the forum gazette vol. 1 no. 11 november 1-15, 1986.pdf

7/27/2019 The Forum Gazette Vol. 1 No. 11 November 1-15, 1986.pdf

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Vol. I No. ] I

Delhi Sikhs Face Charges for'84 ViolenceReal Culprits Still Roaming Scot-free

Gazette News Service Reportby Lakhinder Vohrais now two years since the

carnage of Sikhs in the na-tion's capital, ~ a n p u r , Bokaroand other places. The DelhiAdministration, various stategovernments and the CentralGovernment continued to stoically refuse to book the erringelements in government, bureaucracy and police who allowed and in some cases joinedup with common criminals, inperpetrating one of the worstmassacres in this nation's glorious history. But the samegovernment has quite rightlynot spread efforts in launching a relentless war againstterriorists who are out to sub-vert the democratic process asa means of resolving politicaldisputes...,,'ti-rollP Captain ManmohanBir Singh Talwar, whowas awarded the MahavirChakra for gallantry du ring the1971 Indo-Pak operations, facedanother 'war ' in the aft ermathof Mrs Gan dhi 's death.When, in spi te of his repeatedpeaceful warnings, a s trong mobof four to tive thousand stomledinto hi s West Patel Nagar houseand attacked the household ,breaking one of hi s teeth, and' seriously iniuri ng h is li ps, Ta lwar resorted to self defence, fi ring from hi s licenced 12 boregun . While he managed to keepthe rioters at bay, the policearrived-promptly-only to arresthim and hi s two grown upson s.

However, those who believein democracy and humanrights, including Sikhs in Indiaand abroad, have taken noteof the double standards anddiscrimination on the part ofthe authorities in refusing topunish the guilty men of 1984.Nothing illustrates the injustice, discrimination and violation of the basic norms of fairand impartial governance thanthe startling fact that whereaslittle has been done to launchproceeding against those whoaided, abetted or indulged inmass murder, atleast 29 sikhshave had cases _iled aga jnstthem under sections 302/307of the Indian Penal Code formurder and or attempt tomurder

The ki th and kin of the rio terski lled or injured by Ta lwar 'sbull ets, charged the premature ly retired Grou p Captain wi thkilling five and injuring anotherfive while ti ring members of apeaceful and unp rovoked procession that passed from infron t of hi s house, mourningthe tragic death of the formerPrime Min ister, Shrimati IndiraGan dhi.While the three Talwars weretaken away, a worried Mrs' Ta lwar, who was left behind towi tness the looting and buming, decided to file an FIR onthe entire episode, holding speci fic persons guilty of' bettingthe violence.Continued on page 15 col . 1

Now facing charges u nder sections 3021307 of the Indian Penal Code.Group Captain Manmohan Bir Singh Talwar receives the Maha Vir Cbakra fromPresident Giri For Gallantry in the 19 71 wa r against Pakistan.

Rupees Two. .

1. Lane of Block 32,T irlokpuri, still haunted by memories of the d ~ a d .2. Sita Ram. Railway employee, of Tirlokpuri. saved six Sikh families. His wife and her friend are popular figures.. 3. Block 32 , Tirlokpur; - the rebuilt Gurudwara out of the ashes.Victims of 1984 Rebuild Lives WithPride, Dignity and TenacityBut. . . Tension, Insecurity, Official Apathy Hinder Normlacy

Two years after the carnage of November 1984The Forum Gazette visitedtwo of the worst affectedareas, Sultanpuri and Tirlokpuri, to see what conditions are like, to assess themood of the residents. AReport by Gazette Correspondents.

O n October 31st 1984 , theday Indira Gandhi wastragically assassinated,Block A-4 in Sultanpuri housedabout 130 Sikh families. ByNovember 4th only six males ofthose tamilies were alive . InBlock 32 'Tirlokpuri the deadtotalled approximately 300 -400 .Twen ty-four months later theseareas are islands of desolationand deathly silence, empty oflife, inhabited only by ghosts,the gapi ng doorways and brokenwa ll s mute witness of th eholoca ust. standing, untouched, inaccusa tion. Aro und these islandsthe uncaring, noisy , bustling,ove rcrowded hurly burly of lifethat marks the capital 's "reset-tlement colonies" goes on. .Survivors of these two blockst)ave sca ttered to different areas.Widows are living in Tilak Viharand Garhi. Others, families , havegone to areas where there are anumber of Sikh families . Forsecurity. Some are still in camps.Sumer Singh of Sultanpuri A-4,whose four sons were .killed,. lives with what remains of his

fam ily in the ihuggi e camp ofTi lak Vihal'. He refuses to goback to Su ltanpuri . He wantsaccomoda tion in lieu of hi s plotthere, somewhere else. Butnothing is for thcoming. The 20to 25 liunilies ex isting in thi simprovised camp, congested ,lacking all facilities, unhygeini c,in sanitary, tell the same story .A Surface Normalcy

In other blocks of Sultanpurilife has returned to normal, on. he surface. In E-Block, thegurudwara destroyed by themob, has been rebuilt under thespirited efforts of its president,Nur Singh, grey haired with astragg ly beard, lean and energetic. "Sa de Baba ne banaya hai(our God has made it l" he says,folding hi s hands, taking nocredit for his seva'. Asked howthings are in the colony, NurSingh who was, and is, of Congress III pradhan, deplores thefact that the Sikhs are nowfrightened by any small incident. "People have lost faith inthe Guru" he says. "I tell themdon 't be afraid ! No one will diebefore their time! If peoplecome to attack, we are ready forthem. Hindu, Sikh, Musulman'sab insaan hain '."Young Kalwant Singh, gentlefaced, smiling, neatly dressed inblue pajama-kurta, still lives inBlock C-4 where many alsodied. His 'charpai' shop in D-IBlock was reduced to ashes, buthe and his family were saved byneighbours. With rehabilitation

ass istance from priva te sourceshe is ba ck in b usiness. "As goodas before" he says when askedabout sales. But ' he adds softly .that things are not the same inthe colony. Al though communalrelations are peaceful, fear andin security persist. The gurudwara in their block was a totalru in . Now, wi th financial assistance, Kalwant Singh and othershave raised the compound wall.But from their conversation it isclear tha t their heart s are notreally in it. "I tell Kalwant Singhto go and rebuild the gurudwara" Nur Singh tells us. "I tellhim not to leave here . I .willcome and build it with him."But Kalwant is in two minds.He does not want to leave , butFinancially Alright -But Tension ImmediateOthers feel the same way. TailSingh is selling bangles again ashe dId befo re. In his one roomhouse, gleaming brass utensils,are ranged neatly against thewall, his coal 'taal' next door isback in business, and his sixdaughters - his only son is aar ms - a ug me nt thef ~ y mcome by weaving plas

tie. seat cover:s: Financially he isalright, but wife tells us thateven when children are involvedin a squabble, and the twoc 0 I J l ! I l u ~ t i e ~ are involved, thetenslOn IS munediate. "Peoplestill jeer at us" she says. "Andon October 2nd, when the

Continued on page 15, Col 3


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F8'rum_M_e_rl_ia_W_3.:.-t_c_h__________Gazcttc_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _3....:::;.g_e'_s_W_o_rrl_

NATIONAL 'PRIDE AND SPORTIs the press justified in writing about India's poor performanceat the Asia.n Games as a national humiliation?

If "Wctr i .. a continuation ofp o I i t i t ~ by other means" C I a ~wilz 'on war') what is sport a(:ontinuation of ?

The modem Olympic Gamesmovement is based on the revival of the Greek games of 776H.C. In Athens, Sparta & Olympia, games were part of theeducation of the Greeks inculcating an "ethic of v3Iour, thecult of military or sporting prowess by which one could assertoneself, could out class others.it was a source of prestigeand glory . . . the cult of thehero, of the champion of highperformance which found anoutlet outside the sphere of battle in games or contests, particularly in the realm of sports"

But the Romans who succeeded the Greeks as the dominantpower had a different. attitudeto all this. They were interestedonly in the fighting events -wrestling and boxing. TheRomans described their festivalsas 'Ludi ' IGames) while theGreeks had called them 'Agones'Icon tests)"The Greeks originallyorganised their games for thecompetitors, the Romans for the

:TheFOrumGazcttcPanel of Consulting EditorsJustice V.R. Krishna Iver,1.K. GujraI, Madhu K i ~ h w a rKhushwanl Singh, Jaya Jaidy,Rajni Kothari, Amrik Singh,Kuldip NayarChairman, Board of EditorsLt Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora lretd.)Managing EditorBaljit MalikEditorsG.S. Sandhu, Harji Malik,A.S. Narang,Associate EditorAvtar Singh JudgeCircula lionLt Col Manohar Singh (retd.)Business ManagerJatioder Kaur LaDEditorial (Campi Office" Bhagwan Das RoadNew Delhi-llOOOl.Phone: 385270, 385042Tlx: 315220 HBLK FOR GAZIITI'E

2' 1-15 November 1986

Preminder Singhpublic. One was primarily competition, the other entertainment."With Hitler's Germany in themid thirties it was Aryan supremacy - "Amid all the Swastikabanners and Nazi salutes at the1936 Olympic Games in Berlinthe performance of a black athelete from Cleveland, Ohio outshone anything the much vaun-'ted Aryan race could produce.Jesse Owens won four goldmedals".

Dying or Extinct?With India in the mid eight

ies it is politics and nationalism. The first 3 weeks ofOctober saw the entire national press in an agony ofhumiliatio.n and self-flagellation at the so called demise ofIndian sport."If the maxim 'Sporting standards are a barometer to anations fitness and preparedness for survival are true," saidC.S. Rao 'and Avinash Singh (HTOct 5) "India would almost beextinct". While P.c. Nigam tHTOct 4) had to wait for "6 days ofhumiliation and frustration" forthe National Anthem to beplayed. The Times of India (Oct.22 ) wrote an ohituary mourningthe demise of hockey from theIndian sub-continent. "For thelast few years it (hockey) was inan almost comatose state, Itscondition took a sudden turnfor the worse in Seoul lastmonth and it finallv breathedits last at Willesden Green inLondon."S. Thyagarajan (Sportstar Oct.11) thought he was watching awestern as he saw the "Hockeychamps bite the dust" and thepresumably the So uth Koreans'riding off into the sunset.

