Vol. 1 No.

2
Above: Jindiala Guru empty
streets, shuttered shops as the
violence - hit village observes
a . protest bandh.
Nand Kishore, (left) whose
brother Vijay Kumar was
killed by terrorists in
Krishnanagar, (Amritsar).
Eleven people died, ten
Hindus and one Sikh. Vijay's
mother, Vina Devi (with
folded hands) tells how hel:
son was shot.
PUNJAB
STRUGGLES
FOR SANITY
THE ACCELARATING CRISIS
In Punjab today there is a tangible sense of
forbodeing at the grassroots level and total
lack of confidence in the ability of the
administr a1ive and political authority to
control events.
Harji Malik
P
unjab has reaped a bumper
harvest. Mounds of golden
wheat lie heaped in fields.
in front of godowns. Wh!'TP.
combines have been at work the
packed bags are massed under
plastic covers all along the high-
way from Delhi (0 Amritsar.
Farme.rs are busy ploughing
fl ooded fields preparing for the
paddy. and many fields are al-
ready green with seedlings.
This is the familiar face of
Punjab, smiling. a land of plen-
ty. But under the facade of nor-
malcy it is a different story.
Smiles are mIssIng in
Jindiala Guru. a village 12 kilo-
metres from Amrilsar. where
terrorists struck on May 29th.
On May 31st we saw only grim,
Harji Mal ik
tension ridden faces in the vil-
lage. A bandh had been called
in protest at the inact ion of the
SHO, Paramjit Singh, demand-
ing his removal. The streets
were semi-deserted, CRPF
jawans lounged in clusters eve-
rywhere. and Hindu residen ts
sat in front of their shuttered
shops, some talking softly, oth-
ers silent. The village seemed to
be waiting-for what wou ld
happen next.
Punjab today is a contradic-
tion of realities. In Ludhiana,
)ull undar, Amritsar, the ba-
zaars are crowded, t he mandis
busy. Sikhs and Hindus chat to-
get her. Sikh dhabas do a thriv-
ing trade with Hindu customers
and vice versa. Turbaned and
bareheaded youngsters stroll
together in joking camaraderie
or go about sharing two
wheelers. On the surface life
seems absol utel y normal.
But at night in many places
two wheelers are not permitted
on the roads after dark for fear
of terrorist activity. In
Krishnanagar. just on the out-
skirts of Amritsar. where 11
Continued on page 15
Fortnightly Rupees Two
Haryana
bid to derail
Venkataramiah
Commission
Can the Accord be put back on track?
Baljit Malik
H
aryana's role in the
Venkataramiah Commis-
sion, which fai led to submit its
report on May 30, goes to suggest
that not all the int ractable ele-
ments which have come in the
way of a credible sol ution of the
Punjab problem are to be neces-
sari ly found in Punjab. Extrem-
ism and terrorism in themselves
are not the only road blocks on
the way to better days for the
Punjabi people. According to
sources close to the Commission,
Haryana's attitude all along has
been to prevent the Commission
from arriving at a reasonable so-
lution concerning Chandigarh.
The removal of B4jan- La] is -
at least one indication that the
central government and the
Congress-I are begi nning to have
second thought-s about the
Haryana factor in the Punjab tan-
gle. Scuttl ed by indecision in
New Delhi and non-cooperation
by Haryana, the Accord has nev-
ertheless been inching forward
even as the political climate has
continued to deteri orate in
Punjab. What remains to be seen
IS whet her the "new" dispensa-
tion in Haryana means business
about implementing the Accord
and accepting the
Venkataramiah Commission's
recommendations. The new
Chief Minister has certainly said
that Haryana would cooperate
with the Commission's sugges-
tions. but has yet to be seen to be
acting on his words.
I
t is now on the cards that
Chandigarn will be trans-
ferred to Punjab on June 21st. a
transfer which should
have taken place after the Indira
Gandhi A ward in 1970. Howev-
er, sixteen years of political
procastination pale into insignifi-
cance when set against
Haryana's bid to sabotage the
proceedings of the
Venkatliramiah Commission. It
will be recall ed tha t Justice
Venkataramiah, a sitting judge of
the Supreme Court, was asked to
take over the Chandigarh ques-
tion where Justice Mathew had
left it. The Mathew Commission
had found itself unable to make a
clear recommendation regarding
Chandigarh as it got bogged
down by its interpretation of
clause 7.2 of the Accord whi ch
opened by stating: "It had always
been maintained by Smt Indira
Gandhi that when Chandigarb is
to go to Punjab. some Hindi -
speaking territories in Punjab
will go to Haryana". The territo-
Mrs Gandhi had in mind
were from Fazilka and Abohar.
This was an arrangement with
which the Mathew Commission
agreed. but given its terms of ref-
erence. could not actually rec-
ommend. Whether Justice
Mathew was right or wrong in
his view that in return for
Chandigarh Haryana should be
compensated with territory
drawn only from Fazilka and
Abohar is not the most pertinent
part of the Chandigarh slory,
what is perUnent is that accord-
i.ng to the principles of village as
a unit, linguistic. affinity and con-
tiguity no territory from Fazilka
and Abohar could be awarded to
I [aryana. Taking into account its
interpretation of Mrs Gandhi's
intentions coupled \'lith the f(lct
that the Punjabi - speaking vil-
lage of Kandu Khera broke the
principle of contiguity. the
Mathew Commission found it -
self unable to recommend a
transfer of terri tory to Haryana in
lieu of Chandigarh. The Com-
mission opined "In these circum-
stances it is for the Government
of India to take such suitable
steps as it deems fit including the
appointment of a Commission to
give effect to the general inten-
tion of Smt Indira Gandhi to
transfer some Hindi-speaking
territories in Punjab to Haryana
in lieu of Chandigarh".
Continued on page 15
Inside
Hindu Fears in
Punjab by Jasjit
Purewal
Amnesty
International: The
World's conscience
We the People of
Federal India by Inder
Mohan
Hounding Gandhian
Institutions and
workers.
Plus Reviews.
Reflections. Short
Story and Humour.
:The
___________________ __________________________ _
Atoning for Barnala'-s Sins
The second fortnight in May saw the whole country in turmoil. Tamil Nadu in-
creasingly agitated over the killings of Tamils in Srilanka. Karnataka and
Maharashtra on the verge of a border war over the teaching of Kannada in a Marathi
speaking district of their state. The repurcussions of the police massacre of innocent
villagers in Arwal in Bihar. The involvement of the Chief of Orissa in a sex scandal.
The Gurkha Liberation Front's agitation for autonomy in West Bengal (with a little
help from the Cong-I). The Karanth - Vibha love - murder story in Madhya
Pradesh and finally Punjab where inspite of Chief Minister Barnala's 'atonement'
terrorists continue to bring shame to their community, Hindus emigrate out of
Punjab, Akali politics sink deeper into the mud and the government continues to
deny justice by passing yet another ordinance. The only good news was the conclu-
sion of a successful hunger strike by Shabana Azmi , Anand Patwardhan and others
to help rehabilitate evicted slum dwellers of Bombay.
S
trange news also kept com-
ing from abroad all
fortnight:
t "US swoops on aliens nets 50
Sikhs" said The Indi an Ex-
press of 14 Ma y. Were they
swimming? Or is thi s a new
species of fish .
t On 1"9 May fo ur Sikhs froro
Leicester were charged with
plotting to kill Mr Rajiv.
Gandhi. The Indian High
Commission (HC) was s ur-
prised that information
about Mr Gandhi's itinerary
came from a ' mole' within
the HC and ' reproached the
UK' for not informing them
earli er.
On the 22nd the HC got over
thei r surprised. Mr. Gandhi's
itinerary was public knowl-
edge they insisted. I hope
somebod"y apologised to
Maggie.
On the 22nd the plotters'
were released and rearrested
whi ch led defense lawyer
Ivan Greffen to remark
"There is a politi ca l conspira-
cy between the government
of this country and the gov-
ernment of India" (Hindu
May 24)
On 23 May Gurpa rtap Singh
Birk was sentenced to seven
years imprisonment on
charges of violating the US
neutralify Act.
On 28 May we were grateful
to lea rn from the front pages
of most newspapers that the
secretely shot FBI film on
Birk was shown on national
television in the United
States.
Chuirina n. Boatu of Edit ors
Lt. Gen'. 'agjit Singh Aurora
Manuging Editor
Baljit Malik
Edi tors
G.S. Sandhu, Harji Malik,
A.S. ' Narling
Associat e Editor
Avlar Singh Judge
Circulati on
Lt . Col. Manohar Singh (retd.)
Administrative O,f,fi ce
3 Masjid Road, Bhogal.
New OeI-hi-ll0014.
Phone 694756
Edit oriu l (Camp) Office
4 Bhagwa n Oas Road,
New Oelhi-ll0001.
Phone 385270. 385042
Telex
315220 HBLK FOR GAZETTE
2 Sunday 15-30 June 1986
Preminder Singh
On 25 May national head-
lines again with the news
that "the Sikhs" planned to
blow up EXPO 86 in
Vancouver. The source of
thi s information - a little
provincial paper quoting "a
police informer".
* On 26 May four Sikhs shot
Punjab Planning Minister
Sidhu in Vancouver.
* On 31 May five Sikhs were
arrested near Montreal for
plotting- to blow up an Air-
India plane.
Sport
That was the Foreign news.
And now Sport. Good news
ffom Mexi co where the Italian
football team 'was allowed ona
days sex ' if' they got through to
the second round, but bad news
for the Mexicans "The World
Cup Soccer organising commit-
tee has banned romance during
the Mexico finals ... " How this
is going to be possible is left in
doubt "because hostesses are
encouraged to be friendly and it
is impossible tl'f lilke ten steps
without being greet ed with a
flash y smi.le 'nd an enthusias,ti c
' hola ' (hello)". On the cricket
fr()f1t Scyld Berry of the London
' Observer' discovered Sri kant' s
batting secret. He has a habit of
"gazing up at the sun before
each delivery as a gesture of re-
spect to Surya the sun god", "IL
mi ght be that" says the Sunday
Observer (May 18) "or may be
he is trying to straighten his
neck. Anyway we believe iUs a
good idea for india cricketers to
regale English cricket corre-
spondents with their oriental
exotica".
6arnala' penance
Nothing caused as much
confusion, amusement and con-
troversy however as Chief Min-
Attention Advertisers!
ister Barnala's 'Paschatap'.
l'The Punjab Chi ef Minister
today appeared before the high
priests of the Golden Temple
and agreed to dust shoes for a
week, deposit rupees 500 in the
temple treasury and recite the
jAPJI 25 times to atone for hav-
ing sent the police into the
Golden Temple on April 30."
(Telegraph 18 May).
"But atonement for what?"
asked Girilal jgin' (TO! 19 May)
"Our problem is that Mr.
Barnala is not an ordinary Sikh
who has bowed to the authority
of the head priests. He is the
Chief Minister of a State of the
indian Union and it is in that ca-
pacity that he has allowed him-
self to be judged and punished
by 'I n authority which the Indi-
an Union ca nnot and does not
recognize . .. Mr. Barnala is
Chief Minister of all the
Punjabis not just of the
Sikhs . . : by doing what he has
done. Mr. Barnala has not only
humiliat ed himself and the gov-
ernment over which he pre-
sides but also delivered himself
bound hand and foot to an ext ra
consti tutional authorit y."
George Verghese (IE 19 May)
said "Barnala stands tall ... if
he has accepted certain token
punishment. . . he has done so
not with any sense of guilt
but ... in keeping with a tradi-
tion that the great Maha ra ja
Ranjit Singh too once fol-
lowed . . . while some may fault
him he has acted appropriately
even shrewdl y without aban-
doning any principl e. In doing
so, Mr. Barnala has echoed
Christ's answer when sought to
be trapped by his ' detractors
who asked whether and to
whom'peopl e should pay taxes:
"Render unto Caesar that
which is Caesar's and unto God
that which is his. "This remains
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Further enquiries should be addressed to the Asso-
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,the best definition of the line
that demarcates religion from
politics in a secular as opposed
to a theocrati c state".
Nikhil Chakravarty (Tele-
graph 27 May) was not very
happy with the Chief Minister
who "makes a demonstration of
his obeisance to the priestly
order b.y turning himself into a
shoesh-ine boy for hi s so-call ed
misdemeanour in carrying out
hi s secular responsibility of
combatting secessionists as the
head of the stat e government.
Many faces of
Barnala
T
he Tribune (19 May) had a
two in one explanation.
They point out "the di stinc-
tion between Mr. Su rjit Singh
the head of government and Mr.
Surjit Singh 'a poor Sikh from
Barnala . The priests handed
down their ' tankha' to him in
hi s former ca pacit y but he re-
ceived the punishment in his
laller capaci ty." Khushwant
Singh (Tel egraph 26 May) splits
him into three. "Barnala is three
persons in one - Chief Minis-
ter of the State. President of the
Akali Dal and a devout Sikh."
He obtained sanction as party
president, oredred ' Operation
Search' as Chief Minister and
accepted puni shment as a
Sikh.
Kuldeep Kumar (Sunday Ob-
server May 25) was there as
"Barnala the ordinary Sikh is
'!toning for thE action ordered
by Barnala the dutiful Chief
Minister."
"Barnala sits cross-legged
over a chadder .. . he is
his job very seriously .. . with a
clean white duster ... he dusts
both the inner and outer surfac-
es of the shoes. He is reci ting the
' japji sahib' conti nuously. He is
not looking around at all. His
eyes are set on the s hoes."
The Historical
Angle
Easi ly the best article on the
ubj ect was the simple hi stori-
ca l explanation "The meaning
of Paschatap" (Tribune june 1)
by Dona Suri . "Paschatap is part
of the process of se lf-correct ion
instituted ... by Guru Gobi nd
Si ngh in 1699 .. . confessi on
and atonement were the ways
to keep human error from caus-
ing too much harm ... twice the
Sangat ordered Gur u Gnbind
Singh to do Pasha tap . .. even
Maharaja Ranjit Singh was
twice declared 'Tankhiya' (pun-
ished) and sentenced to twenty
lashes . .. howeve r after the
Maharaja had allowed himself
to be bound .. . the jat hedar de-
clared tha t Ranjit Si ngh 's hum-
ble submission was enough and
wilived the actual
puni shment.
Other Sikh leade rs sum-
moned before the Akal Takht:
Master Ta ra Singh for breaking
hi s fast unt o death. San t Fa teh
Singh for not. keeping his word
after threatening se lf-
immol alion . Both were pun-
ished. President Zail singh was
"call ed on the charge of ha ving
an umbrella over his head
while walking to Harimandir
Sa hib but hi s expl anation that
he was not aware of the umbrel-
la was accepted and no atone-
ment required of him." Union
Home Minister Buta Singh re-
fused to appear before the Akal
Takht and was
- excommunicated.
"To apologise at Darbar
Sahib is not humiliating" says
Inder Gujral (Sunday Observer
18 May) "but what if militants
capture the temple again."
Khushwant Singh (Tel egraph
June 2) has the beginning' s of a
solution. "It is time Sikh leaders
come forward boldl y into the
open to combat thi s continuing
menace which is bringi ng dis-
grace on the fair names of their
Gurus and the communit y . . .
In the hi story of the Sikhs there
is not a singl e instance of people
assuming the garb of Sikhs to
kill unarmed innoce nt peo-
pie . . . Sikhs will never forgive
those who are blackening the
pages of sikh hi story .
h
__________________ __________________________ _
HINDU FEARS
IN PUNJAB
Jasjil Purewal
he fin al and seemingly ul
T
timate stage in the Punjab
crisis has a rrived . Hind u
migration to the neigh
bOll ringsta tes has begun to lend
cred ibilit y to th e term
'Kha li stan ' as no single sloga n
or argument has done so far.
And ye t a single dist inct strea k
of hope rema ins. defying what
IT.Os t have come to see as a n ir
revocabl e situa tion. Thi s streak
rests in the peo)Jle of Punjab:
the on ly factor whi ch if rea li w d
can return Punjab eve n though
few chose to ml! llti on it. Cun
tra ry to the med ia build up, th e
Hindus whu le<1v() tod<1Y, do so
nol u nel e r fea r of the Si k'h mass
es bu t becausBof forcesof tr.rror
whi ch have a para ll r. 1 not on ly
in the C<1I'Iwge bllt
are uniformly and sys temati ca l
Iy des troying Ihe soci<1 1 fabric of
lit e e ntire nation.
The UllSCl'l lpu lous politi
cian, t he currupt )Jo li i:e forcl !
a nd tJl e illsC'nsitivp. Armv, (IJ'(! -'
<111 to(J fami li pr once
aga in Sigllii'ic<lllt in th e tal e of
the migrating Hindu: Th(! 1'01 -
lowing is iln with Mr.
Brij Shingill'i. n school
teachm' 1'1'0111 Fatiahbad n(),H
t\mrit sar who has f1 pd to
with Iwnl\'f! oti wi families 1'1'0111
his
Q. When and whv did you
leavp VOUI' homes?
A. We Ir.rt tlw
Coindval incident 011 7th Mav
It pP.O) Ie wr.rr. shot den;1
in4 diffnrent incide nt s. Life hOi s
come to a ndst i II for us a nd it
is not possi bl e to line under
such consl allt fear.
Q. Hav e all Hindu fa nti
lies migra ted from yuur area?
A. No! Many have chosen to
stay. But all are terrifi ed.
Q. Who do you feal
specifi ca ll y?
A. The terrorists . who con
tinue, unchec ked, to spread
s uch absulut e fea r. More impor.
tantl y. we fea r the puli ce both
for it s ineffectiveness and it s
compli cit y. And of course we
fea r the Akali gove rnmen t
whi ch has des pit e the Hindu
proved tota ll y incapa
bl e of prut ecting olJr ri ghts.
Q. What abuut communal
disha rmon y in Punjab? Has it
reachnd a n irrf)conc: ili able
puinl '/
A. Nol The rr. is very lilli e
tension b()t ween communi
ti es as such since we s h'lI' e a
It UI1W and eu Ilu re whi ch goes
back gene rntions. Thus th n
ffinelllSik h lInit y al th e vi ll nge
leve l r:nllnot bn chidl r)nged easi
Sik hs fenl eqlla ll y con
by Ih!. nwss (lild mil i
lanev of Ihe fpw and tl \(! '
dill(; ri lllcn lil!s in lhe fad th Ht
tWI) y(!i lrS ago thny
wo uld Iwve OIW! dy
ngains t nny ntt nck on
Ilind il today th ey
are equallv Inrrifi(!d and
foro IllCl V sne this as
n r. lwnge in t" r. Si k'" I
juSI see it as rnar. And let us not
forgnt that th e Hindus Sikh r.on
np.clion through Clcr.r.s try and
m:1rl'iag(! is ]lot an oasy one to
chn lI r.nge.
