Vol. 1 No.

3 New DeUli Tuesday 1-15 July 1986

Hindu Maneh Members
demonstrating with Trishuls in
Delhi on June 20. The BJP joined
up with the Vislnva Hindu
Parishad and various Hindu
Senas to demand Army
deployment in Punjab.
Slog.ms against the r\c:eord were
also heard.
The Politics of
Trishul Culture
Delhi's Wave of Hindu Communalism
Ever since Mrs. Indira Gandhi's assassination and the
organised cal'nage OJ Sikhs in November 1984
1
Dellii has
been scarred by provocative Hindu slogans and posters.
On June 20 an unruly demonstration was organised by
various H_indu communal organisations like the Vishwa
Hindu Parishadl Shiv Senal Hindu Manchl etc' l the BJP
included. The demonstration marked the culmination of
many days of protest meetings
l
marches anrJ. dharnas
against the Punjab Accord. lnder Mohan reports.
T
his is an era of Stmas and
of the emergenee of fun-
damentalism in sections
of variolls religions. These sec-
tions have become so aggres-
sive and volatile that thev seem
to have overshadowed what
could be termed as a balanced
assessment of human problems
and human beings. Not only
that
l
religion as stich is being
distorted, and its age-old
accepted interpretations of uni-
versal peace, brotherhood and
human relationship based on
mutual equality are being given
the go by.
The most dangerou aspect
- one which has virtually be-
come a ll-pervasive - is the mix-
ing of religion with politics. This
has been done so blatantly by all
those politicians who have found
it a co nve ni ent method for
ei ther the re te ntion or achi-
evement of power. It would not
be an exaggeration to maintain
tbat the surge of Senas is also
Ilarji Malik
due tu Ihi s but grim
politi cal rca Ii t.v.
Earlier we had t he Hindu
Shiv Sena in Bombav. with all it s
over' tones uf comur;ali sed polit -
ics and c onsequent drastic
aCli ons at the cost of innocent
li ves. Todav we have a Hindu
Shiv Sena ' in Punjab, a Hindu
Shakti Sena in Delhi, a Hindu
Hanul11an Sena in parts of U.P.
and tinallv. a Musli m Adam ena
being in Delhi in order to
mubili z.e th e Muslim vou th
behind it. -
The puhlic, by and large. is
aware of the role of Ihe Hindu
Shiv Sen a in Bombay and Pun-
jab, but the Shakt( Sena and
Adam Sena are a recen t pheno-
menon. It is also a fact Lhat the
Shiv Sena. ShakLi Sena and Han-
uman Sen a all function in col-
laboration. In Iheir own way. the
ruling Congl'e s party and the
BJP which has now gone back to
its old Jana Sangh days. make
full use of all these Senas. as and
when it s uit s the m faT' their clec-
10l'al purposes.
Shakti Sella in Dellii
The Shakti Sena of Delhi is of
recent origin. Eight months ago,
no one had heard of it. Now its
(Cont inued 011 P.3 ' 01. i )
Fortnighdy Rupees Two
Centre Bungles Over
Chandigarh
Bid to Circumvent Accord
BaljH Malik
!\iter Mathe\,.:, aJ'ler Venkataramiah , after Desai. atter Ow
Accord \Vhal? With Ole Chandigarh issue still unresolved
heyond yfll another dea(lline IJune 21 ), northern India
appears 10 be sel 10 rcceh'c a Ii'csh wave 01 dark douds
aecompanied with thunder and Lightningl and not only 0'-
Ole monsoon kind. Apa,'t Ii'om the senseless (but calcu-
latedl wal'e 01' kiUings unJeashed by the terrorists and the
resulh1nt migration of Hindus to sal'er havens within and
outside Punjab, the Congress-I gove ... llne nl of Prime
Minisler Rajiv Gandhi, has cieUvered its own mindless
blow to prospects of peace and tranquility in the troubled
state.
B
y hunglillg lJ\'(' r Chandi -
garh .rl1(1 appointing it
hi gher judicial authorilv'
in the furm oj' DA Des,;i.
iwith lerms of r(,I('rence ur the
lack of ti will. which !lout the
Accurd l !O cOlllplete what
Mathew ami Vcnka taramiah 'lad
left onlv half donn. the Centre
ha s cir:cuillve nled. if not ye t
th e Kaji v-Lo ngowal
Accord. The nati on might sti ll be
a lilli e wav away Ii-um the war
declared on the' Accord bv the
editor of The TinH!s of India in
his columns on Jurw 22 and 24
entitl ed 'Accord is Dead' and
' Scrap Raji v-Longowa l Accord,'
but the citizens of thi s countrv
are being subjecled to the home
truth of being helLl 10 ransom by
non-government. 01' a ll eas t non-
perfomling at the
Cen tre and in Punjab.
The lates t episodp. in the
Chandigarh story unfolded itself
last fortni ght with .Justi ce Venka-
taramiah rl eclaring that Punjab
should part with 70.000 acres of
Hindi -speaking territory in li eu
of Cha ndigarh. He also le t il be
knuwn that 45,000 ' Hindi speak-
ing acres ' had been identified
though these could also come
under purview of clause 7.4 of
the Accord concel'lling boundry
and ten'iturial questions.
The Venkataramiah Award
ran into tl'Dubl e wi th Ihe ink still
wet on it. The honourabl e judge
fail ed to identity the additional
25,000 Hincli -s peaki ng acres he
wanted transferred to Haryana;
suggested the appoin tment of
another commission to under-
take this task and then added
for good measure that he be
excused to head the new com-
mission. for pel'sonal reasons as
he put it.
liaryana's Understanding
Haryana lost no time in
accepting the Award. ostensiblv
with the understandjng that the
45.000 acres would not form part
of the deal on Chandi farh but
_ wou Ld come to it 1I nder cluu -e
Justice Mathew
7.4 as a result of the elTorts uf
the as yet unappoint ed second
commi ssion on houndIy and terri-
torial mall er . Thus Harvan<l '
unders tanding wa . t hat the Il ew
commi ss ion suggested by Jus-
ti ce Venkataramiah would need
to identifv another 70.000 acres
separate ii'om th -IS.OOO already
ide ntified as
terri I or'\!.
The' reaction in Punjab IVas
predictable as it was reasunable.
Though the so-call ed national
press chose to miss thr point.
choosing insteacllo ricUcule
and abuse on Punjab s s tand.
