendship. Today, once again, groups like Hind-Pak Dosti Manch, Aaghaz-e-Dosti, SAFMA, Folklore Research Academy and others are struggling in this toxic air to create a bond between human beings on both sides of the border. Many years ago I remember going to the border with Nikhil Chakravartty (Sumit Chakravartty's father), Kuldip Nayar, Bharti Nayar, Mohini Giri, Krishan Mehra and young men like Satman Singh Manak, Ramesh Yadav, Ram Mohan and many close friends and fellow travellers. I remember people from this side like Nirmal Mukherjee, Tapan Bose, Admiral Ramdas, Kamal Chenoy and Rita Manchanda walking across 'no man's land' to meet Justice Dorab Patel, I.A. Rehman, Asma Jahangir, Mubashir Hasan and many others with warmth, with music, with theatre, any way to wash away the bitterness created by the powers on both sides. The people of Amritsar on our side and people of Lahore across the border joined in the celebration of Indo-Pak friendship, Indo-Pak cooperation and Indo-Pak amity. Hans Raj Hans on this side and Lahorians on the other, their ears glued, and Abida Parveen praying for peace in Data Ganj Shakar Dargah in Pakpattan. To quote Hind-Pakistan favourite poet, Ali Sardar Jafri: Tum aao gulshan e Lahore se chaman bardosh Hum aayein subah Benaras ki raushni le kar Himalaya ki hawaon ki taazgi le kar Phir uske baad ye poochhein ke kaun dushman hai? You come bearing on your shoulders, the gardens of Lahore We come bearing the dawn of Benaras The fresh breezes of The Himalayas Then is the enemy? Syeda Hameed is a writer and the founder chair of the Muslim Women's Forum. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments. Advertisement
Sharjah 24
25-02-2025
- General
- Sharjah 24
M'hammed Kilito explores disappearing landscapes at Xposure
In his talk at Xposure on Tuesday, Kilito offered a glimpse of his latest project, Kafila —the Arabic word for 'Caravan' to the audience. Kafila is his journey through Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Tunisia, with Mauritania next on the list. Through his lens, Kilito captures not only the ecological devastation of these ancient ecosystems but also the resilience of the people who call them home. One of the most striking images from his Before It's Gone series features a solitary man, Mohammed, from the village of Aït Mansour. 'This village once housed 100 families, but water scarcity has forced nearly all of them to leave. Mohammed is one of only four families that remain. He is, in essence, a climate refugee in his own country.' To survive, these communities resort to extreme measures. 'In the south of Morocco, where the state is largely absent, people pool their resources to build water towers. With as little as €15 or €20 each, they construct structures to store water for the driest periods. It's a testament to their ingenuity but also a stark reminder of their vulnerability.' Beyond water scarcity, the oases face another existential threat: fire. 'In 2020, in the Jemna oasis, a fire destroyed 50 hectares—half of the entire oasis. The vegetation has become so dry that any spark can turn into an inferno.' Siwa: An oasis drowning in water In Egypt's Siwa oasis, Kilito encountered a paradox. Unlike most oases suffering from water shortages, Siwa has too much water. 'The soil here doesn't absorb water well, so farmers have built canals to drain excess water into a lake. But the lake's water level is rising dangerously, threatening the very farms that feed it.' The solution? 'They build walls to keep the water at bay. But every year, the water rises higher, and they build more walls. It's an unsustainable cycle.' Lessons from Tunisia In Tunisia, he examined a unique experiment in sustainable agriculture. In 1992, local farmers invited Pierre Rabhi, a pioneer of agroecology, to help merge traditional farming methods with modern techniques. 'Gabès is one of the few oases in the world that borders the sea. The contrast between the lush greenery of the oasis and the Mediterranean's blue waters is stunning.' But the oasis faces severe industrial pollution. 'A phosphate factory dumps 3,000 litres of phosphogypsum into the sea every day. The air pollution is just as bad.' A journey towards conservation With support from the National Geographic Society's Climate Pledge, Kilito is continuing his work in Mauritania. His mission: to document best practices for conserving oases and sharing those lessons across borders. His work extends beyond photography. In collaboration with the Mishkat Institute, he has brought pieces of the oasis into museum spaces. 'I spent over a year collecting plants, preserving them in herbariums, and creating cyanotypes—images made by exposing fabric treated with cyanotype solution to sunlight. The result is a deep blue imprint, with the white silhouettes of plants standing out like ghostly memories of a disappearing world.' For Kilito, the project is deeply personal. His photographs serve as a reminder—a call to action—to preserve these last vestiges of life in the desert before they disappear forever. Xposure concludes tomorrow, February 26 at Aljada, Sharjah. For more details, visit