Q. YOIi mentioned pqli cp
complicit y. Can yo u
A. Tlw PUlljnb police is the
mol Cilllsn of Ill uch of the dis
ruption (I f peace in Ppnjab. The
Con ti nued on page 13
Hindu Militancy
"our att empt is to make VS
the Hindus so strong /alota. blames the Centre and
that they will not the. PunJab.Government for in
leave the Punjab." Ramkant Ti actIOn. Whl.l e Centre takes
falota, Hindu Shiv Sena leader. errorlsm no responslbIl!ty for the Hin
who lives in Phagwara ex. dus, the Punjab Government
plains that thi s is the does not intentions
of the Sh iv Sena in the present by Our Special Correspondent towards . the HIndus. So
Punjab situation, A jewell er by communIty must look after It
famil y profession /alota ex. self as well as it can, Jalota 's
plains that the Hindu Shiv Sena is t?at in their view
was started on Shivratri in 1984 Hll1dus and SIkhs are "bhais"
because Bhindranwal e men that "We ca ll them
were killing Hindus , and Hin. bhalbhals, t?ey do not call us
dus like him felt the need for brothers. Sa nt mahatmas
the communit y to un it e to pro. have on them.
tect itse lf. The Shiv Sena But. none of thei r Sants, none of
organises people in villages and their here and ca ll
towns. " I f any Hindu :s kill ed or us their Why cannot
be ing harassed we go there", there be a. hukumnama' to say
falot a says, but deni es reports that terrori s ts kill innocent
that young men are given any people are not , .
training. They are on ly give n Ashok Uppa l IS more mIll'
tant "W ' 11 tl p' b"
reli giuus instructi on and . WI .eave un)a
"Tris hul Dharan." says .. We will fight and if we
l3ul he admit s t hal whe rever di e we will take some with us".
the re is truubl e Hindu Shiv
Sena volunt ee rs are sent to help
out. He cla ims that these volun
teers played their part in
Nakodar. Batala. and oth er plac
es. But faluta warns "We are los
ing grip on ou r you th. They are
asking li S to give them milit ary
training. If th ey become mi li
tant. W8 may nol be able to ca n
trol them. Peopl e from other
states have come to the m, fr om
Karnal. from li mac hal and sa id
that if you can' t look aft er the
Punjab: then we will look after
it!"
AlJOve: Ram Kan! Jallll .. . Shi v Sena leader in Phag",ara warns of inr.reasing
mitiJancy uf yuulhfut Trishul Oharis. Betow: Durgiaoa lempt e, Amritsar - view
frum Sa nl Niwas, tn!:at Shiv Sen .. office.
,.
The Oldy way to peace in the
state, in faiola' s view, is for the
Hindus to have. eq ual force as
the Sikhs. "We must be give n li
censes for arms" he goes on and
that a t the mome nt
arms li ce nses a re not given 1. 0
Hindus - As hok Uppa l. the
Phagwara Prnd han int erj ects to
say that if necessa ry they will
get arms ill ega ll y - hi s com
plaint be ing that because the I' icluros by Harii Mali k
police are mostly, ikhs. the re is t---------------------------,
discrimina ti on aga inst Hindus,
He all eges that Phagwa ra is
peaceful on ly beca use the
AISSI : and Shiv Sena are eve nl y
matched.
On March the Hindu
C') () 1 \) Shiv Sena had a Tris hul March
;;)11::\ t11? 1.. ' ?J?'7\ .2. 'i nAmrit sa rdema nding thatthe
71 n "" '" 0 CRPF be given independent
n. ":I. A,)Y , charge to dea l with the te rror
t -u .... , \:1 ,- '\' \.,;) :.' ,n 1". ists but falota says that nothing
<l \ f) f)C'.i carne of it beCa use the Ce ntre
\ 1. e;, was "wa rming" up Mr Barnala.
""7l ..Ii... He visi ted the border areas on
J. ' " ;y1".... th e 6t h May and wro te to Rajiv
<l -q. . . \ Gandhi all the nex t day. He

.') / ", \ .. .... :- warned that peopl e wo uld leave
<') from various vill ages in Tarn
\? :2.(?'7"0 ",\1&="" a, --: Tara n area, he told the D,C. at
[\ -:. \ 0- ( ',' Amritsar, he teleQhoned the
bf ;' A. ,. I B Chi ef' Minist er In Chanolgarh.
2) \.. () . But no one responded. On lhe
Above: Fatehb .. t1 vi llage (Tarn Taarn
dist!.) from which Hindu migration is
increasing. Hindu shopkeepers who
are sticking it out : One of them (centre')'
has grown h.i s heard and SIJorts a
saJron Pagri as prolect.ion (in Dethi
many Sikhs have cut hair and shaved
for idenli cat rcasons),
__ '2-. . ? '. r' _ 7' . d:> . ... ".. . .... 17th and 18th people start ed
.:'" coming ou t but no one stopped
..fl! )1") 1 =- \ " _t_ he_m_. ____________ _
:Prl{ f-e t 11J -vt; {"LVl. ." it Long live Khalistan.
ntJ. . Rajpal , you vacate the shop within 3
fV?;J J /'Y?-- - months, otherwise it will be set on fire. Last

- \ " -Jl:- time you saved your life by escaping from your
(\ house. But now your end is near. You talk in a
i 1t -wr7l . - very boastful manner and declare your enmity
& J..\ ' - with Sikhs. Now no time will be lost to take re-
.. ( "" ,., \ ; venge for all this.
), f/ ..... . .. .,;; L " .... \ . l 7 - 3"-- (All India Sikh Students Federation Amritsarl
.)/ J\"l-( "b If"lJ \) Jasvinder Singh and Amarjit Singh who
informing on us will soon be punished.
Your
travel
orgaJ;lisation
SInce
1948
MERCllRY TRAVELS
(lNIlIA) UIfREII
Jeevan Tara Building.
Parliament Streei,
New Delhi lI0001
Phone: 310602,312008,
Sunday 15-30 June 1986 3
F8rum
__ es ___________________ Gazettc ________________________ __
LIGHTING
CANDLES
WORLDWIDE
tHE REMARKABLE WORK
OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
r[l is better to li ght a cand le than
,to curse th e darkness' .
Wherever you are in th e
world tod<l Y, who do you turn to
if you are arrested for you r po-
liti ca l or religious beliefs? Who
has acted consistently against
torture and inhuman treat-
ment? Who has propaga ted a
powerful campaign aga ins t the
death penalt y? Who has effec-
tively highlighted political kill-
ings by governments?
The answer to a ll th e above
questions is one: a worldwide
movement called Amnesty
jnternationa!
Over th e las t twenty years,
Amnesty Int erna tiona l has
moved to the forefront of the
global human rights movement.
Concerned with th e prot ection
and promotion of human rights,
Amnest y has grown into a net-
work of more than 5,00,000'
members, s ubscribers and sup-
porters in over 160 countries.
There are over 3,000 permanent
Amnesty groups in more than
50 countri es in Africa, Asia, Eu-
rope, the Americas and the'
Middl e East.
Amnesty is primarily con-
cerned wiLh see king the release
of what it calls ' prisoners of
conscience'-people detained
for their beliefs or because of
their colour, ethn ic o ri gin . race
or sex. Working for th e fair and
prompt tri al of poli tical prison-
ers, it also acts aga ins t tor ture
and the death pe na lt y. More re-
centl y, it has la unc hed a major
campaign to combat ex tra jud i-
cial killings by gove rnments.
The widespread ' di sappear-
ance' of peopl e has also become
one of it s crucia l conce rns.
Working thro ugh the
worl dwide network of loca l
groups. in anyone year, Amnes-
ty works on behalf of over four
thousand individua l cases of
pri sone rs of consci nce. Mem-
bers are as ked to write or se nd
te legrams to heads of State or
appropriate officia ls on b ehaH
of the pr isoners. Groups only
handle cases of prisone rs he ld
in countri es other t han th eir
own. It is a re(Jecli on of the
power of this campoign thaI o ne
oul of every Iwo such prisoners
are freed, gron/ed a reduction oj
sentence or gi ve n beUer
Irea lment.
Amnes ty also sends missions
or trial observe rs to countries
finanCiall y supports prisoners
and their families, act s as a
pressure group on gove rnme nt s
and several United Nations
bodi es. a nd regularl y publishes
rna jor reports.
These re ports ha ve become a
major ha llmar k of Amnes ty 's
work. The re are three main
kinds of reports: Country re-
ports documenting violation of
human rights, specia l repor ts on
politi ca l killings, torture, e tc.
and an annua l report high-
lighting violations a ll over the
world.
The real strength of
Amnest y's work li es in it s strict
adherance to politi ca l neutrali-
ty. Ye t, th ere have been regular
accusa tions and angry reactions
from a ll across the politi ca l
spectrum. For instance, Amnes-
ty was called an instrument of
communist terrorism" by Brazil
whil e Ghana has ca ll ed it "an
imperia li st boCly". The Soviet
Union once described Amnesty
as an "organisation which con-
ducLs anti Soviet propqganda".
It must be understood Lhat
Amnesty's work has severe lim-
itations. While most of these are
se lf-imposed , some need to be
done away with (for instance,
th e de lay in responding to gross,
sys tema ti c violations). Howev-
er , within th e scope of a major
international initiative that
maintains impar tiality a nd e n-
joys a legi tima te position all
over th e world. what it has
achi eved is of no small signifi-
cance. The re is, obviousl y a lot
more to do and Amnesty wi ll
have to both e xpand it s ma n-
date (as it has a lrea dy, done to
an exten t, wit h the inclusion of
politi ca l kil.lings and disappear-
ances) ilnd cr eat e st ruc tures to
respond more rapi dl y than it
does il l prese nt.
The viola tions of civil liber-
Lies a nd de mocrati c ri gh ts con-
tinue una baLed a llove r the
world. Tn th e years to come,
.organisa ti ons like Amnesty are
going to be call ed upon to pay a n
eve n more cr iti ca l and incisive
ro le in const ru cti ve ly interve n-
ing in thi s si tua tion. A more ef-
fect i ve chain, lin king toget her
effort s from th e local to the in-
terna I iona I wi II need to be es-
tabli s hed. In th r. final a na lys is,
Amnesty s ho ul d definitely con-
tinue to be a crucia l part of thi s
worldwide movement w hi ch
can , a t bes t, be call ed a conspir-
acy of hope .
MANUSHI
A JOURNAL ABOUT WOMEN AND SOCIETY
Individual Yearly Subscription Rs. 30
C1 / 202. La jpa t Naga r-1, New De lhi-110024
693158, 617022
4 Sunday 15-30 June 1986
Amnesty .
International
the conscience
of the World
The
Amnesty
Mandate
Secure th e immedi a le and
unconditional re lease of a ll
pri so ners of conscie nce.
Ensure fair a nd prompt tri a ls
for <lll politi cal prisone rs.
Abo li s h torture and
executions.
The
Campaign
Huma n ri ght sarea human re-
sponsi bi Ii ty. Whe never th ey are
violated . peopl e Are th e victims.
They and th e ir fami lies need
practi ca l he lp.
Through it s ne twork of mem-
bers a nd support e rs , Amnesty
Int ernati ona l takes up individ-
ual cases. 1lI0bilises publi c
opinion and see ks improved in-
te rnationa l standards for th e
trea tme nt of prisoners.
You can add you r name to
Amnes ty Internati o nal 's grow-
ing ca mpai gn: You can become
a subscribe r, by joining the In-
di an Sect ion, sending in a dona -
lion a nd s upporting i ts
worldwide The ad-
dress of th e Indi a n Section is:
Amnes ty Int ern a ti ona l
C/ o Oate line De lhi
2 1, Northend Complex
Panchkuin Rond
Nflw Delhi- t 10001
The Penalty
of Death
S
trongly be lieving Iha t the
death pe nalt y has no special
oete rrent va lue a nd that it en-
courages il c lima te of vio le nce
a nd di sres pect for human li fe,
Amnesty has un eq uivoca lly op-
posed th e dea th penalty.
The worldwide movemen t
for aboliti on has had signifi -
ca nt. if s low. achieve me nts.
I:orty s ix cOlln lries have lega ll y
a bo lished it 'en of these
retain it on ly for ce rtain war-
ti me c rimes ). whil e 50 countri es
ha ve nol r.a rr ied out a ny execu-
ti ons si nce 1!.J 80.
I ns pi te of !\ rn nes ty 's wide -
sprea d ca mpaigns (whi ch ex-
((mu to th e publi c. 10 legis la tors
a nd to hea ds of govern me nt),
according to its own doc umen-
tati on. 1.125 people we re e xe-
cuted in 1!.J8!'i a lone (The true
total would . of co urse. be much
hi gher as many governments
delibe ra tel y co nceal or fail to
a nnounce th e e xecution of
those it a rr es ts).
Of th ese. there were 137 con-
firmed executions in South Af-
ri ca while at least 57 we re exe-
c ut ed in Paki s tan. In China.
whe re over 40 offe nces ca rry
the death pe na lt y. 135 were ex-
ecut ed, some for forming a "re-
acti onary secre t soc iety" a nd
"exploiting feudal s upe rs ti-
tions." Three people we re s hot
aft e r being convict ed of holding
"ua nce a nd sex parties."
Amnesty International
Attack
on Civil
Liberties
In Ind ia, variolls civil libe r-
ti es and democrati c rights activ-
is ts and organisations have
been faci ng an increasing on-
s la ugh t and vi ll ificrltion cam-
pai gn by cen tra l and sta te gov-
ernmen ts. The killing in cold
blood of Dr. Ramana lham, a
leading c ivi l libert ies figure in
Andhra by th e poli ce in Sep-
te mber last yea r was an explo-
si ve ins ta nce of thi s new trend.
Another example was the sys-
tema ti c smear campaign th at
s tarted against PUCL a nd
PLJ DR afle r th e publi ca tion of
its now classic report "Who Are
The Cuilt y?". The CFD report
"Oppress ion in Punja b" also
drew <l ve he me nt response from
the governme nt. It s au th ors
we re a rrested and c harged with
18 hos t of offences including
Sed ition!
It is ins ta nces like th ese that
motivated Amnesty to inclu<;le
in its s tateme nt before tne 42nd
annual session ofthfl U.N. Com-
mission on Human Rights
(1 !.J86) th e following;
"Human Ri ghts wou ld re-
mai nat heore ti cal concept
wi thout people acl ing in their
defence. In mos t countries,
th ere a re isolat ed individuals or
sma ll groups of dedicated peo-
ple who take it upon them
selves to collect information
about violations of human
righ ts a nd to pu blicize their
findings. But human rights de-
fend ers often have to work
agai nst overwhelming odds. In
trying to protect the rights of
ot hers, th ey have themselves in
many countri es faced arbitrary
arrest, torLure. "disappearanc-
es" or extrajudicial execution.
[They 1 have ri s ked the ir liberty
and in some cases their lives in
t he i r work to protecL the lives of
othe rs ... If th e very people
who commit th emselves mosl
deepl y to tha L ca use themselve!i
fa ll victim of human righ ts vio
lations. it is time fo r the int erna -
li ona l communit y to react" .
Mr. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL
They cedi him "Mr Amnestv In-
ternat ionAl". He is Thomas
Hal1llll a riJerg, a tall. slim
Swcdr.-dress him in t he right
clothes and he is the perfect Vi-
king. comple te with th e close
cli pped beard - who repre-
se nts th e international con-
science as Secmla ry General ot
Amnesty Int e rn a tional. He was
recentl y i n De lhi for Amnes ty's
251 h anni versa ry. Amnes t y
knows no frontiers and
Hammar berg gives the repre-
se ntatives o r gove rnments
ma ny uncomfortable moments,
For he knows tha t more th an 50
per cen t of governments in al1
parts of th e world have th e ir
"pri sone rs of conscie nce", a
ma il er th ey would rather push
under tb e ca rpe l. But Amnesty
does all it ca n to expose those
secre ts a nd to work for the re-
lease of s uch men and women
by awakening the conscience of
a ll those who be li eve ill human
rights.
Soft spoken. a n economis t by
'[raining, a working journalist
for 20 years, Hammarbe rg was.
in vo lved in th e ahli-apa rtheid
movement in student days. In
1964 Amnesty Int erna ti onal
came to wedell : He had been
wri ti ng and broadcasting on is-
s ues connected with deve lop-
,ment aid, socia-economi c prob-
:The
OUf Times
------------__ ____________ __
lems and human ri ghts.
"Amnfisty's work offered a wa)
of working against oppression
in concrete wa ys which ap-
pea l'ed to me" he says. Tired of
the usual cli ches and discus-
sions he saw Amnestv work as
the way to express concrete sol -
ida rit y. working wi th individu-
als as an indi vi du al. Their prin-
ciples were hi s be liefs.
So he joined them. forming a
lit tl e grou p in t he Stockholm
suburb where he l ived. Made
Chairman of t he Swedish Boa rei
in EJ70. he was nominated to
the interlla ti onal executive Cl
year later. in c.harge of t he ideo-
logical I'untnnt. Ihe basir. pr inci-
ples or the urganisation. ln
when he was elected Secrelil rv
eenera\. a more Ihan fu ll lime
job. 1\(: movnd 10 London.
Amnesty's Worki ng Methods
Amllf'st v has ils own wav 01'
working. I'vlemu 'rs til) nol
I'l) l' the organisa tion in the ir
own coull tri(:s b":C(luse the suu-
jecl ma tter ha ve to eI(':n I
wi th is so Ihp.\, wou ld
inp.vit L bly be drawn tl w po-
lit ical wd). Alld siner' Amnesty
has 'no poli tirs' work wuu lel
iJ {!. imposs ibl p. . So nICmbe rs
wril e to the press. mOllll1 (:am-
pa iglls and ca rry on 011 10 r acl i v i-
ti es for pr isOll c:rs ill cuuntr if1s
other than theIr own.
Coll ecli ng inl'orma li on is an
informa l affair. Peopl e writp. in
to Amnes ly about cases thev
know about 01' have read aboui .
01' famil y members uf pri soners
se nd in detail s. Civil ri ght.
orga ni sa tions. Irade uni ons and
other bodi es a lso feed in infor-
mati on. Amnes ty in London
subscri bes to newspapers from
many countri es and glea ns in-
formati on through lh em. (Thi s
report er rece ived a lett er fro m
Amnes ty aft er publi shingan ar-
ti cle on "Operati on Wood rose"
aski ng for more delails. )
All informa ti on is evaluated
and ve tt ed thoroughl y by a stCl fi
of 100 researchers, parl of tIll'
800 st rong secretaria l. Once the
area speci ali st researcher is sa t
isfi ed lhat fa cts are correc\' in-
formation is sent to loca l
for rechecking. Aft er a second
evaluation the report is writ ten.
and sent to the Secretary Gener-
al and Amnesty's Lega l Cell. If
there are any questi ons t he fa cts
are checked for the third lime
with initial contacts. and on ly
aft er this is the report pub-
li shed. "These procedures
sometimes delay a report but
we fee l t hey are essenti al be-'
cause our facls must be correct"
Hammarbe rg says. pointing oul
that Amnesty's credibil ity is the
COl'e of it s work.
Every major report is sent to
the Governmen l involved be-
for e release - inilially thi s was
not done - and "we tell them
that their response will be pub-
Ii shed along with the reporl. "
But Hammarberg' says, some-
what ruefully, the response is
50-50. and usually poor. Per-
haps some countries are to be
embarrassed to respond.
Amnesty's concerns
On hi s third visit to India -
his first vi sit was in 1971, the
second in 1977, both exci tino
yea rs he admits -
arri ved from the
where aft er 14 yea rs of Emer-
gency. i I lewd a rr p.s ts. tort ure
and 'salvagi ngs".the Philippine
eq ui va lent of "encoun lers," the
Aquino governme nt asked hi s
advice 011 c.ons titut iona.l safe-
guards for hu man rights.
The main problem in India
in Ha mmarberg' s view is that
although there is no policy of
repression or suppression of
human rights. there is torture
in poli ce stati ons. sometimes
followed by deaths. Where seri-
ous investigations of such ha p
penings should be carried out ,
they arc nol. But he feels these
violati ons arc because of ne
glect , not policy. The neglect,
however, is very deep.
Mr Amnns lv dup.s no t sm,
Amllr.stv's ha(lr. cI succ:ess llS
but ril lil r. r. i1 fai lu l'l!.
up.c lI sn tlw Iw (:d 1'01' Aill nes ty's
work is grr:a t()r now til (l n it was
.vnars ilgO. Amn r.s ty will
recogn ise it s S ll C(;()SS onl y whf'1l
it s work is not .