What Was Punjab's Stand
After a certain amount of
di thering. ca used nu doubt by
(Contillued on p.i:; Col. / 1
Inside
Viewpoint
by Ashish Nandi
White Heat in
Black Sou th Africa
by Javed Naqvi
Illustrations by
Mickey Patel and
Ira Roy
Spotlight on WHO
by Salam Badal'
Short Story by
Saadat Hasan Munlo
F8ru
M __ e_m_a_W __ a_W_h __________________
Th_e Press, the Accord and
How Many Acres
tut ed by former Supreme Court
judges, had fa il ed to accompli sh
in months. If the proposed time-
t able ha d bee n followe d , Mr
Desa i ' s exe r cise would h ave
been a farce ; equally farci cal
would have bee n the rest of the
formal procedure to comple te
Ihe tra nsfe r of le rrilory on Sat-
urday. Possibly the Govel'llme nt
il self had decided on the areas
that Punjab would be asked to
give up, and Mr Desai was ex-
pecl( )d only to present thi s as
hi s _own finding, at best afl er a
cursorv review of the official
exerc i;e. If so, it is mos l extraor-
dinal v Ihat a re tired judge of Ihe
high(;sl court in the land and
Chairma n of the Law Commi s-
sion s hould have agreed to be a
party 10 thi s make- beli eve. Mr
Bamala has done a selv ice 10 all
by I'ejecling proposal.
We give below excerpts num the -Indian Express, The Sta-
tesman and- The Times of' India on events' pertaining to
ChandigaJ'h 's scheduled transfer on June 21, now delayed
until JlI/V 15.
While the Express and Statesman saw the problems of'
the past fortnight in a fair-minded nationalist manner; the
Times ' declared it s own war on the Ra;iv Gandhi- Sant Lon-
gowi lf Accurd.
INDlAN EXPRESS
.ILl/II ' r./ , 1!lXli
What India Expects
II a Iholl sand pitil:S that
1\11' I: .S. \ 'lml--ataral11iah's
all ;ml docs not roll ow ti ll! wis-
dlllil 01 hi s o\\n l!x(;(!lll:nt pos t-
SITipl (' ailing un tlw nati o l1 to
ahuI'I' p( :lt." paroc hiali s m
and III' Illdi an In
11 11 ' Iltltlllliari cs of ling ui s li t
III lilt' I:V(! llt he has s ug-
th a l PUlljab tJ' a ll srnr
,t(Tes to Harvalla illli(!11 or
Cllal ltli ga rh. TIll: ii -
s(' 11 II as abl e to pid, out only :10
villages wi th a land area or45,()()()
acres on "tIH' has is of 111<: 1
cens us ill IIH' lill)(! availahl e to it
anci Ilwl'l'l i lr(' sOll ghl a co III p ro-
mi SI : hOIII (!( !n 11 ll! Iwo pal'lil!s.
Silln' Ihi s Ivas 11 01 possi hll !. Mr
\' (: 11 I-- a I a r a 111 i a h h as I'l! t: 0 III .
1TI(:nd( :d Ihal Ih(! (;ov(:rnilwil l of
Illdia a p poill l ."1' 1 anolhel' COI1l -
mission Iwhicll IH' has hill1self
sa id e!S(:WIWI'I' IS a Ili ghlman'
Ihal Plinjah-li arvana should he
sp;IIl!c1 110 d('II' f'I11ill (' whi ch Hilldi -
s pl:aiJ ng I illages !! llcol11passing
i() ,nOn i.Icn:s s ho liid lJ(' II 'ans-
HI' sa vs the Iwo Sta ll'S
s holiid he lime 10 plac('
Ihe I1L!CeSSaI'V l11al(!lial rd eva 11 I
lur ide n tili ca'i ion of Ill es(' an!as
I.nl l 011 10 add Ihal Il l('
UniOIl (;ovcrnnwill mighl I!V(! 1l
no\\ lind il possi bl e to pe rs uade
th (,1ll t o (' o me 10 a mutual
af(rel' I1 WIII Id ihoUI insis ling o n
pl'OlIf of lingui sli c composilion.
Till' Hal'vana cabine l has ac-
Ct!Pll'tl Ihl' \ fe nka laramiah Com-
t1nrlint(s bUI Punjab
can Ill' luI' feeli ng Ihal
Mr \ (' Ill--ata ramiail strilved hl !-
vond his l!!rnlS of refere;1C:e ami
'has appt!aled 10 the Centre to
revil 'll hi s recomme ndations.
:The
FOrum
Gazette
01 COlisult inK F:rli tol',o;
Justice V.R_ h.rishna lyeI' ,
10K. Gujral , Madhu Ki s hwar,
Khus hwant Singh, ,Jaya Jaitiy,
Rajni Kothari, Amrik Singh
Chairman. Board of Editors
Lt. (;en_ Jagjit Singh Aurora Iretd. 1
j\llanagi ng Editor
Baljit Malik
Editors
O_S. Sandhu, Iiarji Malik,
A.S. Narang
Associat e Editor
Avtar Singh Judge
Circulation
Lt_ Col. Manobar Singh Iretd.1
Business Man,lgel'
Jitinder Kaur Lal
Editorial /Campi Office
"Bhagwan Das Road,
New Delhi-l 10001.
Phone 385270. 385042
Tele.1
315220 HBLK FOR GAZETIE
2 Tuesday 1- 15 July 1986
Till : nalional inwms l would he
bcsi scrv(:d Il v a fJ'(!s h initiati vl:.
Tlll'l'!! is no 10 appoinl .v(!1
anollll !r cOl11 mi ssi on. Mr V(!l1ka-
lar;lI11i ail li as idclllili ed 3(J Hindi -
spl:al--i ng 1': ilagl:s 14.'i, 0l!() ac res l
lilal cOlild go 10 Ha rya na . I.e t
II u:s(: I' ill ag(!s 1)(: Ira ns l(! rred 10
H,I/ "\';1I1a Oil Jtlnt! Z I in li e u of
Ch,;ndigal'h. I.(!I IIH!re Ill! 11 0
ill s is lc!nCl! iJv Harva na 011
ing OI ddililJl; al ac'l'eag('! 10 l11akl!
up 11ll' s lipposl:d magic fi gure o f
70.II(JO ' 1l J'( !S. Mr lIa nsi Lal and
hi s coll eagut!s in Ihl! ruling parl.v
a nd Ihl ! ()pposition sholiid he
big (!llllllgil alHI Il1dian enough
nol 10 t\(!lll a lld Ihi s pound of
llt!sll . I'I'I :SSlll 'e a nd agit a ti o n to
Sl!ClIl'! : Ihi s ,11 HI Ill ort! can on l."
lead III SIlITllW. I.e I Ilw ll1 pay
hel:d III Mr \I(!l1kalaramiah 's (!lo-
qlll :1I1 pi ca whi c h Ill! sO lInwis()-
Iv discardl :d in li 'all1ing hi s own
Awa rd . lit! n!ll1ind(!d Ihe COLII 1-
11 '1' of I.incolns warning Ihal "a
hllllSl ' dil 'ided agail1sl itself. ca n-
nol s iand." The re is onl v one
Cili )',()nsl1ip ill Illd ia a ll d n(l lhing
lik(! 0111 (!;\(:Iu sivt! hon wla nd li)l'
an Indi all il1 s idl' Il1dia. No h!li -
gioll OIl'Il S ;1 language. 111 whi -
chm'I!I' Slat (! Ill ev be. Fazilka,
Allo ilar a nd horde r areas
will 1'!!llla in forever Indi a. II is
nol loa 10 ri se 10 s lalesman-
ship ami pul Indi a lirst.