Officials vis CoachesWhile the nation was , eitherbecoming extinct or biting thedust, Ken Bosen, Chief NationalCoach, disappeared in the middleof the games for a well paid jobin Taiwan "out of frustration

with the country's sports infrastructure." He said the problemin India is not that we are following the wrong system,that we have nb system". (IndiaToday Oct. 31)Eric Arnold, India's Australian

swimming coach wasn 't eventaken to the Asian games afterhaving coached the team forover 3 months. He said (to NowKapadia Sports World 22-28"I am unhappy that swimmerslike Bula, Khazan, Wilson andPunja, all medal hopes maysuffer because of an absence ofcrucial last minute tips . . . K.V.Sharma is inadequate as anational coach. He spends moretime politicking . .. and is rarely'on deck' Ipresent at the pool). . . and R.K.Gupta 's (manager ofthe swimming squad at SeoulJinvolvement with swimming canbest be judged by the fact thatat the official reception at Ras thrapati Bhawan he could notname a single swimmer. One ofthe boys introduced the squadto the President ."But national honour wassaved by a quartet of girlsfrom Kerala. "There is onlyone state that has a propersports policy and that is Kerala. Take away P.T. Usha andwhat have you got" said CoachKen Bosen (India Today Oct31). The very thought is hor-rifying, an d specially thismonth - take away P.T. Ushaand what have you got towrite about?

'USHIAN' GAMESPILAVULAKANDI THEKKEPARAMBIC USHA can run 200meters faster than any northIndian ca n pronounce he rname but can anybody copewith all those goldern analogies.'Golden Girl' (The Week) 'GoldenGirl' (India Today) 'Usha thesurname is gold' (Sportstar), 'thesports gold mine' (HT ) . . . 'Shekeeps her destiny with gold' .. .'the name that spells gold'ISportstarJ.Or can she cope with (Sportstar Oct 25) seeing her "Standjng out in solitary splendour, asVenus in the western sky aroup.ddusk . . . endowed with a stoutheart, dedication and nationalpride"Or cope with Amiya Tarafdar 's (The Week Oct. 19 -25 ) finding that the foreign image of the"country girl hailing from aremote village in Kerala had tobe tuaght how to eat and dressin public" was true only to the

extent of "the inherent beautyof the countryside which sheradiates"India Today rOct 31) foundelectricity in the air as thedusky long legged athelete ingreen shorts .. . stepped on tothe track at Seoul .. ' .carefullyfitted her spikes into the starting blocks, flexing her muscularthighs . . . While Nirmal ShekharFrontline (Oct.4-17) finds her a"mesomorphic (innate muscularbuild) woman in the endomorphic (thick, short limbed) world, .. and if you happen to meether on the street or anywhereoutsid.e a stadium your mindconjures up images of her running on an athletics track ,. ,(with) a body made for motionfor long purposeful strides downa tartan track. "India Today didnot foroget tocount the cash either, "Fromthe Indian Government she willbe getting Rs, 6.5. lakhs. She hasalready received a Rs . 3 lakhsaward from the Kerala Government along with a Standard2000 car .. . At a conservativeestimate Usha stands to makearound Rs , 20 lakhs after herSeoul performance, the mostthat any Indian sportspersonhas received for a single sporting event," not counting the"emotion, adulation and joyfrom Kerala (at her )grand homecoming of which Sports ar promises a report in words andpictures in their next issue.

No Need for AnguishBut after all the adulation andthe moaning are over there isonly one journalist who hastackled the issue of sport at afundamental level - "how cana' developing country committed to democracy match thedollar power of the (developed)democracies 01' the state-runsports machinery of Ru ssia andthe East European bloc. RINGSIDER (The Week Oct.19-25) further asks or "Is it even desirable? Sports cannot be isolated

from society . , . and there is noproper foundation for theheights which we are trying toreach . . . If only we couldrealize and live with ou r limitations, sport will not become thesubject of such anguish ".

LAOTZU

LEGENDS as to Laotzu aremore or less familiar.Immaculately conceived by ashooting-s tar, carried in hismother's womb fo'r sixty-twoyears and born, it is said, whitehaired, in 604 B.C. , he becamein due time keeper of imperialarchieves at Loyang. an ancientcapital in what is now the Chinese province of Honan.Speaking wisdom which attracted followers, he had refused to the end of his life to set itdown: considering the way oflife an d the ways of the world,he had decided that a greatdeal was done and said in theworld which might better hespared. His choice, however,was not, as has been widelyassumed, vacant inaction orpassive contemplation. It wascreative quietism,One who would guide a leaderof men in the uses of lifeWill warn him against the use ofarms for conquest.Weapons often turn upon thewielder,An army's halVest is a waste ofthrons,Conscription of a multitude of

menDrains the next year dry.A good general, daring to mardidares also to halt,. Will never press his triumphbeyond need.What he must do he does butnot tor glory,What he must do he does butnot for show,What he must do he does butnot for self;He has done it because it had tobe done,Not from a hot head.Let life ripen and then fall ,Force is not the way at all :Deny the way of life and you aredead.Even the finest arms are aninstrument of evil,A spread of plague,And the way for a vital man togo is not"he way of a soldier,But in time of war men civilisedin peaceTum from their higher to theirlower nature.Am1S are an instrument of evil,No measure for thoughtful menUntil there fail all other choiceBut acceptance of it.Triumph is not beautiful.He who thinks triump h beautifulIs one with a will to kill,And one \vith a will to killShall never prevail upon theworld.It is a good sign when man 'shigher nature comes forward,A bad sign when his lowernature comes forward,When retainers take chargeAnd the master stays backAs in the conduct of a funeral.The death of a multitude iscause fol' mourning:Conduct your triumph as afuneral.


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In November 1984 the Delhipolice was accused by victimsof the holocaust of inaction,or of actively assisting the k i l ~ling and burning mobs. Since,Sikh pOlicemen and officershad immediately been with-drawn from the field by theauthorities during those shame-ful days, the police force wasaccused of blatant communal.Ism. In rare cases some members of the force did help theSikh targets - one of themwas penalised for so doing hisduty. Many police personnelwere named in reports andaffidavits by the victims. Butno disciplinary action appearsto have been taken againstthem. The result has been thatthe vast majority of Delhi'sa Sikh community have lost confidence in the police. Twoyears after the 1984 outrageThe Forum Gazette interviewed Mr. Ved Marwah, presently Chief Police Commissioner of Delhi.

Ved MalWah then Additional Commissioner ofPolice, Headed a police

enquiry into the events of November 1984 and much wasexpected from the 'MalWahReport ', Unfortunately, however,this never saw the light of day.The Police Commissioner toldThe Foruni Gazette that thereport was never submittedbecause before he could callimportant witnesses .from theDelhi Administration, such asthe Chief Secretary, he wasasked no t to proceed anyfurther with the enquiry. Readers may recall that two Delhipolicemen who were suspectedof dereliction of duty and whofeared disciplinary action wouldbe taken against them, movedthe High Court and secured anad-interim injunction l'estraining Mr . MalWah from publishing or submitting his report. Noaction has been taken againstthe two policemen. Asked whatpolice report the Prome M.inister had referred to when hetold Mr . Pritish Nandy, editor,Illustrated Weekly of India that'We have had a police report

FACE TO FACEWITH DELHI'SPOLICECOMMISSIONERHarji Malik Interviews Ved Marwahon it Ithe November eventsl, "Mr . MalWah said he was notaware of an y other police.report. Since his was not complete, he had come to no conclusions and had not submittedany report. All docuinents con-nected with the enquiry wereturned over bv him to theMisra Commission.

Rahul Bedi's Writ PetitionA writ petition filed by IndianExpress correspondent RahulBedi for an enquiry into policeinaction and dereliction of dutyin the November killings wa"sturned down by the court onthe plea' that a police enquiry- the MalWah enquiry was inprogress, the ad-interim injunction on this enquiry folJowed.The Citizens' Justice Committee, fearing that documentaryevidence might be tamperedwith moved the courts to haveall documents concerning theenquiry sealed and depositedwith the court. This was done.Later the CJC asked that thedocuments be unsealed andhanded over to the Misra

Commission. This was done butJustice Misra di d not giveaccess to the documents to theCJc. Therefore the contents arenot known to the public.Improvements In PoliceAdministration

The Police Commissioner told

the Gazette that action hadbeen taken to improve policeadministration since the November events, and he pointed outthat inspite of grave communalprovocation s ince November1984 - he cited the murders ofArjull Dass, Mr. and Mrs . LalitMakken and the Mukhtsar killings - the situation had beenkept under contI,'OI inspite ofthe threatened backlash. "Themain thing is that the minorities must not feel they have toprotect themselves" he said."Thev must have full faith inthe police, that the police vvill 'act in an unbiased way," assured Mr . Marwah.He added that the police havetaken a strong line with aU antisocial elements, irrespective ofwho they are. When he was toldthat in 'the Tilak Vihar happenings in July after the Muktsarkillings, only Sikhs had beenkilled by police firing, he repliedthat out of five firing victims,one was a Hindu, and that itwas difficult to say which werethe specific victims of poHce firing as others had also firedweapons. But he reminded theGazette that local Sikh leadersincluding the DGPe, had congratulated the police for theirhandling of the situation. Theremight have been one or twocomplaints, he admitted, but onthe whole "the situation waswell contained" and wherever

PUNJAB ,POLICE INFILTRATED will and escaped without anyhindrance or being engaged bythe police personnel presentthere. This has compelled thepolice Chi ef to admit that theterrorists are capable of perpetrating daring crimes. Only afew days earlier, he had saidWidespread Resentment Over Fake EncountersFrom Harbir Singh Bhanwer in AmritsarT he Police top brass inPunjab is a worried lotsince ten'orists appear tohave successfully infiltrated theinner echelons - of the policeforce during their l'ecent abortive attempt in lalandhar on thelife of the Director General ofPolice Mr. IF . Ribeiro. Theattack to.ok place in the ci tade lof the p o l i force vvi thin thePunjab A r m ~ 9 Po lice complex .Fears that the police force hadbeen infiltrated were furtherstrengthened when four of thePAP . perspnnel sent their resignation letters to their respective headquarters along with ajoint statement to the press inAmritsar giving reasons for theiraction.The four are head constableAjit Singh and thl'ee constables,Balwinder Singh, DalwinderSingh and Sardul Singh. Balwinder is a close relative ofHaba Gurbachan Singh Manochahal, a member of the 'Pan!hic Committee', which hadgone underground imme'diatelyafter making an announcementabout the establishment of

.Khalistan ' on April 29 , '1986within the holy precincts of theGolden Temple.It 'is however still nol clearhow far these policemen wereinvolved in the attack on Mr .Ribeiro and hi s ..."ife in theOffi cers Mess in th e mi s tyatmosphere of the early hoursof October 3, when thev wereboth taking an early morningstroll in the compound. Howmany others were involved inthe attack is yet to be ascertained, although the police arrested sub-Inspector GurbachanSingh, incharge of the securityof the Officers Mess and twoothers, Karaj Singh and his wifeMrs . Amarjit Kaur, residents ofAmritsar district, whose truckwas used by the offenders for 'making their get away,Announcing that they arejoining the underground militant organisation 'KhalistanCommando Force', the defecting policemen stated, 'Thepolice is committing atrocitieson the Sikhs and killing innocent youths in contrived encounters at the instance of Mr .

