Vol. 1 No.

8
Farooq Abdullah - leading the National Conference campaign for a democratic mandate in the 1983 Sfate
Assembly elections.
M.P. Government's Neglect of
Bhopal Gas Victims
Volunteers Harassed by Police as Victims Suffer
I
s the MOlilal Vora govern
ment in Madhva Pradesh
about to break up what
remains of the voluntary eff0l1
to help the victims of the Bho-
pal gas catastrophe of December
1984?
The chief minister S3VS ' no';
he told a delegation of con-
cerned citizens who saw him in
New Delhi on September 12,
that he has no such intentions.
By A Special Correspondenl
But going hy what has been
happening over the past 10
days in Bhopal the ans\ver
would seem fn be 'yes:' What
else can explain the wholly
arbitrary arrest and detention
on September 5 of two volun-
tarv acri"ists, Gautam Banerjee
of -the Bhopal Gcoup for Infor-
malion and Action fBGlA.J, and
David Bergman. a young Eng-
li shman working on a project

l
-!
j

!
i
!
S
<
for the gas affected children
called ' Suraksha ",I
However Motilal Vora's
intentions might have been, and
however ignor.1nt he may be of
those of his own officers, there
cannot be the least doubt that
some seniol' poUcemen and
bureaucrars of the M.P. govern-
ment have embarked 011 a plan
to harass and malign these
volunteers. Among the officially
levelled charges against David
and Gautam are trespass and
breach of the Official Secrets
Act
UnoffiCially, land as eamed in
calculated leaks to the local
pressJ, they include spying for
Union Carbi de, caIl)'ing on sub-
versive activities detrimental not
only to the intel'ests of the state
but also to those of Carbide's
victims. tens of thousands of
whom continue to suffer from a
variety of disorders 21 months
after exposure to poisonous gas.
Preposterous Allegations
So pl''Cposterous are these
allegations that even the stolidly
consevative TImes of India con-
temptuously dismissed them as
" trumped-up charges" . The
frdfTling of the t\vu activists has
pcovoked a protest from a large
number of voluntary agencies,
radical groups, intellectuals and
humanists appalled by the
Continued on page 5, col 4
Fortnightly Rupees Two
Winter of Discontent
Ahead In Kashmir
Moderate Forees Being Pushed Beyond The Brink
8aljit Malik
Resorts emanating from
Kashmir point to a growing
wave of resentment in the
miley against the high-
handed policies of the
government in New Dellii.
The politieal situation is
delicately poised, caught
as ii is in the vice of the
Centre's inten-entiorust p0li-
cies and the communal
di,ide between the valley
and the Jammu region.
Governor's rule has been
turned into President's rule
with no clear indication of
when fresh elections will
be held.
T
he Kashmir Valley is in a
sullen mood. The past two
weeks have been marked
by arbitrary actions on the part
of Governor Jagmohan and a
v{ave of demonSTrations, pro-
tests and arrests. Governor's
nile has been replaced by Pres-
idents rule, with no clear indi-
cation about when elections
will be held. The State Assembly
is still in suspended animation.
arousing widespread sllspicion
that the Congress-I is up to its
old lricks of trying lU wrest
power thcough the back door.
For the past few months, the
Prime Minister and the fOJTI1er
Chief Minister of the State, Raji\'
Gandhi and Facooq Abdullah
have been engaged in a dia-
logue in an effort to find a way
out in Kashmir, which would
somehow prevent embarrass-
ment for the PM at the national
level and the former eM
within the Kashmir Valley_
It is believed that the two
did arrive at a 'magic' for-
mula by which the Nalio naJ
Conferene would accept
dent's rule in return for dii\solu-
tion of the Assemblv. However,
as events have oul the
diktat has been impo
sed without dissolving the
Assembly. Thus, with its latest
act of betrayal, the Centre has
dealt a blow to the moderate
nationalist forces in the State,
and pcovided the communally
inclined elements and pro-
Pakistani forces another oppor-
tunity to whip up a frenzy of
sectarian emotions.
The present crisis in this stra-
tegic northern State dates back
to the last assembJy elections,
and the 'coup' a year later in
1984, when the
stage-managed defections from
the ruling National Conference,
thus spelling the end of a popu-
larly elected govcmlllent.
The coolness ill 1'Clarions bet-
ween Rajiv Gandhi and farooq
Abl:ullah, and I\' ew Delhi and
Sri nagar, set "1 with par-ti cular
vengeance just befol'e. during
and aft er the elections to the
State A,ssembly in 1983. During
that election, the Congress-I
under the I.lte Indira Gandhi
left no MOlle untllmed, no nile
in the book unbroken in a bid
to unseal Famoq Abdullah and
his party. the .'Jarional Con-
ference,
But inspi te of all the tricks in
its bag, including an orches-
trated campaign to manipulate
the pl'ess, the Congress-I. was
defealed at the polls fdirly and
squarely.
Besides defeating the Con-
geess-1. Facooq Abdullah and
the National Conference also
prevented Islamic fundamenlal-
ists and pro-Pakistani elen'lfmts
from winning a single seat in
the t\ ssemblv. Yet. unable to
accept the of failing to
capture political power through
legitimat e means, the Congress-I
resorted to ils olel trump card
of pointing to the Pakistani
ghost. A campaign was let loose,
accusing farooq and the N.C. of
harbouring secessionists and ex-
tremists as an excuse for the
dismissal of the elected
government
The dismissal ca me a little
before Ihe elected government
had completed one year in
office. In its place was inslalled
<I regime of defectors, propped
up vvith Congresss-J support.
And all this inspite of the J&.K
law against defections.
See page ! 3 for a report on
Faruoq Abdullah's views as ex-
pressed in conversation with
Baljil Malik.
Inside
Viewpoint by Oevdutt
Farooq Abdullah Speaks Out
Spotlight on Misra
Commission Report
Baba Jassa Singh
Ahluwalia - Interprid
Fighter and Liberator
Plus
Civil Liberties
Government guilt in
Bhopal. Profiles of
Suhashini Mulay and
Fiquar Taunsvi
Fi
lhe
_M_e_dia_W_a_tc_h _________
God Save the National Anthem
T
he nation 's 'sanctity and
purity' las they say these
days! was in grave danger
again last month. The attack
came not from unpatriotic Sikhs
or disloyal Gurkhas; it was not
launched by antinational Kash-
miris or troublesome Nagas; it
came unexpectedly from three
Kerala schoolchildren.
The children Bijoe, Binu Mol
and Bindu Emmanuel belong to
Jehovah's Witnesses "a religious
movement founded in 1872 ...
with no formal church organisa-
tion .. . who avoid participation
in secular government. "
' They !the children) attend
school. Daily during the morn-
ing assembly when the national
anthem is sung they stand
respectfully, but they do not
sing. They do not sing because
it is against the tenets of their
religious faith . . . not the words
or thoughts of the anthem but
the singing of it. ... This, they
land before them their elder sis-
ters! have done all these several
years. No one bothered. No one
worried. No one thought it dis-
respectful or unpatriotic .. . till
July 1985 when some patriotic
gentleman . . thought it was
unpatriotic not to sing the
national anthem" IBiojoe Emma-
nuel vs State of Kerala SC 1986).
National Honour Saved
Thanks to the efforts of the
above mentioned gentleman na-
tional honour was preserved
and the children expelled from
school. The chiLdren's father
appealed to the high court of
Kerala where "first a learned
single judge and then a division
bench rejected the prayer of the
children." The case went to the
Supreme Court who reversed
the jurlsernent saying the High Cowt
of Kerala had "misdirected itself
and gone off at a tangent " . ..
which in non legal lingo means,
"are you bonkers"" The Press
also got a chance to show
which side of the patriotic fence
they were on.
The predictably ultra patriotic
HiNDUSTAN TIMES IHT 16 Aug.J
felt the judgement was "bound
to make the concept of national
honour an elastic one .. . it
:The
FOrum
Gazette
Panel of Consulting Editors
Justice V.R. Krishna lyeI',
I.K. Gujral, Madhu KishwaJ',
Khushwant Singh, Jaya Jaidy,
Rajni Kothari, Amrik Singh,
Kuldip Nayal'
Chairman, Board of Editors
Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora lreld.)
Managing Editor
Baljit Malik
Editors
G.S. Sandhu, Harji Malik,
A.S. Narang. Jasjit Purewal
Associate Editor
Avtal' Singh Judge
Circula tion
Lt. CoL Manohal' Singh (reid.)
Business Manager
Jatindel' Kaur LaB
Editorial (Campi Office
" Bhagwan Das Road
New Delhi-llOOOl.
Phone: 385270,385042
Th: 315220 HBLK FOR GAZE'ITIl
Preminder Singh
could be seized by practitioners
of other faiths to r1aim similar
exemption from acceptance of
national symbols including the
tricolour". leading to a hOrrifY-
ing situation where "Preachers
of minority communities could
come up with one religious
injunction after another to ac-
centuate their separateness, all
of which cannot but weaken the _
national identity". It is interest-
ing to note the world view of
the HT that minority communi-
ties are breathlessly waiting for
liberal Supreme Court judge-
ments so they can start issuing
a steady stream of religious
injunctions to weaken the patrio-
tic identities of HT readers.
Luckily M.K. Tikku IHT 17 Aug.l
found "it a pointless exertise on
the part of the Kerala govern-
ment to have made a fetish of
the singing part when standing
up during the recital should
have sufficed."
THE TIMES OF iNDIA wisely
refrained from editorial com-
ment. Perhaps editor Girilal Jain
is lying low after being recently
incriminated in the Reliance
scandal and does not feel he
has the moral authority to lec-
ture us on patriotism and other
virtues. Instead TOI (28 and 29
Aug.! had an excellent two part
serial by Praful Bidwai "defend-
ing freedom against jingoism .. .
and apart from being basically
sound the judgement as a
whole represents a victory for
reason and for freedom of spee-
ch. expression and conscience
over narrow considerations ba-
sed on ultra or chauvinistic
nationalism or those deriving
from a desire to impose an arti-
ficial uniformity in the name of
the national interest. "
THE TRIBUNE IAug 14) found
"a disturbing tendency in this
country among certain sections
of society to sow seeds of sep-
aratism in other people who
seek to affirm their religious
faiths and regional identities.
The entire case has arisen out
of this distorted sense of
patriotism ., ."
Is Big Brother Watching
THE INDIAN EXPRESS (IE 15
Aug.) congratulated the Supreme
Court for its 'forthright ruling'
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and found that there was not
only a moral but a political les-
son to be dravvn from it. "Any
society which allows them Ina-
tional symbols! to become an
end in themselves and compels
its citizens to conform mind-
lessly is headed towards on
Orwellian nightmare. That will
create a national of automations
who fall in line because they
are required to, in order to
demonstrate that they are patrio-
tic.
"Other countries have gone
that way - Germany under
Hitler for instance and Japan
under Tojo - and they have
come to grief. It is only a short
journey from jingoism to fas-
cism and there is enough evi-
dence that left to themselves
there are plenty of forces at
work which will hasten this
country in that direction. For-
tunately as long as there are
Supreme Court verdicts like 'this
one. and people who are willing
to speak out their minds, there
is hope that these forces will be
thwarted."
Patriotism A Refuge
For Scoundreds
While admiring Mr. Atal Behari
Vajpayee. leader of the BJP
("and the man charged with the
guardianship of national honour
and dignity") "for his higher
standards in matters of patriot-
ism", S Mulgaokar (IE 23 Aug.)
could not resist visualizing him"
... in the privacy of his home .. .
as he stands to attention and
raises his hand in salute every
time he sees the national flag
on television." Mr. Mulgaokar
worries however about the onset
of "supertlous immunity syn-
drome which you help build up
by turning too many occassions
into a test of patriotism".
J. Sri Raman (PATRIOT - 30
Aug.) finds this respect for the
anthem missing among the
du chauvinists. While praising
the judgement as a "salutary
antidote to national jingoism".
he fears the BJP-RSS organisa-
tions want "that the Jana Gana
Mana needs to be abandoned
as the National Anthem and
replaced by Bande Matram . ...
they might have never refused
to sing, but the contempt of the
India
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2 Tuesday 16-30 September 1986
-::arriers of the Hindi -Hindu -
Hindustani message for the an-
them has never been concealed."
In one of the best articles on
the subject S. Sahay, Editor The
STATESMAN 121 Aug.) takes a
close look at the "finelv honed
judgement. It shows sensi-
tivity to minority freedom and
deserves praise rather than con-
demnation. A country's unity is
not to danger because three lor
a dozen) school children are
silent. "
The Government of India cer-
tainly doesn't think so. The
Attornev General has asked for
the case to be reviewed by a
larger bench. Obviously five he-
ads are better than two. And
the principal of a sanskrit school
in Kerala has taken advantage of
the situation by substituting the
singing of the anthem with
some more patriotic composi-
tions of his own. He finds that
Rabindranath Tagore's 1911 song
is only a geographical descrip-
tion in praise of the British
emperor. Obviously we are suf-
fering not from a lack of patriot-
ism but an excess of it.
You Too Brutus
And finally the most illiterate
comments from the best news-
paper. "et tu Brute". as Julius
might have said. THE TELE-
GRAPH 117 Aug.! felt that "no
one really took the contention
of the Witnesses that singing
the national anthem was against
their religious belief. very
seriously" .
Good grief Charlie Brown!
Open any encyclopaedia and
learn that one of their central
teachings is non-participation in
any ritual or better still. if you
have the time read the Supreme
Court judgement itself. "They
do not sing the national anthem
wherever! 'Jana Gana Mana' in
India, 'God Save the Queen'. in
Britain. 'The Star Spangled Ban-
ner'. in the United States .. .
they appear to have always
expressed and stood up for
such beliefs all the world over
. . . . Their stand has brought
clashes with various govern-
ments resulting in law suits.
mob violence, imprisonment.
torture and death ... more than
6000 Witnesses were inmates of
Nazi concentration camps ...
they have taken 45 cases to the
Supreme Court in the US and
have won significant victories
for freedom of religion and
speech".
THE TELEGRAPH further adds
that "Jehovahs Witnesses raised
this issue deliberately and pro-
vocatively.' and one's first and
admittedly irritable impulse is
to tell this sect to ask Jehovah
for an island somewhere and go
there instead of gnawing at our
secular democracy."
This issue as we known was
raised by an interfering patriotic
busybody and my first irritable
impulse is to ask the writer of
this editorial to go back to
school and learn to read before
he writes. Maybe he could go to
the same Kerala school as Bijoe
Emmanu.el (hopefully readmit-
ted) and sing the national an-
them as often and as loudly as
he pleases while learning to
respect Bijoe's silence,
Rabindranath
Tagore's
Translation
of the
National
Anthem
Thou art the ruler of the minds
of all people.
dispenser of India's destiny.
Thy name rouses the hearts of
Punjab, Sind. Gujrat and
Maratha,
Of the Dravida and Orissa and
Bengal;
It echoes in the hills of Vind-
hyas and Himalayas, mingles
in the music of Jamuna and
Ganges and is chanted by the
waves of the Indian Sea.
They pray for thy blessings and
sing thy praise.
The saving of all people waits in
thy hand.
thou dispenser of India's destiny.
Victory, victory. victory to thee.
The
National
Song
The song Vande Mataram.
composed by Bankimchandra
Chatterji (1838-1894) was a source
of inspiration to the people in
their struggle for freedom. It has
an equal status with Jana-gana-
mana. The first political occa-
sion on which it was sung was
the 1896 session of the Indian
National Congress.
The English translation of the
stanza rendered by Sri Auro-
bindo 11872-1950) is:
I bow to thee, Mother,
richly-watered. richly-frui ted,
cool with the winds of the
south.
dark with the crops of the
harvests.
the Mother!
Her nights rejoicing in the glory
of the moonlight.
her lands clothed beautifully
with her trees in flowering
bloom.
sweet of laughter. sweet of
speech.
the Mother, giver of boons. giver
of bliss !
Courte8Y: India 1985
Publicaoon8 Division
Govenunent of India
Your
travel
orgaJ;lisation
SInce
1948
.}
...

IIERCillY TRAWlS
(//111M) Ullmll
Jeevan Tara Building.
Parliament Street,
New Delhi-l10001
Phone: 310602. 312008.
Fortnight Focus
A "Hiccup" on the Sino-Indian Border
CHINA
)

HI'Jfl
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THAG LA
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Tawang,.01\ KAMENG
BHUTAN ? Bomdila ::;-;
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'''''',,-. _.-' ""." . ./" . ...,., ....

ASSAM
1'-'
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,

T
he 40 odd Chinese camp-
ing in the Sumondrong
valley in Arunachal Pra-
desh have ceased to be a nine
days wonder. Attention has now
shifted to the tussle for influ-
ence between the hawks and
the doves on reformulating a
China policy. It is a debate all
the more intense because of the
government's apparent confu-
sion in handling the Chinese
intrusion and ostensibly indefi-
nite encampment in an area
south of the McMahon line or
as China prefers to stress, the
"Li ne of Actual Control".
At the core is the question,
"how serious is the Chinese
intrusion?" Mira Sinha Bhata-
charjee writing in "Frontline"
provocatively argues that in view
of the "genuine" lack of clarity
about the "line" crossed by the
Chinese it may be questioned
i whether an intrusion has at all
taken place. She draws upon
the Minister of External Affairs
statement in Parliament admit-
ting for the first time since 1958,
that there was a "lot of confu-
sion" about the McMahon line
itself. The thick nib used by
McMahon in 1914 to draw the
boundary line resulted in a
situation on the ground where
there could be a difference of a
few kilometres in either direc-
tion. Was there then any intru-
sion, given the fact that the
Chinese had after all penetrated
only 6 to 7 kms south of the
McMahon line.
More important, Sinha an
experiElnced China analyst, ar-
gues that "the recent intrusion
need not represent a new har-
dening of ilie Chinese position
nor a setback to the Sino Indian
talks. No doubt the Chinese
have rejected India's protests
about an intrusion and admant-
ly claimed that they are en-
camped in an area well north of
the line of actual control which
is akin to the McMahon line, a
line that China denounces as
illegal Sinha believes that the
Chinese attitude and the Indian
response (admiting that there
are "grey areas") promises scope
for both sides to mutually ac-
knowledge and identify small
areas of dispute while reaffirm-
ing the validity of the overall
line.
Hawkish Position
At the other end of the spec-
trum, (the hawks?), influential
commentators like Inder Malho-
tra in the TOI assert that the
very serious Chinese intrusion
was an aggressive proclamation
by Beijing from the mountain
tops of a hardening of their
stand. Ever since the sixth
round of Sino Indian border
talks in November 1985, the
Chinese had begun to insist
that they regarded the "eastern
sector" the Arunachal Pradesh
area, as the main problem and
that any significant concessions
that the Indians demanded in
the western sector, the Aksai
Chin area, wo"uld have to be
met with concessions on the
eastern front. But the Chinese,
who Malhotra argues like to
negotiate from a position of
strength, decided to go beyond
verbal pressure. In June some
40 Chinese crossed over and
occupied in the Wongdong pas-
ture a small civilian intelligence
post normally manned by Intel-
ligence Bureau personnel dur-
ing the summer months. This
time the Chinese had preceded
them.