THE STATESMAN
JUli e :!.:!., I .'JSli
Tragedy and Farce
During hi s undistingui s hed
le nure of oflice Chi e f Mi ni s ter
of Punjah, Mr Surj eet Singh Bar-
na la ha s dOll!! a l leasl one good
Ihing: he has prevent ed the e e n-
1m fl'Oll1 pe rpe traling a Ii:aud a ll
people and maki ng a mac-
kerv of the instituti on of jud icial
or quasi-judi cial review_ WllPn
Oil Fri dav Mr D.A. Desai. are-
ti l'l)d ju'd ge of th e Supreme
Court. was appointed to de te r-
mine wb ic h areas of Punjab
w ' re 10 be Ira ns ie rred [ 0 Hal'-
yana in li e u of Cha ndigarh , he
was given less Ihan 24 hours to
cOll1pl e te a task which two ear-
li er Commi ssions, also constl -
THE TIMES OF INDIA
JUIl O 22, 1986
Accord Is Dead
As had been anticipated by
us more tha n once by infer-
e nce, if no t expli c it s ta te me nt ,
the Rajiv-Longowa l accord has
finally collapse d. Thi s is the
obvious implication of the Punjab
govel'n lll e nt 's decisi on to rejec i
th e D.A. Desa i Commi ss i o n
whic h MI' Gandhi has appoint ed
in a bid to salvage something
out of the wreckage. The Prime
Minist e r has gone so far as deli -
beralely 10 confuse the te rms of
reference of Ihe new commis-
s ion a l th e ins tance of the Pun-
jab c hi ef Mr S.S. Bar-
nal a . Bu t Ihi s ha s no l he lped
him. He is nol just back 10
squa re o ne . He is in a muc h
worse pli ghl than he was in
be fore the accurd las l Jul v. He
is compl e tely s tuc k for a n.v"ldnd
o f poli cy 011 Punjab.
THE TIMES OF INDIA
June 24, 198(i
Scrap
Rajiv-wngowaJ
Accord
Chandigarh No. Por Killing
By GIRlLAL JAIN
T h e Uni on govern me nl
should take advantage of the
Pun jab governme nl's rejecti on of
Ihe D.A. Desai commi ssion a nd
declare that since it is no longer
possibl e to impleme nt the Hajiv-
Longowa l accord, it s tands
scra pped . To be candid, we are
nol recomme nding such a cour-
se of ac ti on only because we are
convinced Iwhic h we are) tha t
Ihe accord contains contradi c-
lions whi ch cannot be recon-
cil ed. We al'e cOlllme nding it
primarily, because we are con-
vinced Ihal Chandigarh must
not be transfelTed to "Punj ab".
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Q 1_,
. -(
Divine
Mission
Guru Gobind Singh . ..
His was a kind of life that is
unmatched
by anyone anywhere . ..
I
f dharma has survived in its
homeland, India. it is because
s uc h noble soul s were born
here from time to time to kee p
ali ve it s fl ame.
Dasam Granth or the Book
of the Tenth Guru, a monu-
me ntal work of inspirational
poe try. was written by the Guru
at Damdama Sahib where he got
some respit e from the ruthlessly
purs uing Moghul ar mies of
Aurangzeb. During thi s period,
Aurangzeb wrote a pleading let -
ter, filled .vith ma ny a hypocriti-
cal appeal, to the Guru but Guru
Gobind Singh repli ed with his
Zafer Namah, the e pistl e of vic-
tory. Thi s leller penned in hi s
darkest hour proved to be the
bright es t hour of hi s life! The
Guru ex plaine d why h e had
t ake n up sword agains t the
e mperor. It is an advocacy that
has n o co mpa r ison o n \-lIil y
peopl e resort to the sword and
I; se against the State. Here is an
excerpt :
8ibaayad tu daanash parasti
kuni,
Bakaaray shumaa ch erah
dasli kuni, 77
ChilJaa shud ki chao bachgaa
kushla/] chaar.
Ki bakee bimildas l pechidah
milill'. 78.
Chi milrdee ki ilkhbilr kha-
mosllila kuni,
Ki ilatash dilmilaraa badauraa
killl!. 79.
Cili khush g uft Fil'dosiily
kill/ sh zubo,
Sililabee bill/il d kaar ilahar
milll naa. 80. (1392)
You lemperor AurangzebJ use
your wisdom and ac t quickly:
Do re ply to thi s le tter as early
as possible. 77.
What did it malleI' if you
killed my four sons?
After all. the cobra (me) is sti U
li ving to punish you.
Wh a t manliness is it to extin-
gui sh some burning coal.
Wh e n the raging fir e is
spreading in aU directions? 79.
How beautifully the poet
IFirdausiJ has summed it up:
"The evil act quickly, thus
hastening their doom. " 80 (1392)
F.' om his autobiographical
poem Vichitra Natak tThe
Resplendent DramaJ one under-
stands just how intensely
devoted Guru Gobind Singh was
to hi s mission of upholding
righteousness and punishing
evil-doers. He writes:
Hum he kaaj jagat rna aay,
Dharam het Gurdev pathhaay,
laha tahil tum Dharam
bithaaro, Dusht dokhian pakar
pacchilaro. 42.
Yam kaaj dllaraa hum jan-
man. Samajh lell sadhu sil bh
manmiln.
Dharil m c llal aavan sa nt
ubaarilfl, Dusht silbhan ko mool
Ukhilal'iln. 43.
I Have come into this world
for thi s purpose_
The supreme Guru has sent
me to protect Ri ght eousness:
"You should propagate right-
eousness everywhere.
Seize and destroy the sinful
and the wicked." 42.
I have taken birth for thi s
purpose.
Le t the holy me n understand
thi s in their minds.
I have come for spreading
divine reli gion and protecting
sai nt s.
And for annihilati ng (uproot-
ing) al l the tyrants. 43 (S71.
And thi s quo t a ti on, th e
Gu ru ' s hy mn , from Chandi
Charitra:
Deh Si va bar moil iilai, subh
karmiln tay kaballOo nil taroo.
Nil dilmo ur so jilb jilah Jilmo,
NischilY kar ilpnee j eel kama.
Ar Sikh hoo il pnily Ili mun
ko, th l ilil lach hil u guna tau
uchroo.
Jab ail V kee audh nidhail n
banay, Ut hi run rnai tilb Jujh
mill'OO.