Ribeiro. We are fed up with thecommunal and dictatorial attitude of Mr . Ribeiro deputed byMr. Rajiv Gandhi to eliminateSikhs."They also claimed that theywere eye-witness to the gunningdown of innocent Sikh youthsin 'fake ' encounters. How fartheir statement is correct isanybody's guess. But it is a factthat in the case of many youthskilled in Punjab in 'fake' encounters , many parents haddeveloped sore feelings in thevHlages. Rese ntment in thecountryside has been widespread, especially as from thesesame villages young people hadbeen serving both in the al1nyand the police.

Ribeiro Proved WrongMr . Ribeiro, however, himself,ruled out that such sympathy

as the terrorists enjoyed did notextend to the ranks of policeforce. But the way the terroristsoperated during the attack onhim, was a clear indication thatthey knew every inch of the PAPcomplex and moved at their The Punjab Director-General ofPolice, J.F. Ribeiro

trouble broke out in other localities, it had been stopped immediately. The police had been outin full strength.Little Actual Army PresenceAsked to comment on thewidespread belief expressed inmany circles that the situation

was kept in control because the"Army had been called out" thePolice Commissioner said thatwhereas the police and annyalways c o o p e r ~ t e d , there hadbeen little actual anny presencein the city at that time. Perhapsthe psychological effect of poss i b l ~ army presence. had playeda part, he added. But what hadcontrolled the situation wasimposition of curfew withoutdelav in troubled areas, theforce used against troublemakers and efficient functioning ofthe police communications system.

Sikh ApprehensionsThe Gazette told the policechief that Sikhs all over Delhi,

no matter who they are, orwhere they live, feel that theyare living on top of a powderkeg which may blow up anymoment. They have lost allsense of security and .the common feeling is that if any unto- .ward incident takes place - forexample had the Prime Ministerbeen wounded or worse onOctober 2nd - the capitalcould easily have had a repetition of November 1984.November '84 Repetition NotPossible - Says Marwah

Mr MalWah agreed that weal'e in an explosive situation,with iITational emotions running high . "But J don 't agreethat we cannot control thesituation" he said, "there is noreason to doubt that anv suchcrisis can and will be controlled." Asked point blank if hethought a repetition of the Nove mber holocaust is possible, hiscategorical reply was a firm '"

Continued on page 15. Col 1

that the police was locked in a"neck to neck race with theterrorists".The four cops who went'underg round ' also affirmed ,"We are joining the KhalistanCommando force and will perform any du ty assigned by itsChief. Those police officials,who are working against theSikhs an d Sik hism , will betaught a lesson ."Dera Baba Nanak 'Encounter'

Whether their al1egations arecorrect or 1101, no clear explanations are available at the officialleve l l'egarding many killings,including the ten youth s killedbv the BSF on the border atriera Baba Nanak on August 30,which had become a matter ofcontroversy and a sore pointbetween the Akali Governmentin Punjab and the Centre. SomePunjab Ministers, who held anenquiry into the incident, hadopenly blamed the B.S.F. for'cold-blooded' murder of theseyouths when they had 'surrendered' after crossing the borderfrom the Pakistan side.The 'United' Akali naI, the AlIIndia Sikh Students Federationand many other Sikh organisations have been protestingagainst the 'fake' encounters,which had swelled the ranks ofthe terrorists. 0

. 1-15 November 1986 3


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r=8rum------------Gazettc---------__A Religious Initiative in Punjab

P unjab has had its fairshare of leaders-both political and spiritual . Whilesome have come fOlWard to tryand find a solution to the problem, others have not solve . ThenlMiy fonned Punjab Peace Coun-cil under aegis of spiritualleader Bhakti Chaitanya SwamiGuru is one g r o u ~ which seemsdetermined-to make a go atleast .The 41-year-old saffron cladswami hails from Hoshiarpur.Earlier he ran a motor partsand transport business, until hedecided it was not worth theeffort, and resolved to renouncematerialism. He now propagatesthe divine mission of the HareRama at Chandigarh.Recently he spoke at lengthto the gazette about his council's recent visit to the strife-tornareas of Punjab and his subsequent analysis of the situation.

Excerpts from the Interview:Q. What was the purpose ofyour visit to the various tenseareas of Punjab?A. I felt that all religiousleaders in Punjab needed anawakening. History testifies thatwhenever such situations havearisen, religious leaders havecome fOlWard to deal with theproblems thrown up . WhenAurangzeb attacked the Hindus;our Guru Teg Bahadur, at thatmoment of time in deep meditation, came fOlWard to settlethe issue. The instances areinnumerable . I felt that thepeople of Punjab had lost alltrust in politicians, but they 1seemed to repose confidence inreligious leaders. Hence we decided to give a call to all thereligious leaders of Punjab toawaken themselves and comeout of their luxurious and aris-tocratic lives. .Q. Can you tell us how youorganised the tour?

A. Yes . At the very outset,we decided to be a political an dnon-sponsored.We gathered pe0-ple from all communities an ddecided to visit areas like TarnTaran where nobody dared togo. We went to Bhani Sahib, theland of the Namdharis and metMaharaja Jagjit Singh, who reposed great confidence in ourmovement. We went to Nakodarand met the riot-affected. Thenwe went to Dera Baba JewalSingh at Beas and met the Radhaswami head Maharaj CharanSingh who was of the view thatpoliticians were misleading thepeople and that individual institutions were giving different

Lakhinder Vohra interviews Bhakti Chaitanya Swami Guru of Punjab Peace Council

Bhakti Chailanya Swami with his four advisors who are drawn from the variouscommunities. From left - A Sikh, Muslim and Christian.colours to students. He emphasised that the education policyneeded to be centralised if theyouth were to be disciplined.

Then we visited GurudwaraGurdarshan Prakash, MehtaChowk, the headquarters of theDamda.mi Taksal and met BabaThakar Singh, the head of theTaksal . He was of the view thatall sikhs and Hindus wantedpeace but since the governmentwas h'lssing his disciples andjailing poor and innocentyouths, peace could not bemaintained. He demanded theirrelease, for peaceful conditionsto be restored. We also tried tovisit the Gurdaspur jails, butinspite of our prior writtenapproval from the government,we were not allowed to meetthe inmates, who we fearedwere innocent youths.

Amritsar we had long discussions with Bhai Mohan Singhand Giani Sahib Singh. GianiSahib Singh felt that the centralgovernment's attitude towardsthe Sikhs was immature. Butmost surprisingly, when it cameto condemn the second attackon the Golden Temple, susbe-quent to which prominent ministers had resigned, he chose toremain silent. In the last leg ofour tour we went to Tarn Taranand met the Chairman of the

Swami and coural members offering prayers at the Akal Takhat in the GoldenTemple Complex in Amritsar.have clearly told us that forthem the ministers are deadand have become mere statues.The feel that there is dictatorship in India and everybody isdoing what they want. There isa great deal of insecurity in thestate. What was most alarmingwas that innocent youths w e l l ~being misled by politicians .Q. How is that being done?

A. lis very simple: Thesepoliticians are simply askingthese youngsters to go to jails

Why keep the people in darkness? M o r e o v e the government should be more considerate in its approach. Take theborder issue for example. Theyhave not even consulted thepeople living on the borders atall. If the law regarding Article249 is passed then a largenumber of farmers would losetheir !land livelihood becauseof the fence. In such a situation,the farmers are bound to bedisgruntled. In fact they alreadyare. When we visited someborder areas, we found thepeople extremely hostile towards the government. Theyseem to have decided thatsooner or later the governmentwould take away their lands, sothey might just as well be readyto fight for it.Q. But do you think politicsand religion make a good mix?A. Religion means faith, andone must have faith in SOmtthing. Religion is above politics.-"In fact politicians need to seekguidance from religious leaders,This has always happened inhistory. The cause of all evil inthe world today is that politicians have stopped being religious.

We also visited prominentHindu shrines like PandoriMahanta where we met MahantGopal Das, who assured us ofall help . A crowd of about 400to 500 congregated there andpledged for peace. We visitedthe Durgiana Mandir at Amritsar where we met Gopi ChandBhatia, we also met the president of the Viswa Hindu Parishad unit of Amritsar, GadadharRao Yadav. He felt that thegovernment did not want tosolve the problem.

Swami coming out of Harmind ar Sahib, Golden Temple after offering prayers Q. What comes first, nationor religion?

We also went to Dera 'BabaNanak and were horrified to seehow the BSF and CRPF wereharassing the villagers and destroying their future by killingtheir children in fake encounters. The villagers narrated talesof how innocents were torturedand killed. We visited a sitewhere a pregnant woman alongwith her brother was shot deadin an alleged encounter. In

Ram Tirth Trust-Pandit ShyamSunder Shastri and also thehead of Pingalwara"BhagatPuran Singh.Q. What has been youranalysis?A. We have decided to publish a white paper on the Punjab problem, in all internationallanguages.As far as my analysis goes, Ihave concluded that there is nogovernance whatsoever there isno Akali ministry. The people

and that once they are out, theywould be handsomely rewarded.Ln fact, they are also promisingthem ministeral jobs.Q. How do you assess theproblem?A. The biggest problem isunemployment. The Sikhs havea feeling of being discriminated.Another problem is the nonimplementation of the Accord.My sincere appeal is that if theAccord cannot be implemented,then it should be scrapped.