China had thus rudely chal-
lenged India's complacency
about Beijing's defacto accep-
tance of the McMahon line on
the eastern sector. Moreover,
the implications of a sector by
sector approach advocated by
India in preference to the Chi-
nese proposal for a package
deal (acceptance of the status
quo in the Aksai Chin area for
China's renunciation of its paper
claim to 90,000 sq miles of terri-
tory in the eastern sector) was
alarmingly brought home.
U.S.-Pakistan-China
Collusion
What gave an even more sin-
ister edge to the Chinese move
was the backdrop of US-
Pakistan-China collusion. The
use of the American made
Sikorsky helicopters to land sup-
plies in the "occupied" area
dramatically highlighted the long
term implications of the devel-
oping military cooperation bet-
ween US-Pakistan and China.
Malhotra called for the govern-
Rita Manchanda
JAMMU
AND
KASHMIR
LADAKH III
'-. INDIA
' ..... ",\
HIMACHAL ._.,
PRADESH
TIBET
Area occuPied by China
ment to respond by militarily
securing some highly strategic
passes on the McMahon line to
forestall a further south ward
Chinese advance.
Suggestion To Invoke
Indo-Soviet Treaty
G K Reddy of the Hindu went
even ful1her. He advocated that
India should invoke Article 9 of
the Indo Soviet treaty, providing
for mutual consultations bet-
ween the two countries in the
event of a perceived threat. It
would not only test the Soviet
commitment at a time when it
was mending fences with China
but equally, a gesture of sup-
port from Moscow might deter
the Chinese from occupying
some of the strategic passes in
the area in order to consolidate
their position in the Sumon-
drong valley.
Interestingly 'G.K. ' who enjoys
the confidence of men in the
corridol'S of power admits that
his advocay of a "firm" even
confrontationist response is not
necessarily shared by the
government. Indeed, the
ter in Parliament has sought to
downplay the incident and his
categoric emphasis on settle-
ment through negotiations only,
has left no room for the possi-
bility of applying pressure via
the Indo Soviet treaty or fortifi-
cation of the strategic passes. It
might of course be asked why
the government informed the
press on the eve of the seventh
round of talks about the intru-
sion in a remote area if after
wards it would decry the banner
headlines that the press gave
-the story and seek to defuse the
intensity of the debate in Parli-
ament on the subject.
Watching From The Wings
The conflicting signals apart,
while the government has cho-
sen not to escalate the matter, it
is far from being sympathetic to
the view espoused by Sinha.
True enough the Chinese have
intruded into a grey area, but
that does not explain why after
1962, Beijing should have now
decided to return to an area
that it had vacated voluntarily.
Is Beijing signalling the dangers
of a sector by sector approach
blithely advocated by India with-
out New Delhi having actually
scrutinised the situation on the
ground. And why now, at a time
when the country is beset with
internal problems and there is
considerable uncertainity about
the implications of the Sino-
Soviet rapprochement on Mos-
cow's support for India's posi-
tion 01'1 t!:!e SinnIndian border
dispute? No doubt h"trhing
intently from the wings aIt
Bhutan and Nepal. The Foreign
Minister, Shri Shiv Shankar has
said that it does not mean that
in stressing the process of nego-
tiations we are "surrendering"
ourselves but the waffling atti-
tude of the Indian government
cannot but have been care fully
noted by Thimpu and
Khatmandu.
The one positive note in the
cacaphony of often discordant
sounds is that at long last there
is a debate on the China ques-
tion and a re-evaluation of what
has increasingly come to be the
outmoded inflexible approach
of India's old China hands. Beij-
ing by its "intrusion" may well
have altered the very pace and
parametres of the dialogue and
pushed it on a political plane.
Gandhians Express Deep Concern
Call for 5-Point Programme to Tackle Punjab
V
eteran Gandhian worker
Thakurdas Bang called for
a national convention on
Punjab at a briefing for the
press and public workers held
at the Gandhi Peace Foundation
on Monday Sept. 1. He was
reporting the findings of a team
of 54 Gandhian workers drawn
from 13 states who have just
completed a one month inten-
sive tour of the state.
Speaking on behalf of the
groups, Shri Bang also called on
the Prime Minister to hold a
round table consultation of
Punjab to which all sections of
opinion should be invited.
Commenting on the
Anandpur Sahib Resolution,
Shri Bang said that all 'right-
minded' Indians should sup-
port it. At the same time he
pointed out certain weak-
nesses in the resolution and
the fact that it had been mis-
used , by various politicians,
including Shri Rajiv Gandhi.
The Gandhian team felt that
the emphasis on Sikhism in
the resolution should be mini-
. mised in order to broden its
appeal.
Shri Bang drew attention to
the growing divide betWeen the
two communities, Sikh and
Hindu. While Sikhs felt that they
would not get justice in a
Hindu India, Hindus in Punjab
felt that they were not being
given adequate representation
at the political level as well as
GazeHe News Service
in jobs. The Gandhian leader
put the blame for this growing
hiatus squarely on the shoulder
of successive post-independence
regimes in New Delhi for follow-
ing the British imperialist policy
of ' divide and rule'.
The Group of Gandhians has
issued an appeal to: . .. organise
joint peace committees com-
prising of different communities
in every village and ward of a
town. These will ensure the
security of all its citizens, pre-
vent migration and create in
environment in which the mig-
rants can return;
oppose violence for the solu-
tion/ of any problem and
jointly condemn the killing
of the innocents;
avoid becoming victims of
rumours and foreign powers,
celebrate all festivals jointly,
and
develop common Punjabi
identity rather than separ-
ate sectarian Hindu 01' Sikh
identity.
The group urged citizens of
the nation to bring about an
atmosphere in which reactions
due to events in Punjab do not
endanger the indivisibility of the
nation or its compos!te culture.
Appeal to Punjab Government
It appealed to the Punjab
Government:
not to resort to sectarian
partiality in services, appoint-
ments and admissions to
educational institutions;
to end the sectarian attitude
of the police and adminis-
tration;
to hold elections of local self-
Government institutions
forthwith;
to give proper representation
to the minority community
in the cabinet and
to develop such political
structure as will ensure pro-
per participation of all citi-
zens of Punjab.
Appeal To Government of India
In its appeal addressed to the
Government of India the group
called for:
Ii) implementation of the Pun-
jab accord forthwith,
Iii) publication of the findings
of the Ranganath Mishra Com-
mission appointed to inquire
into the killings in November
1984 and to start proceedings
against the accused,
(iii) .start judicial proceedings,
against the detenus imprisoned
in jails in Jodhpur and other
places and to free those who
are not found guilty,
(iv) Convening of a round
table conference of all interests
concerned with the Punjab
problem and
(v) to review the Centre-State
relations as per the directive
principles of the Constitution
and to decetltralise requisite
power up to the village level.
Tuesday 16-30 September 1986 3
F8'rum
_o_ur __ Tlln __ e_s ____________________ GazettB __________________________ _
PUCL and PUDR CommiHed to
Defending Rights of the People
Civil Liberties and Democratic Rights in Bad Shape
ContemporaJy India presents
a disturbing picture to anyone
who is concerned with civil lib-
erties and democratic rights.
The gradual erosion and fla -
grant violation of the demo-
cratic foundations of our society
is visible in every part of thIs
nation. Counteractively there is
a growing awarenB!:.i of civil
rights,. dnd two of the major
organisations which represent
this movement are the Peoples
Union of Civil Uberties and the
People's Union of Democratic
Rights. Both these bodies have
played a major role in investi-
gating publcising and chroni-
cling human rights violations by
the State. Both concentrate on
the defence of the rights of the
people through the existing
democratic institutions.
Recent{v, both organisations
discussed their current activi-
ties and fundamental aims.
PUCL Convention
At its fourth National Conven-
tion held in Bombay. the PUCL
took note of the attack on civil
liberties in various States of the
country with special emphasis
on Jammu and Kashmir. Pun-
jab. Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.
Mr. Balraj Puri identified the
problems of J & K and Punjab
as being similar with the isola-
tion of the mainstream majority
community through the mixture
of religion and politics. He sug-
gested initiating dialogues with
people at all levels of the two
communities.
Mr. V.P. Gupta from Punjab
stressed that there was no
communal divide at the gross-
root level but mass participation
must be mobilised to present a
united front against terrorist.
PUCL must also involve itself in
Punjab in the increasing inci-
dence of the rape and police
torture.
The Gandhian solution was
the only way to restore sanity in
Punjab. according to Mr. Ram
Jethmalani. He suggested that a
team of like-minded persons
should go and try to establish
contact with and speak to the
terrorists. their families and
sympathizers.
Mr. Kannabiram highlighted
the continous State violence
against political dissenters in
Andhra Pradesh since 1945. 135
police camps had been set up
to Cover some 800 villages and
state and police violence and
torture is a common pheno-
menon. In fact towards the end
of the convention a message
was received from Andhra Pra-
desh that three persons believed
to be civil liberty activists had
been arrested by the A.P. police.
He suggested that a Commis-
sion on Human Right be set up
to inquire into all fake encoun-
ters. Mr. Tarakunde forwarded
the motion and the members
endorsed the establishment of
the Commission.
BIHAR Mr. Prabhakar Sinha
stressed that the indiscriminate
violence of the police and the
political patronage of private
armies and goondas made 5elf-
defence impossible for the peo-
ple of Bihar. He suggested that
judicial officers of the rank of
Prof. Rajni Kothari ;- consulting editor
to the Gazette; President of the
Peoples' Union for Civil Liberties in
1984 - when "Who Are the guilty"
was published. Shri Rajinder Sarkar,
former Chief Justice of the Delhi High
Court is the current President of the
Peoples' Union for Civil Liberties. The
Forum Gazette will carry an interview
with him in a forthcoming issue of the
paper.
District Judges hold enqumes
into deaths and police en-
counters.
Representatives from Haryana
and U.P. highlighted the use of
police torture for settling private
vendettas and political rivalries.
Caste wars and communalism
were also on the increase. In a
lengthy debate the speakers
concluded that the role of fun-
damentalists and obscurantists
must be strongly criticised. The
politicisations of the Muslim
Women's Bill. it was argued was
a women's issue which required
greater awareness among wo-
men and leaders of the Muslim
society.
Mr. N.M. Seervai commented
on the recent ordinance to
withhold the reports of com-
missions of enquiry and charged
it as being improper since privi-
lege of secrecy should only be
claimed in case of an actual
threat to national security. He
observed that even in England
criminal cases were excluded
from the claim of privilege. Mr.
Seervai opined that the amend-
men t prima facie goes too far.
especially in the case of crimi-
nal reports.
Finally Mr. Tarkunde. reiter-
ated that no forms of even retal-
itory violence can be justified
and PUCL was committed to
peaceful and democratic means
in all situations.
4 Tuesday 16-30 September 1986
Gazette News Service
PUDR Meeting on Civil Rights Day
The Peoples Union of Demo-
cratic Rights organised a meet-
ing to observe Civil Rights
Day and pay tribute to the
memory of Dr. Ramanadham
the well known social activist
of Andhra Pradesh, who was
killed in his clinic by the
Andhra Pradesh Police on 3rd
September, 1985. Mr. Govlnd
Mukhoty presided and Justice
D.A. Desai was the main
speaker.
Born in a small village in
Andhrain 1933. Dr. Ramanadham
the first person in his family to
insist on a higher education.
had to struggle his way to
become a doctor. After complet-
ing his house surgeonship at
the Gandhi Medical College.
Hyderabad he joined Osmania
Medical College for his Diploma
in Child Health. It was during
this period that he became a
student of the tamous left-wing
intellectual. Dr. Rajgopalan. Both
were to work togetller. twenty
years later. in the Andhra Pra-
desh Civil Liberties Committee.
He set up his own clinic in
Warangal in 1968 and was the
only pediatrician in town. He
was also actively involved in
social activities. and in early
1974 along with another well
known doctor of Warangal he
became a founder member of
the Andhra Pradesh Civil liber-
ties Committee - APCLC - in
Warangal. When emergency was
declared in 1975. Ramanadham
was arrested and taken to the
illegal camp maintained by the
police at Pakia reserve forest.
Here. the police tortured a
,nuinber of young people arrest-
ed during the emergency. and
Dr. Ramanadham's assistance to
the Tarkunde Committee en-
quiry on these encounters was
crucial.
He continued to work with
people in different spheres of
society and worked extensively
with mobile medical teams in
areas hit by natural disasters.
Amongst him accomplishments
is a precedent that he set by
assisting a Brahmia widow re-
tain the management of a tem-
ple from the trustees who want-
ed to evict her on the grounds
WSHOUND
ALL llIE5E ACCORDS '(OU ARE
YOU ReAllY lHlNK
lHEY <'AN '(DU PPfCE
that a woman could not be a
priest.
Conflict With Police
His contlict with the police
arose out of the systematic
efforts by the APCLC to expose
their lawlessness. The APCL
provided legal help to the vic-
tims of police harassment and
challenged the constitutional va-
lidity of the armed camps in the
colleges and villages of Warangal.
Initially the police accused
them of being an extremist front
organisation and later began to
implicate the workers in false
cases. In January 1985 Dr.
Ramanadham was arrested along
with Dr. K. Balagopal and K.
Seetaram Rao and charged with
distributing arms to the extrem-
ists. He was later released on
bail.
On the evening of Sept. 3.
1985 Sub-Inspector Yadagiri
Reddy was shot dead by uni-
dentified assailants. believed to
be naxalities. at Warangal. Next
morning when his funeral pro-
cess was passing through Jaya
Prakash Narayan Road, a section
of the processionists broke into
the doctor's clinic and after
assaulting the patients and the
compounder. they went into
the neighbouring building and
shot Dr. Ramanadham. dead at
point blank range.
Next day. defying Section 144
thousands of people turned up
for his last rites.
State level and local dailies
claimed that he was killed by
armed policeman but the offi-
cial stand was that the extrem-
ists were responsible. The
government refused a judicial
enquiry. Eventually a cm en-
quiry was held whose findings
were not made public.
Mr. Mukhoty spoke of the
numerous violations of civil lib-
erties and human rights in
Bihar. Andhra Pradesh. Punjab.
Assam and New Delhi. He em-
phasised the increasing insensi-
tivity of the press. the govern-
ment and the people to these
atrocities. and the role and
importance of the Judiciary in
the protection of the demo-
cratic process. Justice Desai.
however. did not share Mr.
Mukhoty's optimism about the
judiciary but felt that the final
solution day in mobilising pub-
lic opinion and harnessing
people's power. He accused the
press of being a mouthpiece of
the rich and lauded the efforts
of organisations such as the
PUDR to bring about an aware-
ness for change. "The 21st cen-
tury will come anyway; what we
must worry about is our value
system. and whether it is pro-
gressing in the right direction.
A poster by Sahel;
By Rap
,,,llIEY MAY us A
PEACE PRlz.E FRoM-mE
NOBEL CDMHITTEE'
r=8rum
Our Times GaZette ____________ _
Government and the
Guilt of Bhopal '
0
11 tlw 5th of September,
1986, Gautam Banerjee and
David Bcrgman were arres-
ted in Bhopal. Both are at pres-
ent in polkc custody, having
been charged under the Official
Secrets Act. Neither were allow-
ed to meet their lawver bv the
police, who was forced to apply
to the Magistrate's Court for
pernlission to meet his clients.
Both Gautam and David are
innocent of the charges pressed
against them. David is a 21 year
old student of law in Britain
who bicycled from Birmingham
to Bhopal in February 1986, col-
lecting over .. 5,000 in aid for
the gas victims, He stayed on in
Bhopal to start a therapeutic
programme for children in the
gas affected busties around Car-
bide, The programme, called
"Suraksha", has recently been
adopted by the Citizen's Relief
and Rehabilitation Trust, based
in Delhi. Gautam is a 28 year
old student of computer science
in Calcutta, who came to Bho-
pal roughly two weeks ago to
..... help bring out the monthly
newsletter "Bhopal", which is
produced by the Bhopal Group
for Information and Action
IBGIAI and is at present, one of
the few vehicles for keeping the
conscience of Indian society
alive to the Bhopal disaster and
sensitive to the plight of the vic-
tims of the disaster,
On the 2nd of September he
and another student. Arvind
Rajagopalan, went to cover a
meeting of government and pri-
vate medical practitioners which
had been ' announced in the
local newspapers. As neither
knew much Hindi, they tape
recorded the proceedings, The
recorder was snatched and the
cassettes appropriated by Dr.
Iswar Das, Commissioner (Gas
Relief) and Dr. Dhir, Chief Medi-
, ' cal Officer tGas Relief). On the
- 4th of September, Dr. Dhir regis-
tered a case of trespass against
Gautam and Arvind at the local
police station. On the 5th the
police came to arrest them, but
got only Gautam, as Arvind had
left on a visit to his family. It
was at this stage that the police
charged Gautam under the Offi-
cial Secrets Act. Having raided
the house, they conliscated over
a sackful of papers, including co-
pies of the newsletter. The
police had already been to Dav-
id's house, and arrested him
under the Foreigners' Registra-
tion Act , also raiding the house.
Two days later, they released
David on his personal bond,
and immediately re-arrested him
under the Official Secrets Act.
Thus both Gautam and David
were originally picked up on
relatively minor charges, which
were later changed into a very
serious charge.
Neither David nor Gautam are
connected to any political orga-
nisation; no-one "sent" them to
Bhopal : they have committed
no crime of any sort, either
against society or the State.
Their aims are such as all
espouse: a deeply humanitarian
citizens response to or)e of the
biggest tragedies of our times,
to bring redress to the gas vic-
tims in Bhopal, to whatever
extent and in whatever way
possible, This .involvement of
citizens in the control of envir-
onmental hazards is central to
the stated goals of both the
Central and State Governments.