Grand me Ihi s boon 0 Lord I
may never be d e t e rre d from
doing good deeds.
I should have no tear of the
enemy.
When I go to battle, lei vic-
lOry turn to my side.
Let one direc tive guide my
mind exclusively.
Tha t I may ever be zealously
singi ng Thy prai ses.
And whe n the time comes, I
should di e.
Fighting he roi cally on the
field of battle, 199)
Th u s , it i s apparent that
Guru Gobind Singh was as great
a psychologist as he was a poet
and a warrior. He gave to the
Khalsa the war-cry of Sat Sri
Akal which epitomises the high-
est spiritual. knowledge of the
land and gave visions of Raj
Karega Khalsa which means
the Khalsa alone shall rule. This
comes very close to the expres-
sion : Satyameva Jayate. As
leader of men engaged in a mor-
tal combat where odds were as
bad as one to one thousand, the
Guru emerges without a parallel
in Indian history.
An excerpt from P.K.
Nijhawan's introductjon to his
Sri GunI Gobind Geeta.

F_O_r_tni__gh_t_F_O_CU_S _______
Politics of Trishul Culture
I C()llliIH/l'n from JlI Col :/1
are "pl't'ad a ll ow'r -the
sillm of East an d \\fest
Dplhi as \\'ell as most ur the
Irans -.Iamllna ('o lon ie!i , \\'hi h
are pu phC'mistica ll ,I ' de ' crib!'d as
coillni e::. bl ' tile
,\" a miltler ()f ract.
thp idpa of a Slwl,.ti Sena \\,ilS
concpil 'pel during Ihf. \101 ember
carnag-l' ill Deihl. In those
day", wilh long handles
11'('1'(' a COJlllllon sight in l11am
Dt:lhi localities, They wen' Iwing
bl'ilndis hed Ill ' deli beral(''' ' in '-
ti ga ll' ti and 'ilttensf'l." CO'IllIII u-
Ila li spti plemen ts to Iprrorize
miJlori tl' "Ol11l1lun ilics in Ihe
ca pital. ' particlIl al'1v inno[' l'n t
Sikhs and Iheil' rilmilies, The
Sl' na as such \l'a-s ol'ganizt,ci sub-
Tlw lirsl \\'as to
pl aster publi c \Valls in congl'sted
areas of Delhi , including slum
colonies, populat ed by and larg:p
bv Ihe lower Jlliddle or
p'oorcr spchons of the peoplp,
Thesp \Va ll s Wf!re covered bv ei -
ther po, tel's bearing
sloga ns or by simil ar slogans
ste ncill ed directl on to thp \Valls,
Mos t pr o min e nt was th e
embl em or the lri shul crossed
wilh a s harp, pdged . axe- like
chopper, wi th ' Hindu Manc h'
inscribed be n,vee n the m, This
can be seen all a er Delhi , with
the pl'Obable exceplion of a few
neighbouriJouds of the rich 01'
tl1(' which have
COIllC to be kllOIl n
arras OilH'I' cU111mun l" spe ll
"llIgall !'> ar!' : Sail Ilillllu'rh. hon
lall tlindll s shuuld unitt' l, lIindu
l'''td l.indaiJ"d ' Iong Ii \'l' liindu
unill 'l Hum :-jah Hindu hain I\IP
arf' ' ,III Hindu" 'ail Hindu Ph
11011.. 0\\' 11!'1l' Cil n Ol\(' SpOI
pf'opll' Iwing (' ,\ilortPci 10 un it f'
a" Indian!'>,
\ rlwn unp con:-.iderl> pOt>tPI't-.
ing IllOJ'P prOl'oratil'P d(-'-
tails in Ill{' cont(,,, t 01 happen-
in PUflja\), OJ' .IS a sequ el to
till' :-.urldnn reupening of the
Ayorlh,la IPmple and til(' con-
t rol PI's." rcgarci i ng the l3ahari
1\.101>qllc, 011(> is surpri _' pci that
lhl' COIl' 1'J11l1('llt ha:-. permitted
!-ouch po"tt'r:-. - Iirl> t1,v to be
prilll Pd, seconell,l Iu rl'main Oil
I tl1(' lIillI:-. ;lIld Ih inlil' Ihal no ac-
t ion h a" .I" I pi i)(, P n t a k l' n
agai ns l 111<' JlI 'OI (JCd t!'lIr". ,\t
PI 'f':--('n t 111(' Sha"t i Spnil has no t
Il':--" than r<'gll i ar
JlIl'llliJeJ' ;' Thi:-. 11\;\1 11(' a ('onSl'r'
lalil(, ('!'>tilllal(' , '. \ , (1;1\;' anci
\\'Pl'b II1\' :--O( ' n<l Illlllllwr:-.
l'on linuL' 10 t-.11'l'1I , nWllllwr
IVL'aJ'S 1111' lairsl dpsign trishul.
\\'c(''' I,I' nll'Pling" an' Iwld in I al'-
iOll !' Shil 'iI <;onl(' or
which hall' ('\is tl ' d in p<ll'l !' ul
Old I)plhi fnl ' 11 long tinl!'. II'hilt'
(lt lwrs hal'p Spl'llllg up recl'ntly.
Th(,1 arp l'OIH'Pll tr<lwd in slu m
1\ host, I'l's idl'n ts (,0111 '
prist' basically, th!' I'll ra I poor.
Tlw!-oe colonic'l> includ(' Illosp
atll'c Il'ci cillJ'ing 111(' gha;.t l,1 in-
cidel1 ts of NOI'Pnll wl' Tlwv
arc also Sl!l! n IU l'king in aJ'l'as of
Old Uplhi wl1l'J'l' Ihl' Muslim
populati on is high. Why is a ll
thi s being permitl ed to take
place! \\Ihlwe do these ele ments
gel t h(' ir I as l I'll nds .) What is the
-ourel' 01 all such I'esourl:(,s ')
Lasll v, whv is such blatanl
com;nunal' propaganda being
s anctioned ? These are some
of the ques tions which have
,'emained unanswered bv the
Governmen1. 11 is -
certain elements within the
Governmenl or the ruling
oJ.

,U
i !
I
!
t
party, which were directly in-
volved in the November 1984
killjngs, are ' upporting s uch
elements e\,{!Il ?
Offensive Postel'
1\ ne\1 )10I>t OI', pul LIp in tlw
name or til!' Hindu Shiv Stma,
al'pp,IJ'(' d rlul ing the second
0 1 .Iunp 19S(), Its languag('
b huth olkJlsil' and provoca,
till' other things, it
t ill! Ha ji l C;alldhi
(, OI ' P J'Il rIl l' nl 011 gl'Ouncis l hill
despitP hill'ing lI'On the elections
on the s trcngth of Ihe Hindu
10te, it has failed to proteel Hin-
particularly in Punjab. It
most con e-
quell ses if the Governmen t does
not deploy thp army in Punjab.