A. Religion is God and Godis one, Nations are many. Religion means faith and faithmeans God. God is first, religionis first. Nation comes afterwards.Q. But one can have faith inthe nation, also '?A. But what comes first, the

creator of nations or a nation ... ? 'Q. Coming back to the problem, what is the solution youoffer'?With Giani Sabib Singh, the head priest of the Golden Temple. With Baba Jalak Singh of Damdani Taksal.

A. First, all detainees-Hindusor Sikhs in Jodhpur or elsewhere, should be released andtreated in a humane way.

4 1-15 November 1986

Second, confidence, must berestored among the Sikhs. Theyshould not have a feeling ofalienation.Third, the poor peoples voiceshould not be suppressed. Punjab has a large number of publications coming out in the statebut all of them an adding fuelto fi re. I think we ought to closedown these sensational papersin the interest of society.An d lastly, I feel that thegovemment should act morewiselv . If the ten'Orists were

m a k i 'hi t- Ii sts ' then theyshould have mad 'catch-l ists',rather than creating a publicopinio n, which seeks to brandeve!)' Sikh a 'tp.n 'OIi st' 0


5/20

F8'rum____________GazetiC___________If Time Alone Could Heal Face to Facewith Delhi'sPoliceCommissionerKuldip Nayar,celebrated colu-mnist and a con-sulting editor toth e Gazettetakes theL..:.._==:=":= government andMisra Commission to task for

failing to take action againstthe gu ilty me n of 1984. Heal so demands that the MisraCommission report be madepublic .I f time alone could heal thewound that their country-\ men inflicted on the Sikhs,the two years that have gone by 'after nearly 3,000 of them weremurdered in Delhi alone wouldhave been time enough . Buthas only to talk to a Sikh torealise how raw the wound still is.Operation Bluestar was a traumatic experience for them butwhat has really hurt the Sikhpsyche is the indiscriminate killing that their community suffered after the assassination ofIndira Gandhi.I imagined that an y government wanting to retrieve theSikhs would have started by fix ing the responsibility for theDelhi killings. But none was'challant!d' or arraigned beforethe law courts for the murders.Prime Minister Rajive Gandhidid not take the demand for action against the guilty seriouslybecause his first public statementwa s that when a big tree falls(meanin g thereby thenation of Mrs. Gandhi. th e earthshakes.Subsequently, in the face ofincreasing public and press criticism . he said that he was opposed to an inquiry because thatwould only reopen the wounds .It was a strange reaction becauseonly a probe to apportion blamecould have lessened the pain .The demand was unanimouslysupported by a large section ofHindu opinion . Ultimately. thePrime Minister came round toappointing a commission whenth e late Harchand Singh Longowal , the Akali chief, made it apre -condition to the Punj abaccord the two signed .Fo r a government to havedragged its reet on such aninquiry was wrong. Tbe delaywas bound to arouse severaldoubts and it came to be openlysaid that the ruling party wasseeking to protect some of itsguilty member or to allow tbemtime to erase the evidence. Thenames of some highly placed menwere me ntioned as being involvedin the brutal killings.Grudging Enquiry; Relentless Pressure on WitnessesEven when the appointment ofa commission headed by JusticeRanganath Mishra was grudgingly announced, he could notget the enquiry started for a longtime for lack of staff and otherfacilities. And when ultimatelythe process -began, relentlesspressure was brought to bear onwitnesses and families of riotvictims to restrain them fromsubmitting affidavits . Somepeople in the government andthe Congress (I) party, against

Kuldip Nayar

The commission building and Justice Mishra.whom the're were charges ofcomplicity, used all methods tocollect testimonials in theirfavour.I do not know why RajivGandhi did not step in to stop allthis, atleast from his partymembers, because if the purposewas to win back the Sikhs , theentire exercise done by.some ofthe servihg ministers and officialswas bound to exacerbate the situ ation . The Sikhs suspicion of acalculated attempt to make themfeel insecure in their own countrymight have been imsplaced , butthat was all .the more reason wh ythe government should haveacted in a manner that wouldhave revived their confidence .

My feeUng is that the MishraCommission also did not appreciate the point. If was not aroutine inquiry and too legalistican approach and too legalistic aprocedure did not fit into whatwas aimed at . I personally thinkthat the ~ i k h s should have beenallowed to say whatever theywanted , the way they wanted .But Justice Mishra said that hewould decide on which affidavitshe would allow cross examination by counsel representingSikhs. The community 's response , and that of those concerned with justice and humanrights was to boycott the enquiry .In a press release The Citizens'Justice Committee explained itsreasons for withdrawing its participation for the Misra Enquirythus:"(a) A major part of the inquiry was conducted by the Commission behind closed-door andthe Committee has no knowledgeof he same. This has rendered th eparticipation by the Citizen 'sJustice Committee useless.(b) A number of vital documents which were summoned atthe insta1')ce of the Citizens'Justice . Committee were notshown to it.(c) The request of the Citizen 'sJustice Committee to summonthose high Governmelll officialswho were responsible for maintenance of law and order duringNovember 1984, was turneddown . The , Committee was inf(Jrmed that the Commission hadalready recorded the statements ofsome of the officials, Nei ther thenames of these officials nor theirstatements were disclosed. Furthermore, the Co"!mittee was not

permitted to cross-examine them ,which was necessary to check theveracity of their statements andfind out the truth .(d) Untested reports of theCommission's InvestigatingAgency were being relied uponwithout furnishing them to theCitizen's Justice Committee.(e) While the culprits of thecarnage are still movillg scot free,the victim-witnesses are harassedand threatened with dire consequences in case they revealedthe real facts to the Commission.In most of these cases the threatsha ve come simultaneously withthe issue of summons to the witnesses. This fact had beenbrought to the notice of th eCommission many times but noeffective step were taken to illStilthe requisite confidence in theminds of he victims.In the aforesaid circumstances.the Citizen 's Justice Committeeis of the view that its continuedpresence and participation in theproceedings of the Commissionwould be ineffective and pointless.The Citizen's Justice Committee included: Justice S.M. Sikri,former Chief Justice of India ,V.M. Tarkunde, SoIiJ. Sorabjee,R.S. Narula , Professor RajniKothari, Lt . General J.S.Aurora, Khusbwant Singb,Gobinda Mukhoty and a numberof otber eminent citizens asmembers.

Thus the nation lost anopportunity to win back the confidence of the Sikhs . The government's own purpos e to pacify thecommunity wa s defeated to agreat extent. And the Sikhsthemselves felt bewildered because free and full say was theminimum that they had expected .And now the government issitting on the report. Both theletter and spirit of the Punjab accord is defeated. I do not k;owwhat is in the report, except for alaconic news report that therewas no prior concerted preparation for an assault on Sikhs. Ifthis is true , how does the judgeexplain the widespread nature ofthe attacks on Sikhs and theirproperty?There were also killings inareas as far apart as Kanpur,Bokaro and even Indore. It issaid that the Mishra commissionhas not apportioned blame to

individual s. Is there going to beanother commiss ion to do so?For the entire purpose will bedefeated if the commission hasnot named the persons responsi-ble fqr the killings , directly orindirectly .Blanket of Secrecy M a k ~ s noSense

But if the commission hasdone so little. the blanket of secrecy upon the report does notmake sense . The exercise, soreluctalltlv undertaken was meantto allay 'not only the doubts ofSikhs , but of people of all communiuies, to tell what and how ithappened an.d Hho were thepeople involved in what has outraged not only the Sikhs but allcivilised people. The more thegovernment resists the demandfor the publication of the report ,th e more rumours there wiLL be todamn the government.The withholding of theThakkar Commission report onthe assassination of Mrs. Gandhiis bad enough . but the nonpublication of the report byMi shra Commission will beworse . And what do the horrifiedpeople , the Sikhs and others , doin the meanwhile wht


6/20

~ r u m_R_eVl_e_eW_S_3_D_d_R_e_tl_e_Cti_eO_D_S______GazettcThe Bitter Truth of 'Karva Chauth'

I n the month of Octobermany married women in ourcountry obseIve the fast ofKarva Chauth. In some communities it is an absolute necessity for women to fast on thisday for their husbands' long lifeand welfare and for the long lifeof their married life, their'Suhag'.On one such :holy' day Ihappened to be in a 'KarvaChauth 'celebration ' in an uppermiddle class family setting. Allthe men were in their usualwear, while the women weredressed up as brides, withheavy make-up, bridal saris andall the jewellery that goes withit. Inspite of all the make-up,the women looked tired andworn out as they had not hadmuch to eat the whole day.Early in the morning, beforesunrise, however, they musthave all had their favouritedelicacies.Religion, Gamblingand GorgingThe "party" I was attendinghad been orgaDised to kill thedifficult time before moonrise,when they could all eat again .The best way to pass the timewas of course to play cardswith the usual high stakes. Thegambling could not be dispensed with-no, not even on a'holy' day. During the cardgame the men were unihibitedly eating and drinking all thetime. When one of the wives gota little irritated by this constantnibbling, she coufd not help

complaining "Here we are dyingof hunger for your welfare andthere you are gorging away!"But her husband only retortedthoughtlessly," We never toldyou to observe such fasts". Itwas not a very pleasant answer

from a man for whom his wifewas observing the dutiful fast of'Karva Chauth ' but there it was!I could not help brooding atthis atmosphere and at the tradition behind this fast. The setting was full of contradictionsbejewelled brides, unkempt bridegrooms, fasting brides gamblingwith each other, hungry wivesand over fed husbands. I lookedon in vain trying to search forsome sanctity in that room fullof wives and husbands engagedin this odd assortment of contradictory roles. The one-sideswish for a long married life wasvery peculiar. Of what use couldsuch a wish be without COITeSponding sentiments from themen?Boost to Male Ego

The fast of Karva Chauth, likemany other festivals and ritualsin India, is yet another exampleof male-dominance in our society. It is a proof of the totaldependence of a wife on herhusband. It is a custom tailoredto boost the male ego. Mothersnot only in India but in manyother cultures instil it .in theminds of their daughters thattheir well-being lies in fanningtheir husbands' ego and in nothaving an ego or an independent mind of their own. Thedaughters are advised that tolerance and suffering should bethe strong points of their character.The act of a wife , who fastsyear after year for the long lifeof her husband is not entirelyselfless. All these prayers for thehusband's health and prosperity are actually for her own prosperity, social standing and economic security. The social andeconomic insecurity and depen-