Their arrests are yet another
instance of the paranoia of the
Madhya Pradesh Government,
which has to date something in
the region of 15 cases against
over 30 volunteers pending in
the Bhopal Courts, on trumped
up charges ranging from "attem-
pt to murder" to "violation of
the Official Secrets Act",
In fact , it is possible to trace a
pattern in the Madhya Pradesh
Government's offensive against
volunteers. Overall, they have
displayed a bristling hostility to
all volunteers who have pointed
to their failings or to Carbide's
culpability; that is, to all those
who have raised their voices in
Bhopal against what is happen-
ing there. In particular, this
hostility has been focussed lar-
gely against those groups who
are not affiliated to national has
sharpened over the last year
and a half, graduating from
minor [though continuous)
harassment, to the levelling of
serious charges, such as
"attempt to murder" in June,
1985 and "violation of the Offi-
cial Secrets Act " in September,
1986. Surely it would be more
appropriate to charge Union
Carbide Corporation with "neg-
ligence amounting to culpable
homicide" than to accuse volun-
teers who are working on mak-
ing Carbide more accountable
of "attempt to murder"? Surely
it would be more fruitful to
enquire into the activities of the
3,000 odd lawYers in India in
Carbide's employ than to charge
volunteers with for
Carbide? The charge is espe-
cially ironic given that some of
these volunteers have been try-
ing to lix Carbide's culpability
as well as to show the scale of
damage wrought by Carbide,
Are these "Official Secrets" or
"public issues"? Is their revela-
tion inimical to the interests of
the Indian people, the Indian
State, or to its relations with
other friendly States?
Or are we perhaps to under-
stand from this charge that
everything related to the gas
disaster is to be kept an "Offi-
cial Secret", even such ques-
tions as how many doctors are
needed in the localities or what
kind of work the gas victims will
be able to do? If such matters
are official secrets then we are
living under a totalitarian State,
and must do our best to fight it.
Finally, what seems to us to
be one of the most dangerous
aspects of this history of intimi-
dation of volunteers, is that
every time some activity amongst
the gas affectfld seems to gell,
the Government cracks dowri
on volunteers, disrupting their
activities and denying gas vic-
tims their help. This is tanta-
mount to allowing the interests
of the Government to nUllify the
interests of gas victims, whose
plight is as grave today it was a
year ago, or a year and a half
ago.
Date : September to, 1986
BHOPAL GROUP FOR
INFORMATION AND ACTION
o 42 Ferdoze Nagar, Bhopal
DELHI COMMITIEE ON THE
BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY
13, Alipur Road, Delhi-l10054
PEOPLE'S UNION FOR
DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS
213, Jar Bagh, New Delhi
and
PEOPLE'S UNION FOR
CIVIL LIBERTIES
F-67, Bhagat Singh Market
New Delhi - 110001
MP Governments Neglect of
Bhopal Victims
I
Continued from page 1, co/3
Madhya Pradesh government's
action,
This is not the lirst time that
the state government has acted
' in gross violation of elementary
nOmlS of decency and fair play,
or stooped to an abymally low
level in dealing with dissent.
Last year it had scores of peo-
ple arrested at a demonstration
outside the state secretariat,
organised to protest against the
government's attitude of indif-
ference to the victims' problems
and its refusal to extend even
measly interim relief to the
poorest and most destitute
amongst them. Since then, 21 of
those arrested have been char-
ged under Section 307 of the
Indian Penal Code with an
"attempt to murder". They in-
clude lecturers and researchers
from the Jawaharlal Nehru Uni-
vesity and social workers and
students not known for a pref-
erence for violence.
Efficient Brutality;
Monumental Indifference
The efficient brutality with
which the M.P, government has
dealt with voluntary workers
struggling for the rights of the
gas affected is only matched by
its monumental indiffurence to-
wards the latter. Even to this
day, only a minuscule propor-
tion of the over one lakh people
who exhibit definite diseases
and ailments linked to their
exposure to toxins released from
the Carbide pesticides plant
have had the benefit of syste-
matic medical treatment.
* Although more than 50,000
people suffer from severe, debil-
itating and irreversible disorders
of the lung, less than 3,000 ,of
them have even had their
medical status continuously
monitored.
* Of the 30,000 to 50,000
children who are known to
have central nervous system
disorders and dysfunctions, and
mild to severe psychiatric prob-
lems, less than 1,000 have had
proper counselling..or medical
treatment.
* Even on the most optimis-
tic estimates, less than a tenth
of those in dire need of medi-
cal , psychological, economic and
occupational rehabilitation have
been covered by the govern-
ment's programmes which re-
main largely symbolic in temlS
of their utility to the people.
* While extensive and com-
plete medical documentation
should have been generated in
respect of at least 1.5 lakh peo-
ple, fewer than 30,000 have any-
thing like a medical record
worth the name.
Most such records are not
only incomplete: they contain
no reference to the history of
exposure to MIC and associated
poisons on the night of Decem-
ber 2/ 3, 1984, or the acuteness '
of the symptoms noted in the
early days and their develop-
ment subsequently.
Union Government's
Dismal Record
If the story of medical treat-
ment and of rehabilitation in
Bhopal is a dismal one, that of
legal relief is no less so. Here
the responsibility lies not merely
with the M.P. government but
with the Union government; for '
under the Bhopal processing of
legal claims Act of last year, .it is
the latter that has assumed
charge of protecting the inter-
ests of the gas-affected people.
To put it bluntly, the litiga-
tion that has now been trans-
ferred by Judge Keenan from
New York to Bhopal is one vast
mess which the government of
India has found it difficult to
sort out. It has just filed a plaint
before a district judge of Bho-
pal; but there is no reason to
believe that it has made ade-
quate preparations for the con-
duct of the case.
Indeed, according to law min-
istry sources, the government is
yet to finalise its strategy on
the critical issues in what is
indubitably the 'World's biggest
lawsuit: with over $ 100 billion
(Rs. 120,000 crores) in numerous
damage claims and over five
lakhs claimants.
In particular, the government
has not yet decided how it will
tackle Carbide's legal effort -
the result of highly paid labours
of hundreds of legal luminaries
in more than one country - to
evade responsibility for the Bho-
pal disaster. Although it is plain
as a pikestaff that Union Car-
bide Corporation of the U.S., as
distinct from its Indian subsi-
diary, was responsible for the
conception, design and erection
of the Bopal plant and specified
its operating and maintenance
procedures in the minutest de-
tail, it is now trying to duck the
issue by passing on the respon-
Sibility to UCIL's engineers, and,
even worse, its workers.
It has gone a8 far a8 to
launch a de8picable di8iniOr-
mation campaign 8Ugge8ting
that sabotage by a disgrunded
worker, and not 8tructural
de8ign problem8 and unsafe
operation procedure8, cau8ed
the accident and the
quent de8truction.
The government of India has
done little to demolish this
pernicious "theory". Similarly it
has not worked out a coherent
strategy that anticipates Car-
bide's legal arguments and effuc-
tively answers them. Such a
strategy is crucial to ensuring
that Carbide will not be able to
go back to American courts and
convincingly contend that the
"due process of law" was not
followed in dealing with the
Bhopal case.
The success of such a stra-
tegy is dependent upon build-
ing systematic medical docu-
mentation for the victims, esta-
blishing a tight casual connec-
tion between their ill-health and
exposure to MIC, as well as on
carefully elaborating the princi-
ples of full liability in tort, m1ti-
national corporate responsibil-
ity, damages (both substantive
and punitive) and on establish-
ing a nexus between Union
Carbide and . the disaster. The
government has showed no re-
cognition of the urgency of for-
mulating such a strategy and
carefully preparing the back-
ground for it.
Evidently sheer in differences
and inaptitude continue to rule
New Delhi's approach to the
consequences of the world's
worst industrial disaster. It is
far from clear if this approach
will change, but plain that only
a great 'deal of organised pres-
sure, both political and from
voluntary groups, has any chance
of success. _
Tuesday 16-30 September 1986 5
:The
_R_e_"_e_W_s __ an ___ dR_e_ft_e_C_ti_O_n_8 ______________ ~ , - - - - - - - - - - - - ____________________ _
At the artist's studio. in his home in Andretta. Shown at top right is the famous "Soni-Mehawa/"; bottom. a rare self-
portrait; with the artist on the right; top left: " The Snake-goddess." (Srimati Lal is 3rd from left.)


Sant Sobha Singh
Saint of the Mountains
T
en years ago, in the sum-
mer of 1976, I had the
good fortune to visit the
painter Sobha Singh. who pass-
ed away last month, at hi s
home and studio in AndreW! in
the Kangra vall ey. I vividly re-
member the experience of bei ng
in a sa intly presence: one that
inspired not awe alone, b_llt
love. The sant, wi th his smiling
eyes and !lowing white beard,
evoked, to my sixteen-year-old
eyes, a delight fu l combinati on
of the most endearing quali ti es
of two of my favourit e personal-
ities: Rabindra.nath Tagore and
Santa Claus. I remember this as
my first mental observation, one.
that came to me quite instan-
taneously! In fact, had it not
been for his striking leanne;;s of
build and his height, one could
vel)' well have called the dear
painter of saints and heroes
Santa Singh.
Srimati Lal
his whit e hair; to a weather-
beaten urbanite like myself, the
tranquility was dreamlike.
In art, there has always been
an eternal conflict between the
'popul ist ' image and the more
rarefied, sophisticated or elitist
recreati on of life. It was the
populi st representational idi om
that came naturallv to Sant
Sobha Si ngh. He did not com-
promise with or apologi se for
this styli sti c preference. In the
process, he gave Indian calendar
art a sanctity and dignity of its
own: as a genre different from,
but not lesser than, the Husains
and Satish Gujmls of our times.
art , Raj a Ravi Vanna, is also fea-
tured by the Akadenli because
he has passed well into poster-
ity despi te all the initial vitrio-
Iism and patronising condes-
cension f!'Olll urban doyens. If
only the Akademi had consi-
dered Sobha Singh worthy of
documentati on while he were
alive! For he is a signifi cant
artistic visionary of our times, in
mc"'e ways thai; one.
The sant took us around his
studio. Its whi te wall s were
stu dded with recrea ti ons of
north Indian myths and legends,
valiant portrait s of Sikh heroes
and heroines, idyll ic landscapes
- dream-like scenalios, meticu-
lously execut ed, which always
had an inescapable touch of
reality about them. The incor-
poration of westel'l1 life-drawing
techniques; the use of varyi ng
shadows upon realistic flesh
tones, and blended pastel shades
in a palette far more western
than Ravi Va1111a 's; in themes
that were deeply grounded in
Indian soil , could be labelled
'kit sch' - inauthenti c, laboured,
even awk\.yard - by the eagle-
eyed expert. But I found myself
charmed by these fresh-eyed
visions and was drav.m into
their dreams. The famed Soni-
Mahewa l, wit h its graceful
movement of lovers by evening
across a parched desert-like
land. seemed irresistably ro-
. mantic. There was a powerful
intensity in the portraits of
Ranjit Singh, Guru Gobind Singh
and Guru Nanak. with a pierc-
ing quality of realism in their
gaze. We stopped in front of a
depiction of Guru Gobind Singh
and his followers, amid a fan-
tastic landscape, with sUlTOuod-
ing mountains and a central
lake upon which swans floated,
stretching their necks out as if
to gain blessing. Can such a
landscape exist, I remember
asking the sant, as I entered
this painting. I cannot forget his
warm smile of reassurance -
Yes, I have set:n it with my own
eyes.
Sobha Singh's realistic paint-
ings were technically impecca-
ble. His figures 'and dimensions
were accurate down to the final
detail. Perhaps this is what
drew him to the crowds. There
is something delightfully appeal-
ing about near-photographic ren-
dition in painting, as the works
of the great European masters
upto the 19th century have
revealed. Singh applied such
techniques to Indian legends,
with great effect. He had trained
a young woman artist, Gurcha-
ran, in this laborious skill, and
she lived in his home as his
adopted daughter. An oil paint-
ing of a still-life with fruits,
which I admired, turned out to
be a work by her, which she
presented to me with rare
generosity. The quality of her
work indicated the fineness of
the tradition that had been
handed down to her by her
Guru. I could understand her
complete devotion to him.
Nearby, in the sweeping land-
scape outside the bungalow,
were deep, mysterious ravines,
called the Neugal Khad. A group
of painters and writers of
An dre tt a, includillg the Bengali '
al1ist Bhobesh Sanyal, sat with
us there, into the early evening.
It was like a scene from the
artist' s paintings: the Sant ap-
peared like a meditating sage in
the fading light.
Later we went back inside,
and my father presented him
vvith some volumes of poetry.
He began to read them with
great concentration, seated mo-
tionless with his right foot rest-
ing upon his left knee, slowly
turning the pages, as if in a
trance. I captured those mo-
ments in a faltering pen-sketch,
which the Sant was delighted as
a chi ld to see and clipped
immediatel v on to his
drawi ng -board.
I have a photograph of that
moment. Perhaps the original
sketch li es hidden somewhere,
in that studio of peace and
dreams. It is now a different
decade, and the Sant is no
more with us.
Andretta, where the artist had
built hi s home and lived like a
hermit, far away from the fre-
netic pace of urban life and
ambition, was one of the most
beautifuL tranquil spots in Kan-
gra. We were surrounded by a
panoramic, romantic view of
lushly-forested Himalayan foot-
hills: behind which loomed the
more sombre snow-capped
peaks of Kashmir. The farmed
landscape glistened like a
many-hued jewel, a Kangra mi-
niature backdrop come alive, as
we drove into the hedged,
bushy pathway to the artist 's
sanctum. This was an unassum-
ing brick bungalow, more wide
than it was tall, painted cream,
with light green shutters.
An obitual)' in a leading
paper correctly pointed out that
Sobha Singh was an arti st who
would be mi ssed by arty con-
noisseur and comer paanwallah
alike. This is no small achieve-
ment. A paanwallah or taxi-
driver is no less human than'
Pupul Jayakar, but would not
identify much with Indian mo-
dem arti sts like Husain who
leave pavement cinema-hoard-
ings behind to achieve
shoulder-rubbing status with our
formidable urban elite cognos-
centi. A taxi driver would, on
the other hand, buy a print of
Guru Nanak or Guru Gobind
Singh, painted recognisably and
unpretentiously by Sobha Singh,
with great joy. The sant con-
sciously chose to lead a simple
life away from culture-vultures,
and take his ru1 to the masses
- and he stuck to thi s choice.
Thi s was to ultimately earn him
respect from snooty elitist quar-
ters as well, although I was
surprised to find, on the day
aft er his deafh, that the Lalit
Kala Akademi had not yet pub-
lished a volume on his works,
in their handy 'Contemporary
Indian Act' series intended to
popularise the works of signifi-
cant Indian artists. Working ar-
tists like Bhobesh Sanyal and
Paritosh Sen are readily availa-
ble in this series, due to an
ostensible sophistication; the
other famous populist of Indian
A Punjabi painter and a Punjabi poet converse: Sant Sobha Singh in
conversation with P. Lal of Calcutta.
At its doorway stood the
upright sage, clad in a light grey
linen kurta and white pajamas,
wrapped in a white Kashmiri
shawl. As he moved gently for-
ward to greet us, his presence
emanated a timeless serenity.
His personality seemed to merge
in perfect harmony with his
surroundings, which were pure,
unspoilt and innocent. The soft
morning sunlight gave a halo to
6 Tuesday 16-30 September 1986
'lWo

ID
One
O
ne can simply laugh at
those who rule the coun-
try and talk of national
integration day in and day out
but have failed to integrate a vil-
lage which stands divided in
two districts of the Punjab State
since the days of British rule in
India.
Dyalpur village is situated on
the Jalandhar-Amritsar GT
Road, sandwiched between Kar-
tarpur and SUbhanpur, two
towns in Jalandhar and Kapur-
thala districts respectively. The
British Government occupied
half of the village on the Kartar-
pur side and left the other half
to be ruled by the Maharaja of
Kapurthala. Both the parts of
the village were not only under
different laws but also sub-
scribed to different cultures-
western and 'riasti '. Even the
rates of day to day consumet
items differed in the two parts
of the village.
With Independence both the
parts have come under the rule
of the Punjab Government but
have been allocated to two dif-
ferent districts. Both have sepa-
rate panchayats, separate co
operative societies and hospitals.
Both have been attached to dif-
ferent police stations and are
being represented by different
Ml.As. If a thief residing in one
part of the village commits a
theft in the other, he is not lia-
ble to prosecuted for the simple
reason that the case will be reg-
istered with the police station
of one district, which has no
jurisdiction to arrest a person
residing in the other district.
Many strange situations have
been created because of the .
two in-one status of this village.
The panchayat of the part of
the village in KapurthaJa distri ct
recently constructed a bus stand
but left it half way to be com
pleted by the panchayat of the
other part of the village which
falles under Jalandhar district.
But that panchayat refused to
oblige simply because the bus
stop was not situated in its
jurisdiction. The half con-
structed bus stop on the G T
Road tells the woeful tale of this
divided viIJage.
Both the parts seem to have
nursed their respective police
stations well. Culprit s of either
part are well protected by their
respective S. H. Os. The Sal"
panches (vi llage headmen! of
both the si des want seriouslv
that the other part of the vill age
be merged with the one they
repres ent. But the politi cal
leaders do not want to lose
their vote bank. Despite the
efforts of sarpanches and Ml.As.
concerned, the stalemat e con-
tinues. Each one wants the
other to surrender. Even the
Government that 'worked' could
not solve this ludi crous pl'Ob-
lem. Dyalpur vi llage continues
to have the status of two-inone
and faces all the problems of a
divided hOll se.
VKS Courtesy
Contemporary Times,
Ludhiana
F8ru
_R_e_"_e_w __ _____________ ______________________________ __
AN INI)IAN STORY
A Story of the Suppression of Civil and Democratic Rights
DOCTOR INVOLVED IN
BLINDINGS
Shaligram Sahu, 18-year old son of a
shopowner. He was blinded at the
Rajaon Police Station in Bhagalpur.
Since he was still able to see, a doctor
was called in to inject more acid into
his eyes.
DSP incriminated
Patel Sahu, a Bhagalpur youth. He was
picked up by the police as he was
returning 'from his field. He says he
was blinded under the orders of the
DSP, Bhagalpur. The police version is
that he is a known criminal. He, how-
ever, has no police record.
An Indian Story is a 58-minute long documentary in colour.
It is an enquiry into the suppression of civil and democratic rights in the world's
"largest democracy". It reveals the reality of Indian poverty, flagrant corruption
and social-economic exploitation in a caste-divided society. Recurrent acts of
political and administrative terrorism against the people are exposed poignantly in
the deliberate blindings of 33 undertrial prisoners in the Bhagalpur district of
Bihar in Eastern India.
An Indian Story is not cinema in the traditional sense. It is a celluloid
documentation of a deprived peoples' search for human dignity in a society
controlled by an upper caste oligarchy which believes in its innate superiority. In
this film. several people have been interviewed who present divergent points of
view. Through official records, press reports and comments of the judiciary, the
film establishes that such acts of deliberate violation of human rights by the police
and the bureaucracy. can no longer be treated as mere abberations or a few
isolated lapses from the norm. This has. in fact , become the norm.
OPPRESSION AT BODHGAYA
Tribal women who live in the village of
Sekhowara in Bodhgaya. They were
chased away from their fields by the
police. The police followed them into
their huts and beat them up. According
to the women, three of them were strip-
ped and later taken into police custody.