The remaining contents or the
pos tt'r nl' ed Jlot bE' quoted here
as that could a liola'
tion or Ihl' law, The 1I10st ('xll'a-
Chandigarh A Solution For Whom?
Jasjit PUl'ewaJ
r----------------------------------
In III(? mall e/' of Chandif-{a rh 's impending l ransfc'r 10 Puniab
I herf' is lillie \ 'isilJlc el'iclcnc(' oj' hO\;\1 I he poli I i cal willis going
to il Neel the cily iincl il s SOO,OGO people, r ei Ilu-'m is it consen-
sus ill public opinion. amI iI f]wiorily of Ihe popllhJlioll both
Hindu ancl SilJl , i/re /01' Ihe status ([UO, '" I'e are being sold to
Ihe political int erests oflhose SIi.Jl es .1Ilcl we I\li/nt 10 belon[-( 10
neither " says t\vinilsh I\ullwr, a SllOpcuwner in Ihe prestigious
1/ Srclor, "Once we l ose aLII ' Ullion Terril on ' Slatus \lie will
,1u!omi.Jlical(l
f
lose Olll ' 10 Ill e social ancl political
chilos e,\jslin[-( in HilIYana and PlIllia/J," feil l's Prelll I\u nJi.J 1'.
We cleserve a refer endum at least , and in any case whal is
Ihe lo[-(i cill ilrgumenl againsl a Union Territoly
T
asks H,S,
Malik a Sikh businessmiln. \ /l01 indeed :)
T
here is no s impl e answer
today to thi s very pe rtine nt
questi on, though ironically
the Chandigarh iss ue has been
re presen ted a t all three levels of
the de mocrati c process; the pol-
iti cal, the judi cia l and of course
the huma n fa c tor. And yet all
have proved bOlh s ingularly and
collecti vely ineffecti ve in resolv,
ing Chandigarh's dilemma, Let
us bri efly examine the role and
effect or' aU three in context to
Chandigarh since it s inception,
In 195 1, e hru e nvisoned thi s
new citv not onl v as a loftv
"s,vmbo( or the of e manci-
pa ted India" but more impor-
tant ly in principl e 1'oT' an undi-
v id e d Punjab , Onc e th e
boundaries o f Punjab were re-
ordinalY asp!!c t of Ihi s posWr is
tha t 11 0t 0111.11 has it heen pusted
all OllJr till' ci I, I pel'ha ps in
ollwl' ci tit's a!-o hu t iJas bCl!n
allOlvpci 10 J'l'IJ1<tin on the walls
until 11 1l' lime 01 "riting, All
efforl s to (' li ci l' a rcacti on fl'Om
till' policl' or 11ll-' CO IH'(' I' IWd
a Ul hori ti es with regard 10 these
d eve lopmenb, in c luding the
formation or the Shakli
have remained futil e, The poli ce
ollicia ls mai n lain t ha t thev are
not supposed to discuss '1>uch
mall eI'S wi lh Ihe puhlic or with
anvone , administra l ors
p lead that the ' e iS5ue::, are too
sensil ive ror di scussion anel that
tl1l' poli l icians s hould ta c kle
s llch problellls_
Thl'! latl'sl Hindu , hil Sena
postCI' in part ieular and those
adopted by the Shakti S('na elc ..
es tablish another There is
no be tlVeen ,theil' pol-
icv and that of the IliP and RSS,
Ail r.iamOLlI' for I hc deploymen t
of armv and tal" in terms or
Hindu ' and not of Indians. At
the same time, there is harcllv
anv line to he dralo'm be tween
clement s wi thin the
Congn'ss III, Ihe Governmen t
and the RIP e tc, So far as any
effort to contain or c urb conl-
muna l clements is l:oncemed,
aU of them haw been found
defined the prelllisl! of Cha ndi -
g arh ' s co n ee pti o n c hange d
imme diat e lv and vis iblv and
wi th it the s'ocio-political "ramifi -
calions of it s s tatus. A union-
lerritory was the most logical
deri va ti ve or the origina l princi -
pl e, but unfortunatel,v Ihe deci-
sion was made neithe r perman-
e nt nor irrevocabl e, Predictably
it became a political platfonn
pal' e cell e nc() far both Haryana
a nd Punjab. Mr s, Gandhi ' s
award in t970, caused )'':! t ano-
ther shift in Chandigill' h's status
and nnall y and irr e vocab ly
severed the issue from it s origi-
naJ fi'amework, Chandigarh no
longer embodied a principle
but was now a political prize
but with a price, Acquisition
mi s(! I'ablv, even criminallv la c k-
ing in 't hi s res pect. It ' se 'lllS
ra til er uilvious Iha l both the
Congress II I and BJP are vying
with (!ach othe r 10 consolidat e
Ihl! Hindu voll! in their f(lVOUr,
B.JP Crying tor
Army Deployment
II ma,v Jl ot be 011 1 of pl ace to
men li oll herE' t ha t Ih e B.lP,
Ihl'Oug-h il s has been
cly ing- il self hoarse Ii.lr the de-
fever intensified in both s tates
but now public opinion wa
being coerced a t every Eront, sec-
tarian, religious and communal.
Pherull1an , Fa t h Singh and
Indira Gandhi had now become
a distinct , unfortu-
nate [egac,v,
Now the issue was clear-!
and overwhe lmingly an e mo'-
tional one, Refuge Wj.15 sought in
till' judiciary, though reali sti cally
it I as clearly a stage whe n the
judi Ciary was ill -equippe d to
handle il. For, Ihe judicial solu -
ti on had to be based on two
basic prp-requis it es:- lal tha t the
terms or reference of the entir-e
issue be clearl v defined a nd had
not been lost' through political
a rbi trati on or sentime nt and (bl
tha t (he fina l decis ion of the
judi ciary wo uld be imposed
de rac to, either conditi on was
met a nd a record of 4 Judicial
Commi ssions contribut ed onl y
cont radi c ti ons in esote ri c ja rgon,
Th e ultimat e and mo s t
imporlant c omponent o f th e
de mocra ti c process is obviously
lilt-' human fa c tor. It is preci ely
th(' people u.t: Chandiga rh who
s tand to lose in Ihi s arbitrage,
Ironi call y Ihe masses of Harvana
and PLinjab s tand t o ga in
no thi ng in Ihis exchange except
e mutiona l sa ti sfaction a nd nar-
row politi ca l divide nd . Signi -
ti can tly the dangerous develop-
me nt s in the social fabrics or
Harvana and Punjab will , after
th e' tran s fe r , become part of
Chandigarh's reality They s tand
to gain nothing but feel , in the
words of a ve te ran Chandigarh
amlV officer, "Our c ulture and
opti'ons of s urvival are actually
unde r threat, and frankly we feel
short 'changed by this situation
in which we have no say," What
about the peopl e of Chandigarh?