Kamla Bhasin

dence of women is the veryrationale for the continuance ofthis one sided discriminatoryritual .Whv is it that men are notexpected to fast for the long lifeof their wives? Is it because thewife is not considered as important for the family and for himas he is for her? Is it because abread earner is more importantthen the wife who gives birth tochildren , brings them up, worksin the house without taking aday off on any gazetted holiday?If it is the earning capacity of aman which makes him so important, then why is it that bothpartners do not observe this fastin families where both husbandand wife happen to be co-breadwinners?'Munnu's or Tunnu's Mother'It appears that the law-makersof society did not make it obligatory for men to observe suchfasts because marriage andmarried life are not consideredto be as important and sacrosanct for men as for women.For a wife her husband and herchildren constitute her entirety.Her .whole life and existencerotate round them. The daybegins at home and it finishesthere. She does not, and is notexpected to , have a separateindividuality , a self-identity. Thewell known Punjabi writer,Amrita Pritam writing about thissays" Every woman has to liveeither through the medium ofher husband or through the

medium of her children. That iswhy her personal existence hasno meaning. She has got onlytwo names -'wife ' and 'mother',and both these names she getsthrough the existence of others.If she has a husband she

becomes a wife, if she haschildren she becomes a mother.. ." This probably explains whymost women in ' our educatedclasses are known as 'Mrs. Soand So and in less ,educatedcircles as 'Munnu or Tunnu'smottIer'!

It is her total dependence onher husband that drives a wifeto observe such fasts, that en-ables her to suffer injustice andto take pride in being called'pati-vrata' , loyal and devoted toher husband. In the welfare ofher husband lies her welfare.If the husband rises in thehierarchy, she is automaticallypulled up as well. If he is a'thanedar' she is a 'thanedarni, 'and if he is a 'seth she is a'sethani '.

. Ultimate ShameBut if a man should becomeknown because of his wife, thewhole world sympathises or ridicules him. I have heard mendespise the 'unmanliness' of theDuke of Edinburgh only becausehe is not as important as hiswife. Feroze Gandhi was pitiedby many men onJy because hiswife Indira Gandhi was betterknown than him. For a man tobe a junior officer, to be a lessknown person that his wife isalmost to suffer the ultimate inshame, it is something men'sego does not allow them to tol-erate for too long.Our society has devised manycustoms to rationalise and spiritualise the lack of an indepen

dent personality in women andone such anachronistic customis 'Karva Chauth.'A man is not required to fastfor his 'Suhag' because his wifeand children are not his be-alland end-all. His identity, persona-

lity and existence are not limitedto his being married. If beingmarried had been the mostimportant fact of his life , hewould also have been fastingand carrying on him all thesymbols of marriage like the'sindhur' 'mangal sutra' and'bindi'. His life unllke thaI of av.ife, is not unidimensional. Lifefor a hl,lsband has many dimensions, his family life being onlyone of them.

Manu's RecommendationsA husband would only observe a fast for the welfare of hiswife if his life was somehowempty without her and withoutmarriage. He would fast for thelong life of his wife , if his wife'sdeath would result in total darkness for him; if being a widower would mean living like a

corpse clad in white and leading a life of a social untouchable like widow's life . But fortunately for a man this is not so.Becoming a widower need notbe a nightmare for him, becausethe same 'sage' Manu who considered widow-remarriage a sin,recommended an early remarriage for a widower.Moreover even while his wifeis around a husband can haverelations with other women.Our society has .even createdbazaars for his conveniencewhere he can purchase women'sbodies of any size, colour andprice. If a women were toindulge in similar pastimes, shewould not be spared the fullforce of society's wreth. For thesame crime our religious andhighly spiritual society holdstwo different kinds of punishment. Amrita Pritam describesth,e double standards withinsight and feeling when shewrites "A woman's sin is like aflower which does not sink. Itstays on the surface of thewater and speaks loudly. Thesins of men are like stones.They immediately sink deepdown. No one even hears aboutthem.".

Democratic MarriagesIf we believe in democraticvalues, marriage as a socialinstitution should also reflectsuch values. If marriage is to bemore than a union of two

bodies, if it is not to be reducedto legalised prostitution, then itwill have to be between twopartners, between two individuals. Marriage must providespace for both personalities togrow and bloom and thus contribute to a beautiful harmoniousrelationship based on equality.When such marriages becomethe norm, we will find that bothhusband and wife will observethe fast of 'Karva Chauth.' Howbeautiful 'Karva Chauth' will bewhen both husband and wiferenew their ties, when both rej-oice their marital status, bothpray for each others long life .On such 'Karva Chauths' thelove and understanding between couples will make it unnecessary for them to gamble tokill time. Such .Karva-Chauths'will be the proof of a meaningful marriage, of equality withinfamilies. However, distant sucha reality, let us at least dreamabout it!


7/20

~ u m_R_e_vi_e_w_s_a_n_d_R_e_fl_e_c_ti_o_n_s_______Gaze tte

Answer Me, Answer MeMy CityArpana Caur

This is no more mv citv, Y('s-terdav it was, , .It was the citv of mv hirth ,the city with the widest roadslined with the most fragranttrees where domes and minaretssprouted out of the so il like living spirits,I loved it fo r a ll it was ,Today fear stalks these samestree ts,Who are these wild mobsbursting into homes and dragging out helpless , men and

alighting them as if they were aheap of straw?Who are th ese mut e spectators watching the gruesometorch of /lame once a human

bei ng?Who are these l i n ~ womenand children crying for justiceand whv LI 'e thei r voices un heard ') ,Wh y are cer tain people singled ou t ju st by appearance andlor no crime they have committed , hunted doWn and killedlike rats, And who has snatched awaytheir upright plide ') Who hassnatched away the men fromtheir families and le ft scars of

fear in the haunted eyes of theirwidowed wives and orphanedchildren'!Answer me, answer me - mycity,

.

Vivan Sundram Explains'Black Arena' and Reflectson November '86B a'ck Are na painted inNm 'cmher I -JR,; , ' f - ~upon the ' ri ots' that tookpla t'P a ,Will' E'a rii PI' in Delh i,.111( '1' thc of Indi raGandhi , II is a \\ '(' 11 knOlm lactlila l til!' nl'gan is('d holuca lJ st le ftover thrt't' thousand dcad nl thl'C)(1lll llin ill 11 1 i1 1 I in their

h OIll ( '1- , ~ l ' a l p r r ' d ( ) I ' l Ilw ,11 '1' mH'S illld ,tilJllil's oj' Ddhi , TIl('dominanl ('(' lill't' ill Ill('painting d grand I'is la, a \'oid ,a dark m:gati,'p I\ 'hi ch diml\1 ' l ' \ " ( ~ a 1 s \I 'ha t lI 'p du nO I wall l 10scp, chaf'l '('d rlpi'ol1lw cI !Jud\',Fo r t r('sl ollr lllem01'\' 111;;\'sme ll it in the We,\' O! tht'horizon, TUllards this dil 'Cction,u\\'al' frum lil e \'iPIVer rcceriflsIh (' 'isula lf'd Illan I\'ho \\ 'ith neg ativ(' pu rpos(> d r . c i to armhimself tu "-ill im .tional h ',Although prest'nt forr:es cl ltemp t to push our man in awh ite shi rl Inf'x l to Ill' hurllltaxi , bes id s hi s burnt hru tlwrin a tangle to twis ted nlPtal anddebris) 10 theperiphery , he sits sloici.\' , hisstrong fo rearms revealing theworker that hI' is, He takes th f!spectator into con fid ence, he ishern tn stav, An d so is thewoman standing up light aga in stthe chart'ed IVall : she is here tostay, Her gaze traverses acrossthe vo id , to the Cf!nrrC of til(>,u'ena, wherp she ancl her com,munity have a righl 10 belong,This arC' na has pre rla tors onthe right. looming large, fo!' they

SHOP AT

9tLe sLo.r

1!:!I'c bel' ll fl 'sponsible for thi :-theatre of violence, dlT'N:led\\ i th impunit:" , l lnlike tlw \'il'limthe\ ha\'p the II'h l e\\'ithall 1< )canlOutlage t h C ' m - andIhal 's how Ih ey appear in tlwpainting, It is only a peop lc 'svoice that wi ll name them, bringthem to dock,But the pl'Oulem is muchmore elu sive and complpx ;human heings are assau ltedoften outside Oll!' imrnediatt\'iew and comprehension andit 's only when contemporarysaints, people of vis ion, conI('cascading clown th e void, that\,,'e aI'(' shocked into grasping acli sis so gma l.The blu !' unfurled turbanfloats in the skv like a Iwraldksignal - of deaih or peacr. , 0

10 Regal Building, New Delhi-110001, INDIA

1-15 November 1986 7


8/20

Minor i ty Righ t s Civ i l L ibe r t i es Equa l i t y fo r W o m e n D e m o c r a t i c Va lues Env i ronmenta l P ro tec t i onThe Balance Sheet is Red

This is the time to remember Delhi's 72 hours of shame.Two years ago the capital witnessed an orgy of unprecedentedsavagery, a crime against humanity which is recorded in theworld's infamous roll of horrors that man has perpetrated onhis fellow ma n . Let us look at the balance sheet two yearslater . Hundreds of families mourn their dead . Those accusedof brutal murder, rape, arson and loot, or of instigating theperpetrators, remain unpunished . For many citizens theIndian state remains unexonerated , at best of failure to pro-tect its citizens, at worst of covert participation in th e violenceby some of it s representatives. The name of th e ruling Con-gress (I) party is still tarnished.Th e report commissioned by the Delhi Police to assessth e actions of the force during. the days when the mob tookover th e capital, remains incomplete , unrevealed. The MisraCommission, 'belatedly appointed by government toinvestigate aspects of the violence gave its report more than18 n10nths after the events . But, in spite of its strictly re-stricted terms of reference and its unusual mode of inves.tigation, its contents remain secret.