Whose 23,000 acres?
Procession at Sekhowara in Bodhgaya,
against the Mohant of the temple who
controls 415 villages and 23,000 acres
of land. The permitted landholding by
law is 18 acres under the Land Ceiling
Act of 1952. According to the orga-
nisers, it is part of their
movement against the Mohant.
Director
Producer
Camera
Editing
Commentary
CREDITS
Jail Superintendent Suspended
Mr. B.L. Das, Superintendent of
Central Jail, Bhagalpur. The blinded
undertrial prisoners were handed over
to his jail by the Bhagalpur police. He
allowed the press to meet the blinded
persons after all his attempts to get
medical and legal aid for these persons
were scuttled by the local administra-
tion and the State Government.
Mr. B.L. Das remains suspended from
service on grounds of negligence of
duty.
FOR 2 HANDFULS OF SOIL!
Meeting of landless peasantry belonging
to the scheduled castes in Raghunathpur
village in Musahari Block, Muzaffar
Tapan K. Bose
Suhasini Mulay
Salim Shaikh
Prakash Kothare
Naseeruddin Shah
district, Bihar. Phudan Mahato's hut
was razed to the ground by landlords
(belonging to the Bhumihar caste)
because he had dared to take two
handfuls of soil from Government land.
At this meeting, the peasants had decided
to start a non-cooperation movement
against the landlords.
Scheduled Caste Victimised
Wife and children of Brahamdev
Mahato, a son of a scheduled caste
farmer of Belthu village in Nathnagar'
Block, Bhagalpur. One morning,
Brahamdev was beaten to death in his
own house. His own family and several
villagers -witnessed this incident. The
police, it is reported. were enquiring
into a local dacoity.
120 YEAR OLD ACT
OPERATIONAL
Gobindo Mukhoty, supreme court
lawyer, points out that the Police Act,
framed in 1861 after the Sepoy Mutiny,
operates unchanged to date.
These are the central charac-
ters of An Indian Story. The
blindings of 33 undertrial pri-
soners in Bhagalpur, Bihar bv
police officers may have become
an old story but these stories
do not lose their relevance des-
pite the shortness of public
memory. This is the reality that
director Tapan K Bose and pro-
ducer Suhasini Mulay have cap-
tured in 58 minute documen-
tary, in colour,
unconsciousness by landlords
because his father had dared to
take two handfuls of grain from
the government land, are some
the incidents documented in
this celluloid inquiry into the
suppression of civil and demo-
cratic rights in the world's larg-
est democracy. Several people,
have been intervended who pre-
sent divergent points of view.
Through official records, press
reports and comments of the
Satyajit Ray says of the film, "I
found it an honest, intelligent
and courageous film. It deserves
to be widely seen", An Indian
Story does not offer any solu-
tion but it does raise many
questions in the mind of the
viewer, the most important be-
ing - What is happening in
India today ?
The oppression and violation
of tribal women in Bodhgaya,
the procession at Sekhewara
against the mohant of the tem-
ple who controls 23,000 acres
despite a land ceiling act and
Phudan Mahato's torture into
, judiciary, the film establishes
that such acts of deliberate vio-
lation of human rights by the
police and bureaucracy ' must
not be treated as isolated lapses
from the norm. These have, in
fact, become the norm.
Tuesday 16-30 September 1986 7
:The
FO'ium
GaZette
Minority Rights
Civil Liberties
Equality for Women
Democratic Values
Environmental Protection
A Law Unto Themselves
Governments and ruling parties, at the Centre
and in the States, are becoming a law unto them-
selves. From within the trappings of a democratic
structure, they are trampling on the rights and
dignity of the people.
Sometimes it is an attack on their human
rights, sometimes on their organisations and insti-
tutions, and at other times their avenues of pro-
test and expression.
On the front page of the Gazette this fortnight,
we have highlighted two examples of what may
be described as indifference, callousness -or high-
handedness. Whatever the description of the atti-
tudes of officialdom, the end result is the same:
Popular misgivings, anger and desperation.
In the case of Jammu and Kashmir we have
the example of a Centre Government with a
democratic mandate denying the people of that
State a democratic government. The effect of
such a Ipolicy', if it might be called that, is to
shake the faith of Kashmiris in democracy, to
discredit the moderate and secular forces in
J & K and to give greater elbow room to
secessionists and religious fanatics.
Leaving straight politics aside, there is the
extraordinary action of the Madhya Pradesh
Government in arresting two humanitarian social
workers under the Official Secrets Act. The only
'secret' the two are supposed to have broken is to
monitor official apathy towards the victims of the
Bhopal gas tragedy and to mobilise public opin-
ion to help the victims. For some peculiar logic of
their own, our. politicians and bureaucrats do not
want even ordinary citizens to do good work,
which they seem so incapable of doing them-
selves. The M.P. Government's action epitomises
the denial to citizens of the simplest and noblest
of freedoms, the freedom to help those in dis-
tress. Such a government must of its own realisa-
tion, hang its head in shame.
The third example of errant official behaviour
comes from the Bamala Government in Punjab.
When the Chandigarh edition of the Indian
Express carried a story about the possible links of
the Chief Minister's son with a group of despera-
does, thousands of copies of the newspaper were
intercepted in a clumsy bid to prevent the news
from reaching the people. Such attempts to inter-
fere with the entirely legitimate functioning of the
press, must be strongly condemned by all those
who believe in freedom of expression and access to
information.
It is, therefore, altogether appropriate that in
'Our Times' (page 4,5) we feature reports on the
functioning of the civil liberties movement in the
country. Also appropriate} although in a different
vein, is a report on page 16 on the Government of
India's refusal to make public the Ranganath
Misra Commission's report on the November 1984
violence.
Not only are our governments becoming a law
unto themselves, they also have a lot to hide in
order not to sully their image even more.
8 Tuesday 16-30 September 1986
Viewpoint
Punjab:
Need for Introspection
Devdutt
T
he Indian nation-state
stands out for indicttnent
on two counts pertaining
to the Punjab Situation. Both
came into focus with the assas-
sination of General Vaidya on 10
August and the cold-blooded
murder of fourteen defenceless
persons by a few armed des-
paredoes near Muktsar (Punjab)
in broad day light in June. First,
it is clear that the country, re-
presented by a young leader
enjoying a big majority in Parli-
ament, is not only unequal to'
the challenge posed by the for-
ces of lawlessness and disinte-
gration, but the latter are on the
offensive. In other words, the
system is only reacting to these
forces and fighting on grounds
chosen by them. Neither the
instruments of pursuasion (the
Punjab Accord and the demo-
cratic process) nor the instru-
ments of coercion (the police
and para-military forces) have
generated favourable longterm
trends. Second, the Hindu-Sikh
riots in the capital on July 86
have come as a warning: The
nation-state and society having
failed to assert their authority in
their respective spheres, the
forces of anarchy are slowly tak-
ing over and have begun to
determine the immediate course
of history.
Three Responses
Three main responses to this
unfortunate situation are seen.
The first response is pessimis-
tic. An impression is gaining
ground in some quarters that
there is no way out of the pre-
sent situation within the exist-
ing pattern of political and
social therapy. The militant ele-
ments among the two commun-
ities are involved in an 'arma-
ment moo". with JIivaIe armies (caIIed
"senas, daIs, manchs) are com-
ing up in various parts of Pun-
jab and other states.
The second response shows
that the Hindu and Sikhs com-
munalists are preparing to push
to the bitter logical end the
present confrontation and clinch
the issues in one way or the
other. In their mood of anger,
some of the Sikh opinion-makers
and activists talk of shahdat for
the "cause" of Panth. They feel
that no sacrifice inside and out-
side Punjab would be too small
for the "cause". They are asking
the people to be ready to adopt
an offensive approach. The
Hindu opinion leaders in their
outburst of anger against sense-
less killings by terrorists of
innocent people talk of "total"
obliteration of the anti-national
forces among the Sikhs.
The third response is positive.
There is evidence of a desperate
search for alternative approaches
and practical panaceas. It is
being realized that in the situa-
tion created by tardy implemen-
tation of the Accord the availa-
ble framework of policies and
tactics offer little space for
manouvres. which will lead us
out of the crisis. For example.
even the Punjab Accord and the
philosophy underlying it no
longer serves as an adequate
format to cope with the latest
developments. Even some of the
architects of the Punjab Accord
deem it irrelevant. Moreover.
public opinion in Punjab and
elsewhere is coming to believe
that the settlement of territorial
disputes, specially Chandigarh.
within the framework of the
Accord, will not restore peace
and harmony and a sense .of
integration in the strife-torn
state. A recent public opinion
survey. shows that the transfer
of Chandigarh ... would not
alone solve the Punjab issue as
a whole.
Plus Points Of Punjabl SOCiety
We endorse neither the pes-
simistic nor the confrontationist
views of the scenario in Punjab.
These views ignore the patent
fact that Punjabi society even in
this dark hour of its history has
shown and is still showing tre-
mendous strength, fortitude and
mutual trust. For the last five
years. the composite Punjabi
culture has been under terrible
pressures, may massive assault.
The disruptionist forces have
dealt it hammer-sledge blows
during 1983-84 and tried to pro-
voke it to slip into fratricidal
conflict. Three cheers to the
common people of Punjab ! They
have, by and large. refused to
oblige the enemies of our com-
posite culture. In 1985-86 more
pressllre'Was mounted to force
the Hindus to move out of Pun-
jab. This time it did succeed in
making a speck of a dent ....
There are signs of alienation
and absence of some of the tra-
ditional marks of warmth bet-
ween the two communities. As
a result there has been some
migration of Hindus out of the
state. But we cannot ignore the
important fact that there are a
number of instances of migrants
who have exploited the prevail-
ing conditions of insecurity to
settle their invidiaual problems
and conflicts and that atleast
some of the migration has little
to do with the climate created
by terrorism. Therefore, we must
not be swept away by emotions.
We must recognise how the vast
majority of Hindus and Sikhs
are still living together in the
rural Punjab and quietly defying
the forces of disintegration and
violence. Punjabi society is still
in tact. The rest of India should
feel reassured that both Sikh
and Hindu masses in Punjab,
and elsewhere. have substantial
reserves of tolerance. trust fore-
bearance and practical wisdom
to foil the evil designs of the
disruptors.
Lack Of Introspection
Unfortunately. the leaders and
opinion-makers in various seg-
ments of the society. have al-
lowed themselves to be so
oVeIwhelmed by the situation
as to be unable to build on the
traditional trust between the
two communities. Mistrust and
misgivings do persist. Moreover
the power elite is not secular
enough to be able to come up
with a full-blooded and soulful
response to the terrorist threat.
Take the case of the most
well meaning and sincere Sikh
intellectuals and leaders of Sikh
public opinion. Since 1984 they
have been showing some mea-
sure of realism and objectivity
and have taken a clear cut
stand on terrorist violence and
Khalistan. They.'have also tried
to impress upoJ>t the terrorist
and extremist elemepts among
the Sikhs the dangerous conse-
quences of their activities and
policies. But this has not yet
become a movement of opinion
particularly among the sikh
youth. Secondly . and perhaps
more importantly, this trend
indicates a pragmatic or ad-hoc
response to the situation. A
genuine mood of introspective
analysis has not set in. There is
little evidence that the Sikh
intellectual realises the urgency
of examining the Qasic prob-
lems of the Sikh community in
a historical perspective; particu-
larly in the context of issues
raised during the period 1982-
86. The community has not
attempted serious thinking on
the relationship between the
Sikh ethos and a secular nation ( '
state. Also, Sikh theology has I
not been reinterpreted to take
into account the process of
modernization.
Similarly. there is lack of
introspection among Hindus. A
sort of deep mistrust towards
Sikhs as a community underlies
the process of implementation
of the Centre's policy towards
Punjab. Be it the Hindu com-
munalist or the Hindu secula-
rist; both are reluctant to adopt
a policy which is based on a
complete and unreserved trust.
There are elements of hypocricy
and ambivalence in their atti-
tude. For example, the Hindu
communalist does not fail to
assert that Sikhism is a part of
Hinduism. And yet they are
inclined to view Sikhs as they
viewed Muslims in 1947.
As regards Hindu secular-
democrats, the less said the bet-
ter. Notwithstanding their stated
committnent to secularism, they
have failed to act in a way that
would convince the Sikhs that
they are fully trusted. For, if
they (the Hindus) really trusted
the Sikhs, they would have
viewed them with more empathy
and understanding.
It could be rightly argued that
during 1982-85aImost the entire
Sikh leadership, especially the
Akalis managed to damage the
faith and confidence of Hindus
in the Sikhs. This is because
they endorsed, sometime by
their silence and sometimes by
statements. some of the inexcu-
sable policies and activities of
the Sikh extremists. But the
question is why should the
secular power elite have allowed
itself to overreact and fail to
realize the implications of its
attitude. In fact. it is time they
(Hindu secularists) redefined their
attitudes towards the Punjab
problem on the basis -of unre-
served trust and fuith in the
Sikh community.
Security Forces Under
No illusions
What are the implications of
the above approach. First, a
gradual de-emphasis of the
"police" approach. The PM in a
Continued on page 9. col 1
F8rum
__________________________ Gazettc ___________________ __
Two Letters The Times of India Excluded
Sir,
Mr Girilal Jain's article ''"What
Ails Sikh Community" (The
Times of India 12.8.1986) shows
his strong bias against the Sikhs
and his superficial knowledge of
a serious national problem. His
description of S.S. Gill and
Gopal Singh as 'Sikh' intellectu-
als exposes his secular preten-
sions. Would Mr Girilal relish
;being called a 'Jam' journalist?
Mr Jain asserts that people
who claim that 'Akalis played a
role in the independence strug-
gle are distorting the truth. After
the success of the first Akali
Morcha in the early twenties
Punjab: Need
for Introspection
Continued from page 8, col 5
recent statement put the police
approach and the political ap-
proach at the same level. This is
not correct. Never in the past,
be it in Nagaland or Mizoram,
Assam or Maharashtra have agi-
tations and movements rooted
in the psychological and social
sense of hurt of our bretheren
ever been successfully dealt
with by the armed forces. Even
the security forces are under no
illusions about their job. They
also feel that ultimately a politi-
cal solution is the only answer
to disaffection. An attempted
militaIy solution in Punjab would
only push the people towards
the militant youth and weaken
the moral basis of a settlement.
Secondly, we must not dis-
miss the Sikh youth as "anti-
national". It is not correct to
sweepingly define the present
situation as Sikh youth versus
the nation and exclude them
out of the political dialogue
aimed. at resolving the crisis.
The angry Sikh youth must be
convinced that the nation trusts
them.
How can Delhi evolve a suita-
ble gesture based on trust to-
ward Sikhs? First and foremost
Delhi needs a dose of self-
analysis. So far it has uncriti-
cally accepted a monoistic con-
cept of nation, state and natio-
nalism based on a consensus of
people in the Indo-gangetic
plain and the satellite region/
regions of the south Indian
peninsula. During Mrs. Gandhi 's
time the monoistic concept was
vitiated by arrogant self-righteous
centralism.
Delhi will have to overcome
this fixation with monoistic
nationalism, which in the first
instance promotes centralisation
and breeds distrust and a sense
of grievance. The concept of
composite nationalism which
respects the social federalism of
the Indian people can alone
help us to deal with Punjab in a
meaningful manner.
NEWSHOUND
10 SAiISFY"THE
TO A 5t:CURI
Mahatma Gandhi in his con-
gratulatOly telegram remarked,
"First decisive battle for India's
freedom won". But Mahatma
Gandhi's testimony will have lit-
tle value for Mr Jain, who seems
to believe that only he speaks
the truth.
Mr Jain's remark that "the
British had taught the Sikhs to
emphasise their differences with
the Hindus and not their roots
in Hinduism" means the Sikhs
were toadies. The role of the
Sikhs in saving Hinduism from
Muslim onslaught in north India
and later giving the British
invaders the fiercest fight to
save north India from slavery
has been recorded by impartial
historians. But for Mr Jain such
documented history is a collec-
tion of only myths.
Mr Jain says that the British
did not agree to a homeland for
the Sikhs because they "did not
constitute the majority of the
population even in a single dis-
trict of United Punjab". But the
British did encourage the Sikhs
to remain in Pakistan and Jin-
nah did tempt them with a
'blank cheque'. Even though
fifty per cent of Sikh population
was uprooted and sixty per
cent of Sikh property was lost
to Pakistan, they opted for India
because of their "roots in Hin-
duism". Had Sikhs denied these
roots, the border of Pakistan
would have extended to the
remparts of the Red Fort in
Delhi. Surely, Mr Jain, the Sikhs
did not take advice from the
British.
Mr Jain charges the Akalis to
have always been separatists. If
that were so why have all the
so-called nationalist parties been
in alliance with them at one
time or another?
Mr Jain points out "that Sikhs
congregate in Gurdwaras on
over three score occasions a
year". How does that pinch
him? Gurdwaras are open to all,
including Mr Jain, and the
devout worship there twice
daily.
Mr Jain comes out with a
strange hypothesis that "the
emergency helped forge and
strengthen bonds between the
Akalis and powerful anti-social
elements such as smugglers
and distillers; they found them
in the same jails". Mr Jain
denies the Akalis any role in the
Independence Movement; he
denigrates their struggle during
emergency. Akalis didn't have to
go to jails to forge friendship
with the smugglers and boot-
leggers. At least, a journalist
should know that smugglers,
distillers and anti-social ele-
ments in this wonderful coun-
try always manage to remain
outside jails. Their links with
politicians of every hue are so
secret.
The ethics of joumalism de-
mands that facts should be
checked. Can Mr Jain substan-
tiate his statement that "the
Sikhs controlled around 80 per
cent of all senior jobs in the
State Government and the
administration"?
Under Mr Jain's editorship
The Times of India has dished
out a lot of disinformation. A
few weeks ago when there was
a breach in the Sirhind Canal in
my village, the main headline
on the front page of WI read
"TERRORISTS BREACH CANAL".
No one bothered to verify that
the 'teITOrists' in this case were
only the village buffaloes. Des-
pite the six-column headline,
the news was dismissed in two
lines. Such sensationalism has
done incalculable harm to the
country.
People like Mr Jain, who
claim to monopolise patriotism
and nationalism, paint Akalis as
separatists, Sikhs as traitors and
devout Sikhs as teITOrists. By 80
doing they are completely alie-
nating a community whose role
in the preservation of the Hindu
II
Perhaps it is a sad sign of the
times that in his two articles
The Tragedy of the Punjab and
The Killings in the Punjab (TOI
Aug. 7 and 8), Justice H.R.
Khanna, instead of trying to
support communal harmony, to
bridge the gap between Hindus
and Sikhs, succeeds only in
driving the wedge further and
supporting the cause of militant
Hindu communal forces.