I
n its Annual Reporl for 1985.
Amnesty drew att ention to
the information it had rece ived
from nea rl y all Indian stat es
thaL cri mina l suspects and po-
liti c.a l pri soners W(He tortured
especia ll y in Andhra Prades h
a nd Pun jab. Re (J or ts of dea ths in
.poli ce custody as a res ul t of tor-
tu rr. were fr equen t. Amnes ty
also wrotP. to the Chief Minis-
ters uf' West Bp.nga l. Rajas than
and Ta mil Na du r.al ling for judi-
cial in to such cases.
Many of Amnes tv's
related to th p. state of Punjab
For all June 14, 10 84. i I
tp. lexp.d thp. Prime Min ister. ac-
knowledging thilt t hn govp.rn-
lllP. l1 t had faced sp. rio us prob-
of in lr.rnal securi tv in
Punjab il nd asking whet he-r the
G.fi IJO pflup lr. reported lv ane. t-
ed wo uld be chargp.d spe
cific crimill(l l offences or reo
leHsnd. It urged the release 01
fuur AkH li I)HI leadp.rs arrestp.d
under Ihe NSA dll ring or aft er
the army ilcti on in th e Golden
- incl uding the pa rt y's
pmsidp. nt - who had apparent -
ly 11 01 bp.p. n i nvolved in
violr. nce.
Amnesly nl su took note of re-
port s Ihat 28 childre n aged bp.-
tween four and 12. who had
bp.p. n i1 frested al Ihe time of the
Jllne army action . were being
dr. tllined ill Ludhi ana Jail. On
2 1 Sepl ember. Ihe Supreme
Court orde red th e immedi ate
rp. lease of fuu r women and 22
ch i Id ren aged bet wee n one and
1(j. stati ng that it was obvious
thai the women and chi ldren
III Li st be devot p.es 'anel pil grims
vi siling the Golden Tp. mple
who had bee l1 caught in the ac-
t ion that took pl ace on 5 June.
Amn p.s ty said these reports con-
its fea rs that innocenl
peopl r.. whom it considered to
bp. pri soners of conscience.
were among those arrested at
th e Golden Templ e.
Deaths in Custody
Early this year, Amnes ty also
published a major report con-
cerning 'Dea ths in Poli ce Custo-
dy' all eged ly as a result of tor-
tu re or shooting in 1985-86. It
slated that dozens of such
deaths in custody have been re-
port ed each year. (For exampl e.
in Andhra Pradesh. seven cases
of dealhs in poli ce custod y were
reported between 1 Jan uary
1985 and 31 May 1985. where
death was all egedly due to tor-
ture. In December 1985. two
men. arrested on suspi cion of
involvement in criminal activi-
ti es. died, all egedly followi'ng
Citation for the Nobel prize
awarded to Amnesty in 1977
"The world has witnessed an increasing
brutalization, and internationalization of
violence, terrorism and torture .. ..... Through
its activity for the defence of human worth
against degrading treatment , violence, and
torture, Amnesty International has contributed
to securing the ground for freedom, for justice,
and thereby also for peace in the world."
in India
torture in poli ce stations in
Kerala. In many cases the vic-
tims were to have re-
ceived multi ple injuri es. sus-
tai ned whil e in detention.
Report s come to Amnesty from
nea rl y all India n states. irre-
spect ive of whether the stat e is
ruled by the Congress(I) or by
an opposition party.
R
epor ts of dea ths in custo-
dy. concern both people
on suspicion of havi ng
commi tt ed cri minal uffences. as
we ll as Ihose arrested in con-
nection wi lh al leged pol itical
activil ie . parti('lJlariy. those in-
volving violp.n l acts. In th e
abuv(-) report. Amnesty gives
i1vai lable detail s abou t seven
c:ases of in jJoli ce custo-
dy rp.po rt ed during 1985 and
lanuary 1986 whi ch concern
persons report ed to have been
actively invol ved in politi ca l
ac:l ivit ies and. in one recent
casp. . a civil libert ies activis t
who. according to the state gov-
ernlll en i c: on e rned. was also
in volveci in politi cal acti viti es.
Th ese cases were fr om th e
stat es of Andhra Prades h. Bihar
and Punjab. and the Union ter-
rit orv of Delh i.
One such exa mpl e was that
of Daljit Singh of Delh i. On 24
January 1986. Dal jil . a 27 year
old Sikh from 674 Military
Road. Anand Parbat di ed in po-
li ce custody. According to re-
port s in the I nd ia n press he was
arres led in connection wit h al-
legations Ihat he had harboured
two all eged S ikh xtremi sts.
Reacting to the contradi ctory
press report s about the arrest
and death of Daljit in cust ody.
Amnes ty was concerned that
Ihere was a possibi li ty that
Daljit Singh may have di ed as a
rp.s ult of injuri es inflicted upon
him during int errogati on be-
twp.e n the time when he was ap-
parent ly taken into unacknow-
ledged deten ti on late on
January t 5. 1986 and hi s death
on the e\1'&l1i ng of 24 January.
and not as a result of high bl ood
pressure and as thma as the po-
li ce claimed. Amnesty was
aware "that steps 'had reported-
ly been taken by the Addjtional
Chi ef Metropolitan Magistrate
to invesligate hi s death .... (but)
it was important that a full in-
quiry by an independent judi-
cial authority be institut ed and
that the findings of such an in-
quiry be publi shed in their en-
tirety and that both post
mortem reports be made availa-
bl e to his relati ves".
A
mnesty referred to the
Supreme Court 's obser-
vation that in thesecasesofcus-
tody dea ths the responsible po-
'li ce oft en escape persecution
and con viction for lack of evi-
dence. It ca ll ed for an amend-
ment of the law of evidence. Al-
though the holding of
magisterial enquiries in all
.cases of deaths in poli ce custo-
dy is mandatory under Sec. 17
of the Criminal Procedure
Code, such enquir ies are not al-
ways held. In the Punjab, for ex-.
ample, several cases have been
repor ted during the latter part
of 1 984 where persons allegedly
di ed in police or army custody
withoul inquesls having been
held. Relatives allege that no re-
cord of the arres t was kept and
that no post-mort em was car-
ri ed ou t. Cases have also been
report ed in whi ch body,
sometimp.s with multiple inju-
ri es. was handed over by poli ce
to relati ves. who we re then
as ker! to sign statement s that
the dea lh WilS due to uicide.
Amnes ty also added that in a
ma jorit y of cases of dea ths in
custody. magisteria l enq ui ri es
were car ri ed ou t by execut ive
magist rate. and therefore were
subjec t to conl rol by the
gove rnme nt.
When he ld. magisteria I en-
quiries i nl o dea ths of de tai nees
are o/'t p.n not conclusive be
ca use. since the person died in
poli ce custo Iy. independent ev-
idence is hard to obtain. In near-
ly il ll cases the magi strate must
depend on the poli ce to inves ti -
gat e all ega ti ons affecting mem-
bers of th ei I' own forces. In
those cases i n whi ch magis teri-
al enquiri es fou nd that dea ths
.in custody were the res ult of po-
lice bruta.1il y. re ponsi bl e po-
li ce were usuall y suspended
fr om dut y or transferred. They
were almost never subj ected
criminal proceedings and
convicted.
Int eres tingly. Amnp.s ty also
emphas ized that the govern-
ment of Indi a was signa lory Lo a
number of international Con-
ve ntions releva nt 10 the prohi -
bition of torturp. and cruel and
inhuman trea tment impl ying
therefore that Ihe gove rnmen t
was violating th ese
commitmenls.
Amnesty adopts
Indian academic
Early Ihi s yea r. Amnes ty
adoptp. d 01'. K. Balgopal , Gener-
al Secretary or the And hra
Prades h Civil Liberties Com-
mittee. as a prisoner of
conscience.
Dr. Ba lgopa l. a lecturer in
Mathema ti cs at the Kakaiya
University. Warangal . was ar-
rested on November 16, 1985.
Amnes ty expressed concern
at the possibi lit y that Dr.
Balgopal's arrest may have been
prompted by hi s civil liberti es
activities' rather than hi s in-
volvement in a conspiracy to
murder Sub Inspector Reddy
and other event s, as the poli ce
all eged.
Amnesty was especially anx-
ious that a case agains t Dr
Balgopal under the Terrorist
and Disruptive Activiti es (Pre-
ve ntion) Act 1985, had been
fil ed and that he may face tri al
under its provisions. The Act
permits one year detention
without tri al in circumstances
which make it extremely diffi-
cult to obtain baiL Additionall y
it stipulat es tri al in ca mera
without the disclosure of the
identity of witnesses and re-
stricted appea l procedures. Am-
nesty was further concerned
that if a person is convicted of
involvement in mu rder under
Sec. 3 of the Act. the imposition
of the death sentence was man-
datory. (Balgopal bas been sub-
sequentl y re leased). .
Sunday 15-30 June 1986 5
:The
_R_ev_i_eW __ S_a_n_d_R_e_fl_ec_t_io_n_s ___________ __________ __
Nihang
A
s bizarre a true story as I
have ever read. And
rarely another as beauti-
fully written. A young
Oxbridge type English girl who
is a landscape architect lusts to
see the world. All she has is in
her haversack. Apart from a
change of clothes, she has a pen
and note-book. She has very lit-
tle money. So she travels by bus
or trai n. eats whatever she can
get , sleeps wherever sleep ()ver-
takes her. In the park. a
dharmsa la or a gurdwara. She
arrives in Ca lcutta. After trudg-
ing round ba zaa rs she finds a
gurdwara in Howrah which has
a large dormitory where anyone
ca n stay for three days and
nights and gel free food from
th e langar. Here she runs i nto
Prilam Singh, an opium addic t,
a smuggler, who has been in jai l
in Pakistan. He is now a re-
formed character and works as
a sevadar (se rvitor). He has be-
come a Nihang. wears a massi ve
blue turban and carri es a three
fee t long kirpan. He ca nnot
speak a word of Engli sh. The
English girl does not know a
word of Punjabi. It is love at first
sight. Not. as you might suspect,
lust for sexual intercourse, but
a mysterious uncommuni ca ble
attachment for each other. It
sounds like the story of Tarzan.
The Ape Man was taught to
spea k by hi s whit e girl : "Me
Tarzan, yo u Jane". The long-
haired, long-bearded Nihang is
likewise taught Engli sh by the
girl : "You Jungli , I Sarah Lloyd."
Sarah tries to probe into lungli's
(the name she has given to
Pritam Singh) mind: "Whatever
did he see in me? For I had
come, fair haired, blue eyes, a
crea ture from an unknown
world, dropping like a genie
into his familiar existence. Dif-
ferent habi ts, different values,
different atti tudes." Months lat-
er when they are living toget her
in his vill age as man and wife
wi thout being married. she asks
l unjli what had drawn him to-
wards her when they had first
met. He repli ed nRi ve ly. '" saw a
girl. all alone. No mother; no fa-
ther: no relative; no fri end. She
was thousands of mi les from
her home land. Ye t she wasn ' t
afra id. She looked happy."
San-l h Ll oyd continu es: "I have
hea rd it sa id thai people
fall in love not with a person,
but with a quali ty they lack but
would li ke to possess. My ini tial
attracti on to lungli had been
precisely that: among the things
I admired about him. li ving by
instinct and supreme generos i-
ty came hi gh on the list. Though
bei ng so different in these re-
spects we gradually weakened
what we loved in the other.
lungli began to think things out,
and I absorbed his sorrow."
Jungli returns to his village
near Amritsar, Sarah Lloyd con-
tinues her travels. After a few
Mem
weeks in Bangladesh, seeks out
her Jungli in his village. It is
then that the love affair is con-
summated: "After a week of be-
ing together 24 hours a day. the
relationship did become physi-
cal. It was inevitable," writes
Sarah. "I had tried to prevent it
for. quite apart from anything
else, Jungli 's religion prohibited
sex outside marriage. ' You have
been baptised,' I re minded him
in my falt ering, ungrammatical
Punjabi. ' It won' t do.' I respect-
ed the Sikh faith and it s moral
code. Women were supposed to
be trea ted as sisters". Oh one or
two wo n' t matt er. he replied
off- !handed ly ."
Tne love-affa ir was doomed
to fai l. l ung-Ii cou ld do no bell er
than take odd-jobs as gra nthi at
different gurdwaras or try and
run a dhooba on th e Grand
Trunk Road. Sa rah goes with
him wherever he goes. Shares
hi s company. suffers be ing
beaten by him when he is
dru.nk, cooks for him. washes
hi s clothes and nurses him in
sick ness. She describes the bea t
and dus t. the squalor and
stench of ope n sewers along
which they have th eir shack,
the haza rds of defeca ti ng in the
open with snakes. scorpions
and rats crawling about. Their
int erminable quarrels betwee n
members of jungli 'sjoint fami-
ly, thei r neigh bou rs and {he stu-
pidity of people wors hipping li-
bidinous sant s who make
reli gion into a business. She
portrays her characters and the
Punjab countrys ide wit h the fi-
nesse of a portrait pai nt er and a
landscape artis t. I cannot recall
anot her travelogue on India as
well written as Sarah Lloyd's
An Indian Attachment (Futura)
Khushwant Singh
A letter to the nihang's mem
Dear Sarahji,
I have thoroughly enjoyed
reading your book "An Indian
Attachment". What was most
appealing about it was its hon-
esty and straighforwarndness.
Your choice of nick-name -
lungli for Pritam could per-
haps be misunderstood. But
then you have to be rustically
Punjabi to understand that
Jungli can sound both pejora-
tive and endearing, or rather a
teasing mixture of both. If I
were you, I would not worry too
much about likely criticism
from smug left or right wing
ideologues. who will probably
detect vestiges of a white colo-
nial mentality in your manner
of addressing your beloved
Nihang.
Jungli , I'm sure, was the right
word, for Pritam or beloved
would have been too
tious and rather difficult to fit
.the finite space of , your time-
capsuled relationship. From
your Staffordshire cottage, you
would have regretted calling
him 'beloved'. You didn' t get
the sympathy you craved for
from him and you didn' t give
him any from your side, which
is fair enough.
It is difficult for urbane Sikhs
like me to appreciate or under-
. stand what Nihangs like Jungli
are about. So it was all the more
"/ U NT AI N
The of Himalayan . Iunsle lodse- anel- wildlife camp.
TIGI:lt TOPS
MOUNTAIN TItAVI:t.
1/i Rani. Jhansi NEW DELHI. 110 055
' Phones: 771055; 731075, 777483,
. T-elex: M-6301611tEK IN
6 Sunday 15-30 Tune 1986
remarkabl e that you were able
to actuall y establish a relation-
ship with him inspite of all the
cultural differences and obsta-
des you encountered.
.. Reading a book like your 's,
the-fe is always a temptation to
paSil judgment instead of just
accepting it for what it is. But is
is difficult to resist the tempta-
tion of doing just that since you
yourself are so disarmingly self-
critical about the doubts that
might be raised about your ex-
ploitation of lungli as a way of
feeling Inqia in your bones.
Perhaps you overstate your
using him and his dependence, .
attachment and helplessness-
about you. Could it not be that
once you finally departed, it did
not take him too long ' to
economise on his emotions and
sense of hurt. If he was capable
of materialistic, even sexual
.austerity, .as you suggest hewas,
might he not have also been .ca-
pable of restraining self-pity
and a feeling of rejection?
You know him be'lter and
It:Jight also know what has be-
come of him. Could he be lan-
guishing in an Indian jail .. hav-
ing been picked up by the
security forces as a potential
errori ?!. B.M.
H
indu lege nd says that the
gods showe red fl ower
petals all over
Ullarakhand in celebration of
th e love of Savitri amI Sa tyava n
and that is how the "Nandan
Kanan ", the Vall ey of Flowers.
came int o be ing. Accord ing to
anot her legend the gods were
celebra ti ng the revival of
Laks hman. brother of Ram.
fr om wounds received in battl e.
A third version attribut es the
fl oral ri ches to the rejoicing of
the gods at a Pandava vi ctory
when the bl oody battl efield was
transformed into a carpet of
flowers.
Trekker. soldi er and schol ar
Man Mohan Sharma , author of
several books on the Himalayas,
tell s the reader all thi s and
much more in hi s book The Vo l-
ley of Flowers (Vision Books,
New Delhi 1985, 128 pages, Rs
95/ -). Sharma knows the Vall ey
and the whol e region of
Uttarakhand in the Cent ral
Himalayas through 'hi s feet
which have carri ed him on
many journeys in this magnifi-
cent mountain landscape with
its many rivers, dramatic gorges
and its wealth of wild ffowers of
every variety. Described as "A
Traveller's Guide" this is in-
deed a welcome and practical
guidebook to anyone visiting
the Valley of Flowers and the
Sikh shrine of Hemkund Sahib
hidden in the Zanskar Range.
But more than just a guidebook,
the slim volume makes inter-
esting reading for anyone inter-
ested in the myths and legends
of this region, of which there
are legion, connected as it is
with the Ramayan, the
Mahabharata and with its Own
local fol.kfore.
Although known well to the
local Tolcha Bhotias the Valley
of Flowers was ' discovered' for
others in the mid 19th century
when Major Edward Smythe,
an -Education Officer in the
army, first came on- its floral
beauty and wrote about 'it. But it
was 'his namesake' Frapk Y
Smythe, one of six British
mountaineers who ascended
Mount Kamet in 1931 and' de-.
cided to explore the
near the source ' of the
Alakananda imd Bhagarithi,
who rediscovered the valley
and -put it on the travellers'
map. To Frank Smythe it was "a
valley of peace .and perfect
beauty where the human spirit
may find repose."
The valley has attracted
many people since Smythe's
Book ' The Valley of Flowers'
was published, too many in the
recent years of popular tourism,
so that in fact the Valley was
' closed' for some time because
vandalism threatened its sur-
vival. It has now been declared
a National Park and one hopes
that thi s will not just be an
empt y nomenclature.
There are two routes to the
Va ll ey and Hemkund, one via
Garhwal, the other through
Kumaon, bot h converging at
Kama Pra yag, the conflu ence of
the Alakananda and the Pindari
rivers. Sharma describes both ,
givi ng a littl e background abou t
the places enro ut e. inserti ng
,snippets of his torical informa-
ti on. describing the birds. the
trees and the kind of scenery to
expect. and adding the appro-
pri ate folklore whi ch he has ob-
VioDutudied.
ne WIshes that the au-
thor had included
more maps. There are
just two. one a very sketchy af-
fa ir giving the rout e from
Rishi: es h 10 Hemkund, anot her
with the trekking routes aro und
the Va ll ey of Flowers. But as he
describes the journey the read-
er would like to follow him on a
map. whi ch is impossible. On
both rou tes there are places re-
nowned for their beau ty or thei r
reli gious connections. The
Ga rh wal rou te goes through
Dehra Dun, Haridwar and
Ri shikes h, the Kumaon one
from the charming hi ll station
of Ranikhet to Ka usani with its
unsurpassed view of the vast
Himalayan range from
Kedarnath to Api , and to
Bhages hwar.
All along the rest of the jour-
ney from Kama Prayag to
Gobindghat, from where the
real trekking starts, the author
entertains the reader-traveller
with a variety of legends, but
one would like to see a little
more description of the scenery
which is amongst the most
beautiful in the country. But
from Gobindghat onwards there
are no complaints. Sharma de-
scribes the flowers , the vegeta-
tion, the details of the rout e,
along with some of the festivals
which take place in the villages.
Songs and stories are also in-
cluded in the text and the au-
thor gives the reader a glimpse
of the li fe of the villagers which
the traveller passing through
would never see.