No one in public office , ' no leader, national or local , ofth e ruling Congress, has expressed regret that nearly fourthousand innocent citizens of this country , almost everyoneof them male , of all ages, were murdered in cold blood in 72hours in India ' s capital. No resolution of Parliament has condemned the killings. Or expressed sympathy for the hundredsof widows, fatherless c ~ i l d r e n bereaved families .

Fo r the Sikh community the balance sheet is red , itscolour relieved only by the help and sympathy of privateorganisations like the Nagrik Ekta Manch, the civil rightsbodies , plus a handful of individuals. Add to this the rehabili-tation of widows and the paltry compensation given to somevictims, woefully inadequate compared to their losses. That isth e only balm for the deep wounds, both physical andpsychological.

Th e November holocaust gave birth to a doubt thatfesters deep and sadly in the majority of Sikhs everywhere -where do they belong? It has left a sense of fear and insecurity , new, hateful and humiliating to a proud integral sectionof the Indian people . It is the cruel proof that to be a Sikh is tobe vulnerable, to be a second class citizelT-where the protec-tion of the state is concerned , to be suspect, without justification .

Le t us be honest. Ever since November 1984 Sikhs out-side Punjab feel they are living on top of a powder keg whichcan be ignited at any moment . After General Vaidya 's assassination a perceptive Hindu noticed that many Sikhs did notgo to work in the Bombay suburbs that day . He noticed threeSikh youngsters travelling together , fear and bravado equallyperceptible , in th e hope of safety in numbers . On October2n d in Delhi this year we have described elsewhere the insecurity that immediately surfaced in the resettlementcolonies. In affluent areas too many Sikhs stayed home untilthey were sure no trouble had flared up . Terrorist killings inAbohar immediately triggered off an anti-Sikh backlash . Itwas contained. But the truth is that there is no sense ofsecurity .

Delhi 's Commissioner of Police , Ved Marwah , categori-cally stated in an interview with The Forum Gazerce (page 3)that November 1984 cannot be repeated. But can an yo neguarantee that those who preach hatred and violence,will not take advantage of blind emotions and delibera tel ybuild up votebanks for a repeat performance? The legacy ofNovember 1984 is that to Sikhs it appears that their lives han gon an assassin's bullet.

For again , let us be honest. With the nexus existing between militant, trishul wielding 'senas' and their shadowypolitica l mentors , with popular 'netas ' like Bal Thackeraywarning Sikhs - and Muslims - to mend their ways, or else,th e country. not the Sikhs alone . faces a deepening crisis forsur vival. In this climate can anyone in government ensure thatth e' November holocaust was a one time event ?

Perhaps not . But what the government can do is topunish the guilty of November 1984 - th e Misra Commissionreport is not relevant to this . It can ensure th at unne cessary.unprovoked harassment by th e police of Sikhs , particularl yth e yo uth , in. any way , is stopped eve ryw he re . Doo rd arshana nd All India Radio can reverse their past policy of bes mirching th e reputation of the Sikh community. Parliamen t cancondemn the killings. and recog nise that thi s was flOC a riot inth e routine sense. Th e government can fulfill its obligations toth e uproo ted who still see k re stituti on.

Th e Sikhs don ' t want a balm . They are not masochistsw ho revel in pain . They want their right to live in digni ty a ndsecurit y. in trust and friendship. Their doubt of where theybelon g' mu st 'be dissipated. The govern ment can show theIay .


Recalling N o v e m b ~r--------, Since' 1984,

come Nowmberand ewryconcerned citizen of thisoountry shotWI8it up an d1,---=====..1 think. It callsfor major intro8pection, toget behind why what happened on .those 3 fateful days .happened, and relate 8uchintrospection to ou r largerfailure to build a more jU8t,equitable, compa88ionate andhumane social order.Those three days that shookthe conscience of so manyIndians exposed .a polity thathad lost its bealings, one inwhich basic and common aspirations of the people of Indiawere sidetracked for the sake ofdifferent and divided ends of

personal survival in office, groupve ndetta and communal violence. Since then the country ismoving along a long tunnel ofnalTOwing options for diversecommunities and classes. Whereit will take its various constitutents is extremely difficult tosay, Unless, as I said above, weare v,tilling to see it all in acomprehensive context and workour way away from the ever, darkening abyss towards whichwe as a State and as a peopleseem to be moving.Nov. '84 Not Like 1947

November 1984 was not likethe dark days of 1947; the analogy that is sometimes drawn,and intentionally by some, iswholly facile. In 1947 a countrywas spUt into two - throughagreement among rival partiesat the en d of mu ch discord andthrough detemuned inteIventionby an exhausted colonial power.The br-each that November 1984heralded could conceivably leadto a similar consequence'if wemanage to mismanage our affairsas we seem to be doing, thoughat the moment the chanceseems remote and will be resisted not iust by the Indian Statebut by the large majority of thepeople too (belonging to allcommunities!. But what tookplace in November 1984 was notthat at aiL it was not some spli tting and dividing.of a State thattook place in Delhi , Kanpur,Bokam and other places. Whatwas being split was the spiritand soul of a composite cultu re,one that (despite the Partitionicontinued to fin ed its identity in a conception of unitythat is based on respect ofdiversities and their distinctivecultures and social codes.

Disasters and Suffering inQuick SuccessionI have no interest in recallingthe horrendous carnage of acommu nity that took place thennor to discuss the Punjab problem or the growth of the communa l virus across communities. For, as we think about thattraumatic episode today, 2 yearslater, it becomes cleal' that westand at a completely differentvantage point. in which thesematters have become part of amuch larger divide betweenthose who are "in" and thosewho are "out " along so manydifferent dimension s that are all

, Rajn! Kotharigradually converging. One thatcalls for a candid and comprehensive stock-taking as a meansof finding our way out of themess we are in anti begin tocreate an alternative system tothe one that made possible themassacre of November 1984, theBhopal tragedy, the anti-reservation and communal riots thattook place in Ahmedabad, all inqucik succession, as well as themany less dramatic disastersand sufferings that have takenplace all along.

Four Dangerous TendenciesAmong the tendencies highlighted by November 1984 thathave steadily gained in bothmagnitude and quality fourstand out in a striking manner.One is the growing currency ofviolence as a means of change,

other means (political, institutional , professioilal J having steadily lost out. We are caught in amajor epidemic of violencewhich is becoming a way of life,a language of communication, aprofession and technology inwhich sr.ores of people specialise. It is not only fast pickingup and spreading from onefield to another but also seemsto work and get attention whileall others seem to be failing. Ithas become the most importantcurrency in the political marketplace. Little is being done toarrest this. For little is beingdone to rebuild institutions . Ifanything there is a further dismantling of institutions that isunder way. And most issues al-eincreasingly becoming law 'and

from Rajiv to Ib'beiro). And ofcourse that is the behaviourof th08e on the other side ofthe barricade. Gun lo r gun.Enemy for enemy. Brutality ofone side reinforcing brutality01 the other. There can be nowinners in this game, no r isit any longer re8tricted ' toPunjab or Kashmir. It is8preaing. This doctrine ofrewnge, of blood for blood. Itcannot end except by a generalised amnesty lollowed byresumption 01 dialogue wher-ever it has been ruptured.Third, November 1984 wouldnot have taken place tf thenational leadership had notmoved away from concent ratingon urgent economic and political tasks to inciting public sen

- -

Concerned journalists broke through Offithf' 'lth to I

The Nagrik Ekta Manch broke through community and religious barrorder issues. Without understan-. Self-help 'Langar' style in Nanaksar Ashrding that such an approach 'refugees ' organising themselves tofurther endorses the primacy ofviolence.The second tendency thatgot expressed so dramaticallyin November 1984 and hasgrown since is the call giventhen for 'revenge' (at thattime against an assassinationwhich itself was a 100'm ofrevenge) which ha s sincespread in the form of anatmosphere of batred andanimosity - of hitting instead01 healing, confrontation instead 01 conciliation, encoun-ters instead 01 roundtables,senas instead of peace committees. This is the behaviour01 the establishments (fromthe political to the police,


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F&umGazcttc___________1984 replete with the cry of 'the Statecaste and other divisive factorsfor electroal gains. From the callfor garibi hatao and for anation-building process basedon that call to the call for deshbachao in 1984 which in fact isestabilising the whole nationbuilding enterprise. From a 'winning coalition' consisting of various segments of the underprivileged that was based on acall for justice to a 'decisivemargin ' that the Hindu heartland was supposed to provide,based on a call for securityinstead of justice. No wonderthat such a shift has precipitated the advent of the 'twoIndias' pheno'menon. And it isaffecting all communities.The fourth and in many waysthe more crucial message ofNovember 1984, which too hassince grown in significance, layin danger', resulting in nearunanimity - across parties -on issues like Operation Blu estar and the passing of the

stricken Sikh community. An example the government could have learnt from.timents around commun al,in the fact that major institutions of the system were foundto have backed out trom fulfil ling their appointed roles. Thegovernment of the day hadceased to exist lagain trom toppoliticians, except for mafia elements in the ruling party, to thepolice ). The Opposition partiesseemed to be suffering tromamnesia and, except for joiningsome peace march here orthere, were conspicuous bytheir absence. The judiciary wasfound to be paralysed lwi thsome judges found to engage inextremely hillarious abusesheaped on journalists and civilliberties activists!' As for the Parliament, it seemed to have capitulated before an atmosphere

Black Laws .Shift away from urgen t tasksWhi le each of these tendencies showed up sharply inNovember 1984, thev had beengrowing before that and havegrea tly precipitated since. Wehave seen this in the case ofviolence, the politics of revengeand hatred and the shift awaytrom attending to urgen t tasksof social and economic transformation to getting obsessedby communal and ethnic rival

ries. But the same is the casewith the behaviour of institutions. In the declining role ofgovernment and politics in mediating conflicts. In the conspicuous absence of political partieswhereever these assume alarm-

ing magnitudes. In the spinelessness of the judiciary and theficklemindedness of parliamentarians.Dedicated WorkIn November 1984, but for thededicated work of the NagrikEkta Manch, a wholly non-partycitizen body and the investiga

tions by PUDR-PUCL and others,the trauma of ,the sikhs wouldhave been just unbearable andwould have exploded into irrational acts of revenge in Punjabthat. would have been difficultto contain. This erosion of theinstitutions of the State - theadministration , the parties, thecourts, the Parliament - continues to be the case today. Nobetter evidence for this is neededthat a cursory look at the waythe month of November thisyear has been planned .by thegovernment and v a r i o u ~ so-called'voluntary ' bodies.November Tamashas