To start with Justice Khanna
makes the assumption that there
was no alternative to mounting
an offensive against the Golden
Temple on the scale of Opera-
tion Bluestar, stating that the
decision to attack was taken
with "considerable reluctance".
He describes the significant,
inexcusable failure of the
government to take earlier action
against Bhindranwale before he
moved into the Aka) Takht, a
mammoth failure, as merely
"initial hesitancy". He makes no
mention of the electoral com-
pulsions which activated the
ruling party into mounting a
various misinformation cam-
paign painting all SHills as sec-
cessionists to prepare the nation
for the attack on the Sikh holy
of holies.
In articles of such length, it is
not lack of space which has
prevented Justice Khanna from
going into such facts. He goes
on to refer to the "high cost of
the operation" to the armed
forces and "the hundreds of
Sikh youth entrenched in the
Darbar Sahib" without qualifYing
By Rap
- TO SAT\$FY
AlV\LlS IT!
faith and culture and defence
and development of India is out
of all proportions to its small
numbers.
I would like to remind Mr
Jain of the remarks of Lord
Curzon: "The Standards of per-
sonal or family honour and self-
respect that prevail among the
Sikh community in India are of
a very rigid and uncompromis-
ing character. . . . A Sikh will not
only take life, but will freely give
up his own life, sooner than
that an ineffaceable stain should
rest upon his family escutcheon.
I came across several instances
of this remarkable trait while in
India . . . . (Leaves flum a \1ceroy's
Notebookl . But Curzon, to Mr
Jain would be anathema!
National unity is threatened
not by the so-called separatism
of Akalis or the foreign conspi-
racy to breakup India, but by
myopic politicians and mischie-
vous press who for their selfish
gains are hell-bent to ruin this
country.
- Amarjit Singh
Punjab Agricultural Uniwl'8ity
Ludhiana - 141004
that of those Sikh dead, over
700 in number at a low esti-
mate, were civilian pilgrims
caught in the crossfire, includ-
ing women and children. His
statement that hundreds of dead
Sikh youth were "entrenched in
the Darbar Sahib" is erroneous
in any case.
He then goes on to talk of the
death toll "running into hun-
dreds because of terrorist activ-
ity" and asserts that even though
a number of Sikhs have also
been killed by terrorists "In the
case of Hindus the very fact that
a person is a Hindu is justifica-
tion and provocation for killing
him. " But referring to the 1984
killings of Sikhs which ran into
thousands, he makes only a
casual mention of the "inhu-
man killings of a very large
number lemphasis is mineJ in
. Delhi and elsewhere" - That
the figure arrived at by several
responsible citizens' bodies is
more than 4000 dead does not
seem important to Justice
Khanna. Nor does the fact that
it was enough to be a Sikh, that
even 12 to 14 year old Sikh
boys, whose only 'crime' it was
to be Sikhs, were brutally mur-
dered, that even today in Delhi
and elsewhere, to be a Sikh is to
be a target for mob fury in the
event of any Hindu "backlash".
Justice Khanna asks the ques-
tion "are the Punjab Hindus for
killing?" -But he does not ask
"Are the Sikhs outside Punjab
for killing?". He states that the
Punjab Hindus are peaceful by
nature, have made great contri-
butions in all fields. The second
part of his statement is irrefuta-
ble. The first is debatable. For
surely Justice Khanna does not
mean that while the Punjab
Hindu is peaceful, the Punjab
Sikh is militant? It is surprising
to have such generalisations
from an eminent judicial
authority.
Justice Khanna is appalled
that some Hindus in the border
district villages have grown their
. hair and beards in order to sur-
vive. He cannot be unaware that
in those bloody November days
many hundreds of Sikhs of all
ages had their hair cut and
beards shaved, forcibly in many
cases, sometimes even in man-
dirs, and voluntarily in teITOr of
death? That since then hun-
dreds of Sikh males in Delhi
and elsewhere have become
cleanshaven because they feel
that they must not look like
Sikhs if they are to survive? That
many more are contemplating
such action and that this is not
restricted to the weaker sec-
tions of the population who feel
doubly vulnerable, but is a
common phenomenon in other
parts of society? Sikhs no longer
feel that they are free to make a
choice of what they want to
look like outside Punjab. Survi-
val is at stake. Does not this
apal Justice Khanna?'
He quotes figures of killings
- 14 in Muktsar, 11 in Krishna
Nagar, three in the Electricity
Board office. Any sane person of
every community is horrified by
these and other killings. But in
all justice should not, Justice
Khanna also quote figures of
those dead in Kanpur, in Delhi?
And why does he forget the pre-
Operation Blue Star killings in
Panipat and Kamal and other
Haryana towns - figures which
were never published for fear of
a Sikh backlash in Punjab, which
never occurred.
At this time even communal-
ism of all shades threatens the
very existence of our society all
men of goodwill, particularly
men and women of eminence
in public affairs, must do all
they can to reduce communal
hatred and bitterness, to plead
for tolerance and understand-
ing. It is unfortunate that Jus-
tice Khanna should, instead,
choose to fan the fires of Hindu
communalism as projected by
the Shiv Sena and its sister
organisations. He has done so
by presenting a biased view of
the situation.
Ms. HaJji Malik
You do not have a
better chOice
Tuesday 16-30 September 1986 9
:The
_M_att_e_r_o_f_p_e_op_l_e __________ - - - - G ~ ~ ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
She Turned Her Back on Hollywood; She is Suhasini Mulay
W
ith directors like Aparna
Sen and Sai Paranjpai
revolutionizing the tra-
ditional image of Indian cinema,
there is yet another woman
film-maker, who concentrates
solely on documentaries. She is
refreshing and forthright; her
work is admirable. Her docu-
mentaries not only record his-
tory but are also full of social
comment. She is radical and a
woman of substance-though
"the substance is all in the
wrong places, " says she. She is
Suhasini Mulay, director,
camera operator, scriptwriter.
"My mother has been the
major influence in my life. She
was one of the founding mem-
bers of the Film Federation of
India ... , so from the age of 14 or
thereabouts, I have been ex-
posed to a lot of good cinema".
"My first break came in 1968,
when Mrinal Sen was on the
look out for a young girl to por-
tray a village belle, in his film
' Bhuvan Shorn', I passed the
screen test and found myself in
the company of great veterans
of the Indian cinema, like Utpal
Dutt ans Shekhar Chatterjee. They
taught me the techniques of
acting. But acting has never
been my burning ambition. Even
now, I do not think very highly
of my ability, I have never acted;
I always played myself and if
that could be called talent then
I had It " ,
But Suhasini clid not take to
the 'film' world, Instead she
went to Canada to study agri -
culture, "I had romantic notions
of working with the poor of the
soil. but American agro-econo-
mics had no connection with
the exsisting reality in India, I
definitely did not want to end
of shaking test-tubes in a labor-
arOJ)" so I signed up for the
communications programme
that had recently started at
Mcgill University in Canada. "
Though Hollywood beckoned,
Suhasini turned her back on it.
She returned to India, and did a
short stint wi at the Pune film
institute, "My experience at the
institute convinced me that it
was not possible for any kind of
creativity to survive in a Govern-
ment of India set-up, One knew
that the B.B,e. was straight-
laced but our system made
them look positively radical. ,
The laces were to tightly held",
"Commercial cinema did not
attract me. The choice of direc-
tors were limited to Sen and
Benegal only , It s image of
women and the interpretation
of history went completely
against my grain. At that time
Satyajit Ray offered to take me
on as an assistant director on
his film 'Jana Aryana'. I accepted
as I wanted to learn more about
the workings of Indian cinema.
In 1976 I assisted Mrinal Sen on
his film 'Mrigaya', after which I
branched out on myown."
In 1975 Suhasini met Tapan
Bose, Together they established
Cinemart Foundation and have
worked in collaboration ' ever
since.
Has being an actress helped
her as a director? "Yes, espe-
cially where the actor is an
amateur, I remember how Mri-
nal Sen would take time off to
explain the links between shot s
to bring out the correct mood,
with all its nuances in the
actors performance , I too
employ a same methods."
With the Janata Party in
power and the Adult EduC'ation
Programme instituted, Suhasini
got her first break as producer-
director of a film, She wrote out
a script Likh Ke De Do' but the
generally patronising attitude of
the Indian bureaucrat towards
the rural masses and the con-
servatism of the Film Federation
of India kept the documentary
in abeyance for a number of
years, However she managed to
compl ete the film on her own
steam and now the Film Feder-
ation has bought over 100 prints.
"I feel really good about this,"
she says with a hint of smug-
ness,
In the Bhagalpur blindings
took place, and Cinemart Foun-
dation decided to make a doc-
umentary around the incident.
'An Indian Story' was directed
by Tapan Bose. The purpose of
the film was to show how and
why these blindings could take
place in the world's largest
democracy and to highlight the
anomalies in the exsisting
system.
"While maldng this rum we
OUl'8elve8 were exposed to
naked 8tate power. While the
unit was 8hooting in Bihar,
the crew-members facilitie8
in Delhi and Bombay were
hara8sed by the pollee warn-
Ing them to reconsider the
1 0 Tuesday 16-30 September 1986
'foolishne88' of their action.
Then came 'Beyond Geno-
cide', Which documentary did
' she enjoy working on the most?
"Both are different in their
approaches, so one can't really
make a judgement. "A Indian
Story is an 'agit prop' documen-
tary. It was easier film to make.
There is no answer to a rotten
legal system but to smash it,
and that is what 'An Indian
Story' told you to do, 'Beyond
Genocide' was a complicated
story to tell, We didn't want to
leave the audience with a
catharsis but we did to leave
viewers slightly dissatisfied. The
film was basically for a thinking
audience and raised questions
like: Is the Green Revolution
and progressive technology
worth the price of disasters like
Bhopal?"
Suhasini is currently working
on another documentary. This
on,e concerns the Forest Bill
passed in 1982 and its potential
repercussions on the tribals,
Our conversation then turned
to more personal subjects. I
asked her if she would like to
do a commercial feature ever?
Her answer was a definite 'Yes ',
She already has the story and is
at present writing the third
draft of the script. The film is
called 'Upra' The Outsider'. It is
based on the autobiograpy of
Lakshman Mane.
Her views on the television
serials which have flooded Door-
darshan are definitely 'no-show'.
"There is no serial today which
makes me head for the box,
Once upon a time there was on
such serial produced by Karnlesh-
war 'Parikrama' and now the
latest one of Arnol Palekar's
' Kacchi Dhup', Both make an
effort at being natural. The basic
problem is one of aesthetics,
Acting and presentation are
over-stated, courtsy the com-
mercia! cinema. The image of
woman on television is the
absolute pits."
"Doordarshan spends a pit-
tance on programmes. Out of its
total earnings of 346 crores it
spends only 36 crores on pro-
duction. Surely they can afford
to employ profesiional people
to make better programmes."
A!! a woman director in a
male chauwnistic world, what
are the problem8 that 8he
face8? "A!! a woman one has
to knew one and 8 half time8
more than any man. One has
to be extremely aggre88ive
and give up all pretension8 to
feminity. [ actually 8tood in
front of the mirror and learnt
how to 8wear 8S weD a8 any
man. It creats a camaraderie
within the unit. One learn8 to
8hout and get one8 work
done quicker thaf8 the only
way."
A woman with Suhasini's con-
cerns might be expected to
make at least one film on
women's issues. How was it
that she had not yet attempted
the subject?
"There are two reasons for
this-iir8dy I am too close to
the problem to be objective
about it. Secondly I d188gr'ee
with the idea that only women
need Hberadon. It is 88 impor-
tant for a man to be Hber-
ated."
Nandlb Jaidy
The Lovable and Ludicrous
F
iquar Taunsvi, columnist,
sati rist and humourist is
one of the greatest Urdu
writers of our times, Needless to
say, Urdu being a language of
such extraordinary precision and
expression, it waxes eloquently,
the inimitable wit of the writer,
For the readers of ' Biswan
Sadi ' and 'Milap' his columns
have for years "stripped the
facades of society, to reckon
wi th the folies and foibles of
man but in the most endearing
of literary styles; satire,"
Fiquar Taunsvi, born Ram Lal,
grew up in a small village in
West Punjab call ed Taunsa Sha-
reef. He received little formal
education and joined hi s father
in running a general provisions
slore. An inci dent, cut short this
period of hi s li fe when hi s
fa ther insisted on overcharging
a poor PaU1an for some medi-
cine, In disgust and revolt Fiquar
left home for an uncertain
future, He started of with a dye-
ing shop and dabbied subse-
quently in numerous profes-
sions, He became a painter, a
clerk. a teacher, and even tried
hi s hand as an Ayurvedic Hakim.
These varied impressions of life
and endeavour aroused in him
a creative need to communicate
them thorough his writings, He
started of as a poet, writing for
popular Urdu magazines and
gai ned quick recognition as a
modem poet of the thirties, He
moved to Lahore and became a
familiar figure in the literary
circles there ' and a leading fig-
ure in blank verse, He also
became associated as editor
and regular contributor to the
well-known journals 'Adab-e-Latif
'Savera' and 'Adabi Duniya',
In his early years, Fiquar
Fiquar
Taunsvi
Taunsvi, was increasingly under
leftist influence and became an
active supp0l1er of the progres-
sive writers movement. Yet, he
retained his individuality and
kept alive the humanistic ele-
ment of his work, which had
once been the most inspiring
feature of the progressive wri-
ters, The partition of India, had
a tremendous impact on him.
He felt that freedom for the
migrating Hindus and Sikhs had
only come after crossing a 'river
of blood', Thus the title of his
book on partition 'Chatha Darya'
(Sixth Rived.
In the post-partition period
Fiquar Taunsvi developed his
very distinct style of writing,
Instead of confronting people
with the brutal facts of life, he
perfected his brand of satire
and humour. Rising above his
own biases he let loose his
unencumbered vision on human
pitfalls and paradoxes, packag-
ing his insights in his often
mordant wit.
An author of some eighteen
books in Urdu and four in
Hindi, Fiquar Taunsvi has been
translated in English and Pun-
jabi. Some of his well known
works include the allegorical
satire 'Chopat Raja' and 'Adha
Admi ' as well as a collection of
satirical epigrams called 'Fiquar
Nama', 'Pyaz Ke Chilke' his
vvidely read satirical column,
has been part of the daily
'Milap' for some 30 years, He
received the prestigious Ghalib
award for hi s contribution to
Urdu satire, as well as the Pun-
jab government's Shiromani
Sahitya Kar award.
Recently a luncheon-reception
was held at the India Interna-
tional Centre by the Press Asia
International Forum to toast
Fiquar Taunsvi on hi s 70th
birthday, A novel feature of the
meeting, was an open dialogue
between the wri ter and his
audience which comprised emi-
nent writers, poets, editors and
his friends and admirers. Many
interesting facts and incidents
about hi s personal life were
brought to light. Balraj Komal,
poet and writer, said of Fiquar
Taunsvi "his special knack to
peel away the layers of human
hypocricy where he does not
spare, even himself. "
A preface to one of his books
sums up his basic message well;
"I have written this book to
expose the claim that man is
the noblest of God's creation.
What I feel is that he may weU
be the noblest creature but he
is also the most sly of them all.
He may have the best qualities,
but he also has the meanest. All
of us calling ourselves human
beings are far from penect;
some of us are such ludicrous
characters (Fiquar . Taunsvi
included!. .. '
Avtar Singh Jugde
F8rum
_"_e_ri_ta-=g_e_3_n_d_"_i_Si_o_ry _______
GaZC
ttc --------------
A Glorious Chapter in Sikh and Punjab History
B
aba Ja8sa Singh Ahluwa-
lia (1718-1783) was one
of those "happy few" to
be born at the right place, at
the right time, to fulfil a role
which was to earn him an
honoured place in the hi8tory
of India, and to make him
one of the m08t revered and
exciting heroe8 of the Sikh
community and of Punjab. He
Uved in a periQd of great tur-
moil and tumult. The Mughal
Empire was fast di8integrat-
ing, opening the way for a
free-for-aU in the power
arena, with feudal lord8 and
inwding armies fighting over
the succession and the terri-
tory of Empire. It was a time
of treachery, intrigue and
savagery, dark years illu-
minated by the courage of
the Khalsa and their intrepid
battle for freedom from the
foreign inwder.
The Punjab was a perpetual
battleground for . all the
armies, lying as it did in the
path of inw8ion leading to
the imperial capital of Delhi.
In the thirty odd years bet-
ween 1738 and 1769 the PwI-
jab was inwded, once by dIe
Persian Nadir Shah and eight
times by the Afghan Ahmad
Shah AbdaIi. The Khalsa for-
ces, led by Baba JaS88 Singh,
stopped the inwders time
and again, preventing them
from consolidating their po-
wer, from establishing their
hegemony. Repressed \Vith a
88wgery, llDprecedented even
for those barbarous times,
their women and childl'en
massacred along with the
men by their enemies, their
sacred 8hrine, the Harmandir
Sahib, razed to the ground
dIree time8 by AbdaIi, the
Sikhs rose, phoenixlike, from
their agony each time in what
was, in many ways, their fin-
est hour. Even their enemies
were forced to respect, not
only dleir hravery, but also
their sense of chiwlry, a uni-
que characteristic in a cli-
mate of brutality and ruth-
le88ness.
Jassa Singh Ahluwalia stood
out in those years of trial as an
outstanding leader who epitom
ised all that the Khalsa stood
for in those days of travail. His
was the distinction of being
selected by his peers, men of
fierce pride, great courage and
strength, ambition and pmver,
as their supreme leader in
times of crisis; a leadership he
exercised, unquestioned through-
out the long battle against
repression .and foreign conquest.
BtU in addjtion to being a skill-
ful and successful commander
in the field, Jassa Singh was
also a statesman. He had a clear
concept of establishing a Sikh
state, of consolidating Sikh pa-
wer, not by force of arms above,
but through sound administra-
tion. In 1761 when the Dal
Khalsa, with Baba Jassa Singh at
its head, entered Lahore, and
minted new coins as a sign of
its sovereignity, Afghan officials
representing Abdali were sys-
tematically expelled. In 1765
when the Sikhs caputred Lahore,
they again minted silver coins
in the name of Guru Gobind
Singh. The foundation for Ranjit
Harji Malik
Portrait of Baba Jassa Singh Ahluwalia at Sultan- ul-Oaum, painted by the
British painter Cole
Singh's Sikh kingdom was laid those days of relentless power
during these years and the chief struggle and constant battle. Jt
architect was Baba Jassa Singh. was a time when the Sikhs
Personal History
He was born on May 3, 1718
in village Ahlu, about 20 luns
south-east of Lahore, the village,
now in Pakistan, from which he
later took his name. His father,
Badr Singh, was a kalal, (distiller
of wine), one of the Sikh bap-
tised by the Sikh congregation
of Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th
Sikh Guru (1166-1708). Badr Singh
died when his son was only five
years old, and Jassa Singh and
his mother were looked after by
his material uncle, Bagh Singh
of Halo. Chroniclers of the
period say that the boy and his
mother spent the next seven
years with Mata Sundri, the
widow of Guru Gobind Singh
who was living in Delhi. Under
the influence of his mother, a
deeply l'eligious woman, and
Mata Sundri, Jassa Singh was
introduced into the Sikh faith.