. Hemkuno Sahib, Lokpal
Lake as it was known through
the Ramayan tradition-the an-
cient Lakshman Temple stands
near the Gurudwara-has a
chapter devoted to its history.
Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth
Guru of the Sikhs, described the
lake in his Vochitro Notok as a
place where he had meditated
in a previous reincarnation and
Sharma describes how devotee
Bhai Soh.an Singh trekked
' through this difficult terrain
until he came on the clear blue
waters of this glacial lake on the
shores of which stands the
Continued on page 7
:The

" .
.
The Art of
Healing
Pictu res by San iay Mit ra
Historical events; pleasant , ugly or traumatic -
they leave their own peculiar impressions on the
minds of children.
They get embedded in layers of conscious-
ness, finding expression in multitudinous ways in
the course of a life time.
The events of 1984 were no exception, neither
were the part-orphaned children of the carnage.
Many of these children now live in Delhi's
Tilak Vihar with their widowed mothers and other
relations.
Life for these children has been a collage of
fires, crowds, clubbings, death, survival , HOPE
and COURAGE.
Lovleen Choudhry, an artist from Poona and
the Nishkaam Sikh Welfare Council have been
working with the children in a humble attempt at
the art of healing.
III usions tha t are Eyelids
THE VALLEY
OF FLOWERS
Confinued from page 6
H
uman relations are frag-
ile. They do not stand
much scru tiny. They
have to be taken on faith . Re-
straint and self-deception are
basic al loys that make our rela-
tions work. Illusions th a t sup-
port our se lf- estima tion are so
necessary in life. These are th e
eyelids without which ihe li ght
of truth is so unbearable. True.
life is a lillie less honest t hus,
but it is far more endurab le. We
have to give ourse lves a sense of
purpose, and nothing must be
done to dist urb our faith in that
pu rpose. This gi ves a sense of
worthiness in one's being. Oth-
er. musl s upport us or else we
lose our sense of belonging. and
life then is shorn of all value.
This is the psychological co re of
'Muhaz BaLa Muhaz'.
A simple s tory of a n army
captain' s dea th: its news reach-
ing his family, fo llowed by the
dead bod V ""'hich is remated
with mili-tarv honours. is the
framework thi s novellete.
The ac1ion takes place in about
seven davs of actual time. The
significance of the slory, how-
eve r. covers hopes, fears and
va lu es cu ltivated over genera-
tions. The simple friendships,
ri valries, tri u mphs. egos of peo-
ple living and working in the
Punjab countryside are all
evoked in thi s story.
Provocation indeed is the
central prlnCipte of Deep's nar-
rative mode. He conjures up a
variet v of characters , si tua tions.
tensio-ns. There is
restraint in expression. The de-
tail s are apt. meaningful. Noth-
ing is redundant or extraneous.
The story moves at various
levels-temporal. spatial and
psychological. Short poi'nted
use of flashbacks weave a com-
plex textu re which reveals the
complexity of human behav-
iour. othing is taken for glant-
ed. The eldest son. jarnail. has a
life of his own and ye,t respects
th e as pirations of his father.
The two 'younger sons open ly
declare their ohoices. The Wife
is no more wil ling to be bullied,
her sons have grown up.
The' fundamental desire
among all the characters is to
live their 'lives to the full , even
when aware of many obs.tacles
that lie on the way. They will
assert themselves given even an
outside chance. Such is the
basi c trait df Punjabi
character.
What as tonishes one in
'Mu haz Bata Muhaz' is that de-
spite it s brevity, it encompasses
li fe in its vast breat h and varied
dj,mensions. The story deve lops
' at a pace whi ch is k and
gradual ly accelerat es to a cres-
cendo. Th.e no,vell ete is built. in
,th e manner of a typica l musi cal
composition in which each
stroke is ca refu ll y assimilated
in the total design. Deep's finest
achievement in this novel is the
cri:iation of a physical and men-
tal atmosphere with sensi tive
use of local isms without in any-
way imped ing th e ' narrative
flow.
Death is the pivot of life
among Punjabis. The death-
awareness and . the event of
death start a whole chain of life-
processes even while conclud-
ing some of them. This work of
,fiction is yet another instance of
1he pervasive Punjabi cultural
ethos.
Pointed. poignant and rich in
its human and e motional con-
tent. 'Muhaz Bata Muhaz' by
Iq ba I. Deep, with its small ca n-
vas GUt. wide range and reach. is
an important event in Punjabi
fi ction.
B S Rattan
MU.haz Bata Muhaz , a
novellete in Punjabi by Iqbal
Deep; Nanak Singh
Pustakmala: Amritsar Pages: 94
Price: Rs. 20/-.
newly constructed gurudwara. mon birds to watch for , a glossa-
The four months the sh rine is ry is an additional advantage
open du ring the year sees thou- and a select bibliography pro-
sands of men, women and chil - vi des follow-up for those who
Qren payi_ng their r'espects "and succumb to the Uttarakhand
bathing th e icy waters aIter enchantment.
th e tough climb of eight kilome- Unfortuna telY' for a guide-
tres ovel'..a.gradi-ent'Of 5000 feer-- book on an area like thi s good
from Caggaria. Babes in arms photographs are essential. Not
and grey- haired ancients are ,on ly has Sha rma given us too.
,amongst the fa it hful. few but the reproduction of
I photographs in th e book is ex-
The last part of th e book is tremely disappointing. The best
devoted to practical details. photograph is the outside jacket
Travel information is given with ' its profusion of flowers
about how to get there. where to found in the Valley. If the au-
.stay,There is information about thor could have included a few
cloth es and equipment, about colour photographs ofindividu-
food to take. health precautions, al flowers and had drawings of
permits etc. The vocab ulary of th e res t it would have added to
' useful Garhwali words and the charm of the book. Perhaps
phrases" is a thoughtful addi- ' this co uld all be rectified in the
tion for the foreign traveller, .next edition, for a practica l
perhaps even for indigenous guidebook like this to this beau-
ones! A special section of infor- liful and fascinating part of the
mation for trekkers gives even country is certainly an impor- ,
more details, including the dif- tant contribution: And p'erhaps
ferent tracks. Finally the ama- a soft-cover edition would be
teur botanist has a list of some
easier on the pursestrings of en-
flowers found in the Valley, th_e thusiastictrekkers for whom Rs
birawalcher the names of com-
95/ - is a rather steep price.

The Spirif of
Excellence
:the
FOrum
GazetlC
Persecution Fear and Migration
There are many kinds of migration.
Migration from drought, hunger and
war; or migration in search of employ-
ment, adventure. a new life in a new
world.
The migration now occuring before
our eyes of Hindus leavi ng Punjab and
Sikhs heading for the "Land of Five Riv-
ers" is another kind of migration. Thi s
migra tion is necessita ted by social and
politi cal oppression. This is migration
ca used by a sense of persecution and
fear.
There can be, and indeed there are,
individuals and communities who sur-
vive on strong persecution complexes,
caused by real or imaginary fears. In the
current phenomenon of Hindu-Sikh mi -
gration, the fears are real. Both commu-
nities share the e_xperience of being
terrorised and held' up for ransom. In
both cases the State, at the central or re-
gionallevel , has been left standing, una-
ble to fulfil its responsibility to protect
its citizens. It has been noticed that ele-
ments in the political and administra-
tive hierarchy are actually unwilling to
intervene on behalf of innocent, law-
abiding citizens.
However, unlike the centre's cul-
pability in arousing a general anti-Sikh
hysteria and thus accentuating the com-
munity's fears and alienation, the
Barnala Government has npt encour-
aged a hate campaign against the minor-
ity community. In fact , it has made a
positive effort to persuade the Hindus to
return to their homes. Yet, the recent
experience of both communities has led
them to mis-trust the State and its agen-
cies, or at least elements within them.
Hindus in Punjab have adequate
reason to doubt the ability, if not the in-
tention of the state government to pro-
tect their life, property, civil liberties
and democratic rights. Not only Hindus,
but as the tragedy of Jandiala shows (see
lead story page 1), even Mazbi and non-
keshdhari Sikhs find it difficult to have
faith in the government's capability to
protect them. And yet the Akalis under
Barnala were returned to power with an
unprecedented majority because of the
support of Hindus and "scheduled caste
Sikhs".
The role of the Badal-Amarinder
led dissidents in weakening the Akali
Dal Government has also impeded its ef-
forts to- tackle the terrorist threat more
effectively. The dissident legislators
from the violence-prone areas have not
thought it fit to visit their constituencies
to restore confidence in the minority
sections of their electorate. They simply
pass the buck on with the simple
proposition-"This is the government 's
responsibility, not ours". And they go on
to add, "We are irrelevant". They may be
right ; for their reservations about their
own relevance could soon turn into a
self-fulfilling prophecy.
8 Sunday 15-30 June 1986
Hindu fears in Punjab are echoe d by
Sikh insecurity in Haryana, Delhi and
other states comprising the northern
Hindi "heartland" of the country. The
carnage of November 1984 has not been
forgotten. Neither has it been forgotten
that those guilty of the ca rnage ha ve not
been 'brought into the net of the appara-
tus of law and order. The lesson has
been learnt that sometimes th e State has
its own reasons for appearing to condone
killing and a breakdown of law and
order. Many Sikhs believe that there can
be a repeat of November 1984. The irony
is that many who died in that carnage
were supporters of the same Congress-I
whose cadres massacred them.
It would be naive to believe that in-
tolerance. fundamentalism and terror-
ism can be countered by a State which is
seen in the public eye as being increas-
ingly subject to the same tendencies.
Dissidence from stated policies and ob-
jectives. whether in Chandigarh or
Delhi , within Akali or Congress-l ranks,
cannot but play into the hands of forces
inimical to a democrati c India, which
thrives on its "unity in diversity". It is
amply clear that dissidence against the
spirit of the Accord is a disadvantage
sharedlby certain factions both within
the Akali fold and the ruling party in
New Delhi.
Punjab today and Delhi 1984 are
grim reminders that those elements
which militate against a democratic and
humane social and political ethos are
not a monopoly of anyone region or po-
litical party in the country. Unless the
political parties and citizens'
organisations at various levels can live
up to their democratic and nationalist
credentials, the struggle against funda-
mentalism and terrorism, religion or
state-inspired as the case may be, could
turn out to be a losing one.
Punjab Group Initiative
Given the stakes in Punjab, there is
an all-round need to rally the forces of
sanity and unity across party and com-
munal lines. It would be fatal to lose
hope. It is in pursuit of its belief that it is
'never too late' that the Punjab group in
Delhi held an informal all-party consul-
tation recently to find a way through the
impasse. The meeting was attended by
representatives of the Congress-I,
Janata, BJP, CPI, CPI-M, the Lok Dal and
the Akali Party. It was agreed that an all-
party public meeting would be
organised in Delhi soon, followed by a
common programme to boost the confi-
dence and morale of the two
communities.
Unless the narrow exigencies of
party poliilics can be set aside and united
action is taken to restore faith in the po-
litical and administrative system, time
could indeed be running out for a demo-
cratic solution in Punjab.
Viewpoint
We the People
of a Federal
India
Inder Mohan
A
federal system of Gov-
ernment is one in
whi ch seve ral Sta tes
unit e under a cen tra l authori ty
and still remain independent in
int ernal affairs. [n other words.
federa l units are supposed to be
an association of units th at are
largely independent.
But federalism in the Indian
system has been deliberately
compli cated. distorted even
vulgarised. [t is so. because of
th e compulsive double sta n-
dards practised on the part of
powers th at be. particularly
within the Centre.
In theory we are supposed to
be a federal republi c sustained
by the five pillars of secu lari sm.
socialism, democracy. an inde-
pendent judiciary and an elect-
ed parliament.
[n practice we are being gov-
erned by a hi ghl y centrali sed
governmen t whose tot al au-
thorit y remains vested in the
hands of one indi vidual and ex-
ecuted by a coteri e of loyal and
obedient servant s.
As regards th e strong pill ars
mentioned above. th e less said
the beller. Religious fanaticism.
obscurantism and fundamen-
talism are being encouraged by
th e Stat e. If thi s leads to a com-
muna[ divide and ri oting. but
serves narrow electora l inter-
es ts of the party in power. or of
certain opposition parties at a
given time , the pretenders of
"seculari sm" could not care
less.
Corrosion of
Democracy
Democracy is being corroded
by a pre-planned poli cy of
centralisation resulting in a
unitary form of Government.
Elections are fought with black
money supported by muscle
power with no holds barred. ex-
ploiting every caste and com-
munal factor. All this reduces
the concept of free and fair elec-
tions to a farce. Socialism has
been made a hoax by ever grow-
ing poverty, unemployment
and by increasing glaring social
and economic di sparities be-
tween a few haves and the mul-
titudes of have-nots . Judiciary
and parliamentary institutions
are being eroded by conferring
wide powers to the executive,
by appointing pliable members
of th e judiciary, by manipu[at-
ing elections and above all by
imposing presidenti al ordi-
nances at frequent intervals to
serve the vested interests of th e
State under the ga rb of "public
interest". The latest example is
'the ordinance amending sec-
tion 3 of Commission of En-
qujry Act of 1952 in order not to
share the results of various en-
quiries with Parliament and the
people.
Had our rulers been honest
regarding the es tabl ishment of a
federal Indian Republic, quite a
m
number of our present day
problems would either have not
arisen at all or would have been
resol ved long ago.
Article 370
F
or ins tance ever since ap-
plication of article 370 was
agreed upon in the case of
Jammu and Kashmir State, it
should have been logi ca ll y fo l-
lowed by giving minimum fea-
sible regional autonomy to th e
State. That would have resulted
in internal autonomy for th e
people of Jammu and Ladakh.
the two principal sub-regions of'
th e State. But inst ead the Cen-
tre has usually preferred in-
tri gues to impose a government
whi ch would be ll)anipula ted
and have made s ubservient to
it. Similarly, there have been s i-
multaneoLl s covert attempts to
change the character of the pop-
ulation, particularly in th e va l-
ley. by converting the natural
majorit y into an artificia l mi-
nority. In thi s respect the BJP.
RSS and all communal e le-
ments within th e ruling party
have bee n colluding with each
other. All such intrigues have
been successfull y resisted so far
by the politically conscious
peopl e of I&K and in other parts
of the country. Nevertheless
such nefarious attempts to re-
d uce the efficacy of articl e 370
have created avoidable
hostility.
Distorted Campaign
[n the context of Punjab a
person no less than th e Prime
Minister of Inc1ia put across a to-
tall y distorted version of the
Anandpur Sahib resolution
throughout th e lengt h and
breadth of the country during
hi s election campaign in 1984.
had there .been a rational ap-
proach towards the Anandpur
Sahib resolution keeping in
view all its positive features ,
particularly its economic and
socia l contents. in the context of
a Federal Republic of India .
there would have bee n peace
and amity among the Hindus
and Sikhs of Panjab. Terrorism
and extremism would not have
found a breeding ground. This
experiment is still worth
pursuing.
Continued on page 10
_____________________ ____________________________ ___
he Punjab situa ti on is be-
T
coming increasingly
alarming as the communa l
divide between the Hin-
du and Sikhs widens and com-
munal alienation is converted
into communal tension in sev-
era l place. The All India Sikh_
Students' federa ti on (the
AlSSF). Damdami Taksal and
Sikh terrorist organisations
whi ch re present the organ ised
for ces of Sikh communali sm,
and th e Hindu Shiv Sena.
Hindu Su raksha Samit i and
Punjab Rashtriya Hindu
Sangathao. their Hindu equiva-
lents. have gained noticeable
cred ibilit y among both commu-
niti es parti c ularl y in urban are-
as. At Gurdaspur, Batala,
Hoshi arpu r. Jalandhar.
akodar, Patiala . Muktsar.
there has been open
confrontation.
At th e political leve l Sikh
communalism is supported by
th e Uni ted Akali Dal, some sec-
tions of Akali Dal (Longowal)
and sections of Congress (I).
Hindu communa l bodies' ha ve
th e support of Congress(l ) and at
some places of BJP cad res. The
social fabri c of t he Punjab is
threat e ned. wit h communal
ha rmon y th e first casualty.
Killings of innoce nt persons,
mostl y Hindus, but sometimes
Sikhs, have increased.
Un targelled killings. owned to
by Sik h terrorist organisations.
are meant to create te rror.
spread communalism and
strength en the secessionist
ALL IS NOT LOST
Sucha Singh Gill
fo rces. Most victi ms belong to
lowe r middl e and working
classes. Targelled killings aim
at politi cal oppone nts of seces-
sion a nd communalism. Jour-
nalists a nd wri ters a re under
threa t and many are afraid to
write against s uch for ces. The
recen t declaration of Khali stan
and th e subsequent develop-
ments have s trengthened such
trends. The restri cti ve provi-
sions of the law - Section 144.
restrictions on two wheelers,
curfews and ex te nsive powers
to police and paramilitary for c-
es have fai led to con trol th e s it -
uation and have resulted in
state te rrorism. Not on ly has
thi s added to the problems of
th e common man but it has con-
tribut ed to the paralysis of dem-
ocratic movements. In addition
the disease of communali sm
has afflicted the Sta te adminis-
trative machine ry, which dis-
plays a clear cu't bias for com-
munal forces .
Forces outside the Punjab,
parti cularly the delibe rate poli-
cy of th e Congress(l) a t the Cen-
tre and in Haryana have further
compli ca ted th e deteriorating
s ituation. The non-
implement a ti on of the Punjab
Accord, census operations in
th e Fazikka-Abhor area and th e
ea rli er holocaust in Delhi and
ot her towns in Congress( l) ruled
states have signifi cant ly accel-
era ted the process. A party
whi c h talks loudl y about na-
tional unity and integrity has
contributed fully to th e for ces
of secession and disintegration .
Cri sis crea tors and cri sis man-
agers have played a decisive
role in the growing Punjab

The bui lding up of th e c risis
has three aspects. First,
Punjab's two equally strong tra-
di tions. of democratic move-
ments on th e one hand, and on
th e other traditions of commu-
nalism and co mmunal aliena-
tion, a te nde ncy furth e r
stre ngth ened by the State's po-
liti cal processes. While Con-
gress has fo ll owed th e poli cy of
balanced communalism, ra ther
than secu larism. the Akali Dal.
in order to consolidat e its politi-
ca l base. has increasingl y reli ed
on a sectarian Sikh approach
and so strength ened Sikh com-
munali sm. The role of both po-
liti ca l parties in equall y
heinous.
Development
di vides people
The second aspect of the cri -
sis is the country's capitali st
mode of deve lopmen t wh ich
generates its own con tradi c-
tions. Ha vi ng e xperienced the
highes t level of capitalist deve l-
opment. par ti cul arly in agricul-
ture, the Punjab has manifested
these contradictions in a more
ar ti cul a te manner. But such'
contradi ctions are bound to
arise elsewhere as is already
happening in Haryana. A class
of capitalist farmers hs been
created, with surpluses at its
. command , and a rising level of
expectation. This de-
mands a grea ter s hare in polit L-
ca l power to promote its socio-
economi c aspira ti ons, a
dema nd denied by the ruling
class and party in power at the
Centre. On the other ha: nd a
mass of poor peasantry also has
a ri sing level of ex pecra{ions
bu t coupl ed wit h an e roding ec-
onomic base. It s large f6rc.e 01
ed uca ted. unemployed' you th,
not ready towork on farms , ca n-
not find s uit able employment to
improve family conditions. Em-
ployment possibiliti es abroad
a re virtuall y sea led off. It is this
ma npowe r under the leader-
ship of rich peasa ntry wh ich is
crea ting the crisis in the Sta te.
