Sheema Kermani, a prominent Pakistani classical dancer based in the port city of Karachi and recipient of USIP support to pursue her own brand of peace building, is one of four recipients of the ACHA Peace Star Award.
Sheema Kermani, a prominent Pakistani classical dancer based in the port city of Karachi and recipient of USIP support to pursue her own brand of peacebuilding, is racking up more plaudits. She is one of four recipients of the ACHA Peace Star Award, given by an organization based in Oregon to individuals and organizations for merit in promoting peace and communal harmony, particularly in South Asia.
Kermani leads the dance and theater troupe Tehrik-e-Niswan, which has been using street theater since 1979 to convey unconventional social messages. With support from USIP’s Peace Innovation Fund, the group is producing dance and theater performances on inter-faith and inter-ethnic harmony in Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh. The fund also supports other projects in Pakistan including the 60 Second Film Festival, which most recently is conducting screenings in Sri Lanka and has plans to show the productions in Nepal and Afghanistan as well.
Kermani’s 30-member dance company performed in Larkana and Kambar-Shahdadkot districts for three days earlier this month, blending Sindhi songs and Urdu poetry with messages on avoiding religious animosity. Pakistan, where strict anti-blasphemy laws sometimes spark attacks for perceived insults in the majority-Sunni Muslim country, has faced a stark increase in religious and sectarian violence in recent months.
Kerman joined three ACHA award winners from India at the ceremony last month at the Arts Council of Pakistan in Karachi, organized in cooperation with the Pakistan Peace Coalition and the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research. ACHA stands for Association for Communal Harmony in Asia, and the award recognizes “some of the unsung peace and harmony heroes” who’ve contributed to the organization, according to the group.
The dancer also is profiled in a new set of documentary films on Pakistani women, “The Other Half of Tomorrow,” supported by the Asia Society. The production premiered in November at the Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York.
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Viola Gienger is a senior writer at USIP.