How will the de mocratic process
incorporate the ir rights? The
s trugg le be twee n Punjab a nd
Har:vana has some how managed
to overlook the m entirely.
pl oylll c ni or a rilly in Punjab, The
party has been olTering satya ,
gra ha in 10 thi s ellecl. The
B.lP has convmiellli v overl ooked
Ihe lact that when the army had
to tak over in Punjab for a fairlv
long fJ el'i od, il to sol vp an:v
pl'ohl e ms wha lsoever and ins-
lead cr-ea led Illore compl ica li ons
and a dea l o r an tagonism.
Nor ha: Ihe army been able to
bring abou l any solulion in the
Norlh Eas tern helt during the
la ,t two dccac/C's or so. The BJP,
in s pit e of ils commu na li sed
poli l ics a lso p roresses 10
by Gandhian ,ocialisrn Iwhatel'er
it migh t mean l, If thi s wcre !'eall,v
so, then Ihe fl iP and ils foll ow-
ers hal'P sp!'!:'ad I hem,
selvE's in Ihe very areas of Pun jab
where Ihey de,,;and deploymcnl
of Ihe army The'.\' shou ld have-
strive n to preach a nd promotP
cOllllllu nal harmony and a mil y
through praclica l acti on, Caml-
hiji would certainly have donI '
tha I. By resortill g 10 a sa lyagl 'aha
stu nt in D Ihi and nOI being
with Ihe peopl e or Punjab, lile
BJP is playing a d irly ga me or
powel' politi cs an d adding 10
communa l an t agonism. H f! J' 1'
again, Ihe an d
other poli tica l parties have lilil ed
10 stand by Ih ppopl e ot Punj ab
in their tim!' of ordea l.
Tuesday 1-15 July 191;6 3
:The
FOrunn
_O_u_r_Tim_e_s _________ Gazettc-------_____ _
White Heat in
Black South Africa
O
n 26 .Iune the people of
South Africa commemor-
ated the de larati a n of
their Freedom Chart er against
the tyrrany of Apartheid. The
White regime on its pal' t has
been anning .it self wi th belliger-
ent Emercgencypowers to ward
otf the threat to it s existence
which the Charter has come to
signify for over 30 YHars. The
regilli es recurren t nervousness
is unders tandabl e fur the I"erv
kevnute of thi s hat ed fs
Equa li ty.
sounded in the pream
bl e's ca ll for the bui ld.ing of a
democrati c sta tl' "\Vi thout dis-
ti ncti on of colour, race, sex or
belier " An ide ntical not e is
s t ruck in t he on govern
nW1l1. pl'Ociaiming equality of
righ ts for a ll persons" regal'd les,",
of race colour or se.\ ," The prin
ciplp is extellded to national
gl'OUpS,
In the liberat ed South Africa :
All peopl e shall ha\'e equal
light s to use thei r own language
and to develop their own folk
' UltUi :
All laws whi ch di scliminat e
on grounds of race colour or
belief shaJl be repealed ; whil e
The prearhing a nd prac ti cc of
national. race or colour discrim-
inati on and cont empt shall be a
puni shable crime.
In its affirmation or Equality
the Chart er is consist'ent wi th
the mainstream of world opin-
THE GEOGRAPHY OF
THE SOUTH AFRI CAN UPRI SING 19i6
4 Tuesday l-J 5 July 1986
Jawed Naqvi
ion refl ected in the Chartel' of
Human Ri ght s, and the conven-
tions and resoluti ons of the' Uni -
ted Na ti on: that re ject discri-,
mina ti on,
World ' opinion has taken a
gl'ea t lea p forward si nr.e the end
of World War Two "",oards an
accep ted doc trine of equality of
a nd fi-eedoms, 'Contribu-
torv fa ctors include the defeat of
tht; Nazi-f ascist Axis, dc('oloni -
sa ti on, tile s trengthening of tlw
social ist sector and the emer-
gencp of till' newly indepc ndrmt
African and sian states, formcr
\'ict illl s of colonia l rulp There'
has heen a shift in tile balanG!' 01
power, one that favOllrs till'
struggit' agaillst social nvi ls 01
whi c h raci s t Sou th Africa is the
sLipreme embodiment.
Although till' Sou th Amcan
liberation 1ll 0Vp.I11(' nt has singled
ou t ra c ism, l' o lonia lislll and
Aparthei d as its main enPIll V" it s
cOlllplement is a positi ve
mina ti on to unite South Afric'lI1s
of all national groups in a com-
mon caus!' for a single cultUI'(!.
Thi s al so was the vision of the
fOLinders of the AIi'iean National
Co ngress in Wt 2 anti it has
gained rather than lost credillil
it v in th ' veal's tha t folh)wl!d.
'The closer South Afrka ad-
va nces towards a unifi ed societv,
the great er will be the resislanc:c
fl'Om d.i visive f(wces represent ed
bv ' tribali s m' and ' racis m'. As
.J ;Ict., Simons an acknowledgfld
anti -Aparthe id ac ti vis t pu t it
"Racism and triba li sm occur in a
cl ass soci e tv in whi ch differen-
ces of language and culture and
language become an adjunct to
the primal!, cl eavage between
the owners of property and the
propertyless workers. " Thus, the
ex p loi ti ng classes, trading i n
Sou th Afri ca as a national or
racial category, perpetuat e their
supremacy b.v djvicl.ing Ihe dis
possessed inlo competing gro-
ups, fighting one another for
land, jobs and power ins tead of
combining their forces for uni -
ted action against the oppressor.
The founders were radical lib-
erals rather than sociali st egaJ it -
In spite of the transition
to rcvoluti onary armed struggle
aft er t!l6 1, the A C has adhered.
to the original programme of
ulliting: "all tlibes a nd clans of
various tribes or races and by.
means of combined effort and
un il ed politi cal orga ni sa ti on to
defend their li-eedom, rights and
"
Trilwli sill all d racialism, are
t1wretor(!, " YO sides of lilt' sa me
coin. Domin<.lnt class!'s manipu-
lal l' til(! to suil their
in tl'I'l'sts, The historv (II South
Africa sa lul 'at('ci \Vi t h the
' divide rull" stralnf{\ ' used by
colonialisls, settlers and their
govprllllwnts tll conqucr and
s llbdu!' . l:lantll s tans, th tri -
call1pl'al parliament. an cmel'g-
ing Black bourgcosie are pro-
d ucts of thi s divisiv(, s trategy.
