Fwd: SOUTH ASIAN PEACE STARS OF 2012

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ACHA-Pritam Rohila <asiapeace@comcast.net>
Date: Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 1:09 AM
Subject: SOUTH ASIAN PEACE STARS OF 2012
To:


ASSOCIATION FOR COMMUNAL HARMONY IN ASIA (ACHA)

www.asiapeace.org & www.indiapakistanpeace.org

4410 Verda Lane NE, Keizer, OR 97303, USA

asiapeace@comcast.net





November 5, 2012

PRESS RELEASE



Contact Person: Pritam K. Rohila, Ph.D., Executive Director, ACHA,
asiapeace@comcast.net





SOUTH ASIAN PEACE STARS OF 2012



With the belief that they will inspire others, ACHA Peace Star Award
of the Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA) pays tribute,
every two years, to some heroes and heroines, who at the cost of their
personal comfort and security, have performed commendable and
meritorious work for the higher good, that is to foster peace and
communal harmony and to promote human rights, particularly in South
Asia.



Upon nomination by their colleagues and admirers, for their exemplary
dedication and numerous contributions to peace, communal harmony and
human rights in South Asia, this year, ACHA has decided to recognize
Mr. Lajja Shankar Herdenia (Bhopal, India), Dr. Syed Mazher Hussain
(Hyderabad, India), Ms. Sheema Kermani (Karachi, Pakistan), and Mr.
Pramod Sharma (Chandigarh, India), with the ACHA Peace Star Award
2012.



They now join the ranks of reputed peace, communal harmony and human
rights personalities, who have received this award in previous years.
They are Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer, Dr. Ram Puniyani, Dr. Lenin
Raghuvanshi, Ms. Shabnam Hashmi, Dr. Mohammad Arif, Mr. Jatin Desai,
Ms. Dilafrose Kazi, and Mr. Faisal Khan, in India; Rev. Dr. Bonniface
Mendes, Dr. Abdul Hameed Nayyar, Mr. B. M. Kutty, Mr. Karamat Ali, Ms.
Saeeda Diep, Mr. Awais Sheikh, and Mr. Ashfaq Fateh in Pakistan; and
Dr. Ingrid Shafer, and Oregon Peace Works in the United States.



ACHA is a 20-year-old, U.S.-based, nonprofit organization, which is
dedicated to promoting peace in South Asia, and communal harmony among
South Asians everywhere. More information about ACHA can be found at
its two websites: www.asiapeace.org, & www.indiapakistanpeace.org



Brief information about this year's recipients, in alphabetical order,
is as follows, and digital pictures of all except Dr. Hussain, are
attached. We are confident, that through their work, they will inspire
many other South Asians, to make a personal contribution to peace and
communal harmony in the region, and for the welfare of common people
of their motherlands, especially the weak and powerless, such as women
and minorities.





Mr. Lajja Shankar Herdenia, Bhopal, M.P, India



As a professional journalist, a trade unionist, and officer of
organizations like Sarvadhrma Sadbhav Samiti, Samprdayikta Virodhi
Committee, Qaumi Ekta Trust, National Secular Forum, Centre for
Study of Society and Secularism, and Madhya Pradesh government's
National Integration Committee, for many years Mr. L. S. Herdenia has
selflessly agitated against anti-minority violence and communalism,
upheld secular values, and promoted communal harmony in India, but
particularly in the state of Madhya Pradesh. To further these
objectives he has helped bring diverse people together on important
celebrations of various faiths; participated in goodwill and
study-groups to areas affected by anti-minority violence; organized
press conferences and sit-in demonstrations to plead with government
officials for appropriate interventions; and authored books and
articles and edited publications like Secular Democracy, and Socialist
Secular Bharat. Also he has attended two World Peace Conferences held
in Moscow, Russia, and an International Conference of Journalists held
in Havana, Cuba.





