(MENAFN- Afghanistan Times) The horrific truck bombing at the green village on Jan
14,2019 in Kabul ended the life of a young and bright international development
professional Ms Shipra Sharma in the most brutal and menacing way. She was
intelligent, dynamic and luminary in her own right. It was just 3 months that
she stepped into Kabul in order to improve the standards of civil society often
plagued by poor governance and lack of accountability. She was employed as the programme
director of Afghanistan Institute for civil society. Early morning, I was
typically into my mails and calls, when a friend from Kabul called me to inform
that Shiprais injured. Having worked in Afghanistan, the first lead was enough
for me to comprehend the rest. However, I was behaving differently this time. I
called up multiple sources in Kabul hoping to see her in the list of injury,
only. Finally at 11.00 AM, I was informed about the worst. My train of hope was
brought to a screeching, abrupt halt and I was jolted back into the present
with the harsh reality. I was numbed and shattered. My throat was choking.
I shared many relationships with Shipra—a professor, a
friend, and perhaps her worst critics. I had the privilege of teaching her at
Aravali institute of management, Jodhpur as a guest lecturer. Later, it was
brought to my notice that I was nick-named as
'dangerous professor' because of my inability to tolerate even slightest
of nuisance in the class. My interaction with students off class was very
limited owing to my serious image. I lost touch with all my students, once I
moved to Afghanistan in 2005. She was no exception, either. However after a
decade, I connected with her again through linked in. By then she had worked with
almost half a dozen of development organisation, but that big development break
was still elusive in her career. One of my industrialist friends was keen on
setting up a foundation with South Asia outreach. I alerted her about the
opening. She was intelligent and smart enough to crack it. From here on, I
witnessed a remarkable transformation in her. She started designing one after another-innovative
development projects with admirable vision and immaculate execution. Notable
among them was reviving a defunct leprosy hospital in Jharkhand and providing
tech power to 200 women grassroots leader for employing digital advocacy and
networking to espouse public cause in Bangladesh. She was fast emerging as a kind
of leader, every young professional can be inspired by and look up to, a role
model. Her management style included
giving both authority and responsibility to her staff, and then she hold them
accountable for results. She was never scared of calling a spade a spade even if
that means disagreeing with Boss and even for that matter the board. I was
privy to one such board meeting. This would often put her under tight spot. In
a relatively short span of time, she set up the foundation with a pan India visibility
along with an outreach to Bangladesh.
This was the time, when I was also exposed to her tacit sense
of humor, which was a privilege for the selected few. In the meanwhile, I also
realized that she holds three masters, including one from University of London.
A PHD from LSE was her next dream. Whatever little, I knew about her, she hated
status quo in anything. She also needed to be confronted with new set of
challenges to keep her engaged in everything that she does. Soon she started hitting fatigue and was up for
the next big challenge in the development sector. She applied for a big job in
Afghanistan and true to her established credential, cracked it by beating various
international candidates, convincingly. She was not a silver tongue orator by
any means, but would leave impression in any conversation with her deep
thinking and critical analysis. Her leadership was more suited for big-ticket
items in the international development sector. Having worked at the highest
echelon of international development, I say it with great authority that she
was a rare talent, given her age. The
new job in Afghanistan was no different. She became immensely popular riding
high on creativity and new thinking in little over three months. She epitomised
the way in which high order principles andethos can be brought to bear upon the
seemingly intractable problems facing the civil society of Afghanistan. But
Taliban had other plans to abort the process of Development and silence anyone
who comes in between. She was the victim this time.
Before leaving for Afghanistan, she approached me for my
approval. I am not the one to be scared
by Taliban. However, I was apathetic this time as the situation is
deteriorating fast in Afghanistan. She sensed my pessimistic mood faster than
me. 'Come on professor Sarkar' you taught us that for development sector
professional, there is no religion and even border. Reaching out to distressed
and high conflict zone should be a top priority. You can't go back on your
words now', She enlightened me about my past lecture and subtly reminded me
that I have also worked in conflict zones for over 15 years now. I convinced myself and gave her the nod. In
my distant of dream, I didn't realize that I was literally approving her death
warrant. I met her on Jan 12th when she stopped in Delhi en route to Kabul. All
discussion centered on her job and how much she was enjoying the same. She was
perhaps going through the best phase of her professional life. I never thought that
her best phase would be so short-lived.
It is particularly disturbing to note that humanitarian aid
workers are increasingly becoming target of Taliban. Even by the Taliban's own crude
metrics, the aid workers were generally spared, in the past. This winter all
the laid barometer of Taliban are seen to be falling and the gap between the
military, civilian and the humanitarian sector are blurring. For killing two
unarmed professionals, the Taliban resorted to truck bombing. This was designed
to create fear psychosis among development professionals in Kabul. However they
fail to understand that even in her tragic death, Shipra would continue to
inspire international development professionals more than ever to take up new challenges
in Afghanistan. And Prof Sarkar wouldn't deter from advising people to work in
Afghanistan either.
Shipra passed away leaving behind her7 years old son. She was a force of positivity and brought so
much happiness in any organisation that she worked. She created a culture to work hard and be the
best that you can be. She was born to work with excellence. At 36, she created
such an indelible mark in sector of development.
With tearful eye, I badefinal farewell to Shipra in her hometown
Jodhpur, last Friday. Her death brought the Sun City together to mourn the loss
of it's famous daughter.
Rest in peace Shipra! May you reap your rewards in heaven.
Sujeet Sarkar works as a Global Lead on Governance with an
international aid agency.
MENAFN2301201901690000ID1098011416
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.