He learned shabad kirtan, and
became well versed in Persian
and Gurmukhi. Kapur Singh,
the most venerated of the Sikh
leaders, who had been given the
title of Nawab, by the Mughals
visited Mata Sundari at this
time, he was deeply impressed
by the young Jassa Singh and
asked that the youngster and
his mother join his household.
Kapur Singh himself adminis-
tered pahul to the 15 year old
Jassa Singh and appointed him
to feed the Sikh horses with
grain.
Kapur Singh trained his young
ward in statecraft as well as the
arts of war, both necessary in
home was his horse. Bv now
the Khalsa had banded together
under the common leadership
of their elected leader, Nawab
Kapur Singh of Fauzallal1puria.
Between them, Kapur Singh and
Jassa Singh were to become the
chief architects of Sikh power.
The ;athas of the various sardars
were reorganised. Each jatha
was assured total freedom of
action except when the com-
munity faced common danger,
at which time the units were
merged into the Dal Khalsa
under the leadership of a
supreme commander, first Kapur
Singh, to be followed by Jassa
Singh. This mixture of inde-
pendence and disciplined co-
operation was the source of
strength of the Khalsa com-
monwealth, which was to reo
trieve the country from the
Afghan invaders.
The Small Ghallughara
Nadir Shah swept across
North India in 1783, routing the
Mughal armies and looted Delhi.
But as soon as his baggage train
entered Punjab on the return
home, the Sikhs plundered it all
the way to the Indus. For their
temerity they suffered brutal
repression by the Mughal gov-
ernor of Lahore, Zakarya Khan,
who offered a blanket for cut-
ting off a Sikh's hair, ten rupees
for information on a Sikh's whe
reabouts, 50 for a Sikh scalp
and, etc. But the Khalsa's de-
fiance only grew stronger on
Diwali of 1745, at the Sarbat
Khalsa in Amritsar, the jathas
were reorganised into 25 cavalJy
regiments. More suffering was
in store and in June 1746 the
governor's troops kiUed nearly
7000 Sikhs in battle and exe
cuted 3000 prisoners in Lahore
in what was called the small
lhallughara.
Battle of HOlhlarpur
Invited by the Mughal Shah
Nawa.7. to support him against
the Delhi durbar, the Afghan
Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded
India in 1747 and captured
Lahore in January 1748. The
Mughal armies stopped the
Afghan advance on Delhi, forc-
ing the invaders to tum back.
The Sikhs attacked the retreat
ing army, robbing them of their
stores and horses. At the same
time, taking advantage of the
conflict , Baba.
Jassa Singh led his forces to vic-
tory over the Mughals at Hoshi-
allluf' and the Sarbat Khalsa
was held in Amritsar on Bai-
sakhi, 29 March 1748. The age-
ing Nawab Kapur Singh asked
to be relieved of his responsibil-
ities and Baba Jassa Singh Ahlu-
walia, his adopted son, was
accepted as supreme comman-
der of the Dal Khalsa which
was divided into 11 misls under
the leading chiefs. Phoolkia,
under Ala Singh of Patiala was
the 12th misl but not part of the
Oal Khalsa and, from time to
time, joined in action against
the Khalsa. At anyone time the
Dal Khalsa could put into the
field an estimated 70,000 men.
After Abdali 's third invasion
in 1751, the Punjab passed
under Afghan control. The Sikhs
were ruthlessly repressed by
Punjab governor Mir Mannu
until his death in November
1753, after whi ch the province
entered a period of total chaos
and anarchy. The Sikh leaders
stripped into the power vacuum
and instituted the rakhi system
whereby in return for payment
of one-fifth of every harvest they
offered the peojJle of a given
area protection. The offers were
readily accepted, and the
'administration' virtually passed
into the hands of the misls.
Another Abdall InvasIon
Abdali again invaded India in
1756 and thanks to treachery,
conquered and plundered Delhi,
Mathura and Brindaban. Khush-
want Singh in his Histo/y of the
Sikhs quotes contemporary ac-
counts of Abdali 's baggage train
of plunder loaded on "twenty
eight thousand elephants, cam
els, mules, bullocks and carts"
and carrying 200 of the late
Emperor's widows with all their
belongings. The Khalsa was wait-
ing and the Afghans repeatedly
attacked and their treasure
plundered. Unable to defeat
SHOP AT
9
lite.,
these gueriUa tactics, Abdali
turned on Amritsar and again
blew up the Harmandir Sahib,
desecrating the pool. Baba Deep
Singh and over five thousand
followers were kiUed at the
temple and Baba Jassa Singh
led the misls to avenge Deep
Singh's death. Allied with the
Mughal Adina Beg Khan, they
defeated the Afghans. Adina Beg
then invited ' the Marathas to
jOin in a campaign to oust the
Afghans. But the determined
Abdali crossed into India for the
fifth time in 1759. The two year
ding-dong struggle between the
Marathas and the Afghans led
to the defeat of the former at
the Battle of Panipat on 14 Jan-
uary 1761. However the wea-
kened Afghans could not longer
control the Punjab which was
dominated by the Sikhs, When
Abdali started home in March,
Sikh horsemen attacked him
each night and liberated over
2000 Hindu women he was car-
rying away for Afghan harems,
and escorted them back to their
homes, an act of chivalry whi ch
earned Jassa Singh the name of
"Bandi Chhor" or ''ljberator'' .
Lahore In Sikh Hands ...
Another Ghallughara
With Abdali safely at the
Indus, the Sikhs turned to the
Afghan and Mughal governors
he had appointed and defeated
them. Diwali in November 1761
was a victory celebration in
Amritsar and the Sarbat Khalsa
decided to take Lahore and
clear the Punjab of invaders and
traitors. The gates of the city
were opened to the Dal Khalsa,
led by Jassas Singh, and he was
hailed as Sultan-ul-Quam, the
King of the Sikhs. The Khalsa
minted a new coinage to cele-
brate the capture of Lahore.
Within a few weeks Afghan
officers were systematically ex-
pelled and the Punjab, from the
Sutlej to the Indus, was under
Sikh control. But in January
1762 Abdali marched in for the
sixth time. He recaptured Lahore
which Jassa Singh had wisely
evacuated on hearing of the
Afghan advance. Abdali pun-
ished the Sikhs dearlv. He sur-
prised their withdrawing forces,
attacked them Dum all sides
and out-general led them. Gupta
quoting Hatan Singh describes
the battle: "The Sikh chiefs, par-
ticularly Jassa Singh Ahluwalia
and Charat Zingh Sukarchakia
(Ranjit Singh's grandfather)
spurred their horses and bound-
ing over prostrate horses and
men came to the succour of
their bretheren who were hard
pressed. In answer to the fierc-
est attack of the Durrani lAbda-
Ii 's Afghan title], these Sikh
chiefs drew their swords and
Continued on page 12, col 4
10 Regal Building, New Delhi-llOOOl, INDIA
Tuesday 16-30 September 1986 11
F8rum
_T_h_e _G_oo_d_E3_r_th _________
Gaze
ttc
The barren Arravallis being protected with a stone wall to protect newly
planted trees. An example of local participation.
Three-Pronged Strategy
A three - pronged strategy
involving protection, regenera-
tion and provision of alternative
sources of domestic fuel was
formulated. Simultaneously, field
level action to protect and
regenerate forests was initiated
in the seIVice area of organisa-
tions like Seva Mandir and
Sajeev Seva Samiti, with the
active support of the Forest
Department. Biogas plants, fuel
saving hearths and solar cook-
ers were promoted by these
agencies.
The issue of Aravallis desertifi-
cation was focussed upon by
Prof. Sardar Singh Dhabariya,
who prepared a satellite imag-
ery - remote sensing based
picture of the Aravallis in a 1972
- 82 time-frame to show the
vegetation cover changes and
encroachment of sant dunes
through the deforested gaps.
Thi s was exhibited before the
Prime Mini ster in August 1985
with a draft plan for the regen-
eration of the Aravallis by the
Tribal Commissioner, Rajasthan.
Earlier, officials of the newly
constituted National Wasteland
Greening the Aravalli Hills
Kishore Saint
In the AravaUi ranges in Rajasthan, both the
forest regions and the tribals are in a deep
crisis. The forest areas are threatened as an
eco-system while the tribals both as a people
and as a commrmity. Both are being threatened
by factors which date back to the exploitative
commercial policies and practises during the
colonial and postcolonial era. While these are
still continuing to some extent, the poverty -
sticken tribals, afflicted by recurring droughts
and Hoods, are themselves destroying the re-
maining tree cover for sheer survival. They are
doing this either casually, on their own, or on
the behest of organised interests to supply the
timber, bamboo and fuel-wood needs in urban
and rural areas.
I
n 1982-83, after three con-
secutive crop failures and a
viral malarial epidemic, crisis
awareness emerged and help
was sought at . various levels.
The tribals tried to protect trees
in their immediate vicinity and
petitioned the authorities for
reli ef and employment. But pro-
cedures are long, budgets limit-
ed, and the manoeuvres intri-
cate. The hardship is so great
and fear so ingrained that the
people do not have the capacity
or courage to demand their
right s in a determined manner.
Slowly a deep alienation has
come about between them and
their habitat. What was once a
natural environment has today
become a commodity of ex-
change for sheer suIVival.
Offlcal Helplessness
The authorities generally
pleaded helplessness in stop-
ping the organised illicit -feeling
or providing alternative em-
ployment to the poor engaged
in distress-felling. Further, any
independent initiative by the
Adivasis for redressal of thier
grievances was frowned upon.
Politics of loyalty and party
structure make it impossible for
local politicians to admit the
damage done.
In fact kickbacks from forest
contracts have benefited both
party and personal account s.
Most people in the cities and
within the system were indif-
ferent, and others considered
the destruction the 'price' that
had to be paid for 'progress'.
Save Aravalli C"ampaign
The Aravalli - adivasi issue
was take up as a national con-
cern by LOKAYAN under the
theme of 'survival' . It was raised
at a Sarvodaya Sammelan in
Sevagram in 1983. Sunderlal
Bahuguna, the bearer of the
CHIPKO message, came to the
conclusion that the situation
was worse than in the Himal-
ayas. He made the plight of the
Aravallis known to the state
government, the Planning Com-
mi ssion and the Department of
Environment , and wrote in the
regional press. With this pres-
sure and attention the stat e
government was moved to open
plantation work in Ubeshwar
area on a long term basis.
Encouraged by thi s, the people
in the area vowed to stop felling
green Finally in April 1984
the Save AravalJj Campaign was
launched, and the Aral'alll
Abhiyan Samiti formed, com-
prising 01 individuals and volun-
tary organisations active on this
issue.
12 Tuesday 16-30 September 1986
Development Board visited
Udaipur to see the Aravalli was-
telands and pilot efforts in was-
teland regeneration in people's
own lands. Wasteland develop-
ment as a people's movement is
now an accepted objective by
the apex agencies. The Aravalli
Abhiyan Samiti also took the
responsibility of releasing the
Second Citizens' Report on the
State of India's Environment
and invited the co-editors, Anil
Agrawal and Sunita Narai n, to
meet those active in the
campaign.
In 1985 the partial failure of
rains led to the worst drought
of the century. Once again the
deforestation issue became link-
ed with drought both as a
cause and a consequence. The
Aravalli Abhiyan, stressed the
likelihood of accelerated defores-
tation, if immediate and ade-
quate relief work was not begun,
and the need for reforestation.
It urged voluntary organisations
to start employment-oriented
wasteland development work in
private and village wastelands.
Drawing upon earlier experi-
ence, model unit schemes and
people's nurseries were planned.
Prompt support was received
for these schemes from the
NWDB and work was got under
in early 1986, with matching
assistance from the Collector of
Udaipur.
Inspite of the efforts being
made to green the Aravallis,
much great er determination and
the quantum and pace of defore-
station is significantly greater
than the regeneration effort .
This adverse equation must be
changed and restoration of tree
cover achieved for 50 to 60% of
the land area in the next
-decade. If public will and re-
sources can be mobili sed and
effectively employed this vast
hilly region can support a rich
agro-forestry, horticulturP and
animal -husbandary based eco-
nomy with flill employment for
the people of the region. This
may be the only way of avoidin:t,
an Ethiopian condition in the
near future of the Aravallis.
Either-way, the choice is ours.
A Glorious Chapter in Sikh
and Punjab History
Continued from page 11, col 1
cut, parried, slashed, thrust, " Bhangi, in charge of the central
struck, hacked and hewed their part of the city, was a good
enemies and then spulTed again administrator and non-sectarian
to the place where they thought in his feelings. He joined the
their presence was required. , . . Muslims, who were the majority
The number of dead differs of the population, in their festi-
from 12 to 25 thousand in what vals and made offetings at their
is called the Vada Ghallughara, shrines. The began to
the great massacre or holocaust, have confidence in th!'! Sikhs
Abdali hoped that now he had and saw them more as fellow
finished with these troublesome Punjabis and looked at the
people. He had pyramids built Afghans as invaders in spite of
and covered with the heads of their common faith. 34 years
slain Sikhs according to the later, thi s confidence was to
English traveller G. Forster who stand Ranjit Singh in good
visited India in the 1780s. He stead.
blew up the Harmandir Sahib When Abdali invaded Punjab
again and filled the pool with in November 1766 with the
cow carcasses. explicit idea of exterminating
Abdali misjudged the Khalsa the Sikhs, according to Khush-
and within four months of the want Singh the Lahore Muslims
Vada GhalJughara the Sikhs persuaded him to offer the
again engaged Abdali in battle, "subedari" of the city to Lehna
spurning his overtures for peace. Singh, an offer he politely re-
In December 1762 the Afghan fused . When Abdali 's general
had to return home because of marched on Amritsar, the Khalsa
problems there, and by 1764 the met him, and killed five thou-
Khalsa was once more in con- sand of his troops. Abdali rush-
trol of the Punjab. Jassa Singh ed to the rescue, and took
with seven misls under his Amritsar. But this time he sp-
overall command attacked Sir- ared the Harmandir Sahib. He
hind, the place where the marched across the country-
Mughals had entombed alive side, but was unable to confront
the two young sons of Guru the Sikh forces. He then turned
Gobind Singh. From the plunder for home and was just across
of Sirhind Jassa Singh placed the Indus when the Sikhs again
his entire personal share of occupied Lahore, and by the
nine lakh rupees on a sheet next year had retaken the whole
spread on the ground and per- of Punjab. Abdali 's final and
suaded the other chiefs to con- ninth attempt to conquer the
tribute another six lakhs for the Punjab came two years later in
rebuilding of Harmandir Sahib. 1769 but he could proceed no
This was the 'Guru ka Chaddar' further than Jhelum.
or the 'Sheet of the Guru'. On
Baisakhi 1764 the Sikhs started
reconstructing their shrine and
Baba Jassa Singh laid the foun-
dation. But before Diwali that
year, Abdali was back with
18000 Afghans and 12000 Afridi
tribesmen. He advanced on La-
hore to be welcomed by his
appointed Mughal governor. This
was considered a holy war
against the infidel Sikhs. Re-
pression against them resumed
and Abdali marched on Amrit-
sar and killed the 30 Sikhs
defending the shrine which was
blown up for the third time.
Again there were savage massa-
cres everywhere but as soon as
Abdali started on his way home
the Sikh misl s attacked his
troops. Qazi Nur Mohommad,
who abused the Sikhs as ' dogs'
and ' miscreants', had to pay
them tribute. (Nur Mohommad
followed in the Abdali 's train
and took notes. He compiled
his "Jang Namah" in 1764J
Khushwant Singh qU9tes him:
"In no case would they slay a
coward, nor would they put an
obstacle in the way of a fugitive.
They do not plunder the wealth
and ornaments of a woman, be
she a well-to-do lady or a maid-
servant. There is no adultery
among these dogs, nor are
these mischievous people given
to thieving."
On Baisakhi 1765, the Sarbat
Khalsa met again. The Harman-
dir Sahib was rebuilt at consid-
erable expense and the Guru Ka
Langar restarted. The Khalsa
resolved to retake Lahore and
on April 16 their forces took
over the city, but there was no
looting. New silver coins were
minted in the name of Guru
Gobind Singh, and the adminis-
tration of the city was divided
among the sardars. Lehna Singh
Struggle For Power
With Abdali 's threat removed,
the mis/s began to expand and
consolidate their hold over their
respective areas. Different Misls
came into conOict with the Jats,
the Rohillas, Mughals, Marathas,
Rajputs and the English, all of
whom were now engaged in the
struggle for power.
In 1779 Jassa Singh wrested
the territory of Kapurthala from
Rai Ibrahim Bhatti, and Sultan-
pur Lodi, where Guru Nanak
preached his message of uni-
versal love and faith came into
Sikh hands. Jassa Singh moved
the capital of the Ahluwalia misl
to Kapurthala. That same year,
in autumn, a large Mughal
army encircled Patiala and Jassa
Singh, responding to Amar
Singh's appeal for help, huITied
to lift the siege, Hearing of the
Dal Khalsa's advance, the Mughal
forces became demoralised and
retreated in disorder. The road
to Delhi was open to the Sikhs
and if the Dal Khalsa had
marched on to the 'Capital and
taken the Emperor under its
protection, history would have
taken a different course. But the
Sikhs failed to seize this chance.
In 1783 again the Dal Khalsa
marched on Delhi and camped
in the suburbs. The gurudwaras
of Sis Ganj, Rakabganj , BangIa
Sahib and Bala Sahib were
erected and Jassa Singh Ahlu-
walia and Jassa Singh Ramga-
riah captured the Red Fort on
11 March 1783. But again the
Sikhs, sounded by the Emperor
about taking Delhi under their
protection, did not respond and
the Emperor turned for help to
the Marathas and the English.
Baba Jassa Singh died in 1783;
a man in many ways, ahead of
his limes.
:The

Minorities Being Pushed
to the Wall
Inder Mohan
A
ddressing members of the
standing Committee of the'
National Integration Coun-
cil on 28 August in New DeIhL
the Prime Minister stated, "nei-
ther the Centre nor the State
governments have done enough
to safeguard the interests and
welfare of the minorities". He
added, "the Centre and States
must act now because the
communal situation in the coun-
try has taken a serious tum".