There will be a- series ofdynastic festivities - Z years ofRajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi 'sbirthday which is also supposed to inaugurate a specialprogramme on the environment,Grandpa's birthday which willbe used to mobilise thousandsof well-dressed children roundthe country into the ongoingfestivities. And, to cap it all , aDelhi mela of culture and artand dance and music in thestreets for whiCh a high officialof the Prime Minister's Secretaha t has been put in charge andthe Delhi Administration andthe DDA have been asked togear up . All meant to 'educatethe people' in Indian culture,including popular folk cultures,through entertaining them! Thejoke of it all, of course, is that agood part of these celebrationsare to take place in TransJamuna, Tilak Nagar and otherareas where the victims ofNovember 1984 are still to befound while doing very little toheat their wounds either bybringing the culprits to book orby removing the I'easons fortheir persisting insecurity. Yetanother in stance of divertingattention trom real tasks, essentially by engaging the public

mind through commumcationsmedia, both modem and tradi tional. Hoping that through entel'tainment it could be immunised from 'politics'. From whathappened two years ago, or hasbeen happening since - inthirsty Rajasthan, in turbulentPunjab and Kashmir, in terrorstricken districts of rural BiharThe system that createdNovember 1984 and the growing marginalisation of boththe poor and the minoritiessince then is crying for analternative. But this cannotcome from within the established institutions , at any ratl'not as t h e ~ ar e functioningtodav. Can it come from out-side "them, pushing them in adifferent direction?Shock . . . andAgreementSir,I am in complete agreementthat the Misra Commissionreport must be made publicand all those responsible for theNovember riots must be giventhe most severe punishment.namely the same thaI the terrqrists ought to be given.However, I am shocked toread the z articles 'Fac e to Fac!'with Chauhan ' and Dal KhalsaMoves to London '. These articles clearly talk of Khalistan. Togive space to such opinions inyour paper is completely wrong.Also wrong is the way the Shi,'Sena leader Mr. Bal Thackeravspoke as reported in your editorial .The biggest tragedy that ourcountry faces today is that \\ 'ehave the wrong people in politics. Most politicians be they ofCong(I) , Akali or other partiesare bad .I do appreciate your fightingall these forces but printingarticles about Khalistan is un forgiveable. Fight the wrongs ofHindus, Muslims and Sikhs butin doing this don't do wrongthing yourself. - RAJEEV SETHIRoom No. 38A-31 , Kailash Colonv,New Delhi-lloo48

FAO-FFHC/AD; Published by Kali for Women.

lhenghUholceYou do not have abetter choice

1-15 November 1986 9


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F8rum_____________________ a z e t ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Two Women Bag Alternative Nobel PrizeRight Livelih09d Awards for Dangers of Nuclear Radiation

The 1986 Right LivelihoodAwards, worth a total of S100 ,000 , have been wonbv two women scientist s, DR .,\L1CE STEWART (UK I and DR.ROSALIE BERTELL (CANADA /,world authOlities on the dangersof low-level nuclear radiation:IJ\ E\ 'ARISTO NlIGKUAG IPER U!.p,;ncipal spokesman for theAlI1azon Indians : and bv theL-illAKH ECOLQG ICAL DE\1:LOPi\IE\lT C;ROLIP of INDIA.. who\\'ork on low-cos t solar energvprojects and to preserve tradi tional Cllltllr-e in the high Himalayas, The Honorar!' Award goesto the AIISTRIAN futurist Prolessor ROB ERT JUNCK .The Awards, popularly k.no\o\,11as the e r n a Nobel Pr;zes,will be presented to the reci pi ents b.v Jakob vo n Uexku ll ,founder-chaim1an of the RightLivelihood Foundation, in a ceremonv in the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm on Decem-

bel' 8tb . First instituted in 1980 ,the awards have so far beenwon by 29 people and organisations from 20 countries, who , inthe opinion of the internationaljury, "work on practical andexemplary solutions to the mosturgent problems of today".Dr. Alice STEWART , Fellow of

the Royal College of Physicians,Senior Research Fellow at theUniversity of Biffi1ingham (UK I,world authority and pioneer onradiation epidemiology, was thefirst to prove that fetal X-rayscaused childhood cancers. Thisestablished the internationalmedical basis for the reductionand elimination of the radiat ionexposure of pregnant women.Dr. Stewart assembled and directed the Oxford SlIrvev ofChi ldh ood Cancers and ' conducted the Hanford NuclearWorkers Stud v, which confirmed cancer ris ks far below levels consid ered "safe", Her studvof the at1ereffects of the Atomic'Bombs un Hiroshima and Nagasaki suggests that res idualdeaths tram high dose raclia tionmay be many times gr-eater thanpreviously estimated . She is theScientific Director of the International Rad iation Research andTraining t i t l l t with officesin the l iS. III( ' UK. West Germany and Japan , whose objective is tu further the studv ofradiation and its environmentaleffects. Sh e has published mor-ethan 340 scientific papers.Dr. Rosalie BERTELL, a GreyNun of the Sacred Heart, andworld authority on low- leve lradiation , is the author 'of "NOIMMEDIATE DANGER: Prognosisfor a Radioactive Earth ", and ofover 90 papers. She is founderdirector of the InternationalInstitute of Concern for PublicHealth in Toronto, Canada,which works to raise publicawareness about the destruction of the biosphere and thehuman gene pool. She hasworked as consultant to severalUS and Canadian governmental

Gazette News Service

agencies and is one of thefounding commissioners of theInternational Commission forHealth Profess ionals in Genevaand Editor-in-Chief of International Perspec tives in Publichealth. In 1978 , she co-foundedthe Ministl)' of Concern for PubLi c Health in Buffalo (New York ),where she was Senior ResearchScientist at Roswell Park Memorial Institute. Her research projects include:- the Tri-State Leukemia SLm'ey- death rates of infant s do\o\,n-wind from Iluclear power plantsin Wisconsin- birth detec ts ,of Navajo Indians exposed tu nuclear testingand uranium mining in Nevada- probable genetic damage tooffspring of Japanese nuclear

workers,Sh e also runs a programme ofmecli cal assistance for MarshallIslanders in the Pacific and forothers affected by militarismand pollution ,Evaristo NlJGI(liAG, Pr-esidentof AJOESEP (the ln ter-EthnicAssociation for the Developmentof the Peru\1an Amazon i wasthe central figure in the controvers ial exp ulSion of Werner Berzog's film crew in 1979 fromAguaruna Inclia'n tribal tenitol)'.In 1981. he founded AlDESEP,involving more than 10 PeruvianInclian organisations to protectIndian land rights, health, edu cation and culture. AlDESEPplaces great emphasis on protecting smaller, mOl-e vuln erabletribes, and the Amazon Indians

Haryana Landowners Depriving the Poorof Community Land 'In Jaati Khurd village somefamilies own land whileothers are landless. Butnow the landowner familiesare trying to accentuatethis inequality by denyingthe poor access to com-munity land where theircattle have always grazed.J ati Khurd village is located at a distance of aboul30 Kms. from Delhi, inSonepat district of Haryana, astate which has been in theforefront in the spread of thegreen revolution. This small village has been simmering withtension for several months -tensions which ha s alreadyerupted into violence. Despitethe setting up of a police camphere, the weaker sections -specially the 'harijans' continueto feel insecure an d some ofthese families have already leftthis village,Nearly eighty of the total 110families in the village belong tothe m id dl e - level peasentcaste of 'jats' while most of theremaining families belong toscheduled castes (harijans) orother backward castes whosesocio-economic condition is not

vel)' different from that of theharijans. The jat families ownalmost nearly all of the 180acres of cultivated land in thevillage and in addition also cultivate on lease nearly 45 aC'res ofcommunity land . The villagePanchayat is also dominated byjats - five members are jatswhile the sixth (by law heshould be a harijanl, KhajanSingh represents the scheduledcastes. Harijans generally do notown any land at all and in factthey are deprived of work asagricultural laboures as thiswork is increasingly being givento migrant labourers whom thelandowners find easier to control. Similarly, while brick-kilnsare functioning in this village,most workers 'employed hereare migrants.Brick kilns are a source ofhigh profit, specially when theseare located on Panchayat land,If private land is rented for this-purpose Rs . 100 ,000 would haveto be paid, while the panchayatland can be obtained for Rs.30000, In fact, panchayat landha s \jeen obtained for this purpose on a fiv8-.xear lease with a_provision of extEmdin8 the leasefor another five yeas. Thus notonly agricultural land, but a1soother resources are being used

10 . 1-15 November 19a6

in a way that leaves out thepoorest sections.From the point of view of theweaker sections who are mostlylandless, it is important thatthey should at least be able 10make use of the communityland for the purpose of grazingcattle. This is why they feel verystrongly Ihat community land. should not be taken away forbrick kilns, which are opcratedin a way which only enriches afew already well-off persons. Onthe other hand some well-to-dolandowners and brick kiln owners have been conspiring totake control of this land forbrick-kilns.As a first step in this direction, the jats with the help ' ofsome officials succeeded in getting a separate Panchayat forJaati Khurd village - earlierthere was a joint panchayat forJaati Khurd and Jaati Kalaan villages, The purpose of this division was to give the jats a clearmajority in Jaati Khurd village,Once this was done it waseasy for the sarpanch (headman) of Jaati Khurd, Raj Singh,to lease out some panchayatland for a brick kiln, The harijans fonned a landless peasantsstruggle committee, organisedprotest demonstrations and ap-

pealed against this decision ofthe sarpanch to higher officials.The sub-divisional officer gave adecision in favour of th ecommittee.In 1983 this controversy wasrevived when following freshpanchaya t elections the ne\\'sarpanch again illegally leased18 acres of land to brick kilnowners. Again the harijansprotested.This time, however, the eventshave taken a more violent tum .Khajan Singh, the harijan member of the panchayat. has beenattacked and injured, his motherand sister have been similarlyassaulted, his small shop hasbeen destroyed. After these incidents, his and some otherharijan families were forced toleave the village. Threats to KhajanSingh have continued. Thepolicemen sent for the protection of the harijans of this village have been accepting thehospitality of the oppressorelements .Thus the propertied, alreadybetter-off sections seem to bemeeting with success in theirefforts to further deprive theweaker sections of their dueplace an d store in the villageeconomy.