Dr. Syed Mazher Hussain, Hyderabad, AP, India



Involved full time in social activism since 1997, Dr. Syed Mazher
Hussain is an indefatigable campaigner for peace within his own
society as well as between societies of South Asia. As the founder and
executive director of Confederation of Voluntary Associations (COVA);
and as a member, or officer of some notable national and international
organizations (like Transcend, Coalition for Peace and Harmony ICANID,
Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy, Coalition for
Nuclear Disarmament and Peace, and India-Pakistan Conference on A Road
Map towards Peace), he has conceived of, coordinated, and led many
programs to prevent communal conflict and sectarian violence; foster
communal harmony and community empowerment in India; and to promote
peace in South Asia. Also he has undertaken social development,
people-empowerment and disaster-relief projects in India and some even
in Pakistan. Besides he has participated in international conferences
on peace, diversity, co-existence, and conflict management. Currently
he is working on setting up the Center for Peoples Foreign Policy in
South Asia and the International Center for Applied Peace Studies.





Ms. Sheema Kermani, Karachi, Pakistan



Ms. Sheema Kermani has made invaluable contribution to the cause of
peace, human rights, social harmony and promotion of secular values.



She is one of the founding members of Pakistan-India People's Forum
for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), as well as the Pakistan Peace
Coalition (PPC), and has taken active part in peace activities of both
organizations.



She is an accomplished and internationally recognized classical
dancer, choreographer, stage and television actress. Not only she has
performed at prestigious events in many countries of the world
(namely, China, Egypt, Indonesia, U.S.A., U.K., Germany, France,
Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Bahrain, Sri Lanka, Italy, Norway, Kurdistan
and the Netherlands), but also, through her inspiring roles in
performing arts, she has made particularly bold and immense
contribution to the cause of peace and harmony, in spite of the ban by
General Zia-ul-Haq on women dancing on stage, rising fundamentalism,
and the prevailing conservative and religious norms in Pakistan. Also
through dance and drama, and under the auspices of Tehrik-e-Niswan
(http://www.tehrik-e-niswan.org.pk), an organization of young men and
women, which she founded in 1970's, she has strived to overcome the
class and gender divisions to empower women, to propagate the Rights
issues and secular values among the masses, and to promote peace and
harmony in a society divided along patriarchal and religious lines.
Besides she has worked hard to raise awareness about and protest
against the growing religious intolerance, fundamentalism,
obscurantism, extremism, terrorism and the Blasphemy Law, as well as
to highlight such Pakistani customs, traditions and social evils as
polygamy, the veil, sexual abuse, and honor killing, that unjustly
suppress women.



In recognition of her work, she was nominated, in 2005, for the Nobel
Peace Prize as one of the "1000 Peace Women from across the Globe,"
was awarded the Shah Abdul Latif Award in 2005, and "The Courageous
Woman Award" by Pakistan Women Lawyers Association in 2009.





Mr. Pramod Sharma, Chandigarh, India



Having experienced, in the wake of the 1947 Partition, the
resettlement trials and tribulations of his family of refugees from
Pakistan, and armed with M. Phil. Degree in Gandhian and Peace
Studies, Mr. Pramod Sharma has dedicated his life to promote culture
of peace among youth, and welfare of the marginalized people, through
voluntary effort and individual and community action.



As head of Yuvsatta (http://yuvsatta.org/), a Chandigarh-based NGO, he
initiated a campaign for making Chandigarh a Peace City and has helped
launch Peace Clubs in the area's more than 100 schools and colleges.



In association with Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, New Delhi, under
the auspices of Yuvsatta, in the year 2000, he organized a World Youth
Conference on 'Millennium without Violence,' at Chandigarh. And since
then, in order to promote the spirit of nonviolence, foster
volunteerism, and to combat inequality, he has spearheaded efforts to
arrange seven International Youth Peace Festivals at Chandigarh, some
of which drew several hundred youth from as many as 25 countries.



Also he has organized training programs and round-table discussions on
human rights and has initiated community awareness and development
programs regarding such issues as solid waste management, AIDS,
alcohol & drug addiction prevention and welfare of girls and
slum/working children.