\u2018He who controls\nthe media, controls the minds of the public,\u2019 said Noam Chomsky. The power of\nthe Fourth Estate reverberates across countries. But who would know it better\nthan an inquisitive mind that was shaped in conflict-torn Afghanistan. Mir\nAbdul Wahed Hashimi, a Law and Political Science graduate\nfrom the University of Kabul, was singularly focused on issues related to the\nrole of media in bringing about social justice in his country, and citizens\u2019\nright to information. As Executive Director, NAI-supporting Open Media in\nAfghanistan and Community Peace Building Project Manager, Oxfam, he was working\nfor social change one media move at a time. But to make a bigger difference on\nthe world stage he decided to pursue an LLM in International Trade Law from O.P.\nJindal Global University (JGU). According to him, it was the turning point in\nhis journey. Here is his exceptional career path packed with headline-making\nmilestones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To expand his\nunderstanding of media and leverage the learning to bring about change in his\nhome country, Mir travelled far and wide. He participated in numerous\nconversations at conferences in Hungary, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Greece,\nBritain, Africa, and Sri Lanka. He was also a part of Internews Network where\nhe now works as Deputy Chief of Party-Director of Media Law and Policy. His\npowerful portfolio resulted in the Jindal-Afghanistan Empowerment Scholarship\nfor his LLM program. It was a crucial opportunity in his mission to promote\nsocial justice in Afghanistan. In fact, he used the platform to consolidate and\nre-calibrate his approach towards promoting peace and social justice. He\nhighlights the role of Professor Dabiru Sridhar Patnaik, Director of the Centre\nfor Post Graduate Legal Studies (CPGLS) at JGU in shaping his thinking. \u2018The\nintellectual environment at JGU was vibrant and enriching,\u2019 he says, looking\nback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His time at JGU was instrumental in not only polishing\nhis skills but also bringing about the final flourish in his transformation\ninto a true global leader. In fact, Mir won the Leadership Award at JGU, and\nhas worn the badge as a leader in his chosen career with aplomb. Internews Network,\nan international non-profit organization that aims to empower local media\nworldwide and makes people\u2019s voices heard, is getting widespread recognition.\nHe has engaged with media personalities, academics, government officials, and executives\nfrom organizations to make a powerful impact. He has been featured in world\nmedia as one of \u2018Afghanistan\u2019s Freedom of Expression Defenders\u2019. Some of his remarkable\nachievements:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Establishing 15 community radio stations in\nAfghanistan, and advising 40 other community radio stations on program content\nand legal issues<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Overseeing election reporting training of\njournalists and civil society organizations in Kabul and eight regions<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Setting up Media Law Committee to provide legal\nservices to journalists by working with Afghanistan Independent Bar Association\n(AIBA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Starting Media Law Moot Court Competition in\nAfghanistan in collaboration with Annenberg School for Communication and\nJournalism of the University of Southern California<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Implementing media law clinics in seven state universities\nto give students the opportunity to work on media law violations<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Developing media law curriculum for implementation\nin legal education programs in law schools by working with Law faculty\nprofessors at Kabul University <\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Championing the cause of right to information\nthrough various channels including organizing advocacy programs for journalists\nand civil society organizations<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Being part of the team that created the first Afghan\nYouth Festival with the objective of encouraging the youth to express\nthemselves through multimedia tools<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mir\u2019s achievements are as profoundly impactful as they\nare diverse. And what makes them more noteworthy is the fact that they have\ncome against all odds in a country that was a conflict zone till recently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018He who controls the media, controls the minds of the public,\u2019 said Noam Chomsky. The power of the Fourth Estate reverberates across countries. But who would know it better than an inquisitive mind that was shaped in conflict-torn Afghanistan. Mir Abdul Wahed Hashimi, a Law and Political Science graduate from Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1683"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1687,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683\/revisions\/1687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}