Sapan News Network

01/13/2026

The room that shaped me: Reading Naiyer Masud after a childhood loss

A clay-walled room. A hidden bookshelf of Persian books. A childhood shaped by reading, silence, and listening. When Pakistan’s 2022 floods washed that room away, the loss lingered as unnamed grief until fiction offered a language to hold it.

In this tender personal essay, Areeba Pirzada reflects on memory, literature, and finding meaning through Naiyer Masud after loss.

By Areeba Pirzada / Sapan News
🔗 Read here:
https://sapannews.com/2026/01/12/the-room-that-shaped-me-reading-naiyer-masud-after-a-childhood-loss/

01/10/2026

Acclaimed scientist and cancer researcher Tayyaba Hasan blends fierce loyalty with gentle mentorship, teaching conviction, resilience, and ambition while championing bold ideas and life-changing photodynamic therapies long before the world recognized their transformative power.

Acclaimed scientist and cancer researcher Tayyaba Hasan blends fierce loyalty with gentle mentorship, teaching conviction, resilience, and ambition while championing bold ideas and life-changing ph…

01/10/2026

Honouring the ‘Mother of Photodynamic Therapy’

A celebration of light, science, and mentorship. This moving profile traces the life and legacy of Dr Tayyaba Hasan, the acclaimed cancer researcher whose pioneering work in photodynamic therapy transformed treatment long before the world caught up. Blending fierce intellectual conviction with generous mentorship, Hasan’s story is one of resilience, imagination, and science in service of life.

By Carolyn Cross / Sapan News
🔗 Read the full piece:
https://sapannews.com/2026/01/09/a-celebration-of-light-honouring-the-mother-of-photodynamic-therapy/

01/08/2026

An open letter to Southasians

What does a confident nation look like? According to parliamentarian Manoj Kumar Jha, it is one that does not fear diversity but draws strength from it. In this powerful open letter, he warns that only fragile nations rely on loyalty tests, symbolic conformity, and the everyday policing of identity.

By Manoj Kumar Jha / Sapan News
🔗 Read the full piece:
https://sapannews.com/2026/01/08/an-open-letter-to-southasians/

01/08/2026

Big names. Bigger responsibility.

Veteran journalist P. Sainath, human rights defender Teesta Setalvad; from India, Sri Lankan media professional Priyantha Pradeep Ranasinghe, Pakistani political activist and author Farhatullah Babar, and Turkiye-based Dutch correspondent Rob Vreekan have joined Sapan News’ Social Media Ethics Pledge.

They are standing up for facts over frenzy, dialogue over abuse, and accountability over outrage, across borders and timelines.

Online spaces shape public life. How we use them matters.

Take the pledge. Add your voice.
🔗 https://sapannews.com/social-media-ethics-pledge/

01/07/2026

Jammu and Kashmir: Six years after annexation, normalcy remains elusive

Six years after India’s 2019 annexation of Jammu and Kashmir, claims of “normalcy” ring hollow. A new report by the Concerned Citizens Group points to deepening alienation, curbs on religious and press freedoms, economic distress, and growing fears of youth drifting toward drugs and radicalisation.

By Rohinee Singh / Sapan News
🔗 Read the full report:
https://sapannews.com/2026/01/06/jammu-and-kashmir-six-years-after-annexation-normalcy-remains-elusive/

01/07/2026

Revolution without reckoning: Bangladesh’s July uprising meets the politics of violence

Two powerful pieces published in late December lay bare a sobering truth about Bangladesh today: a revolution that promised dignity and reform is colliding with an old, brutal politics of blood.

Bangladeshi writer Nafis Hasan traces how the July uprising’s hopes have unraveled into assassinations, mob lynchings, and communal violence, while veteran journalist Bharat Bhushan reflects on Khaleda Zia’s paradoxical legacy and the unresolved political choices that continue to haunt the country.

Together, they ask an urgent question for Southasia: what happens when revolutions arrive without accountability?

📖 Dossier by Pragyan Srivastava / Sapan News
🔗 https://sapannews.com/2026/01/05/revolution-without-reckoning-bangladeshs-july-uprising-meets-the-politics-of-violence/

01/07/2026

A recent report by the rights organisation Concerned Citizens Group in India flags deepening alienation, curbs on religious freedom, shrinking press freedom, economic distress, and fears of youth drifting toward drugs and radicalisation.

A recent report by the rights organisation Concerned Citizens Group in India flags deepening alienation, curbs on religious freedom, shrinking press freedom, economic distress, and fears of youth d…

01/01/2026

May 2026 be filled with peace, gratitude and lots of blessings! ✨

01/01/2026

As we enter 2026, calls for peace feel both urgent and fragile in a world marked by escalating violence and deepening divisions. In this reflective essay, a political analyst and her niece show that peace is not only a wish but a practice, nurtured through small, sustained acts of remembrance and care.

As we enter a new year, calls for peace feel both urgent and fragile in a world marked by escalating violence and deepening divisions. In this reflective essay, a political analyst and her niece sh…

01/01/2026

As the New Year dawns, peace remains our collective project

As 2026 begins amid escalating violence and deepening divisions, this reflective essay by Swarna Rajagopalan and Maitreyi Kaptijn reminds us that peace is not only something to wish for, but something to practise. Drawing on their annual intergenerational collaboration marking Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the piece reflects on how small, sustained acts of remembrance and creative care can become a quiet but powerful commitment to peace.

By Swarna Rajagopalan and Maitreyi Kaptijn / Sapan News
Read more:
https://sapannews.com/2025/12/31/as-the-new-year-dawns-peace-remains-our-collective-project/

12/30/2025

“Every day is a good day” — Pramod Bhasin’s legacy of activism, theatre and peace

In this tribute, Asif Ullah Khan reflects on the life and legacy of Pramod Bhasin, a theatre practitioner and peace activist born into a family displaced from Rawalpindi during Partition, who chose humour over bitterness and dialogue over division.

Bhasin’s quiet generosity, cultural activism, and enduring belief in people-to-people peace across Southasia shaped a legacy that resisted hate without spectacle or rancour.

By Asif Ullah Khan / Sapan News
Read more:
https://sapannews.com/2025/12/29/every-day-is-a-good-day-pramod-bhasins-legacy-of-activism-theatre-and-peace/