Indian and Pakistani journalists are writing relatively freely across the borders today in each other’s newspapers and journals, which is a saving grace in the otherwise troubled ties between the sullen neighbors. Indian journalist Jawed Naqvi began a refreshing trend two decades ago by starting a weekly column for Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, one of South Asia’s more liberal dailies. Previously, he was correspondent for Reuters in Delhi when he traveled to cover armed revolts in Kashmir and Jaffna. He was news editor of The Khaleej Times during a stretch in Dubai when he covered the Iran-Iraq war from the border, and reported the 1990s Gulf War from Iraq and Jordan for The Economic Times of Delhi. He has contributed to two books on communalism and state, including The Public Intellectuals in India, edited by Romila Thapar. His columns for Dawn are routinely reproduced by Indian newspapers though they never approached him or the paper for permission.
Sarah Khan, Sarah Khan is Postgraduate Associate at the Yale MacMillan Center (South Asian Studies Council), prior to appointment as Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale in 2019. She is an affiliated researcher with the Institute for Development and Economic Alternatives in Lahore, Pakistan. Her research interests lie at the intersection of gender and comparative politics, with a regional specialization in South Asia. In her doctoral thesis, she explores gender gaps in political preferences and the barriers to women’s electoral participation and substantive representation in Pakistan.
Fahd Humayun is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Political Science at Yale University. His research focuses on regimes and political behavior. He is affiliated with the Jinnah Institute, a public policy think-tank in Islamabad. He writes a column for The News International, Pakistan’s largest English language newspaper.