Enough had not been done he
said, " either by the State
governments or by the Centre
for the implementation of the
IS-Point Programme initiated by
Mrs. Indira Gandhi in May 1983,
for the welfare of the minori -
ties." He stressed the point that
he had also reminded the chief
ministers through a letter in
August 1985, regarding the im-
plementation of that programme.
Despite the prime minister's
effort to be candid he failed to
elaborate on the factors which
are responsible for the disturb-
ing scenario which faces the
country. He failed to say any-
thing about the deliberately com-
niunalised, criminalised and
black money-oriented electoral
politics. Of course, he could not
be expected to mention his own
deplorable role while campaign-
ing throughout the country dur-
ing the 1984 elections. But nor
did he touch upon the forma-
lion of communal and armed
senas at the behest flf certain
political parties including the
ruling party. He seemed obliv-
ious of the fact that his govern-
ment's concern for minorities
has so far been an exercise in
verbosity and merely a ritual. In
his address he also overlooked
the fact that his own govern-
ment and party have been
encouraging fundamentalist ele-
ments in the different religious
communities and virtually treat-
ing them as representatives of
entire communities.
The minorities who have had
to suffer the major brunt of
communal riots have been on
the receiving end through out.
They are finally realising at a
heary cost that there is no sal-
vation for them in relying on
political parties. They have also
realised that the law-enforcing
,machinery itself indulges in
lawless actions with impunity
and sometimes acts in a preju-
diced manner. In doing so it is
abatted by party politicians,
irrespective of their being in or
out of power. Minority com-
munities time and again have
been let down by their own
spokesmen particularly when
such spokesmen assume nego-
tiating powers on their behalf
with the powerrs that be. The
ruling party has been throwing
crumbs at them, occasionally
sugar-coated, which they readily
accept and in this way certain
individuals from the minority
communities have attained high
positions in the political and
administrative network. The mo-
ment such persons sense their
bargaining power, they tum
their backs on their respective
communities. The government
has been exhibiting these so-
called leaders at national <,lnd
international forums in an effort
to project its secular facade.
Thus the minorities by and
large have been denied any
genuine leadership to fight for
their basic demands and genui-
ne grievances.
Happily there is no dearth of
honest elements among the
members of the majority com-
munity. In every crisis have
come forward actively, thus ex-
pressing their solidarity with
the cause of the minority com-
munities. But there are also the
actively sectarian, hard boiled
communalist sections among the
majority community who hatch
their intrigues on the basis of
Muslims being only 12% of the
total population, Sikhs being
just 2% and Christians even a
little less than that. These bigo-
ted members of the majority
community have the audacity to
claim all Balmikis, Harijans, mem-
bers of scheduled castes, back-
ward classes and tribals as Hin-
dus. In their day to day life
these groups are treated as
menials, untouchables and infe-
rior. They are denied all fun-
damental rights in social and
economic terms, all of them are
discriminated against every pos-
sible way and subjected to
human degradation. But, when
it comes to seeking votes, con-
ducting the census or when a
few random conversions take
place, il:tl. these groups are
claimed as Hindus.
Rabid communal elements
among Hindus look down upon
all minority communities, who
increasingly are treated as sus-
pects and unpatriotic. They are
threatened and told to either
join the Hindu fold or suffer
grave consequences. The senas
in particular have taken on this
pernicious role.
All this is a sao reflection on
our national leadership, and
equally so on those who claim
to represent the minority com-
munities. One has yet to see
any of these 'leaders' joining
hands with each other in the
larger interest of minorities as a
whole. A joint approach on
efforts to redress day-to-day
grievances of the different com-
munities remains a far cry.
Delhi Dilly-Dallying About Elections
says Farooq Abdullah
T
he former Chief
of Kashmir interviewed In
Delhi byBaljit Malik before
he left for Haj in the middle of
August.
How would you describe
the mood of the people in
Kashmir since your govern-
ment was overthrown?
The mood of the people is
that they have lost faith in
democracy. That mood con-
tinued right through Gul
regime and post that regIme
when communal riots took place'
and now with all this dilly-
dallying about elections.
The mood continues to grow
into hard feelings against the
wishes of the people being
crushed.
How has this mood ex-
pressed itself?
There were agitations, a 100
days curfew, police brutality.
The emergence of certain groups
who think of seceding from
India has also been there.
In fact you were actually
accused of encouraging such
groups. Was that not the
main reason for the Centre
wanting to see you out of the
way?
Yes, I was projected as a Kha-
listani because I wanted peace
in Punjab. Punjab is very impor-
tan't for us. If Punjab is in tur-
moil. we are hit hard. It is the
pathway of goods and tourism
for us.
That is why I tried to bring
about a rapprochement between
Mrs. Gandhi and the Sikhs, par-
ticularly the AkaJis. I did in
good faith for the goo a of
Kashmiris, for the good of the
country.
My stand has been vindi-
cated. The very people who
were dubbed as Khalistanis are
today ruling Punjab, which is
part of India.
They also called me Pakistani.
When they can't find any other
stick to beat Muslims with, they
are dubbed as Pakistanis and
anti-national. This was not only
a reflection on me, but on all
Kashmiri Muslims. I fought back
against this smear campaign. I
tried to tell them that demo-
cracy is here to stay; we m';lst
strengthen its roots and gIVe
people the benefit of democracy.
Were you at all successful?
Unfortunately the party of
the Centre there and its leaders
never wanted cooperation and
understanding. They thought the
only way they can survive is by
creating more bitterness bet-
ween the Centre and us.
When they said I was a Pakis-
tani, I said prove it. They could
not prove their charge that
Farooq Abdullah had given Sikhs
patronage to use their gurdwa-
ras as training camps. I was not
in power, they had all the doc-
uments, but they could not
substantiate any of their false
charges.
Were you correcdy reported
as having welcomed Gover-
nor's rule in the State?
Yes. During Gul Shah's time,
various communal forces were
coming up. In Jammu the Shiv
Sen a was created as a counter-
force to the RSS In this the local
Congress-I was i;"volved. And as
we know, this atmosphere led
to cummunal clashes in the val-
ley - of which we are not at all
proud and feel very sorry.
Did the national press re-
port the skirmishes iairly?
I think some of the reports
were out of proportion. From
the papers it appeared that the
entire Muslim mass was react-
ing against Hindus in the valley.
This was not true.
Did killings take place?
No, there was not a single kil-
ling or incident of rape. Tem-
ples were desecrated, houses
were burnt - yes.
You mean it was nothing
like November '84 in Delhi?
No, not at all. Rather we were
the first ones to get there. To
try and paciIY the situation.
Well, thank God that has passed
and let us hope it will never
occur again.
So, coming back to your ques-
tion about Governor's rule - at
that stage there was no other
way. The tourist season was
coming on; everybody was fed
up of Gul Shah and Governor's
rule was the only way out.
What do the people of
Kashmir want?
They want to go to the polls
to elect a democratic govern-
ment .
What are the prospects of
that happening?
I think the prospects are very
good. We have to work out the
details with the Prime Minister.
Follow-up on Gorkhaland
T
he foUowing 8tatement
of Subash Ghei8ing has
not appeared earlier in
the press. Since it is impor-
tant to the Gorkhaland 8tOry
in last week'8 Forum Gazette
(September 1-15 we are re-
producing it:
"Some leaders of West Bengal
have time and again called the
Gorkha National Liberation Front
and me personally as antina-
tional and secessionist. We are
accused of seeking an inde-
pendent Gorkhaland outside
India. This allegation is base-
less, politically motivated and
maliciously designed to defame
us. We are neither anti national
nor secessionist . The GNLF only
seeks a just redressal of the
genuine grievances of the Gork-
has of India within the frame-
work of the Indian Constitution.
We have total loyalty to India
which is our motherland. But
our people have been facing a
crisis of identity since inde-
pendence. We want clearly and
unambiguously to be identified
as Indian nationals. We ask: is it
anti-national to ask for Indian
nationality? We believe that the
creation of separate state of
Gorkhaland within the Indian
Union will give us our clear
Indian identity and distinguish
us from the people of Nepal."
"The next phase of our pro-
gramme of action is to com-
mence on Independence Day,
August 15. As a token of our
total commitment to the Indian
nation and to avoid any unto-
ward incident on Independence
Day, we have decided to sus-
pend our agitation for a period
of six weeks and hereby nail the
lie of those who seek to malign
us as anti national and seces-
sionist. Against the above back-
ground we appeal to the Prime
Minister to ensure that the West
Bengal Government looks into
our grievances, which are ge-
nuine, and redress them expe-
ditiously. On issues which con-
cern the Central Gove.rnment.
we would like to place our case
before the Prime Minister at the
earliest possible opportunity. We
earnestly hope and trust that
the response to our appeal shall
be both pG6itive and
constructive. "
The statement appears to
have been made on August 14 .
The Spirit of
Excellence
Tuesday 16-30 September 1986 13
:The

Ludhiana Meet Calls for Front
to Fight Injustice
Eminent Intellectuals Condemn Denial of Human Rights
Gazette News Service
"Sikhs should form a jOint front
with the down-trodden minority
communities and the exploited
poor people of India and help
in liberating them from the
oppression of the ruling classes,
was the call given by the organ-
ising committee of the Sikh
Sammelan. The sammelan was
held at Guru Nanak Engineering
College, Ludhiana on August 31,
1986. More than 500 Sikh intel-
lectuals gathered at the meet to
answer two important questions:
- What the Sikh problem is
and What the Sikhs should do
now?
themselves as the leaders of the
majority community.
Dr. S.S. Johl, Professor of
Eminence, the first speaker after
the key note address, said that
there could be no peace in Pun-
jab or India unless the grievan-
ces of the community were
redressed. He said both the
Congress government at the
Centre and the Akali Govern-
ment in the State, had failed in
implementing the Punjab Accord
with sincerity.
Dr. Sukhdev Singh Vice-Chance-
lIor of PAU, Ludhiana pleaded
for a review of Centre-State rela-
tions with a view to grant mean-
ingful autonomy to the States.
He also said that the Parliament
could still give a healing touch
to the injured Sikh psyche by
expressing regret over Opera-
tion Blue Star and the post-
assassination killing of thou-
sands of innocent Sikhs. He also
advocated that the Sikh youth
be involved in talks at the State
and Centre level for finding out
a durable solution to the Punjab
problem.
Pritam Gill, while presenting a
paper on behalf of Punjabi Lok
Manch, Chandigarh stressed that
Sikhs must get rid of the leader-
ship belonging to the rich class
and eradicate the caste system
from the community. He further
said that the Hindus of working
class were allies of the Sikh
struggle while the capitalist and
the feudal Sikh leadership was
to be considered on the ene-
my's side. he added that their
goal was to achieve a demo-
cratic federal system where all
the nationalities would share
power on the basis of equality.
He went on to sav that Sikhs
must recognise the "clever moves
of the foreign powers and avoid
becoming tools in their hands;
rather, the Sikhs should join
hands with the oppressed
classes to fight against the
common oppressor i.e the capi-
talist system being operated by
the privileged classes. -
Unite or Quit
S. Jaswant Singh Kanwal, the
noted Punjabi novelist, made an
emotional appeal to the gather-
ing to act as Sikh Sangat and
force the Akali leadership to
unite or quit. S. Surjan Singh
Thekedar, a senior AkaIi leader
of the AkaIi Dal (B) protested
against the utterings of Jaswant
Singh Kanwal hut was forced to
sit down by the audience and
Kanwal continued with his
speech.
Mrs. Bimal Khalsa and Bibi
Rajinder Kaur blamed the Cen-
tre and the present Sikh leader-
ship for a complete betrayal of
the Sikh masses. Usting Pun-
jab's grievances, they said that
the foremost question was the
very existence of the Sikh. The
gathering was also addressed by
Malwinder Singh Mali, a leader
Mr. A.S. Bains, a former judge
of the High Court and member
of the presidium (Dr. Sukhdev
Singh, Vice-Chancellor, PAU,
Ludhiana; Kharak Singh Mann,
Advisor to the FAD of the U.N.,
Mr. B.S. Bindra a leading advo-
cate of Ludhiana; Dr. 5.5. JohI,
former Vice-Chancellor of Pun-
jabi University, Patiala were the
other members of the presi-
dium) in his welcome address
traced the origin of Sikhism as a
movement against despotic rule
and injustice at all levels. He
said, "Sikhs are never aggres-
sors, they only fight back. Sikhs
he said are basically defenders
of human rights and killings
innocents as part of the Sikh
struggle has never been
approved by the community. He
added that blaming the Sikhs
for innocent killings was nothing
but a planned conspiracy hatched
by the unscrupulous ruling
classes to malign and isolate
the community.
Press and Communalism
The tone se-t by Justice Bains
was augmented by the key note
address read by S. Gurdarshan
Singh a leader of Sikh Students'
Federation.
FOl' the first time in such a
big Sikh-gathering the point
was raised that it was not the
appearance alone which
made anyone a Sikh; rather it
required adhering to the Sikh
principles in life to entide
anyone to be called a Sikh. It
was also pointed out that
there could be no comprom-
ise with those who exploited
the poor, even of they had a
Sikh appearance (beard and
turban)
Non-political Crimes Reported as Acts of Terrosism
T
he irresponsible and un-
becoming attitude of the
press in highlighting the
events throughout the years of
the Punjab crisis has been
instrumental in propelling Pun-
jab towards its doom. National
English dailies in general and
the Jalandhar-based vernacular
press in ha\ 'e engaged them-
selves in biased reporting. And
in the process have incited feel -
ings of hostility between Hindus
and Sikhs. The situation, today,
seems to have reached a point
of no return - the two com-
munities stand divided not only
in Punjab but also in other
parts cf the countly.
The partisan role of the ver-
nacular press in Jalandhar led
to a polarisation of readership.
Strident attacks of the Hind
Samachar group of newspapers
on Sikhs and exaggerated pro-
jection of the incidents of vio-
lence made it popular in the
Hindu circles of North India.
Similarly, the chain of Punjabi
newspapers published commu-
nal reports which found favour
amongst the Sikhs. This process
of projecting a one-sided
of the prevailing conditions
further poisoned the minds of
the masses making the com-
munal divide complete.
Dharlwal Incident
Brijender S. Panwar
gunpoint to take the vehicle off
the Amritsar-Pathankot highway
and turn towards the narrow
road that led to Chinna, Ghu-
man and Kunjarpul.
The so-called terrorists aged
between 20 and 28 asked the
Sikh passengers to get down.
Thereafter, eight Hindu passen-
gers travelling in the bus were
shot dead. Next day the news-
papers, 'The Tribune' and
' Indian Express' reported that
twenty passengers had been
'killed by Sikh terrorists whereas
the actual number of passengers
killed were only eight. These
reports created a feeling of fear
and uncertainity in the minds
of the readers. The press did
not make an effort to clear the
doubts. Later, the police appre-
hended five criminals who ad-
mitted to having committed the
crime. According to Police sour-
ces the names of these crimi-
nals are: Madal LaI, the gang
leader (a Hindu weaver) Gurmej
Singh from Dhilwan 'Dera Baba
Nanak Police Station), Manjeet
Singh Khozala, Manpreet Singh
- Pinka and Jalinder Singh of
Ghuman Kalan (Dharlwal). The
absconders in this case, who
were caught later on were Ran-
jit Singh (Godharpura) and Kul-
winder Singh (Gosanpura) from
Sadar Batala Police Station. All
I hese seven criminals have anti-
social backgrounds. They had
committed various crimes of
varied nature in different parts
of the state which were always
projected as communal crimes
NEWSHOUND
committed by Sikh extremists.
At no point of time did the pro-
cess mention that this gang was
headed by a Hindu criminal
aided by six other criminals
belonging to the Sikh commun-
ity and that these anti-social
elements were hired by some
vested interests who wanted to
create communal tension in the
area. Unfortunately, these div-
isive forces were successful in
engineering communal riots in
Dhariwal town. Had the press
played a responsible role by giv-
ing correct information at the
right time, things would not
have reached to such a pass.
Business Rivalry
In another incident of vio-
lence which occurred on
18.10.1984 at Dasuya in district
Hoshiarpur, Mr Ashok Mahajan,
a chemist was shot at and
seriously injured. An on-the-
spot investigation reveals that
this was a case of rivalry for
supremacy in business. Another
Chemist, a Sikh had his shop in
the same area. He faced stiff
competition from Mr. Ashok
Mahajan. So, he hired some
anti-social elements and tried to
eliminate his business rival. The
press reported this il16dent on
purely communal ..lJf'les - a
Hindu shot at by Sikh telTorists.
No effort was made to find out
the .real motive of the crime. As
a result, an ordinary crime got a
communal tinge and created
mis-givings in the minds of the
members of two communities.
of the Naxalite group who sup-
ported the Sikh struggle as part
of the class war. According to
him, the Damdami Taksal and
AlI India Sikh Students Federa-
tion represented the peasantly
and the working class whereas
the ruling Akali party was iden-
tified with the rich sardar. He
ruled out unprincipled unity
among the Sikhs and suggested
that the struggle should be car-
ried on till the oppressor-capita-
list rule was blasteg:
Dr. Jiwan Jot Kau.r from Farid-
kot and Tejpal Kaur 'from the
PAU congratulated the youth
who were out to fight against
the present system which
curbed all human rights and
civil liberties and was deter-
mined to liquidate the justice-
demanding people. They also
strongly condemned the fake
encounters staged by the para-
military forces.
About 80 speakers expressed
their views in a very cordial and
calm atmosphere.
The organisers announced
their decision to hold such con-
ferences in different districts of
the State in the near future.
Dasuya Incident
Approximately three months
after this incident, yet another
blow was struck at the same
place. On 25.1.1985 at about 7.15
p.m., two persons were shot
dead and eight others injured
in an indiscriminate firing by
some terrorists in the busy baz-
zar of Dasuya. This further
fanned communal passions and
riots erupted. In the FIR
launched at Dasuya Police Sta-
tion, Mr Ramesh Kumar, brother
of one of the deceased, named
a Sikh youth Mr Balwinder
Singh alias Bindra (18) of Village
Budhovarket as one of the per-
sons engaged in the shooting
incident. Mr Balwinder along
with some other youths of the
villages adjoining Budhovarket
were remanded to police cus-
tody. Later, it was discovered
that the same gang of anti-social
elements who were responsible
for the Chinna bus killings were
involved in this case also. The
unnecessary harassment of Sikh
you ths made the local sikh
population bitter against the
police administration and the
Hindus.
There are innumerable other
instances of ordinary crimes
being projected as communal
crimes by the press. In the
States of U.P. and M.P., the
crime rate is much higher than
that of Punjab (in spite of terror-
ism!. But, the newspaper do not
covers these incidents of crime,
atleast not in the same way.
The criminal activities in Punjab
are given undue coverage with
the clear cut motive of creating
sensation. This policy of the
press might be paying rich divi-
dends to certain individuals
but. is certainly doing a lot of
harm to the countly as a whole .