The third aspect is the re-
sponse to th e socio-economi c
cont rad ictions. -One response is
the Aka li Dal Morcha closely
fo ll owed by the Bhara ti ya Kisan
Union (I3KU) agita ti on. The
Akali Dal articulated the peas-
ants' demands mixing th em up
with religious demands of th e
Sikh communit y. The
Congress(I) Sta te government
and the Centre responded with '
appeasement of the religious
demands. but non-
accommodation of the econom-
ic and politi ca l demands. This
non-accommodation was sup-
ported by repressi ve measu res
and engineering of communa l
alienation . The policy encour-
aged ex tre mi st Sikh
organisations and instigated
communa l Hindu organisations
to openly oppose the Akali
Morcha. In order to deteat the
Centre the Akalis compromised
with Sikh extremists using
'them as a weapon. This political
response to socio-economic
cont radictions has considerably
weakened the democratic
movement in the State and te m-
porarily pushed central issues
in to the background. The
Pu njab Accord the rfore does
not touch these issues and can-
not provide a lasting solution to
th e Punjab probl e m. The ruling
elit e wants to keep the Punjab
pot hot. to boil over whenever
th e need arises. a dange rous
game which both the
Congress(l) and th e Akalis a re
playing in th e Sta te.
Positive forces still
eXIst
In con trast to growing com-
munal tension in urban areas. a
vast mass of peasantry land less,
agricultural workers and others
in rura l areas a re not yet
communalised eventhough
peasantry provides most of the
manpowe r to mi litan t Sikh
bod ies.
At vi ll age level Sikh peasa nt-
ry have effective ly protected
Hindu neighbours in numerous
instances. But while a few fami-
li es leaving villages in Amritsar
dis trict fo ll owi ng terrori st
threa ts, provoke headlines a.nd
editorials in national newspa-
pers. when a villge communit y
3ffectively pesuades Hindus to
rema in and live without fear . it
is not considered "bi3" news.
Similarl y workers and a vast
section of employees in urban
ce ntres remai n opposed to
co mmunalism.
These are forces which ca n
be mobilized to decommunalise
th e sitution. A vast majority of
th e popul a tion is fr ee of com-
munalism. has acted responsi-
bly nd not permitt ed communal
clas hes even under extreme
provocation both before and 'af-
ter Opera ti on Bluestar and th e
November holocaust. People
have faced terrori st a tt acks
boldly even when they are un-
a rmed. They ca ught and hand-
ed over to poi ice, terrorists in
Ranike and Bahamanian vill ag-
es and nea r Barnala town in
Sangrur. at Hoshiarpur, Tarn
Taran and l3akhatpur vi ll ages in
Gurdaspur. Where communa l
Hind u organisations could nei-
the r face terrori sts nor ca tch
th e m. th e common peopl e did.
Another importa nt indi ca-
tion of th e people's positi ve alli-
tude. parti cu larl y in the case of
rural people. was seen around
Nakodar a nd Muktsa r where
communal Sikh orga nisations
tri ed to fo rce a peopl e's block-
ade on the Ba tala pattern. The
strat egy failed because ofpopu-
lar opposition. In th ese sit ua-
tions the' lead was taken by th e
common people influenced by
Continued on page 13
Join the
Sikh Forum
3 l,,( as jid Roa d . [lilogai
New Delhi110()\4
Phone: (; <14 75(;
Sunday 15-30 June 1966 9_.
__ ____ ------______ __________________________ __
Oddities and
eccen trici ties of
the Kinnock tour
Nei l and Glenys Kinnock
were in India in May on a two-
wee k visit. He is th e leader of
the opposition in Bril a in and
heads th eLabour parl y; s he is a
member of th e samp. par ly a nd a
school leachp. r in lh p. London
s uburb of Brent. The r:o uple's
host in Indi a was Arjun Singh.
For hi slori r.a l reasons th e Bril -
is h Labour Part y has fra le rna l
rt'l la li ons wilh lhe Indian Na-
ti ona l Congress. e ven though
tha i party hCls now been
rer. hrisl p. ned lho
Congress-I nd i rn.
Thp. fr a le rn a l relntions hip
be tween Ihe two parli es is
based on a widespreCl d be li e f ill
India as we ll as Brilain th a t In-
diCln was ill gren t
c1 e liven'ld by labour's
generos it y. e ve n th ough it
mi ght not have been res ponsi-
ble for conce iving Ih p. ne w
na tion.
There a re s uppoiied to be
othe r reasons for kins hip re la-
tions be twee n th e two parties.
Both. it is sa id . s hare a commit-
men t to socia li sm, a clai m th nt
would not go uncha ll e nged
wi th in both pa rti es. Whi le La-
bour' s record of compromise
with the rea lities of big busi-
n ess mi ght possibl y be less ob-
vious, it would requin'! a
fe rtil e imagination to asc ribe a
socia li s t or scientifi c tempel- to
Ra ji v Gand hi 's Co ngress-I. A
more natural a ll y of In di a's rul-
ing party would seem to be
Reaga n's cowbuy dispensa tion
"\l ith its fizzv film-s tar r. ulturp.
a nd gunboa; dipl oma cy. Ne il
a nd Cle nys hinlr.d a t th e
dissona nce in th e Labour-
Congress rela ti ons hip by not
sparing th a t ' Mad Man Reaga n'
in t he i r gene rous cri I icism of
th e American preside nt.
In Np. w Delhi' s COllgrp.ss-1
circles th e re is ano ther se nti -
mp.llta l reason for keeping th e
C:o ngress- Labour li ason a li ve: It
has no t bee n forgo t ten th a t old-
wor ld socia li s ts li ke Mi chae l
1' 001. Kinnock' s predecessor.
were a rd en t s upport e rs of th p.
Emerge ncy be t wee n 1975- 77.
Tory or Labour, when th e c hips
are down, the idea of pol iti cal
fr eedom in the deve lopi-ng
world turns in to a luxury the
Wes t can not a fford :
There were ot her odditi es'
abou t the Kinnock visit. A part y
to party affa ir. it wa ne verth p. -
less the protocol di vision of th e
Fore ign Officp.. whi ch per-
A 'FRATERNAL' VISIT AT
ST A TE EXPENSE
Neil and Gtenys Kinnock in pre-British Mughal Dethi Courtesy Statesman
formp.d all th e duties of major-
domo inst ead oflhe part y offi r.e.
Eve n the Prp.s ide nt 's Est a le
thre w in it s rp. sourr.es to make
tl1P. Kinnocks fep. 1 ' a t home ' by
providing th e m an Ashoka-lion
e nsigned English limousin p. to
dri ve th em around in th e ca pi-
ta l. A sen ior me mbe r of th e
Hi gh Commi ss ion s ta ff ex-
plainp.d polit e ly th a t s uch s ta te
hospit a lit y wou ld not havp.
provided on a reci proca I
basis to th e lea de r of th e opposi-
ti on from Indi a on a visi t to Bril -
ain - not even to frat e rna l so-
cia li s ts! And no doubl
Buck ingham Palace would not
have re laxed it s s tiff uppe r-lip, '
at least not in public.
The Co ngress- I and Covern-
ment of India's a tt e mpt to wou
th e Briti s h labour lead er. ap-
pea red to have made an impact.
l ust as M.i chael Foot gave. Mrs
Ga ndhi a good chit foil' the e mer-
gency. Neil Kinnock also found
himse lf , making s ta tements
whi ch hi s hos ts wou ld have
liked to hear fro m hi m. Afte r a
toast to the coup le at a dinne r
par ty in the Hi gh Commission-
er's .res idence. th e leade r of the
British opposition salli ed forth
Int o a li ght -hea rt ed description
of th e Indo-Briti s h re la ti onship.
He a slory about non-
communi ca ti on be tween two
drinking companions. a s tory
about two Welshmen in a pub
who had been bending e lbows
togeth p. r for yea rs.
Every p.venin g tn e two
We lshmen ta lked about every-
thing und p.f th e s un. Like th e
wea th e r, rugby. cri c ke t erc, e tc.
Aflp. r twe nt y yea rs or so of th eir
re lationship, one asked th e nth-
e r. "Joe yo u know, a il th ese
yea rs of mee ting, drinking, talk-
ing: not once have yo u asked me
how my wife is",
Ra the r sha ken, the othe r
said. "You know you are a bso-
lut e ly r ight. Te llme how isyour
wife?"
At thi s th p. firs t one a lmos t
s hout ed back: "No, no. don ' t
men ti on he r!".
Ne i.l Kinnock too followed
up' hi s s tory with no ment ion of
any aspec t of Indo-Brit ish r ela-
tiDns except te rrori s ts, thp. cur-
Hindustan. Refrigeration Stores
, rent 'r ugby and cricket brand ot
a nt agoni sm' in re la ti ons be-
twee n the two countries. There
was no mention of sa les of mi li-
tary hardware, Wes tl and heli
copte rs, fert.i li sers and pesti-
cides, mining eqUipment " 01'
eve n th e fl1ture of the Gngli s h
language in this count ry. It was
an angle gestu re on the part of
the Brit isb Labour Party to say
"t hank you for loo king after us
so we ll " . .
Jor
Kirloskar. Her-metic CGrnpressors
D'anfoss Controls etc,
284 Netaj i Subhash Marg
Dar ya Canj . New Del hi -11 0002
Atl east a co upl e of us a t th e
d in ner who represented the
turbaned - bearded species of
India, did we ll to keep stra ight
faces and a camoufl aged .upper
liP.
8M,
We the People of a Federal India
Con tinued fr om page 8
How is it that in spite of the
myth having been float ed re-
gard.ing prosperity in Panjab
and Haryana that there is
growi ng une mployment, along
with a s teady increase in th e
numbers of landless labourers
s tri cken with abject poverty.
Not only that , these so called
prosperous States ha ve been in-
fested with bonded labourers
s ubj ected to inhuman exploit a-
tion. This harsh realit y exists
because there has always bee n
a shrill cry for a strong Centre
and concentra tion of politi ca l
and economi c powers in the
hands of a chosen fe w.
Sharing Eco and
Political Power
Had th e Cen tre s hared eco-
nomi c and politi ca l power with
th e people of Pan jab and
Harya na on th e basi s of mini- .
mum regional autonomy, t!:J ere
would have bee n vol unt a ry
coo rdina ti on and willing
cooperation be twee n a ll the
Ihree.
India is one of th e ri ches t
countri es in the world in te rms
of natura l resources . Ironi ca ll y,
it s vas t millions remain one of
th e poorest in th e world. This is
beca use of mi s management of
resou rces a nd lop-sided plan-
ning de nying the peopl e th e ir
due. The Sta tes a re brought int o
the pi cture only whe n the Cen-
tre needs Lo pass on th e buck to
th em a t inconve ni ent or embar-
rass ing mome nts. Thi s bappens
when bru ta I repress ion is let
loose on cons tantl y oppressed
people whe ne ver th ey ri SE
aga inst social and economic in-
justice. Then th ese ma ll ers be-
r:ome State subjects.
Identical Problems
sources through ' developmen
tal ' projects, which a re invaria-
bly mos t harmful to ecology and
human beings particularl y th e
tribals. The proj ects are a lso
kept under s trict ce ntra l con-
trol. Such a n approach has con-
sistently resulted in mass di s-
content, upsurge a nd at limes
militant actions on the part of
the peopl e. Inst ead of taking a
human approach , the govern-
me nts at the Centre and in th e
States resort to ruthl ess brutal
repression agains t the peop.le
who organ ise th e msel ves to de-
mand social a nd economi c jus-
tice, In thi s respect all int e rven-
tio ns by the a rmed forces ,
para-military troops and vari-
ous pol ice actions have fai ler! to
co ntrol the situation.
The pi cture would have
been differe nt if long over-due
a utonomy had been gra nt ed to
th e Stat es on their regional ba-
sis. Not onl y tha t. the Centre
has been playing ano th er tri ck
aga ins t th e peopl e all through.
Their gen uin e regiona l aspira-
tions for social jus ti ce have
bee n misint e rpreted, mi s repre-
sent ed and sought to be
wrongfull y mi xed upwith paro-
chi ali sm atld commu na li s m.
Had th e Sta tes been left fr ee
to make equit able dis tributi on
of th eir natu ral wealt h among
th e ir own people, their e mo-
li ona l and political int egrat ion
with the co untry as a whole
would have take n pl ace with
less s tress and te nsion. In s uch
circumstances the red unda nt
foru m of the Na ti ona l Int egra-
ti on Council being used or mis-
used as a show piece would not
have been needed.
A
tthe same time, le t us
be cl ear, that to have
a fede ra l sys tflm of
The probl ems are Ide nti cal govern ment alone will not be
in States like Bihar. Orissa, e nough. The re has to be
Madhya Pradesh, th e e ntire decen tra li sa tion of power from
North Eas tern be lt. eas tern UP . th e Ce n'tre Lo Sta tes, from Sta tes
and in fact all ove r the country. to distri cts and from distr icts to
Pove rty a nd abundance of na tu - vill ages. Onl y then, ca n th e peo-
ra l resources pre vail side by pi e be ex pected to pe rform the ir
side. Mass savage duti es towa rds th e co untry
e xploitation of child labour , un- properl y and thus jus tify their
empl oyment , la rge numbe rs of socia l a nd economi c right s.
landl ess labo urers, regu la r sal e Fina ll y, in order to govern a
of girls and wOm'en irf opeilmar- federal sys tem s uccp.ssfull. y.
ke ls a re th e order of the da y. elecloral re forms. are equa ll y
The loca l people have 110 say in important. Tot a l e limina ti on of
formul a ting pl ans and sc hemes bl ack money power. musc le
s upposed to be for the ir we lfare, power and communa l propa-
what to say of their proper im- ganda are a must. Albng wi th
pl e me nt a ti on, whi ch thi s, the e lectora l system wi ll
evades the m. The central gov- a lso have to be cha nged. Elec-
ern ment obsessed by it s desin, lions based on proport iona l rep-
to have a s trong Centre seeks to resentation co uld prove to be
put up yesmena t the helm of af- most effecLi ve in this respect.
fairs in s tat es a ft e r s tale. Wher Needless to say that no
ever it finds . an inconveni e nt 'sLrong Cen tre' ca n su rvive
self respect i ng, asse rtive and in- wi t hout s trong Sta tes. UI timate-
'depende nt Chi ef Ministerl hi s Iy a s trong Cent re and s trong
governme nt is dismiss_ea und er States can both survive on ly
one false pretex t or the ot h er. So when genuine regional. eco-'
fat the Cen tre and its hench- nomk and social aspirations of
men in th e stat.es h ave been the people have been adequate-
us,ll:rpingall the natural re- ' Iy a nd jus tifiabl y mel .
SHOP AT
9
fLe 51.0
1
10 RegafBuilding, New Delhi -ll0001 , INDIA

_________________________________ __________________ --__________ ___
T
here is a colourful, excit-
ing and eventful backdrop
-to the story of the
Komagata Maru: why and
how its passengers left their na-
tive Punjab: their attempt to
enter Canada in vain: the voy-
age back and the police action
that ki lI ed passengers when
they arrived in Calcutta. A story
cast in the mould of adventure,
revolution, assass ination.
counter-intel li gence, human
suffering and tragi c romance.
The story begins in Punjab,
the home of a people known for
their hflrdy fronti er spi rit , their
soldiering and farming skil ls.
Pioneers wi lli ng to have a go a t
anyt hing. rt is [rom Punjab tha t
India's minority communit y of
turbaned and bearded Sikhs
comes from. It is from here that
these people spread across the
world. Eas twards across the Bay
of Bengal and the Paci fi c to
Vancou ver and Cal ifornia.
Westwards across the Khyber
Pass and Arabi an Sea to Africa,
wes t As ia and Britain. All along,
thei r spiritual cen tre con tinued
to be the Golden Temple in
Amrit sar. but their home be-
came the whole world.
Punjab in turmoil
At the turn of the presen t
cent ury. Punjab was in turmoil.
Famines and plague had taken
four millions lives: land taxes
were high and indebtedness
rampant amongs t small farm-
holders. Murders over land dis-
putes were common and there
was much addi ction to opium
and alcohol.
The Sikhs were in a rough,
belligeren t and aggressi ve
mood. They were angry with
the British administration and
ready to respond to the politics
of terrorism, assassination and
revolution.
Glory of the Raj
It was also a time when the
Raj was at the pinnacle of its
glory. The Briti sh had trans-
ferred their seat of power from
Calcutta to Delhi , and, in the
tradition of their predecessors
the Mughals, announced the
building of a new capital. A few
years earlier the most imperial
of viceroys, Lord Curzon, had
presided over a realm that the
British seemed determined and
indeed capable of ruling for
. ever.
In 1911 , their imperial Maj-
esti es George V and Queen
Mary visited India and indulged
in the extravagance and splen-
dour of the historic - Delhi
Durbar. But behind the pomp,
pageantry and show of power,
there was a deceptive calm, an
uncanny feeling of revenge and
Iebellion. The British called it
sedition.
The cult of the bomb. accom-
panied by an emerging revolu-
tionary, consciousness, spread
rapidly to other parts of India
The Voyage of the
Komagata Maru
A glorious chapter of the freedom movement
from Bengal. The power and'
glory of the Raj came under at-
tack from a growing wave of vi-
olent upheavals. In 1910. Lord
Hardinge, the Viceroy, was sin-
gled out for assassination.
The Guru Nanak
Jahaz
So this is the story of the voy-
age of the Komagata Maru, a
Japanese cargo boat which took
376 people (340 Sikhs, 24 Mus-
lims and 12 Hindus) on a jour-
ney across the Pacific from
Hong Kong to Vancouver.
The year was 1914; Europe
was on the brink of the First
World War. While Britain was
bracing itself to meet the Ger-
man challenge to its imperial.
supremacy. the passengers on
board the former coal ship,
which they had renamed the
Guru Nanak Jahaz after the
founding guru of the Sikhs.
were taking to the high seas in a
bid to exert their rights as citi-
zens of the British Empire.
Their destination was British
Columbia where a few thou-
sand of their friends and rela-
tives had already settled. Those
on board had resolved to claim
their right to equal treatment
with white citizens of the Em-
pire and force entry into
Canada. .
Breaking the race
barrier
The man who made the voy-
age possible was. Gurdit Singh, a
Sikh businessman settled in
Singapore. He set off deter-
mined to challenge Canada's
newl y enancted immigration
rules. Each prospective immi-
grant was required to have 200
dollars on landing and a
through ticket 01) a single ship
from his country of origin. It
was a case of saying, ' If you are
not white, you may not enter
this White Man' s Land' . Gurdit
Singh chartered the ship, ar-
ranged the finance , collected
the passengers, firing their zeal
to meet the most impossible
conditions, undaunted by
Canada's colour bar.
When the ship sailed into
Canadian waters, she was re-
fused entry into the port and
had to anchor off Vancouver
Bay for two mOl)ths. The pas-
sengers had to endure extreme
physical and relent-
less harassment by immigration
officials. They were denied
water and food and threatened
by naval gunboats. But the
Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus re-
mained united, boosting their
moral e with the spirit ofGhadr
,(Revolution) -and soul-stirring
religious singing.
Above: Gurdit Singh (left)
ready to go ashore with other
passengers. Left: Hopkinson
extreme right with other
officials.
Secret service
agent
The Canadia n and British
authoriti es were keen to stem
the tide of emigration to North
America, where Indian im'mi-
grants had already established
the Ghadr Party to finance , sup-
ply and support by all possi ble
means the terrorist movement
in India. As a network of secret
revolutionary societies spread
from the Punjab and Bengal to
Indi an communities overseas,
an intelligence organisation
grew apace to track down the
conspi ra tors.