The "!'eecton l Charter threa l ' ns
tl1l' s(' of in!!(jualit.v,
Testimonv to Ill(' a('hie\'cment
of the tibc'ra tion movemen t js
provided by the tac t Ihal nobody
toda,v dares 11 )(' cre-
dent ials 01' COil tent of the Free-
dom Chart er, Even I he r<.l cist
Pres id e nt Bo tha a tt e mpt s 10
the hidpous carcass of his
Apart hi ect Dilspring in the clo-
thi ng of the Chart el'. Addressing
tlw Cap' Na tionali s t Party Con-
gress in Port Eli zabeth last Se p-
tember he sai d:
" I advocate on behalf of the
governme nt reform beca use it is
the philosophy of the (ruLingl
Na tional Part v sinc() it s found-
ing, We arc the party of ref 01111.
We are part.v of freedom, We
<.Ire the party of li bell.v, We al-e
th e ).l<.lrty o f hope in Sout h
Anica."
Ti me wa when the Na tional -
ist Party ope nly asked 1'01' sup-
port for the poli c_ of Apartheid
and came to po\Ver in t!l48 on
the pl'Omise tha t it \,vou ld pre-
Nelson Mandela - still in prison; still strengthening the s truggle
agai nst Apal,theid.
serve while domination for ever.
ot anv more. The verY word
Apartheid is today by
it s practiti oners, and Mr Botha's
claim tha i he is working for
reform is in itself an admi ssion
that the sysle m over whi ch he
presides is immoral. The li st of
changes for whi ch he claimed
eredi l is not verv Ion ' :
- J. The new constituti on esta-
bli shing separa te chambers for
Whit es, Coloureds. and Ind.ians
(but exc l uding th e Afr ican
major;lv l
2. nie repeal of the Mixed
Mariages Act a nd section 16 of
til e Immorality Act, Hepeal of the
Ac t banning mi xe d poli ti cal
parli es.
3. The scra pping of the pro-
vincial sYs tem and the estab-
Li shment o fi 'Cgional selvice coun-
ci ls.
4 , Cha nges i n labou r legi-
sla tion,
5, The right of property owner-
ship plus the establi shment of a
Sou thern African Development
Bank and the support of the
Small Business Development Cor-
poration,
6. The establi sh men I of a com-
mon citi zenship for aU South
An-icans.
The lact tha i what President
Botha ca lls "UIlI 'CSt " 01' "terror
is m" has ri sen to a peak pre
cisplv since thes so-call ed re-
form's were introduced is proof
enough that hi s offerings are
unacceptable to Ihe peopl e.
II is a ll verv wpll for Mr 1\otha
to trumpet: "M.v party and my
goveml11ent are cOlllmit ted to
Ihe principle of a united South
A(j-ica wi th one ci tizenship and
with universa l franch.ise," when
the words wh.ich follow show
that he is cOl11mill ed to nothing
of the sort - ' but wi thi n th
structurE'S chosE'n bv Soulh Afri -
cans ... Naturally, the principle of
a united south Africa includes
Whi tewashing Apal,theid
the reaJity and the desirability of
tellitoriaJ a nd border d.ivisions
wi thin South Afri ca, such as for
example provi ncial borders for
purposes of provi ncial govern-
ment. and territorv for each of
th e self-governi ng s ta tes, an d
juri sd.i ction areas for svstems of
loca l and regional authOlitie ,
also in urban areas," atllrall ,
Apa r theid i d ead. Long
"structures" and "divisions",
III other worch:. the essential
elements of discrinunation wi ll
remai.n the Popu lation Registra-
ti on a nd Group Areas Acts, the
Bantustans, the segl'Cgalion and
oppression which makes life a
hell for blacks.
The latest news n'ol11 Pretoria
collat ed in ' pite of Ihe cell sor-
s hip under the current ;.pate of
Emergency indicates it liberation
moveme nt is building into \-\ 'hil e
heat. Major govemment inslaUa-
tions have been bloWll up in and
ilround Durban and other citi es,
Nineteen eighty six after all has
been declared as the veal' 0 1 the
Peopl es' Army, -
F8rum
O_ur_Tim_-_e_s _________ Gazettc -------------
WHO IS CREATING KHALISTAN?
T
hi s happened in Jodhpur
in March. WeU known photo-
grapher and wild life film-
maker Tejbir Singh travelling
with a foreign colleague on a
professional assignment. arrived
at the Ajit iwas, a small , privat e
hotel in Jodhpur at about 10
p.m. When the Austrian col-
league went to register for them
both- Tejbir was occupied wi th
their equipment - the manager,
on seeing Tejbir's name, asked
to see him. Tejbir has a flowing,
greying beard, and when the
two film makers were passing by
the Reception on their way to
runner, the manager call ed to
him and asked him for hi s iden-
tifi ca tion . Surprised at thi s
query, and annoyed, Tejbir said
he was not in the hahit of carrv-
ing arou nd ident ifi cation in lii s
own country. The manager then
asked him to note down the
name of his father. Tejbi r asked
why he was requi red to do thi s,
10 whi ch the manager repli ed
that it wa the law. Tejbir, stat-
ing that he had never run into
thi s requireme nl in any hotel in
India before, leafed through the
regis ter and told the manager
that he saw no men tion of
"Fathe r's name" against any
other entry. IThi s is a hot el cat-
ering largely to foreign touri sts
but also to Indians.1
Aren' t Sikhs Indians?
The manager insisted that
this was the law, and then
added that these were poli ce
orders. Tejbir asked "Do you ask
every guest for identifi cati on and
for the tather's name'?". The
manager repli ed in the negative,
but added that he had orders to
ask every SIKH for thi s informa-
tion. "Do you ask. thi s of every
INOlAN '! " asked Tejbir. " Of
course thev are" said the man-
.ger "But -we s lilJ have to a k
hem. These are the orders."
When asked whose orders, he
repli ed " Police orders". Tejbir
sai d he \Vou ld like 10 sec the
orders in w:r;ting so he could
take up Ihe matter vvith the con-
cel'lled au th ori ties. But the
manager said he had only \'erbal
inslructions. Angry \,,'ords were
exchanged. The manager said
Harji Malik
Terrorist kilJings of innocent people are condemned by el'ery rational human being. The
communal divide being created and widened by those who want the destabili-
zation of this country threatens the fabri c afoul' societv. But at the same time we must not
forget that Sikh alienation, which serves the interests oi'our enemies, is being intensified by
many incidents provoked by a mistrust of the en/ire community, generated initially, cyni-
and for electoral purposes by oflicial-cum-part), propaganda since 1982.
This propaganda all Sikhs as potential secessionists and terwrists. Such
incidents- sometimes a result of'officia), guidelines not admitted no nw/ter how
trivial they may seem, are in danger of alienating Sikhs "vho have nel/(::I' considered them-
sell 'es anything butindiall.
As always in such an environment, rumours are rile ilnd people are ultlCl sensitive and it
is impossible 10 check on every incident or scotch el'e0' rumour. To give just one example.
