Ten years after the assassination of Karachi peace activist and cultural entrepreneur Sabeen Mahmud, her story continues to resonate across borders. On 28 September, the Southasia Peace Action Network, or Sapan, hosted a discussion of After Sabeen, a moving documentary by Berlin-based Iranian filmmaker Schokofeh Kamiz.

The event coincided with the International Day for Universal Access to Information, something that Sabeen held dear.

Kamiz’s 2018 film, screened recently by Vikalp@Prithvi in Mumbai and on Sunday at an in-person gathering in Berlin, captures Sabeen’s life and legacy through quiet observation and interviews with her mother Mahenaz, who survived the attack that killed her daughter, and Sabeen’s friends and colleagues.

The café-gallery Sabeen founded in Karachi in 2007, The Second Floor (T2F), remains alive as an event space, with classes, book launches, and performances, although the cafe is now closed.

“You can kill a person, but not the idea,” said Indian activist Lalita Ramdas and Sapan founder member, during the discussion. “That is what keeps us going — their message and what they lived for did not die.”

Tehran-born Kamiz first heard of Sabeen the night she was shot dead, listening to Pakistani friends in Berlin talk about her for ‘hours’.

“I fell in love with her,” said Kamiz. With no funding or crew, she financed and filmed the project herself, returning repeatedly to Karachi over several years.

Participants spoke of being deeply moved by the ordinary, human details she captured on screen — Mahenaz keeping her daughter’s room ready, conversations with Sabeen’s grandmother, and scenes of Sabeen’s cat Jadoo who still waits for her.

Regional Resonances

Speakers from across South Asia stressed that Sabeen’s story is not only about Pakistan.

“Anyone who has that kind of integrity, of wanting to do what they believe in so strongly, is always at risk,” said Bangladeshi feminist Khushi Kabir recalling the killings of secular bloggers and Indigenous activists in Bangladesh, including writer Avijit Roy.

In India, participants remembered journalist Gauri Lankesh, murdered in 2017, as well as other rationalists.

“This was a film that needed to be made, so thank you,” said award-winning Indian filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, who helped bring After Sabeen to Indian audiences and whose own film ‘Reason’ highlights such killings in India.

He also reflected on documentary cinema as testimony in an era of disinformation. “I don’t want to preach. I want to record what is happening, juxtapose it responsibly, and let audiences come to their own conclusions. In a world full of lies, the job is to start a discussion.”

This is what the film ‘After Sabeen’ also does.

“How can a small venue of 30–40 people be considered a threat?” asked Lahore-based activist Khawar Mumtaz, referring to T2F, where Sabeen had hosted a discussion on disappearances in Balochistan the night she was killed. “And yet it was. That tells us how much civic space has narrowed.”

“Karachi may claim Sabeen, Pakistan may claim Sabeen,” said U.S.-based physician Fauzia Deeba. “But I, as a Balochistani, claim Sabeen for bringing the voice of Balochistan to people.”

Legacy and Responsibility

Sapan co-founder Beena Sarwar reflected on working with Sabeen in various peace and human rights related causes like Peace Action Karachi, an initiative the two started together, and the South Asia Foundation launched by late UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Madanjeet Singh.

While Sarwar and Mahmud weren’t granted visas to attend a SAF event in Kashmir, Sabeen features in Sarwar’s short film, ‘Milne Do’ (Let Kashmiris Meet), for which several interviews were conducted at T2F.

“We have to keep our spaces,” said Sarwar, pointing to Sapan’s Social Media Ethics Code and Responsibility Pledge (sapannews.com/social) as one way of upholding Sabeen’s values online.

Zarminae Ansari, founder of Joy of Urdu, remembered Sabeen’s support for her project and their conversations in Paris shortly before the murder. “Joy of Urdu exists because of Sabeen, like so many other initiatives that she championed.”

“Resilience amid shrinking spaces” was a recurring theme of the discussion.

Participants spoke of being deeply moved by the ordinary, human details captured on screen — Mahenaz keeping her daughter’s room ready, conversations with Sabeen’s grandmother, and her cat Jadoo.

Relevance Today

The discussion also connected Sabeen’s legacy to current struggles. Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam, scheduled to join the session, could not participate as he had left that morning to join the Flotilla heading to Gaza.

“We at Sapan send him our love and solidarity, and may he and all the others in the Flotilla stay safe,” said discussion moderator Aekta Kapoor, journalist and founder editor eShe magazine, New Delhi.

Participants also remembered Assamese singer Zubeen Garg, who died recently, noting how he used his music to speak out on social issues. “Artists and filmmakers become threats to majoritarian politics simply by being who they are,” Kapoor reminded the audience.

Delhi-based peacemaker Ranjini Rao noted how the film reveals the extraordinary humanity in Sabeen’s story: “Ordinary people become larger than life because of how they think, and because they are steadfast in being human.”

As her mother Mahenaz expresses it poignantly in the film: “Sabeen lived every moment of her lifetime. She genuinely lived while living.”

And Sabeen herself left behind words that still inspire: “The streets are ours.”

(By special arrangement with Sapan)