By Rap
Anandpur Sahib Resolution
Many speakers declared the
leadership of the present ruling
AkaIi Dal as part of the ruling
class which had let loose a
reign of terror against those
who were fighting for justice
and human rights. The speakers
were almost unanimous in
pointing out that the problems
of the Sikhs could never be
solved until and unless the
Anandpur Sahib Resolution was
accepted and implemented by
the Central Government and the
States in India were granted
autonomy.
The majority of the speakers
were of the view that State ter-
rorism needed to be contained
as it promoted individual terror-
ism. The speakers were almost
unanimous in declaring that the
Sikhs had no grudge against the
members of any religious com-
munity notwithstanding the fact
that the tyrants had indentified
During the last five trouble-
some years in Punjab, specific
cases can be quoted to show
how the press gave a communal
colouring to incidents of vio-
lence which were not otherwise
communal. One such major
incident took near Dhari-
wal in Gurdaspur district
between 7.55 and 8.15 p.rn. Sep-
tember 9, 1984. According to an
FIR registered at Dhariwal Police
Station by one Mr Samuel Masih
alias Toni. a Punjab Roadways
bus was on its way of Pathankot
from Amritsar. Immediately after
crossing Udhowal, and between
Satkoha and Naushahra Majah
Singh, the dirver was told at
U .. IN. ARMV/
1Jff; AIR fORCE,
NO, 111 Pc S'Em I VISrrlN(f
A <?{OVT I
NAVYf!
14 Tuesday 16-30 September 1986
r=&um
-----------Gazettc
A CMSS procession in Da/li Rajhara: organising mineworkers along non-communal lines.
How Iron-ore Miners Resisted
Communalists in November '84?
Oalll-Rajhara is a mining
town In Ourg district of Madhya
Pradesh. The experience of
this town at the time of the
shameful violence against Sikhs
in November 1984 did not
attract the attention It deserved
at the time. Even though nearly
two years have passed, this
experience Is being described
here in view of Its Importance.
C
rucial to the understand-
ing of what happened
here is the fact that the
majority of the iron-ore miners
have been organised under the
Chattisgarh Mines Shramik
Sangh (CMSS), a trade union,
which has won widespread
praise not just for improving
the economic conditions of
workers but even more for its
campaign against liquor, its
health movement and its overall
struggle against the manifold
injustices in this region. As
chance would have it , the
union's fight against liquor ad-
diction brought it into confron-
tation with a vel)' rich liquor
contractor who happens to be a
Sikh. Due to his wealth and
proximity to the ruling party he
presents himself as the leader
of the local Sikhs. He tried to
use this posiDon to mobilise the
entire community against the
CMSS. In this shameful effort he
was helped by the fact that sev-
eral Sikhs who were in trans-
port work were harmed during
the agitations by the workers for
improving their working and liv-
ing conditions. The CMSS was
even dubbed as anti-Sikh by this
selfish man. However, the CMSS
was keen to correct this misre-
presentation and sent their men
to meet Sikh leaders in Arnritsar
and Delhi. Consequently a repre-
sentative was sent to this region
who after examining all matters
gave a report favourable to the
CMSS.
Thus a communal clash being
Bharat Dogra
engineered by a selfish man for
his self-interest lsaving his liquor
tradel was averted before mat-
ters could come to a crisis
point.
It is against this background
that the events of November
1984 should be seen. Uke other
parts of Madhya Pradesh, the
various towns around Dalli-
Rajhara also witnessed violence
against the Sikh community.
What would haplJI.'n in Dalli-
Rajhara, a tuwn where there
had already been some tension
among Sikhs on the one hand
and the CMSS on the other
hand? This was a critical
question?
Congress-I Antles
To make matters worse a
powerful minister who at that
time was regarded as the most
powerful ruling party politician
of this region, came here and
camped in Balod, a nearby
town. According to a prominent
leader of CMSS, this minister
sent him a message to the effect
that though they had been
rivals in the past. they should
now join hands in the task of
teaching;Jhe Sikhs a lesson. The
minister\. vndoubtedly thought
that in of their previous
clash with influential Sikhs, the
CMSS leaders would make use
of this opportunity to take their
revenge. And the union had
thousands of workers at its
command.
Complete Protection
But such dirty thoughts had
not even entered the minds of
the CMSS leaders. Instead their
minds v.ere working in an
entirely difierent direction. They
had sensed the danger to their
Sikh brothers, and they were
now busy thinking how to pro-
vide compl ete protection to
them.
The union leaders made it
clear to those who were trying
to provoke violence that any
such effort would be resisted
the union with all the resources
and manpower at its command.
The dirty men got the mes-
sage. They were well aware of
the grit and determination of
the union, and knew that its
leaders meant what they said.
At a meeting of the workers it
was clearly explained to them
- to the extent that such
explanation was needed - that
the CMSS was firmly opposed
to all forms of communalism
and whatever may have been
their misunderstanding with
some vested interests such as
liquor contractors who inciden-
tally happened to be Sikhs, the
union's anti-communalism pol-
icy demanded that the entire
community would be protected
in this hour of need.
In the event not a single
Sikh family in Dalli-Rajhara
suffered any damage. And the
CMSS did not have to make
any great effort to epsW"e this
- just spreading the word
that the union was opposed
to communal violence and
would oppose and fight any
such effort was enough to
ensW"e that peace was main-
tained de8pite the initial mis-
chevioU8 de8igns of powerful
politicians.
On the other hand we know
that at several other places,
large-scale communal violence
could not be prevented despite
the brave efforts of some indi-
viduals. Thus what the expe-
rience of Dalli-Rajhara reveals is
that where genuine organisa-
tions exist which give the mass-
es an ideology of change and
betterment by fighting the real
causes of exploitation and
oppression, it is not possible to
spread the ideology of commu-
nalism which is based - to
trace its economic roots - on
spreading hatred against mem-
bers of another religion and
community with a view to later
attacking, displacing and looting
them.
Terror in Ludhiana :
But Cooperation, Amity Prevail
Gazette News Service
T
errorists opened fire on
a group of people play-
ing cards in the Guru
Nanak Pura locality of Ludhi-
ana city, ldlling one and injur-
ing three on Aug. 18 at about
7.15 p.m.
According to an eye witness
three terrorists came on a blue
Chetak Scooter which they left
outside the park and one of
them kept it ready to run away.
The two terrorists, one with a
stengun and the other with a
pistol, entered the park where
people in different groups (of
six-seven persons each), were
playing cards, One of them
started firing with a pistol but
the other in his nervousness
could not operate the stengun.
Both the weapons were earlier
covered with towels.
The pistol shots injured four
persons of one group. Of the
injured, Mr Bhan Sharma (651,
who was shot in the head and
chest, later succumbed to his
injuries. Mr Om Prakash (45)
who was shot in the neck may
not regain his speech. Mr
Chhabi Nath 1601 and Mr Jas-
want Rai 1601 who received
minor injuries were given first
aid.
While some of the districts in
Punjab werE' reeling under vio-
lence, Ludhiana remained com-
paratively calm until March 1986
when 11 persons lost their lives,
in and around Daresi Ground,
as a result of indiscriminate fir-
ing by terrorists.
An eye-witness of the Guru
Nanak Pura firing told the repor-
ters that residents of this local-
ity informed the police imme-
diatel v, who arrived at the
scene' only after half an hour.
According to the FIR written in
Purani Kotwali, the police on
patrolling duty heard the gun
shots, and reached the spot
within a few minutes and in-
spected the site. The City In-
spector S.S. Brar told your cor-
respondents that two empties
of 9 mm, were found from the
site, whereas, about four shots
must have been fired. The FIR
states that the terrorist fired

says that the terrorist with the
stengun could not operate it
and shots were fired only from
the pistol.
The police claims to have
recovered a blue Chetak Scooter
No. CHB-9660 which they sus-
pect to have been used by the
culprits . The eye witness
account does not corroborate
the police findings as according
to them the scooter No. was
3161. Police has also claimed
that one of the culprits has
been identified as Balbir Singh
!Babla Groupl or Labra village,
proclaimed offender.
Residents of the colony .
chased the culprits in an '
Ambassador car which, unfor-
tunately, broke down after a
kilometer, but they confirmed
that the culprits ran away
towards Upkar Nagar.
The Scooter taken into cus-
tody by the police however was
found deserted on the Fero-
zepur Road and wa!? involved in
another minor accident and
deserted by the owner on the
road-side. -The claims of the
SHO having' identified one of
the extremists has neither been
confirmed nor denied by Mr S.J.
Ohri, the DIG, who visited the
city for an on-the-spot investiga-
tion.
All the four injured belong to
the lower stratum of society.
Bhan Singh was a munshi ; Mr
Om Prakash is a sample master
in a woollen mill. Jaswant Rai is
running a small dail)' with two
buffaloes and Chhabi Nath is a
tailor.
The tragedy could have been
more grim had the proprietor of
' Fauji Gun House' not rushed to
the top of his shop and aimed a_
rifle towards the culprits. His
shouts challenging the assai-
lants, made them run without
giving them opportunity to
operate the stengun.
People from both the com-
munities of the affected locality
in particular, and Ludhiana citY
in general; have condemned
this dastardly act. Fortunately
there was no communal flare
up following this incident. The
administration did not impose
curfew in any area. The kiUers
seem to have been isolated and
their design to create commu-
nal riots has also failed. There
was no 'bandh' or 'hartal ' in the
city, but the incident was con-
demned by one and all in
unequivocal terms.
Neeraj Narula
NOllika Sharma
in Ludhialla

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Tuesday 16-30 September 1986 15
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_S_p_o_ili_g_h_t _________________________
Misra Commission Report Should be Published
J
ustice Ranganath Misra
submitted his long awaited
report on the November car-
nage of Sikhs in Delhi. Kanpur
and Bokaro on 22 August 1986.
So far no part of the contents of
the report, so vital to the sensi-
bilities and perceptions, both of
the Sikh community and of all
those concerned human
rights, justice and freedom of
infonnation have been divulged
to the public. With one interest-
ing exception. The Delhi based
Hindustan Times, known over
the past few years for its anti-
Sikh writings, often in virulent
tenns, is the only nm'\'spaper to
have carried a short news item
that Justice Misra had come to
the conclusion that the violence
against the Sikhs was not orga-
nised. The source of this infor-
mation has not been men-
tioned. But nor has officialdom
denied the Hindustan Times
report. It is a sign of our times
that no other newspaper, has
asked why the report has not
been made public.
According to the Commission
of Enquiry Act there is no com-
pulsion that a report must be
laid before Parliament prior to
its being made public. On the
contrary, in several well known
instances, reports have been
made public and their contents
published in the press shortly
after submission, with the lay-
ing before Parliament following
at a later date. The S.R. Dass
Commission. enquiring into the
conduct of Punjab Chief Minis-
ter Pratap Singh Kairon. is a
case in point. Appointed by the
Central government, the Com-
mission submitted its report to
the government. Immediately,
Mr Kairon was summoned to
the Home Ministry and shown
the report. The very next day he
submitted his resignation as the
report was considered adverse
to him on certain matters. The
report was laid before Parlia-
ment later. Similarly the Chagla
report on Hari Das Mundhra,
the Maruti Report and the Shah
Commission report, were all
made public before submission
to Parliament.
Investigation Or Relief
Concerned persons, who were
involved with the Misra Com-
mission's operations, are appre-
hensive about the report 's con-
clusions. And with valid reasons.
At the very start of the enquiry
Justice Misra expressed the view
that the past should be forgot-
ten and "we" should concen-
trate on the future. He expressed
this view on more than one
occasion. It was pointed out to
him, with all due respect, that
the object of the enquiry was
not to consider relief measures,
that these were not within the
tenns of reference of the Com-
mission. Justice Misra's com-
ments appeared to indicate a
shift from the tenns of refer-
ence, a shift which would re-
duce the Commission to a kind
of relief organisation. The major
objective of the Commission
was to lind out the NATURE of
the November events, HOW they
came about, whether or not
they were ORGANISED, and, if
so, WHO was responsible.
The tenns of reference had
been left vague, perhaps delib-
Hal'll Malik
fides, will give rise to further
alienation and insecurity of a
section of the Indian people,
which is surely against the pub-
lic interest.
Connaught Place Nov. '84. The police and troops came out when the killing was over.
The government's stand has
been that the November vio-
lence was not orgafiised. If the
Misra Commission report agrees
with the government's 'conten-
tion, then why has not the
report been made public with-
out delay? If the Commission
has found that the violence was
organised, it is in the public
interest . . . but perhaps not in
the interests of the ruling party
- and the Prime Minister is
first and foremost the Prime
Minister of India, of all its peo-
ple, and bnly secondly the chief
of his party - to find out who
organised such a camage, and
to identify and punish the
guilty. It would be anti-national
not to do so. If the Commission
has not come to a conclusion
on this vital point, the public
has a right to know why the
Commission has deviated from
its tenns of reference.
eratelv, which in itself roused a
sense" of apprehension voiced
openly at the time. But it was
hoped that in the interests of
justice, and in the interests of
the country, Justice Misra, al-
though he could not change the
tenns, would interpret them in
such a manner as to make them
effective and give them effi-
ciency and workability. Relief
and rehabilitation were matters
for bureaucrats, whereas Justice
Misra, because of his high office,
would be concerned with the
all important enquiry into the
how and why of the events.
However, in the course of the
Commission's proceedings, it
was noted, with increasing con-
cern, that Justice Misra appear-
ed to be straining all his ener-
gies to providing relief to wi -
dows and orphans, a humani -
tarian approach which was great-
ly appreciated, but which pro-
voked apprehension the the
Commission's basic aim might
be sidetracked.
When the Commission was
conducting its enquiry in Bokaro,
Justice Misra was asked to iden-
tify the culprits. His response
was that this was not his func-
tion. When the Bakaro report
was made known to the Citi-
zens' Justice Committee in Delhi,
the Committee's lawyers made
an application to Justice Misra
pointing out that the enquiry
would be meaningless if the
question of identifying the cul-
prits was not taken up. Justice
Misra replied that his com-
ments were applicable only to
Bokaro, not to Delhi. He told
the lawyers this orally, but no
written orders were passed.
This increased the apprehen-
sions of the Citizens Justice
Committee lawyers.
The government 's stand, even
before the appointment of the
Misra Commission. had been
that the violence was not orga-
nised and the Delhi Administra-
tion took the same stand before
the Commission.
The Right to Know
To recall: Section 3 of the
Commission of Enquiry Act 1952
states ''The Government shall
cause to be laid before the Lok
Sabha the report of the Com-
mission together with a memo-
randum of the action taken the-
reon, within a period of six
months of submission of the
report by the Commission to
the government ." In what is
commonly known as the Judges
Transfer Case of 1982 IS.P. Gupta
Vs President of India argued
before the Full Bench of the
Supreme Court headed by Jus-
lice P.N. Bhagwatil the Supreme
Court held "The concept of an
open Government is the direct
emanation trom the right to
know which seems to be impli-
cit in the right of free speech
and expression guaranteed un-
der Article 191111al of the Consti-
tution of India. Therefore the
closure of information in regard
to the function of Government
must be the rule and secrecy an
exception justified only where
the strictest requirements 01
public interest so demands. "
The operative words in the
context of our present political
condition are "strictest require-
ments of public interest. " Every-
thing depends on the interpre-
tation of this phrase . The
Amendment to the Commission
of Enquiries Act, pushed through
by the government in connec-
tion with the Thakkar Commis-
sion report on the assassination
of the late prime minister, allows
the government to issue a noti-
fication that for "the security of
the state and the public inter-
est " the report should not be
laid before the House. The noti-
fication was issued with regard
to the Thakkar Commission re-
port but the government gave
an undertaking in Parliament
that such notifications would be
issued taking each case into
consideration, and would be
the exception.
Publication of Report
in Public Interest
In the case of the Misra
Commission this notification has
not been issued, yet. One hopes
that the government will inter
pret the "public interest " to
mean that the report should be
given to Parliament, as its sup-
pression will give rise to suspi-
cion of the government's bona-
. Perhaps the most immediate
concern is why, when the go-
vernment has not issued a noti-
fication under the Amendment
provision regarding the Misra
Commission report, the report
has not been made public over
three weeks after its submis-
sion. A second question, of
equal importance, is why no
newspaper, no group of con-
cerned citizens, has taken up
this failure publicly.
HM
Resistance Against Missile Test
Base in Orissa
Gazette News Service
Villagers whose rice will be replaced by missiles - they prefer rood to
armaments.
A
missile test base, to be
set up in the Baliapal
and Blograi districts of
Orissa, will displace 1.5 lac
people of some 132 villages
from their land and livelihood.
The site will cover an approxi-
mate area of 170 sq. Ian of some
of the prime agricultural land in
Orissa. The cost of the project is
approximately Rs. 300 crore and
it is going to be the most
sophisticated installation in
India's defence outfit.
The Institute for Motivating
Self-Employment (IMSEI, organ-
ized a large scale protest meet-
ing at Rankuta, Orissa, on August
3. More than 3000 people at-
tended the open session includ-
ing journalists, lawyers, teachers
and social workers from differ-
ent parts of the country. The
agitation was in response to
eviction orders received by the
villagers, who responded by
staging local demonstrations.
Apart from the sea-fishing
indust.ry, production and culti-
vation of numerous commodi-
ties such as paddy, coconut,
bamboo, salt, etc. will be affected
since this area is known as the
'granary' of Orissa. The govern-
ment's assurance, that all the
12,000 families of the affected
areas will be suitably rehabili-
tated, has been received with
scepticism especially since there
is no concrete plan for rehabili-
tation, but vague references have
been made to allot land in the
hilly interior, and to setup some
industry for their employment.
IMSE has taken the position,
that apart from the cultural and
the physical displacement of
people the "ecological balance
of the entire coastal region of
Orissa and West Bengal will be
seriously affected." They also
fear, this will throw lndia into
the orbit of superpower conflict.
The meeting concluded, with
an organised plan of resistance
being dmwn up, with petitions
to the Prime Minister and the
Defence Minister, backed by an
extensive study of the effect on
the ecology of the area and the
extent of loss to be suffered by
the local people. All-India con-
ventions to rouse public opin-
ion both in the urban and rural
centres were also approved.
Whether the villagers will ac-
cept the defence priority and
the government package, or the
government will decide to relo-
cate the base has to be seen.
Some may see it, as just a battle
of wits, but the implications
require focus. Can this violation
of the local population'S right to
their homes be justified in a
broader context of national se-
curity? Where does this place
non-aligned' India in the
armament race?
16 Tuesday 16-30 September 1986
Printed and published by A.S. Narang for the Sikh Forum, 3 Masjid Road, Bhogal, New Delhi - 110014 at Wordtronic, 111 / 56 Nehru Place, New Delhi - 110019