William Charles Hopkinson,
an Englishman on
secondment from the Indian Po-
lice, was a dedicated secret
service officer stationed in
Vancouver to monitor and re-
port the activities of the
Ghadrites. When the Komagata
Maru anchored off Vancouver
in the early hours of Saturday
23rd May 1914, Hopkinson was
there with the Canadian offi-
cials. And so began. a battle of
nerves between the ship and
the shore committee of Sikhs on
one side, and Hopkinson and
Canadian immigration on the
other.
The ship was eventually
forced to return to Ca lcutta. But
by now the. passengers were full
of revolutionary fervour and
once in India, determined to
join the terrorist movement
agai nst foreign rul e. In
Yokohama they picked up two
hundred automati c pistols and
two thousa nd rounds ofammu-
nition whi ch had been sent
th rough R couri er from Cali for-
nia. The Raj on .its part was
eq l) all y determined to preven t
the infiltrati on of the Komagata
Maru Ghadrites int o the politi -
ca ll y volatile atmosphere of
Punjab. On their disembarka-
tion at Ca lcutt a, troops opened
fire whi le allempting to con trol
the passengers Rnd a number of
them were ki ll ed. And so ended
a tragic voyage. The horrendous
expe ri ences of the passengers
and the hea rtl ess intransigence
of the coloni al authoriti es
boil ed the blood of Punjabi s. f\
spir it of disa ffection and rebel-
li on spread across northern In-
dia culminating in the bloody
massacre of over three hundred
innocent men, women a nd chil -
dren at /ali anwal R Bagh in the
precincts of Amrit sar's fab led
'Go lden Temple.
Revenge
assassina tion
Hopki nson 's i ntell igence-
gatheri ng clearl y established
the connection bet ween the
Ghadrites of Vancouver and
California with terrorists in In-
dia. He informed the Indi an au-
thorities that since the return of
the Komagata Maru. the
Ghadrites were planning a mass
return to Indi a to take part in a
violent upri sing agai nst foreign
rule. Ironically, his own rol e
was now reversed from keeping
Indians out of N01'th Ameri ca to
preventing their departure for
India!
In the eyes of the revolution-
aries, Hopkinson and his in-
formers were marked men. A
few weeks after the Komagata
Maru left Vancouver. a spate of
killings took place: Ghadrites
versus traitors who had become
a part of the British-Canadian
intelligence network. Eventual-
lyon October 21st 1914, the
Ghadrites got the man they
most wanted: Hopkinson was
'5unned down in the corridor of
the provincial courthouse in
Vancouver. where a trial involv-
ing the murder of one of their
.. own men was in progress.
A HINDUST AN OR A ROLLS RUYl;t;
WE WASH, CLEAN, SERVICE, CONNECT
ANU FILL THEM UP AT
MO'DERN
SERVICE STATION
35-Janpath. New Delhi-i
Phones; 310915, 311876
Sun, day 15-30 June 1986 11
:The
_T_hl_s_F_o_r_tn_ig_h_t_'s_S_t_or_y _____________ P J - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ____________ __
O
f that heavenl y place
called Chengani. you
just cou Id not have
read in a geography
book: you just could not have
seen a pi cture of it or even come
across a refere nce to it in the
gazett es-one of the boons thi s
gove rnment of ours has given
us, a gift born of magna nimit y-
even if you were to go th rough
the pages over and over agai n.
But then, if vou beli eve me and
t hat a nonymous poet who
sa id:
To the wes t of Taruva i is
Chengani
When there is a flood, you
can really row a boa\...
then I ca n re la te th e story.
That is, when there is a
flood, a boat can act uall y be
rowed in th e stream. But th e
stream was bridged. and the
bridge separa ted Che nga ni
from Taruvai-Tiruppadi. The
tamarind tree s tands on the
street a little away from t he
bridge. Nearby is th e smithy, in
a shambles. Twen ty years ago
this modes t smit hy had
Ramasami Pattar as its presid-
ing deity. Because of hi s too
sha rp inte lli gence and venture-
some tempera ment Ramasami
Pallar found the job of patc hing
up pushca rts or bullockcarts,
shoeing the bullocks th e m-
selves and making nails of a ll
sizes as a hobby, a littl e too dull.
His father had done all thi s, true
to the trad iti on of th e black-
smit hs. Neve rtheless, th e Pattar
bade good bye to Che ngani . to
hi s ances tral workshop and
horne a nd migrat ed to
Tirunelveli .
Begi nning with repai ring cy-
cles and wa tches, the Pallar
gr ad ua ted over to ca rs, calling
himself'mecha ni c' and ' driver'.
FinaJl y, he ca ll ed himself 'a
motor engineer'. And' with this
las t titl e he started a
workshop-not a mere smithy.
For ten years, Ramasami
Palla r was just not to be ap-
proached. Natura1ly. That 's
what you and I would do too, if
we sudden ly ran into money.
There was no prostitut e th e
Pallar did not visit. a nd , the re
was no ' disease the Pallar did
not receive in exchange.
Now is the danger of Lh e child
becoming really immoral,
thought the relatives, and so
they got hi m married. The gen-
tle lady gave birth to two girls
wilhin three years of the mar-
riage. She then left this world
for the next after thrusting the
grave responsibility on the
Pattar.
Before kindhearted relatives
could do something once again,
the workshop created for the
Pattar exactly that situation
which the relatives hoped
would be avoided. There was
debt everywhere. Workers gave
trouble. The Pattar could not
complete jobs on hand. The jobs
sought other smithies.
Ten years passed by in the
hope that this was a temporary
stat e of affairs. Man can put up
with so much 'onl y and to such
and such point. But when th e
flood waters have crossed th e
head?
The workshop was closed on
an auspicious day. That did not
solve the Pa ttar' s problems, of
course. It was the story of the
Chelliar li ving and ruining and
dying and ruining.
12 Sunday 15-30 June 1986
Sacrifice
Personified
Whatever should be done now? Renounce everything, don saffron
and go abegging? Chchi! Beg? Is there anything so despicable?
Why not rob the bastard who is depriving me of my life?
Which dharma will be damaged by robbing the robber?
The Pallar went on a kind of
sympathy-seeking mISSIon
round the cit y for a few days,
shedding tears over hi s t wo
moth erless ua ugh tel's growi ng
lip fast. The joint burden of
debts and two daughters turned
a man of forty into somet hing of
immense an tiquity. Was there
at leas t strength left in the
body? No. The capital acqu ired
in those days spent in pleasant
compa ny was not a lilosl. Those
peculi ar compl aint s, which had
played hide-and-seek wi th
medicines lill now, s tart ed be-
ing matey once more.
+ * *
Whe n Ramanujalu Naidu of
the Indo-Eu ropean Motor Me-
chani ca l Works gave th e Pa tt ar
the job of a filter , he fell a t th e
Naidu's fee t, calling him
' Annadata ' . Palla r just couldn' t
help it. could he? You would
have done it too. I too, if th e re
Trans lated from Tamil
had been two girl s to bring up
and no job.
The salary Naidu paid was
an impressive twen ty rupees a
month _ From six in the morning
till th e workshop closed for th e
day. Ramasami Pattar remained
on duty.
Th is wen t on for a yea r. II
was a year of secure poverty.
That thing they ta lk about
si lling re laxed in
a rmchai rs .. . tha t thi ng they ca ll
recession ... well , tha t thing
ca me along. You a nd I cou ld dis-
cuss for hours abo ut th e princi-
pl es of recess ion, abou t its in tri -
cacies, abou t it s essen ti a l
fe a tures. We cou ld also write a
lot about all this. But neither
you nor I could be so clear a bout
what exactl y recession is as
Raman u jalu Naidu was. Now
Naidu was a ni ce person, rea ll y.
Atti mes he he lped one out with
a five r or eve n a te nner. But
then he had left ivl ad ras for
Tirunelvcli to a mass wealth. He
had not mi grated to ope n a cha 1'-
itable trust for hi s worke rs.
Naidu a XHd. Te n vi ctims.
One of the m was Ra masami
Patter. They begged. They pros-
tmted th e mselves before the
god. The y sa id th ev would work
on half pa y. Buttlle n, it was not
a dhoromsolo tha t Ramanujalu
Naidu ran.
Now, supposing there is a
nice, fat cow. Wha t is its food? It
is just luxurious. isn 't it? The
cow is th e apple of, the eye.
Now, supposing the cow grows
old. No mil k. Do we worsh ip it
the n? No. Certainl y not. We de-
cide to ge t money fo r it s skin a t
least. We get rid of the cow,
don't we?
And so. what was really
wrong with Ramanu ja l u Naidu
wielding th e axe'? So. th a t was
thaI. That was ju t thaI. He w ~ o
ca ll s it wrong is stupid .
When Ramasami Pall ar re-
ceived his sa lary that day, he
did not know what exactly to
do, really. The money wou ld
last exactl y four days. After
that? Some ot her workshop?
Wouldn't it be the same s tory
th ere too? The world, Pallar de-
cided. was just heartless. If thl'
Pa tt a r had had th e third eye. he
would have reduced everything
to ashes. He had onl y two, a nd
wit h them he spott ed th e near-
est toddyshop.
What should be done now?
Whatever should be done
now? Renounce everything,
don saffron and go abegging?
Chchi'?Beg? Is there anything so
despicable? Why nol rob the
bastard who is depriving me of
my lift!? Which dharma will be
damaged by robhing the
rohber?
Ra ma nuialu Nainu woul d be
going throu gh th e accollnt s
rounu te n or el e ve n a t ni ght.
Wh y not deal with him the n?
R<l masami Pallar give hi s
uaught e rs th e money left ove r
after the lime spent at th e
toddyshop. He gave th e money
like a machine and ate like a
machine. .
"Why are yo u like this.
Fa th e r?"
There was no answe r to th e
question.
suddenly the PallaI' caught
hold of his daughters and s tart-
ed kissing th em quite violently.
turn by lu rn. AmongHindus, fa-
thers don ' t kiss grownup
daughters. They ju t do not
have th e ri gh t to.
The gi rl s got nervous. They
wondered if th eir father was
drunk. They quaked with
fea r.
"We have good times a head
of us? Naidu has offered me a
job of fifty rupees in Madras. He
has asked me to come and get
some advance to- ni ght' '' he
sa id.
The Patt ar left the house to
fu lfill hi s wishes.
As expected. Ramanujalu
Naidu was a lone.
"Oh, Ramasami! Wha t can I
do? I just ca n't he lp it! It s no use
coming to me. rea ll y!" Naidu
sa id.
"What you ' ve give n me is not
enough! " Ra masa mi sa id. Hi s
voice sounded different.
May be he's drunk. thought
Ramanujalu Naidu. "Come To-
morrow", he said.
"Tomorrow? Just see what I
do to you! You have ruined my
famil y, you robbing rasca l! "
Ramasa mi pounced on th e
Naidu and made a grab for th e
notes.
Naidu was all a tone, of
course. But the n th e e ntire
world was not sleeping, was it ?
Ramasa mi was ca ught
simpl y.
Whal e lse is there to e labo-
rat e on?
It was assa ult with int e nt to
rob. Six months.
Pa ttar has fr ee meals now.
Whi ch trade union is so benev-
a lent towards a worker charged
wilh th eft ? There is justi ce in
the world. isn't th ere?
Its d iffi c ult to write about th e
gi rl s. reall y.
Thi s ancie nt Hind u socie ty
of ours. whi ch has di scovered
the principle of sins visi ting you
beca use of your misdeeds in a n
ea rli e r life, wou ld regard it al l
as quite natural. wou ldn't it'?
This Crazy World
F8rum
____________________ __
From Author
to Deputy Minister
The recent elevation of a couple
of writers to the ranks of MPs
reminds me of my own experi -
ence when the hidden hand of
providence (or was ilthe Intelli-
gence Bureau?) pi c ked me up
from th e flouri shing (or should I
say the impoverished) lri be of
wr it ers and ca tapulted me in to
th e di zzy heights ofIndian poli -
tics. I was not only nominated to
the Parliament but also made a
Deputy Mini ster.
Well, about that la ter. First.
le t me tell you about my self. I
too am a writer. Does that sound
like a confession? In a way it is.
A confession invariably helps to
dissolve the feeling of guilt.
Long befor e I was inducted
into politics I was a rather prin-
cipl ed writer, personally
against all kinds state patronage
of writers and supported all
lhose who condemned it.
Whenever concerned people
organised a meeting or a dem-
onstration, to expose the gov-
ernment' s hand in corrupting
writers by offering them all
sorts of temptations, I always
made it a point to attend it and
join them in urging the govern-
ment to leave us authors
alone.
Then came the day when f
was th e one chosen to be eleva t-
ed to the exa lt ed position of a
member of parliament. When
t hat happened. I conveni e ntl y
ignored whatever I had said or
done before. In ot her words I
immediately started appreciat-
ing the wisdom of the famous
adage. ' Let bygones be bygones'.
and developed a forward look-
ing philosophy overnight.
Some of my friends did th eir
best to cautio'n me not to yield
to th e temptation. They re-
minded me that politics is the
last refuge of scoundrel s. Bu t.
right then their logi c did not ap-
peal to me. I retorted that in
the e days of 'Candhian' politi-
cians it is almos t senseless to
believe in a thing like that!
However. it did not take me
long to come to my se nses. And
th is is how it
happened.
I
had just ret urned from
Rashtrapati Bhawan after
th e swearing- in ce remony.
My appointment as Deputy
Minister had come <fS a surprise
to many including myself. How-
ever. I was determined to justify
mv appointment and discharge
Dalip Singh
my dut ies in a n exemplary way.
So I deci ded to begin by drawing
up a li st of do's and donl's for
myself. I had ha rdly started,
however, when an interruption
came-in the form of a poet
whom, in the days of my politi-
cal wi lderness, I had seen in the
coffee house regaling hi s
fri e nds with musky verses.
"You ca n't imagine how
happy we are at your elevation
from a coffee house chair to a
' gaddi ' in the government. Our
congratulations. - Oh don't
worry! I ha ve not come to ask a
favour , oh no-you know I am
not that type, don' t you? Indeed,
we all want you to function
without fear or favour. As soon
as I read in the pape rs about
your well-deserved appoint-
ment I was transported into a
poetic frenzy! This poem
which, emerged which I really
did not write. It was dictated,
beli eve me, by some Hidden
Power, about which I know
little."
In spi te of my protests about
time and place and heavy work,
he insisted on reading out the
poem, which compared me to
Alexander the Great. Blushing
and e mbarrassed. I tried to ex-
plain to him that a democra tic
set-up like our p rovided no
place or opportuni ty of the kind
prevailing in Alexander's time.
He brus hed ita 11 aside.
"I know you r Ca libre. my
friend ." he exclaimed. "What I
ha ve said in the poem is the
truth . and nothing else. I am go-
ing to include th at poem in my
anthology. coming out this
week. Letthe world read it. and
judge for itself. Believe me. the
government wou ld like to buy
at least a th ousand copies to
send to the libraries. You can-
not deny th e public the right to
know you be tt er!"
I was thinking franti call y of
some wa y to get away from all
thi s when anot her visitor joined
us. He introduced himself as a
hi storian. "In the course of my
in-depth research in the ancien t
past of Indi a, I accidentall y
came upon thi s. I thought you'
like to see it. " "THIS" was a ge-
nealogi ca l tabl e linking my
famil y to Lord Krishna.
"You are a direct descendant
of the Lord", he said. Like eve-
ryone e lse. in my youthful days
I had my flings and sown my
wild oa ts. But that it was be-
cause of some 'Govinda' blood
in my veins. was a bit of a reve-
lation. if you know what I mean.
"You are a Kanwar, you know!
This record of mine must be
published to give you your
rightful place. Government
grants a re wasted to determine
useless things like the date of
birth of Shivaji. Why shouldn' t
the government publish genu-
ine research such as lhis?" he
asked indignantly. very angry at
the injustice done to me.
I tried to explain to the histo-
rian that I had never seen a halo
around th e head of eithe r my fa-
the r or mine and didn' t even ex-
pect to. But he was noLto be put
off 0 lightl y. He sa id I d id not
have th e hi storian 's eye.
At th is moment who should
walk in but myoid primary
school teacher. "I told yo u al-
ways", he said . "tha t th e pre-
scr ibed texts we re all wrong. No
child can learn from th em. Do
you reme mber how It a ught you
from text s I had prepared my-
se lf? And look where you have
reached! It's lucky for me. my
book has been published jus t
when the na tion has recognised
your ta lents! Othe r children can
be he lped also. in the way you
were .....
At thi s point . th e las t straw
had been placed on the camel's
ba ck. the cup was overfl owing.
the end of the tet he r had not
only been reached but was be-
ing chewed in helpl ess exasper-
at ion . "LEAVE ME ALONE", I
shout ed and ran out. I did not
stop unti l I was in Ras htrapati
Bhawan again. and had deliv-
ered my rerignation. Then I
slunk out and aga in joined the
crowd demanding that the gov-
ernment leave the writers and
a uthors alone .
PUNJAB ALL IS NOT LOST
Conti nued from page 9
left fo rces. Si mil arly
outmigration of Hi ndus from
vi ll ages in certain a reas has not
been allowed by Sikh peasantry
whi ch has gura nteed securi ty of
their life and property.
Apart from a vast popular
secul ar base, organised forces
under the CPI, CPM. a nd differ -
ent Na xa lit e groups ha ve stood
against communali sm. The CPI
orga ni sed de mons tra ti on
aga inst Bhindranwall e's Le rror
at Moga . Bhagapurana, and
Mansa must be remembered. In
the Va lhotra area (Amritsar) th e
CPI ex-MLA. Comracje Arjun
Singh Mastana. continued the
anti -te rror campaign unti l he
fe ll to terrorist a tt acks. He
he lped in capturing some ter-
roris ts by vi ll agers and exposed
the rol e of ruling politicians.
Left controll ed news papers
have rai sed th eir voices aga inst
the communal poi son.
Though less active t he CPM
has also played its part in this
baltl e. Its student wing, the Stu-
dent Federa tion of Indi a (SFI)
clashed openly with the AISSF
at Ta rn Tarn. Phagwara. Dera
Bassi. Rajpura and othe r places.
Recently the CPI and CPM
organised dharna agains t the
killing of innoce nt persons and
communali sm in all Punjab
towns. Their trade unions have
also played a significant rol e.
Various Naxalite groups have
taken a bold. forthright stand
agai nst communal forces and
ca mpaign ed through their peri-
od icals and leafl e ts. whil e
opnely challenging terroris t
backed Sikh organisa tions in
Moga and Rampura Phul areas.
More recent ly the Punjab Stu-
dents Un ion (PSU) Dhali wa l
group, has challenged th e
A1SSF in Curdaspur and
Amritsa r distri cts a nd fo ll owing
Hmed confrontations, th e
AfSSF was forced Lo
withdraw.
Ho wever Congress(l) and
Aka li ddminis trati ons have vir-
tually banned publi c meet ings
and demonstrations by these
left sec u lar forces. On the other
hand. both Hindu and Sikh
communal bodies have been
permitt ed to demonstrate and
indulge in violence under the
ga rb of reli gious activities.
Membe rs of left organisations
have been impli ca ted in false
cases, bea ten a nd tortured by
police and armed forces and.
above all. have faced the terror-
ists' wrath. The left movement
los t Arjun Singh Mastana,
Sumit Singh of PreeLlari.
Sukhraj Khaddar of Chi ngari ,
Rattan Singh of Surkh-Rekha,
and almost all prominent lead- .
e rs are under threat. One can
have man y compl ainsts against
the left forces but to-day they
are th e only organised positive
force against communalism a nd
secession in the State. And they
need to be encouraged .