Mukul- N,F,S. INDIA

ar-e being heard for the firsttime in historv as a result of itswork. By 1984, the coordinatingbody for the Indian Organisations of the Amazon basin, theCoordinadora, r-ep l-esenting halfthe Indians of six Amazoncountries, had been fOffi1ed \ ~ ~ t hEvar;sto Nugkuag as its firstpr-esident.The LADAKH ECOLOGICALDEVELOPMENT GROUP, locatedin the high Himalayan region ofnorth-west India, works to preserve traditional culture andva lu es against the onslaught oftourism and "development " IIhas intl'Oduced appropriate technologies, such as solar-heater'Trombe wall huuses, solar watl.heaters, dryers , and cookers. Abroad edu cational pl'Ogrammeincludes traclitional meclicine,village arts and plays, radio discussion programmes and a newsletter. Ladakh, a sparsely-populated, arid region, mostly over12,000 ft . in altitude, was rarely

i t e d by foreigners before 1975,when Helena NORBERG-HODGE,co-founder of the group, settledthem. Today, the group is col?-posed of some of the mostrespected citizens of the region.They point out that Ladakhiculture is in tun e with ecological principles , and can teachthe West about post-industrialva lues. THUPSTAN CHHEWANG ,Director of the Ladakh Ecological Development Group, is alsoprogramme director of All IndiaRadio at Leh, the capital ofLadakh,Professor Robert JLJNGK is theauthor of many books over thelast 30 vears from the famous"Brighter Than A ThousandSuns" to "The Nuclear State",which highlight the dangers ofnuclear weapons and nuclearenergy. He argues that thenature of the nuclear industrymakes accidents inevitable, andthat the security required in thenuclear state is incompatiblewith democracy. His "FutureWorkshops " aim to show socalled ordinary people that theyneed not be powerless victimsof future scenarios selected byothers. The jury honours inRobert Jungk an indefatigablefighter for sane alternatives an decological awareness, whosemessage is now more timelyand urgent than ever,


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, ~ u mInterludes G az c t t c . . . - - - - - - - - - - - - - -What Sikh Humour is All AboutS ikh jokes and jokes about'the Sikhs are two different things; the only thingthey have in common is thatare largely made up bySIkhs themselves . Sikh jokes areusually about the tough andmilitant Nihangs; their sexualvirility, their simple-mindednessand behaviour)under the influence of bhang (hashish) towhici;l they are reputed to beextremely partial. The Nihangshave coined a vocabulary oftheir own, most of which tracesback to their militant past anda'dversitv in battle. An individualwill refer to himself as a fauj oran army, or, sawa Jakh i.e. onehundred and twenty-five thousand men . Large numbers ofthem have been reduced tobeggary. Hut they do not 'beg'for alms, they impose a 'tax'-, an d demand it of the people

.... they visit. The poorest of food is

According to Khushwant Singhgiven fancy names. Thus onionsare ruppa OJ' 'silver ', parchedgram 'almonds', wild berriesgrapes ' and chillie, the 'quarrel-

some dame '. When they 'want tourinate they ask 'Can I frightenoff a cheetah?' A satisfactoryperformance at the lavatory isdescribed as the 'conquest ofthe great fort of Chittor .

Jokes about the Sikhs areinvariably about their simplemindedness . For many yearsthese have been hitched on tothe senior most Sikh Minister inthe Punjab OJ' the Central Government . As a rule Indians areextremely sensitive about funbeing made of them and resenteven the midest leg-pull . TheSikhs are an exception to thisrule. They not only enjoy anecdotes about themselves but arealso the authors of most ofthem. This attitude is born outof a sense of confidence that inany profession : farming. soldiering, medicine, science or art,they can and do outsmart theirsister communities, the Hindus,Muslims or Christians. It is verymuch the same case as that ofthe Scots who perpetuate thelegend of their meanness in theconfidence of being more generous than their denigrators.

And the Meanings Behind Sikh NamesA I Sikh men are named'Singh ' and all Sikh wo-men 'Kaur'; but all Singhsand Kaurs are not Sikhs. thename Singh which means lionan d its female counterpart'Kaur' were common amongstthe Hindu martial classes likethe Rajputs and Gurkhas longbefore Guru Gobind Singh madethem obligatory for all his folowers. The Guru had two objectsin view when he made theordinance. The easiest way of

~ i n g a person's caste was by~ name. In making all Sikhs'Singhs' he made them into one

Also According to Khushwant SinghPritam Singhs living in the samestreet may after some timeaccept third names descriptiveof their appearance to differentiate them e.g . Pritam SinghDhiddal (one with a paunchland Pritam Singh Ainki (onewho-wears glasses). Followingthe English custom the practiceof using two initials before aname has been adopted by themore anglicised e.g . A.S. Malik(Maliks are AhIuwalias) or B.S.Grewal (Grewals 'are a tribe ofJats), or, in the American formDalip S. Saund (Saunds areRamgarhias). This re-introduc-

This boy could end-up being named 'Mistry Singh :casteless franternity. The choice'of 'Singh' and 'Kaur' taken asthey were from a fighting people had obvious psyct)ologicalvalue.The fact that all Sikhs areSinghs does not cause as muchconfusion as one might believe.With popular first names likeBalwant, Dalip, Harbans, Joginder, Jaswant, etc., it is usual toattach another e.g . the name ofthe village as in Pratap SinghKairon or .Sohan Singh Bhakna.Quite often deSCriptive wordsare coined for the incumbentsto distinguish them. Thus two

tion of the caste in the name iscontrary to orthodox tradition.The literati usually have poeticnames under which they writeand which they use as appendages to their real names e.g,Sohan Singh 'Josh ' (fervourl, HiraSingh 'Dard' (suffering) or Gurmukh Singh 'Musafir' (Wayfarer).Amongst Sikhs, th e firstnames for men and women arecommon: only the suffix 'Singh'and 'Kaur' distinguish the sexe.g, a Sunder Singh's Sister canbe a Sundar Kaur. Sikh girls ofthe middle classes have begunto take on Hindu names like

Ush

the road, then ours is thelargest." So there !Indeed, every single person Iknow finds something unique inhis own country. A number ofexamples of such one-upmanship come immediately to mind,but the following piece which Isaw in an English languageweekly of Austria surely takesthe cake :"Not only does Austria lead inthe number of persons held indetention pending trial, but alsoleads in the percentage of population held in prison - one in800 as of last year, Only Finlandcomes close to this figure, Whilein Great Britain, a judge has tore-examine the reasons for thistype of detention every fourmonths, in Austria preventivedetention can be extended for aslong as two years.". I might have ventured tocontest this particular claim ofAustrian one-upmanship, bu t wehave so many other distinctionsthat I decided to let it- go.Besides, wehave the uniquedistinction which no other country is likely to take away from usfor a long time. We are the

- : : : 1 ~ H : : : - - : : 8 - = ~ - : - 5 f ~ P L - : - A - : : - : : C ~ ; - 1 i - : : : O : - 5 : : - : - ' C;:7:H-=- =-=f;:::" - : - ' . 5 - : - : : - ~ A - : - : I Z f = : - : - HfHEY H A V ~ fH L-ON&E.ST Q J ~ L J S

One-upmanship is not anindividual trait only; it is oftenalso displayed collectively by thecitizens of a particular city or acountry. I remember a 'ship-ride'on the river Hudson in NewYork The guide was pointingout various sights and sites onthe banks of the river, expressingthe collective kind of oneupmanship. "The building overthere is the World Trade Centre- the tallest building in theworld; the yellow building onyour left is owned by Mr.Rockefeller - the richest man inthe WOrld". Only once did heslip into "one-downmanship"when he said that "the bridgeahead of you is the secondlargest s u s ~ n d e d bridge in theworld; the largest is in London".But he quickly recovered andadded: "The bridge in London isthe largest only if you takemeasurement from bank to bank;but if you measure from start tofinish, including the portion~ c h is not on the river but on

fHE (..ARG5T 7 L U M ~fH HI ST.. -

largest democracy in the world!Only, when I wrote this sentencemany years ago in a speech myboss was to make somewhere,he cut it out saying: "Justbecause we happen to haveproduced more children doesnot confer any distinction onus I"I disagreed; we do not"happen" to have more children,as he thought, we make everyeffort to have them, because tobe the largest democracy in theworld gives us a feeling of oneupmanship. ntose who havehelped us achieve this distinction deserve all praise. Unfortunately, I myself have donenothing special in this regardbut may I be permitted to recordthat my father contributed thelargest number of votes to thelargest democracy of the world?I would have said how many bu tI am afraid somebody wOuldthen come up with one betterthan his record.

, 7 ~ ~ " " " l J N T A I N.The pioneers of Himalayan treks, jungle lodges and wildlife camps

i lG I : f iCI'SMClJNiAIN i R / ~ " I : I . I N I ) I / ~. '1/1 Rani Jhansi Road NEW DELHI 110 055Phones: 771055, 731075, 777483,523057,521932Telex: 31-63016 TREK IN

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F8'rum":""""T_hi_eS_F_O_ro_ll_egh_t's_S_i_ory______-GazCltc-------------

The pain came in spasmsjust below the ribs. It was sosevere that Rashid doubled up inagony . The ground beneath hisfeet went in a whirl and clouds ofash dripped from the sky.At last he decided to go to thehospital. They took samples ofhis blood , urine , faces. Andadvised a minor surgical operation ." Surgery? What kind "Cf surgeryon ?"

" Biopsy" ." Biopsy? You suspect I havecancer?"" No . Tests are not meant toconfirm suspicions but to removethem ." He agreed. A date wasfixed ." Will some member of yourfamily be with you?" the doctorasked . "

"No " ." Neither wife nor child?"Rashid laughed . "My wife hasbeen plying her spinning wheel inthe house of Allah for the last sixyears . And the son is a long wayaway: in the United States" .A biopsy test was made . Sixweeks later Rashid went back tothe hospital to find out theresult. The doctor again askedhim about his son." You think my son has morebrains then I ? Or he is stronger?Just tell me the worst. I can takeit", Rashid replied with a smile.The doctor explained verygently and at great length that hehad cancer of the liver.Cancer? Amazing! There inside h

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