Sapan News Network

06/11/2026

Literary festivals inject oxygen into Pakistan’s constrained intellectual spaces

By R. Umaima Ahmed / Sapan News

These vibrant events call attention to scarce publishing avenues, and the increasing demand for diverse, locally produced voices.
Amid shrinking public arenas for open discourse, literary festivals are serving as vital lifelines for critical thought and creative expression. This feature explores how these cultural gatherings are carving out crucial pockets of freedom for writers, publishers, and readers across the country.

Read the full feature here: https://sapannews.com/2026/06/09/literary-festivals-inject-oxygen-into-pakistans-constrained-intellectual-spaces/

©️This is a Sapan News syndicated feature available for republication with due credit https://www.sapannews.com.

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06/09/2026

Reintegration or retribution? Evaluating Sri Lanka’s post-war rehabilitation experiment

By Kamanthi Wickramasinghe / Sapan News

Following a brutal 30-year civil war with the separatist Tamil Tigers, the Sri Lankan military launched an unconventional program aimed at reintegrating former combatants into civilian society rather than focusing on punitive detention.

Five years after the initiative officially concluded, what are the real-world outcomes for lasting peace, human rights, and regional reconciliation?

Read the full feature here: https://sapannews.com/2026/06/08/what-has-a-little-known-post-war-rehabilitation-programme-for-former-combatants-in-sri-lanka-accomplished/

©️This is a Sapan News syndicated feature available for republication with due credit https://www.sapannews.com.

05/31/2026

Beyond remittances: A rare insight into the everyday lives of migrant workers

​Commemorating Labour History Month, the latest edition of Sapan Bookshelf looks at social anthropologist Shankar Ramaswami’s Souls in the Kalyug. This rich, multi-layered text moves past the numbers to provide a rare window into the everyday lives, politics, and cosmologies of migrant workers in contemporary India, highlighting hopeful strands within the destructive churn of global capitalism.

​By Nida Kirmani / Sapan News

​Read more: https://sapannews.com/2026/05/30/beyond-remittances-a-rare-insight-into-the-everyday-lives-of-migrant-workers/

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This is a Sapan News syndicated feature available for republication with due credit.

05/28/2026

RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Demands for gender justice merge with the right to protest

​Police heavy-handedness, delayed permissions, and restrictive conditions cast a shadow over the annual Aurat March in Karachi this year. Yet, despite state pushback, analysts and organizers say women’s spaces of resistance will only keep growing: “Nobody can stop it.” This ground report looks at how the struggle for gender justice has increasingly become intertwined with the fundamental right to protest.

​By Abdullah Zahid / Sapan News

​Read more: https://sapannews.com/2026/05/27/rights-pakistan-demands-for-gender-justice-merge-with-the-right-to-protest/

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This is a Sapan News syndicated feature available for republication with due credit.

05/23/2026

From Brussels to Southasia: Who shapes the future of Israel–Palestine?

As the conflict in the Middle East hits Southasia through surging oil prices and fractured supply chains, a new initiative aims to bring together Israeli and Palestinian peace activists, European policymakers, journalists, and international law experts. This commentary explores what meaningful global engagement in a political solution might look like, and why Southasia has a direct stake in its outcome.

By Pavithra Perera WJA / Sapan News

Read more: https://sapannews.com/2026/05/22/from-brussels-to-south-asia-who-shapes-the-future-of-israel-palestine/

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This is a Sapan News syndicated feature available for republication with due credit.

05/16/2026

Luxury industries as a national driver in a new world order

In an age of AI and automated manufacturing, Southasia’s greatest economic asset lies in what cannot be replicated: its generational craftsmanship.
From Kashmiri Pashmina and Dhaka Muslin to Sri Lankan Sapphires, this commentary explores how the region can reclaim its economic narrative and protect local livelihoods by transforming traditional heritage industries into global luxury brands.

By Harith Soysa / Sapan News

Read more: https://sapannews.com/2026/05/15/luxury-industries-as-a-national-driver-in-a-new-world-order/

© www.sapannews.com
This is a Sapan News syndicated feature available for republication with due credit.

05/13/2026

A ground report from the heart of India’s central forests, where indigenous women have liberated thousands of acres of ancestral land.

05/11/2026

How ‘The Silver Songbirds of Bengaluru,’ a senior citizens’ choir led by a top-ranking retired diplomat, is crossing borders and boundaries, and building bridges, community, and solidarity with music.

How ‘The Silver Songbirds of Bengaluru,’ a senior citizens’ choir led by a top-ranking retired diplomat, is crossing borders and boundaries, and building bridges, community, and s…

05/11/2026

A migrant from Pakistan sees striking parallels between the 1947 Partition of British India and the current political schism in the United States. Is America repeating the same “divide and rule” history that fractured the subcontinent?

A migrant from Pakistan sees striking parallels between the 1947 Partition of British India and the current political schism in the United States. Is America repeating the same “divide and ru…

05/02/2026

“The American partition”: Watching a familiar horror movie unfold

A migrant from Pakistan sees striking parallels between the 1947 Partition of British India and the current political schism in the United States. Is America repeating the same “divide and rule” history that fractured the subcontinent?

By Ali Azad / Sapan News

Read more: https://sapannews.com/2026/04/30/the-american-partition-watching-a-familiar-horror-movie-unfold/

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This is a Sapan News syndicated feature available for republication with due credit.