HINDU FEARS IN PUNJAB
Continued from page 3
masons are pure ly economic.
Befor e thi s unres t mos t of the
pulice depended on activiti es
s uc h <1S th e illi cit liqu uur mak-
ing ' 13h<1l1<1s' for ex lm income;
now ins lea d Ihey a be tt er
s um from the Hindu fa mili es in
li e u of th eir protecti on. On th e
ollwr hand th e Sikh
have 10 pa y proler. 1 th e ir sons
fWIll police harassme nt. In
some instances some
ha ve Pove n ide ntifi ed th e te rror-
is ts as be ing policemen. With a
la rgely Si kh pol ice force I h is be-
r.omes a direc t ca use of commu-
na I III is t ru st. Tlw C R PI .' and 13SF
am C]ui le ineffective beca use
th eir ul li ma tn co nlrol with
th e puli ce. The Il indus saf-
es t with th e Army.
Q. Wou ld yo u ree l with
Ihn (:ollgrnss- I in powe r'?
A. No! The Aka lis mav have
bnlra yed tl1() Hindus of Punjab
but we have! ff!w illu sions of th e
Congress. T he ir unsc rll plous
games sold Ihe s tnte to
tolal anarchy. Whi r. heve r pnr ly
is voted to power Ihe oth e r will
slop a t nothing it
an d Ihe dange rous ele ments
that have surfaced once will a l-
wnys be ava il able for e xploita-
(ion. Per haps it is time to give a
party like th e CPI -M a c ha nce.
Q. Wi ll you re turn to
Punjab?
A. Yes ' A nc-/ r spea k for a ll
th ese filmili es whfl n I say tha t
we will re turn but not unti l
Punj il b is mil de sa fe for the
I'unjnbi. I.' or our sn ke we hope it
will be soon.
T
he unscrllplous polit icia n.
th e cor rupt police force a nd
Ihe insensi ti ve ilrmy. a re a lJ too
fa miliar te rms; once aga in s ig-
nifjcnnt in Ihe tnl e of the mi-
gra ling Hindu . However th e
nwdin hilS Ihrough consistent
rhe toric .onfined the Punjab
prohl e m 10 co m III u nil I eq ua-
ti un. Admitt edl v communa l
dis lwrmonv today is a conven-
ien t ;)nd I)e rs uilsive a rgume nt
for di smissi ng governme nt re-
spons ibi lit y for the widespread
lIllms l in th e cOlill try. If Ih e
l'un jalJ cri s is is er roneously
present nd ilS a communal fa it
;Jccompli it wi ll spe ll final and
i rmversi bl e disas te r. Toda v th a i
lill H of discre tion is Vf!ry fine
an d (. ven irresponsible in nuell-
do can do ser ious riamagfL Can
th e PUlljabis dema nn thi s di s-
cmti on to prese rve th ei r
Punj ilb?
., pRln1QgRaphiCS
PHOTOTYPESETTING, WORD PROCESSING
BY WP. ELECTRONIC TYPING, ELECTROSTAT
PHOTOSTAT, OFFSET PRINTING ROTA
14. Municipal Market. Connaughl Circus
New Delhi -l l0001 Phones: 352471 . 325509.
Sunday 15-30 June 1986 13
:The
_T_he_G __ oo_d_E_a_rt_h ________________
June 5 was World Environment Day. Another day when we
further poisoned our air, polluted and wasted our water re-
sources and continued to cut down our forests. It was another
day when we denourished the soil, polluted the lives of mil-
lions with hunger disease and another day
which saw the erosion of the human right to live in a social
and geophysical environment of peace, justice and
Water
Touay, Indi a uses a te nth of the
rainfa ll it receives a nnua lly and.
even 40 yea rs from now, will be
using a qua rt er. But it must
lea rn to store the wat()J' and use
even th e fraction it USBS with-
out polluting it. otherwise there
will be serious water shortage,
India's groundwater msourr:-
esa realmost lOtimesi tsannual
rainfall. But wi t h OVBr 170.000
tubewell s added every year
during th e HI7()s. the water
table is dec lining in many amas.
leav ing th e dugwells of th e poor
high and dry.
Ancient India stored rainfall
in tanks and ponds butthe Brit-
is h and th e independent Indi a n
adminis tra ti ons have neglected
them, so where tanks irrigated
half the r:ropped area a ce ntury
ago they now i rriga te less than
10 per cen t. Expe rts r:n lculate
th a t tanks built over 3() per cenl
of India 's land area cuuld s tom a
quar ter of its rainfall.
All bu t two of the high-
a ltitude lakes in Indi a are s tead- .
i ly dying because of pollu ti on.
The slow dea th of Kashmir 's
Dallake is threatening th e live-
lihood of 50,000 fish erfolk.
The er:ological valu of wel-
la nels has yel to be u nd erstoocl .
Cal cutta's Sa lt Lake Ci ly today
s lands on a former sprawing
we tl and and th e resul't i's, with
th e d ty's natural dra inage sys-
tem bl ockecl , every shower
turns into a fl ood and th l? cit v
has lost a majOl: sou rce or fisl-i ,
its favouri te food .
[ncreasingly pollut ed rivers
and lakes a nd la rge clams a re se-
rious ly affecting riverine fish-
eries, The migratory hi[ sa, a
much sought de li car.y. is being
dammed to death.
Dams
Large darps are t'oday Indi a's
most environ-
me ntal issue. Silent Vall ey has
already been given' up. Groups
a.re proteSling against another
half a dozen.
The key issue is not na ture
but people. Energy apd water
planners are stressing hydro-
power and cana l irrigation but
have made no s tudy of how
man:' people wil l be
displaced.
Governmen t officia ls argue
that "someone has to suffer for
progress", Usually these
"50meOll s" are triba ls, the
poores t and the most
powerless.
The colossal Narmada Basin
De velopment .Programme.
which will inv'olve the building
14 Sunday 15-30 June 1986
Millions of rive rin e
fisherl'olk. th eir very survival
un r.e rtain . now travel long rlis-
tances and months in search of
!'ish.
Dam wa ters IlOW r.ove r near-
ly onp. pe r ce nt of Ind ia's Ian..
area, but proullce [ittl e fish and'
provide Jill.le employment flor
th e ,impoverished fisherfolk.
th e highest anllua l yield of a
reservoir is on ly 190 kg a hec-
tare annually. but some fi sb
ponds record 8.000 kg a
hectare.
Indi a's inland fisb ca tr. h is ,
growing. mainly .because of the
spur t of aquacu llure in privat e
ponds r.on troll ed by ri ch farm-
ers, even as pollution snatches
away from millions of poor
risherfol k th e i r Ii velihood .
of 329 large dams. may end up
costing Rs 25,000 crore. It will
also displace a million people.
Experienr.e s hows t hat peo-
ple. for th e moment. are pre-
pared to move bUI th ey want
new land for old. Except in
Maharashtra. thi s prinr:iple ,i s
not accej1ted by any s tate
gove rnmen t.
The cos l of for es ts lost is a Iso
hi gh. Large dams have drowned
half a million hectares of for es t
- abou t a tenth of the a rea t'!i a t
has be nefi ll ed from canal
irri ga tion.
Wi th 176 major and 447 me-
dium irri ga li on projects. under
cons truc tion. most behind
schedule, some experts argue:
",No new proj ects now: consoli-
date and [earn to get good crops
from what we already have".
Small earthen dams for
water harves ting are both
ecologically so und and eco-
nomically profitable. Three
small reservoirs have trans-
formed the economy of a village
near Chandigarh. There is no
soil erosion. no deforestation,
no desertification, and no one
has been displaced. The lesson:
water conservation, yes: big
dams, no.
-democracy.
Atmosphere,
The world's worst ai r pollu-
tion problem could be th e
woodsmoke inhal ed by poor
rural women while cooking. A
tonne of parlj cul a tes from
household woodstoves may ac-
tually lead to more, than 500
times th e human ex posure than
a tonne of particulates from a
r.oalfired power s talion .
A study in Gujarat s hows
that women while cooki ng in-
ha le 40 times the volume of sus-
pended particles cons idered
safe by WHO. In barely three
hours th ey inha le an amount of
r.a rcinogenic benzo (a) pyrene
tha t equals 20 packs of ciga-
rettes. more ihan any industrial
worke r wi ll ue exposed to in
any industry in eigh t working
hours.
Exposure during th e mon-
.soon. when people reduce th e
venti lation ' points in ' their
homes. can be e igh t times the
normal. .
A. ! wood becomes scarce,
womp.1l turn tn r.owd ung. which
ge ne ra tes even more po[ lutioll.
Mci hy new cooking fuels li ke
r. rop wastes and weeds have,
nevfir been tes ted for pollution
,Forests
The Latest satell i te data con-
firm that Ind ia is losing 1.3 mi[-
lion heclare of forests a yea r.
nearly eight times th e annual
rate put out by forest
pepartments.
So great is the wood s hortage
and so hi gh are wooel [Jri ces that
Tamil Nadu fisherfolk find i t
diffi cult to make ca tamarans,
Karnataka vill age rs to buy ne w
bullock ca rts and Andhra
Pradesh craft speople to make
wood toys.
Nine dams are to be built
along the lndrava ti in Bastar,
Ind ia's last tri ba l fronti e r, turn-
ing the tribal s refugees in their '
own home land. Basta r 's forest s
are also thl' ea tene'd with mines
and wood-based indus tri es.
By 1990, Indi a hopes to green
nea rly 2 million hecta res a t a
cos t of about Rs 600 crore.
But th e social forestry pro-I
grammes a re heavily criticised:
trees are planted as commercia l
investment and not to fulfil
basic survi val needs of fu el and
fodder.
hazard.
A 15-year st udy in Delhi
found th e same incidence of
corpulmona le (enlargement of
the hea rt) in both men and
women. even though few
wome n smoke. a nd concluded
thi s to be th e result fo wome n's
exposure to woodsmoke.
Exposure to woods moke is
parti c ularl y har mful for mal-
-nourished. anaemic women as
.ca rbon monoxide. an import a nt
component of woodsmoke. in-
creases t he e ffect of anaemia by
redUCing the haemoglobin
available in th e brood. Over a
quarter of Ind ian women i'n the
'reproductive age group a re
anaemic.
Environmental air pollution
is a lso increasing s teadil y. 1n 15
They are, however. popular
wit l'; farmers: in Uttar Pradesh,
farmers pi cked up 30 times
more sep.dlings than th e target.
But commu nit y wood lots, to
meet th e fuel and fodder needs
of th e poor a nd landl ess,
reached only abo ut a ten th of
th e target.
Socia I forestr y Illay even be
exacerbating the energy crisis
for landless laboure rs. When 4
farmers in Punjab swit ch from
mllon to eucalyptus. workers
lose th e ir main fuel: co tton
stalks.
EucalypLus cove rs nearly
ha lf a million hectares, but th e
tree is not very popu la r wit b e n-
vironmentalists . [n Karnalaka.
protes ters have uprooted euca-
lyptus in several places. whi le
some farme rs have d ug trench-
es between th eir fields and e u-
calyptus stands to ' keep euca-
lyptus roots away from the ir
r: rops: Quick-growing e uca lyp-
years. the quantity of sulphur
dioxide re leased irlto teh ai r has
tripl ed. Acid ra in. the scourge of
forests and lakes in Europe and
North Ameri ca. is now found in
industrialised areas like
Bombay, Delhi . Pune.
Of the 48 thermal power sta-
lions officia ll y surveyed in
1984,31 had taken no pollution
con trol measures and on ly six
had the i r poilu ti on co'nt rol
eq uipment functioning
properly.
Giant s uperth e rma l power
s tations is the la tes t poli cy. At
Singrau li, whe re over '10,000
MW of power gene ration capac-
ity is to be ultima te ly sited. the
n;illion-odd people who will
li ve th ere ould be exposed to
10 times the pollu tion leve ls set
by th e government.
The CllTrent car and two-
wheeler boom in Indian cit ies
- cou ld choke thousands to
death, De lhi 's half-a-million
I motor vehicles spew 400 tonnes
ofpollul ants daily.ln Bombay. (]
municipal su rvey shows that
air pollution is a major cause: of
tu bf'rGulos is and various respi-
ra tory a ilme nts.
tus plantations are depleting
soil nutri ents in Utta r Pradesh,
Punjab and Harya na.
Few a tt e mpts are being made
to involve th e landless in affor-
esta tion. Some 5 million to 10
million la ndl ess families could
be se lll ed on th ese lands. mak-
ing i.t the country's larges t ,land
reforms progra mme .
f(om: The State India's
Environment 1984-85 Centre for
Science andlEnvironment 807,
Vishal Bhawan, 95 Nehru Place
New Delhj-ll0019.
r=8rum
____________ GazCltc ___________ _
Punjab Struggles for Sanity
Continued from page 1
people. 10 Hindus a nd one Sikh
were gunned down in a terroris t
a tt ack las t month. Sikh shop-
keepers have locked up th e ir
s hops and Sik h families have all
lefl. te mporaril y. to'stay with
re la ti ves in th e cit y, For
Kri shnanaga r has a la rge Hindu
ma jority.
O
ne gets th e fee lingof ordi -
nary people of both com-
muniti es s truggling des-
pe ra te ly for sanity. fo r
norma lcy. struggling to cling to
th e life th ey have known.
aga inst forces'yv hi c h are trying
to tea r th e Punjab apart through
in. ensa te killings . through fear
. and s us pi cion . through deliber-
ate ly incit ed hatred. But be-
ca use of ad mini s tra tive paraly-
sis. tota l politi ca l failure as th e
Aka li Dal leaders hip engages in
int e rnal powe r s truggles a nd
a t he r politi ca l parties re main
inacti ve. a nd Ne w De lhi ' s delib-
e rate or ine pt mishandling of
th e Punj ab situation over the
pas t four years. the Punjab cri-
sis is acce le rating at a frighten-
ing rat e-a runaway train with
no one at th e co ntrol s. The ter-
rorist s trategy is cl ea r: to induce
a massive Hindu migration re-
s ulti ng in a Hindu bacHash of
violence against Sikhs outside
Punjab followed by Sikh migra-
!'ion to the state. The result in
terrori st terms. Khalistan.
Punjab In
Microcosm
Jandiala Guru re flects the
Punjab situation in microcosm.
All the contributor"y elements
are the re-te rrorist killings
building up inter-communal
tension. pol ice inaction, the
presence of militant Sikh and
Hindu organisa tions ready to
step into th e si tuation, Hindu
migration . The population of
18000 is made up of Hindus and
Sikhs in equal proportions, 7000
each with Mazbis and Balmikis
totall y about 4000. The All India
Sikh Students' FederatiolJ has
fiv e offi ces in Jandiala, the
Hindu Shiv Sena an office affili-
a ted close ly with the Amritsar
branch. Both organisatioH5......
have worke rs in the viIlage . .
with Ma zb i Sik hs be longing to
bot h cad res.
A month ago. th e S hiv Se na
pradhan. Chaman La!. was
kill ed. a ll eged ly by te rrori sts
and te nsion has bee n building
ever since. aggrava ted by th e a r-
rival of 30 Hindu famili es from
villages a round Khadur Sahib
in Tarn Taran area . These fami-
li es. from vi lI ages with ti ny
Hindu populations, le ft th ei r
homes afte r te rrori s t threa ts or
actual killings. (We found the
sa me pattern in other places in
Amritsar distri ct) Ashok
Kumar. Chama n Lal 's elde r
brother a nd now Shi v Sena
pradhan. told that on th e af-
ternoon of 29th May he had
warned the poli ce abo ut s uspi-
cious look ing young men c ir-
cling th e village in .iI Fiat and
told th em tha t he feared a te r-
rori s t attack. He s tat ed a ngr ily
that th e poli ce took no noti ce.
That eve ning a t 11.30 p.m.
whil e a Ramayan Akhand
'paath' was going on in connec-
tion with the construction of a
Balmiki Mandir. six yo ung
men-eyewitnesses told us
they were Sikhs-came up the
path from behind, and. Without
warning. two of them, th eir
faces covered with their tur-
bans, opened fire into the lis-
tening Young Terse m
Singh or Lal-the names seem
interchangeable died immedi -
_ately Bhagwan Singh/ La I died
. In hospiLal. Both were Mazbis,
n'either was a keshdhari Sikh.
Five others were wounded. One
of them, 16 year old Raman
Kumar. named two of the ter-
rorists as a loca l boy, Sati, alleg-
edlya known smuggler, and his
accompli ce. People told us an-
gril y that th e police had held
both boys briefl y. Ihe n released
th em.
Typical Communal
Riot
After the c rema tion th e next
Iday, a tt e nded by Amritsar Shiv
Sen a cadres, th e angry crowd
tried to set fire to SaU's house
and other Sikh homes. Ni ght
curfew was imposed and th e
CRPF sent to the vil lage.
la ndi a la had become a "hot
spot". Wh e n we reacherlthe vi l-
lage we fou nd th e Fede ration
offi ces closed. The unl y Sik hs
we saw were a ha ndful of older
me n. sil e nt and unsmiling. e1us-
toge th e r al th e e ntrance to
th e vi ll age. The te ns ion in th e
a ir was palpable. (According to
newspaper reports. un th e fol-
lowing day when Union Minis-
ter . Gurdia l Singh Dhillon . tri ed
to address a mee ting in
landial n'i; Municipal Hall. th e
village el<ploded into viol e nce.
as Shiv. p.na a nd Fede ra lion
ca dres pe ll ed each oth e r with
s tones and acid bolli es in a typi -
ca l communal ri ot. When
tea rgas failed 10 control th e
mobs. th e police or CRr fir ed.
flnd curfe w was re imposed.
S
ea ted in front of a garlallde. d
photograph of his "shaheed"
broth er Ashok Kumar told
us how th e S hiv Se na me mber-
s hip had swelled from te n to 400
in the last month with a large
number of Mazbis. Hindus and
Harij a ns felt the need to unit e
agai nst Sikh te rrori s ts , he ex-
plained. We talked to Hindu
families from Mianwid ,
Mathurawal. Dhote, Ekalgude,
Chattewinde, Binrlla. Takhto
Chuk, Fatehbad. Walwa and
other villages, who are camping
in Jandiala. Sixty year old
Swaran Lal, a halwai from
Chattewinde. fiv e kilometres
from Amrilsar, left after shop-
keeper Bhaga t Ram and his son
Aji t were shot dead by terror-
ists. Chattewinde's 17 Hindu
famili es had locked up their
homes and comeaway. (Officia l
migrant figur es for Amritsar
district up La th e las t week of
May are 41 famili es who have
left th e ir homes with bag and
baggage. while 177 who have
gone without their belongings.
ost ensibl y temporarily. But offi-
cials admit the figur es are
incompl e te ).
A gove rnme nt employee
from Eka lgude (name withheld
on reques t) had received threa t-
ening leit e rs. The AISSI' he ld a
' jalsa' at a n a nnual me la a t the
loca l Gurudwara. he told us ,
and announced from the ir
' pa nd a l th at a ll Hindu famili es
s hou ld leave. They told all the
Si khs to boycoll Hindus so tha t
th ey would go. The re we re on ly
eight Brahmin families 'in the
vi Il age. The re was no boycott,
but ne ithe r was the re reass ur-
ance or he lp. Fear obviousl y
both communiti es.
Our infor ma nt reca ll ed how. af-
te r Operation [Jlue Star. th e
Sikh sa rpanch of th e vil lage had
th e m a ll to landial a for
sa fe ty as he fea red t ha t migh t
not be able to protect th em.
"Thi s time he told LI S th a t he
cuuld do nothing and we came
on our uwn".
A gove rnment High School
(all gove rnme nt e m-
ployees wan ted th e ir names
withhe ld) from Pakhot e had not
att e nded school for seve ral
months. Art e r the killing of a
Hindti doc tor in the vil lage th e
"i"ede ra tion boys" went to the
' sc haul to ask who the Hindu
teac hers we re. After that a ll
three Hindu teache rs wellt on
leave:-A High 'School
from [Jinda la . who had
more r. ooperative seniors, was
as ked to stay a way from school'
after a young man visiting the
'school produced a 'list with the
namesofHindu teachers, "They
said we should slay away so
that neither they nor we would
be killed", so the Hindu teach-
ers only regislered a ll endance.
Definite Strategy
T
alking to people in Jandiala,
in other villages and in
Punjab cities and towns
confirmed the patt e rn being fo l-
lowed by terrori s t action as de-
scribed by offidal sQurces. The
definite strategy which emerges
is, first "snatchings" of scooters,
arms and money; next system-
' atic killi ngs of ' informers' to the
police, both Sikhs and Hindus.
to warn off others and discour-
age Sikhs from helping Hindus,
Next threa tening posters ap-
pear on indi vidual homes, at
bus addas telling Hindus to'
leave within a ce rt a in time;
people receive threa te ning le t-
ters on the sa me lines, oft e n
Ii sing vulgar language In
Haryana bid to derail Venkataramiah Commission I Conlinuedfrom page 1
Exit Mathew, Enter
Venkataramiah
With Justice -Mathew throw-
'ing himself .into II blind alJey of
indecision, it was now time for
Justice Venkataramiah to arrive
on the scene in a bid to succeed
where had failed.
AU the rest is history.
Chandigarh was not transferred
to Punjab on JanlJary 26th as set -
out in the Accord. A paO o-f disil-
lusionment , and distrust of the
spread across Punjab. Ex-
tremism and terr'orism' received
a further boost whi le the Barnala
ministry's foundations began to
rest on shaky ground.
I
mplicit in the appointment of
the Venkataramiah Commis-
sion was the fa ct that areas other
than Fazilka and Abohar could
be identi fi ed for transfer to
Haryana. Instead of participating
in the new commission with an
open attitude. Haryana chose not
to cooperate with it.
Haryana's Bombshell
adopted a dilatory and '
negative attitude right through'
the proceedings, HaTyana then
came up with a bombsheU to
ciaim 483 villages in 6 tehsils,
measuring up to an area of 4,5
lakh acres. In addition it also de-
manded that the towns of Patiala,
Sumana, LaJru and Dera Bassi be
transferred to it.
This major change in
Haryana' s position from no claim
to a massive claim was sprung on
Justice Venkataramiah on May
29, just one day before he was to
submit his report to the
government.
Prior to infljcting this bomb-
s hell of a claim. Haryana consis-
tentl y cold-shouldered various
att empts by the Commlssion and
the Punjab government to per-
suade the state to agree to a rea-
sonable solution. According to a
mutually recognised formula of a
60-40 division ofChandigarh and
its assets, Haryana's share of ter-
ritory in , lieu of CQandigarh
works out at 6000 acres. Howev-
er, in response to a suggestion
fwm the Commission, Punjab
stated its willingness to transfer
15,000 acres to Haryana (or a new
capital in and around the neigh-
bouring township of Panchkula.
Moreover, instead of promising
the ten crores mentioned in the
Indira Gandhi Award, as a granl
Haryana to build 'a new capital ,
Ihe Centre informed the Com-
mi ssion that it would be willing
to contribute three hundred
crores for a new capit al.
B
ut all these efforts were in
vain. Haryana would not
budge. II continued to adopt an
obrlurate atti tude, refusing to
cooperate with attempts to find a
way through the tangle . in the
larger national interest. Gjven
the circumstailces created by
Haryana's unbending
the Venkataramiah Commis-
sion's life had to be extended by
ten days; Bhajan Lal had to be' .
nudged away and the decks
cleared to place Chandigarh in
Punjab. where it rightfull y. be-
longs. If the new Chief
Bansi Lal can check-mate Devi
Lal's oppositional fury to safe-
guard Haryanvi interests for
purely electoraJ considerations
and Chandigarh is actually trans-
ferred to Punjab, it would not
necessari ly spell the beginning of
the end of the Punjab problem. It
would perhaps have been a dif-
ferent story had the transfer not
come five months too late since
January 26 if not sixteen years
too late since the 1970 Indira
Gandhi Award '.
lanrliil la we hea rd aga in of the
"taped te rrori s m", tapes with
infl amma tory speeches a nd
songs ex tolling Beant Singh a nd
Singh. containing
ve il ed threa ts. These a re th e
"Jago" tapes. the words "Jago
aiye" now connot e to the Hindu
tha t dea th is on th e way. These
tapes are played . from
r. urudwa ras. on buses, we were
toll and the psychological war-
ra re is ta king its toll of peopl e's
ne rVHS.
Hindu dor. tors. teache rs,
guvernmen t e mployees a re a
delibe rat e te rroristtargel. Some
havH bee n killed. many have
IHfl. Hindus as k for transfer to
othe r places. to citi es. When
th ese are not forthcoming they
ta ke leave. Loca l administra-
lion has bee n ha rd hit. in some
places a t a s ta ndstill. The exa m-
ples of la ndi a la and other
tHrrori s t-stru ck places force
one. unwillingly. to conclude
that in th e disturbed areas ter-
rorist s Me ca lling th e tune. The
SHnse of insecurity is a ll perva-
sive. The Colden Temple has a
deserted look. Hindus stopped
co ming long agu. but now Sikhs
tuo avoid their holy of holies.
Peopl e are afraid t() come, a
young Sikh tells us, because an-
ything ca n happen at anY ,time.
The killings are increasing
day by day, From 1.10.85 to
28.6.86 official sources admit
217 persons were killed. Hindus
anrl Sikhs. with Hindus pre-
dominating by far w,ith 88
dea ths in Amritsar distri ct and
46 in Gurdaspur. In May a t least
72 people were kill ed in th e
Punjab. It is cl ea r that the kiU-
ings must stop if Punjab is to be
saved from the brink . Official s
agree that the re is hope beca use
so far a part from the three bor-
de r districts th e si tua tion is in
control in th e rest of th e s tate
wh ich does not make headlines .
To stop th e ki llings te rrorists
have to be isola ted. The objec-
tive is clea r but th e s tra tegy. ei-
ther in Chand igarh or Ne w
De lhi, is a nything but. The ordi-
nary peopl e of both communi-
ti es have los t faith in a ll politi-
ca l parti es to rescue the m. Tha i
i:: th e Punjab tragedy.
NFS
India
NEWS
FROM
FIELDS
AND
SLUMS
A news and articles servicE'
For further details
Write to:
Bharat Oogra. Editor
NFS Service. 0-7 Raksha Kunj
lPaschim Vihar. New Dp.lhi -ll 006:
Sunday 15-30 June 1986 15
F8rum
--------_Gazettc ___________ _
Kudal, Gandhi and the Nation
T
he case of th e Nagaland
Gand hi Ashram
Chuchuyimla ng provides a
good illus tra ti on of what the
Kudal Commi ss ion has
achi eved in the past 4'/2 yea rs
a nd its conseque nces.
The Kudal Commission's al-
legations dated 15th April 1985
make ou t thal:
.. By publica li on of{the aJore-
sa id) large scole maps under the
garb oJ rural development work
in the res tricted border-areas,
withoul obtuining, permission oJ
the Ministry oJ DeJence and Ihe
Sur vey oJ Indi a, revea led vit al
inJo rmation such as loca ti ons oJ
telephone exchanges. electric
s ub-s lations ... .. Ihereby contra-
vened the provisions oJ the OJJi-
cial Secrets Act, 1923 and violat
ed the Map Reslri ction Poli cy oJ
the Govern men t oJ India as Ihe
said maps and inJorma tion con
tain ed therein , directly or indi-
rect/y, could be useJult o a n e ne-
my ... the disclosure oJ which is
likely to aJJect the sovereign ty
and integri ty oJ Indi a as well as
the securit y oJ the State."
What are the fa c ts? Thirty
years ago, in 1956, Gandhiji's
dis tingui s hed associa te
Kakasa heb Kalelkar inspired a
23-year old Gujarali youngman
Natwar Thakkar to go and
spend' some time i n Naga land
which was seet hing with ins ur-
gency and rebellion. In th e pre-
vailing atmosphere citizens
from other parts of India were
gertera ll y not welcome. Indeed
they we re looked at with suspi-
cjon and hostilit y.
Natwar Thakkar jumped at
th e idea but agreed to go for a
period of one yea r, that was in
1956. But he never returned
from Naga land. he made it hi s
home, married the re a nd raised
children.
Ll Gen S P P Thoral. GOC
Eastern Command was wonder-
s truck to find in Apri l 1959. a
non Naga Indian:
"II made me feel very happy
a nd proud IhaL an Indi an, Jor
saki ng a comJorlabl e home and
a good career, has devoted his
energies for the uplift oJ the
Noga-People. I have no doubl
that your ,Ashram which is 01-
readl' }ioing such s terling good
work wi ll gai n fut ther
s trengtt) - the s ucCess of whi ch
wnI undoubtedly bri ng credil to
you and 10 Il) dia."
Eigh t yea rs late r in May 1967
anoth er senior army officer
Major General Kalyan Singh
i ncharge of security of th e re-
gion confirmed that "Mr
Thakkaris'runninga modest in-
s tituti on on r-ea l Gandhian pri n-
ciples with a missionary zeal.
He is wor king unde r extre me ly
difficult -.conditions and envi-
ronmen t but seems to have won
over the locals by hi s sincer e
approach and affection. I. wish
the institution s uccess a nd
bright futurp.."
But th e Kudal Commission,
sitting in De Lhi was framing a l-
legations in 1984 that the
Nagaland Gandhi Ashra m was a
threa t to national security, Hap-
pi ly, at the very moment Col D
H Arora, Dy Brigade Command-
e r, 56 Mountain Brigade was
watching th e wor k of the
16 Smtday 15-30 June 1986
-A view from Ch ueh uyimlang-
L. C. Jain
For strange reasons of its own, the government is engaged in a witch hunt
of some of the finest social work institutions in the country.
As hra m and Natwar Thakkar at
the grass-root leve l:
"I have visit ed Gandhi
Ashram and Ihe mp.dica l relief
ca mp organised under Ihe aegi s
of the Ashram by Shri Thakkar.
1 Ihink Ih is is the [il'sl time thut
such reputed speciali sls Jrom
AII MS. Delhi have come 10 Ihis
region and made avail oble their
servi ces to I he vi ll agers. One ha
to see to beli eve wha l is not
available to peopl e bock 01 Delhi
is 01 Ihe door step of the people
in this remote pla ce. This has
onlv been possibl e due 10 tireless
eJJorts oJ its organ iseI' . A hercu
lean lask made possibl e by
sou nd coordination by Shri
Thakkar. A nobl e job
unassumin gly done deserves
honours. " (March, 1984)
There is a tradition in th e ad-
mini s tration to re ly more on th e
assessment of the 'person on th e
spot' than on tha t of visitors.
howsoever djstinguil/hed. The
Depu ty Commissioner of th e
di s trict is the admi ni s tra tion 's
' man on the
spot' . He re is an example of
what he had to say as recentl y
as 1985.
(Juring my lenure as Deput y
Co-mmissioner. Mokokchu.ri g Jar
2V<! years, I have been in close
conlocl wilh Ihe Ashram, and
the assacia tion has resulted in
strengthening the- impression
tha t 1 had ga thered a boul il -
thaI Ihe Ashrum hod always
worked wi lh 0 clear goal in mind
thaI Nagolond a porI oJ Indio
and thaI inl egra lion can best be
a chieved through voluntary so-
cial work."
The Northeas t area and the
work of various volunta ry
gro ups there; is a lso in th e
ambit of the intelli gence agen-
cies.' Sample, the Ministry of
Home Affairs written answer in
th e Lok Sabha on April 1. 1931
(a month before some
Congress- I MPs la unched a full
scale attack on Gandhian
organisa tions in the Lok Sabha
all eging use of foreign money to
destabilise India}:
"Question No. 5934 an-
swered 'On' 1st April, 1981: Utili-
sation of forei gn money by
AVARD
Shri V N GadgiJ
Shd R L Bhatia -
Will tJie Minister of Home
Affairs be pleased to state:
a) Whether it is a fact that the
main area of operation of
I AVARD (Association of Volun-
tary Agencies for Rural Devel-
opment, during the last few
years has been the strategic
eastern region of India;
Shri Kakasaheb Ka lelkar being
escorl ed If) Ihe main building of
Ga ndhi Ashram, Naga land,
ChUl:huyi mlang Shri Nalwar Thakkar
is on Kaka Saheb's righ!.
d) if so, the findings
thereof?
Answer: Minister of State in
the Ministry of Home Affairs
Shri Yogendra Makwana
a) Government is aware that
the organisation has undertak-
en some projects in the Eastern
region as a part of their nation-
wide programme of activities.
b) Government have no such
information.
c) No. Sir, but activities of
s uch organisations are general-
ly kept under watch and appro-
priate action under the law is
taken as and when necessar y.
d) Does not arise."
None of th ese gua rdi ans of
India's national secu rit y,
whe the r representing th e
Defence Ministry or the ci vil
admini stra tion, who have
watched th e Ashram grow ove r
three decades, found anything
even remot ely impinging upon
India's national securit y-if an-
ything they saw in it an en,deav-
our to ceme nt nationa l integra:
t-ion ' in the" face of ane of the
most prolonged a nd ferocious
insurgencies in the region.
We may also as k Ih e ques-
lion as to what is th e nature of
work which the Naga land
Gandhi Ashram has been en-
gaged in. Since the entire s tate
of Nagaland is a triba l a rea , the
wo rk of this As hram has been of
di rect interes t to th e Commis-
sioner for Sched u led Cas tes a nd
Sched ul ed Tribes. Extract from
the Commissioner's s tatu tory
Report submi,tted annuall y to
Parliament through the Presi-
dent of India. for the yea r 1979-
81 speaks for itself.
"The Naga land Gdndhi
The oUI -patient s clinic oJ the
Health Centre provided useful
service to the Iribes.
Ashrum is e ndeavouring .
10 es tuhli s h it s hrunches in vari
ous parIs oj' Ihe Stale. Determi
notion III do good deeds 10 the
soc:iet y gives no (:ognisanr.e ,10
di}Ficulli es and hindrances. This
j'w;t has heen U Il1 ply pfCJved by
Shri Na twur Tlwkkar. Ihe
lur,l'. o), 11m Ashralll and his teom
of dedi caled Ivorkers who ha ve
done work Jar the
up/iIllllenl oj' the rural inlwbi-
tunIs oj' Nugu land and
Chuc:huvilll/ung in particu lar.
His c;onirihution to Ih e cause o-J
trihal welJure wi ll he uppreciat-
ed hv aliI hose who arf. awarf. oJ
the prohlf.ms oJ working in Ihe
remote Gorners of Ihe cou ntrx."
These findin gs were en-
dorsed by Dr Man Mohan Singh,
ny. Chairman of th e Pla nning
Commission whe n he vis it ed
the Ashram some time back.
The Nagaland Gandhi
Ashram has thus the best cre-
dential s any social work
organisation could dream of-
both from agencies responsible
for India's security as weU as
those responsible for planning.
development and social
.emancipation.
Now le t us tu rn to th e maps
and data a nd de ta il s of
infras tru ctura l faci liti es repro-
duced in thp. Naga land Block
deve lopmen t plan prepared for
the Ashram by AVARD (Associ -
a tion of Vo luntary Agencies for
Rural Development). These a re
based on Cens us of India publi-
ca ti ons ava il abl e for sa le in
India and abroad. Any agency
int eres ted in s uc h maps or de-
ta il s. for ult eri or or bene vol e nt
moti ve, can pUIch.ase-ilie CeQ-
' s us publicalion for a mere ten
rupees from the bazar. No agen-
cy needs the a uspices of a vol-
untary orga ni sa ti on like the
Nagaland Gandh i Ashram for
such da ta. The meanest inle lli-
gence can see th a I the a ll ega-
tions are imagina ry and
baseless.
The rura l deve lopmen t plan
a longwith th e maps and 'I:he
data and information. round
whi ch th e Commission has
woven a web of sin ister pur-
pose. was prepared fo r the
Nagaland Gandhi As hram and
first submi ll ed by AVARD to
the Naga land Gove rnme nt for
approva l. Both the Governor
(Shri L P Singh at the time) a nd
the Sta te government accorded
their wrillen approval in
1974-copies of which are on
the records of th e Commission.
But since th e al legations persi s t.
it can be infer red that th ey are.
in the ca tegory of 'inconve n-
ient' documentation which had
be tt er be ignored.
Why has the Commission
trained it s guns on Natwar
Thakkar. The reason is not far
to seek. The Commission is on a
hunt for those who have "tar-
ni s hed" the image of Mahatma
Gandhi; and wherever it finds
an individual or institution as-
sociated with or praised by JP, it
is convinced that the activities
must be anti-national. Tbis is
what JP said about Natwar
Thakkar in 1964 when he was
on a peace mission there:
Be that as it may. while Ihe
Commission has ye t to make a
Jinal report. the Government
has a lready damned the
Ashram and advised various
ministries not to provide any
funds to th e Naga land Ga ndhi
As h tam and indeed many ot her
{,andhian and volunta ry
organ isa ti ons. Nagala nd
Ca ndhi Ashram is on ly one of
Ih e hundreds of bodies whose
work has been brought. to a
grinding hall.
What ' mot ive the Govern-
ment had in selling up the Com-
mISSIon in 1982 agai nst
Candhian organisations in the
a ft e rmat h of th e Emergency is
we ll known. These bodies de-
fi ed the Emergency and ma ny
of thei r wo rke rs were impri s-
oned. To th em the grp.ates ll ega-
cy of Candhi was fea rl ess and
staunch opposi tion a nd resi s-
tance to th e wholp.sale curtail-
' ment of fundamental rights and
civil liberties. The Emergency
gave them an opportu,:!ity to
demons tra te that they would
not le t Ga ndh i's legacy be
s hamed. Bu t wha t no one is able
to figure out is why Ihe Prime
Minister Mr Rajiv Gandhi con-
.tinue.s to allow Ihe CQmmi ssion
to function.
The consequences of the
Kuda l Commission are: the
Naga land Gandhi Ashram is
dy ing but th e Commission is
swallowing large chunks of
publi c funds. The Ashram is
he ld au t as public enemy and
starved of aid. The Commission
is he ld ou t as a protector of pub-
Ji c in terest and given unfett ered
access to public revenues bei ng
energeticall y coll ected by the
Finance Minist e r: If the
Nagaland Gandhi Ashram die-
someth ing precious to India. a
symbol of national int egra tion
- wi ll die with it.
Let us pray that Ramayana-
like good will prevails and Sita
is rescu ed in time .
b) Whether it is a fact that
foreign money has been
channelised by A V ARD for
helping those organisations
who are engaged in agitational
work in the eastern border of
India;
c) Whether Government
have instituted any enquiry;
and
Ashram, Chuchuyimlan g was
eslablished in the yea r 1955. The
firs t ever aclivily undertaken by
Ihe Ashram was Ihe running of a
small medical-aid Centre w/iere-
in dislribution of f ree medicine
and rendering of Jirst-aid was
arra nged. In the year 1977 a
multi-purpose medical reli ef
camp was organ ised in coll abo-
ration wit h the Naga land Gov-
ernment and the local Army
medical set-up. Encouraged
wilh the success achieved, Ihe
Gandhi Ashram, in October
1979 started a Health Centre.
You do not have a
bette. choice