The Forum Gaze tte W<lS told that in a certain residential area in Delhi notices regarding
hOll ses for rent had been put up in the Centre, specifYing that Sikh applica-
tions would not be considered! On personal investigation this was found to be a Hi/se bit of
information. HO'vvever we giFe below two incidents which are known to us through first
hand information. Our aim in publicising such incidents is to make the public realize thell
happenings such as these, if not stopped, will ultimately make every Sikh question whether
he/ she is in actual fa ct an equal citizen ill his/ her own country . We also publish on page 53
Ll poem sent qv <I non-Sikh poet which is the kind of 'healing louch ' I\'e hear so much of
Tejbir would not be wel come all
hi s return journey, and an angry
Tejbir told him tha t he had no
in tention of staying a moment
longer in the hotel and walked
out. On the retul'l1 to DeUli , not
wanting to face any further
ill SUIt S of thi s kind, the two film
makers rud not stop in Jodhpur.
Contacted in the office of the
Commi ssioner for Ra jasthan, the
Uaison Officer told the Forum
Gazell e that no orders had been
issued by the State authorities
requiring Sikhs registering at
hot els to show identificati on or
give any informati on other than
what is askeq of aU Inruans. But
told that Lhi s incident had act.u-
ally taken place he admitted that
perhaps local police had issued
such orders on their' own. He
promi sed that the matt er would
be inves ti gated if brought to the
not ice of the au thoriti es. But the
haml has been done .
Himachal Incident
In anotber incident reported
in Ihe 'talPsman IDclhi tli Ju ne
1!J8GI two Sikhs f,tmil ics related
how they had ru n into unplea-
san tness in Barog Tourist .om-
ple.\ on Iheir way back from
Shimla to Delhi . i\lr. J.P. Singh
a nd 1\fr. J.S. Sethi, the latter a
Tejbir Singh: Known film-maker,
photographer and IJroduction
editor of the cerebral journal,
'Seminar' s ingled out for
discriminatory treatment in a
.Jodhpur hotel. Only because be
is a Sikh and s ports a long open
beard.
retired Air force officer told Ihe
Statesman that although book-
ings fu r their fa mily al Barog had
been confimled in Shim la, when
Ihey arrived at the Touri st Com-
plex alld asked for Iheir rooms,
they were infornlHd thai Ihere
were no booki ngs. When thev
insisl ed on seeing the
lions bouk and Ihat Mr. J.P.
ingh's name had heen writ ten
and then semi -obliterated, and
pointed thi s Qut , the manager,
Mr Madhusudhan is all eged to
have lost his temper and shout -
ed that he had instruCli ons not
to allot rooms to Sikhs.
When Mr Sethi booked a call
to Shimla to confirm Ihe book-
ings, Mr Madhusudhan is said
to have snatched I he telephone
out of hi s hands when the call
carne through and pull ed out
the wire.' He then ordered the
famili es out of the complex.
Thev have writt en a letter of pro-
test - to the Chief Minister of
Himachal.
Contac ted by the Forum
Gazette the Himachal Commis-
sioner's office ' in the capita.l said
that there had been a misunder-
standing, that no such orders
exist - "Our touri st complexes
are full of Sal'dars" we were
assured and Mr Madhusudhan,"
one uf our fin est offi cers" would
never behave li ke thi s. The
reserva ti ons had been for the
previous day, hence the lack of
accol1 lOdation . He admitl ed that
there had been an 'alt erca tion '
but tha t in fite t "Ihe receptionist
was manhandlerl " b on of the
visilors. A ('onlracii ction had
been i' suecI by the Govel'll ment
following an enquiry the office
stated.
However on further enquiri es
by the Forum Gazette, both Mr
J.S. Sethi and Mr Jaspal Singh
confirm what the Statesman had
publi shed. The bookings were
made in the Shimla Offi ce of
H.imachal Tourist by Mr Suri and
the call from Barog was' booked
to him a nd did in fac t- come
through while the two Sikh tour-
ist s were there. Thev confirm
that the manager pulled out the
telephone wire. When they reg-
istered the complaint in the
Complaint Book, IComplaint No.
152 on June 101 the ma nager
snat ched the book from them.
They repeat Ihat Mr Madhusud-
han la Id them t.hat the Tourist
Complex was not meant for
Sikhs and preference would be
given to non-Sikhs.
In Cha ndigar'h they consult-
ed a lawyer, Mr Tejwan t Singh
Doadia, and it is he who has
wri ll e n it lett er un their behalf to
Chi ef Mini ster of Himachal Pra-
desh pointing out Lh e "commu-
nal and anti -national attitude" of
the manager. Copies have been
sen t to the Prime Mini ster, the
Home Minister, the Director of
Touri m, Himachal Pradesh and
the Chi ef Minist er, Punjab. Since
nu reply has been received from
Ihe Chi ef Minister, Mr Tejwant
Singh, on hi s clients' behalf, has
iss ued a notice to the Secretary,
Dept. of Touri sm, HP., under
Section 80 of the Civil Procedure
Code, stating that unl ess the
cli ent s receive a wri tt en apology
they wi ll be fi ling a suiL for
damages.
In a le tter to the Statesman
!June 25 El861 the manager of
Himachal Bhawan has stated
tha t an enquiry has ' bee n held
and has given Mr Madusudhan's
version of the even t. Mr Sethi
and Mr Singh wandel' how such
an enquiry was held wilhoul
their knowl edge. They had spe-
cifi call y stat ed in the letter to
the CM that if an e nquiry was
held they woule! be avail able to
give evide ncB. They have not
been a pproached by the HP
Government at any time.

Our Roving Ear and Eye Inlornls Us
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THE FORUM GAZETTE regularly,
R('ce nlly Ih ero wa s a
dillrU'r meeting or economi c
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ollicials at the A -hob. Hotel.
Sea ted a t one of the tables
\Vas a seni or edi lor of a
Bombav a nd Delhi based
dai ly vvt'lich cla.ims to keep
time fa!' India . This parti c u-
la r worthy is report ed to
have made a re mark spiced
wi th ta ndoori chi cken a nd
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no in Punjab with-
out bumping off about a
lakh or so me mbers of a
p ar ti c ul ar co mmunit y
known fa!' its beards a nd
turhans.
Unfortunately for the ' time-
keeping' editor, a lady from
the same community, a n
offi ce r of a governme nt
informa ti o n depart me nt ,
happened to be at the sa me
tabl e. She weIl l red in the
ra e and the re foll owed a
duel of wordy fi sti c uffs.
The sparring ' partne rs '
we re even tually separa ted
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due for re tireme nt.
This Is It!
A sma ll African nation
recentl announced tha t it
urgenliy needed the servi ces
of a one-handed economist.
"One-handed economist?"
people asked, a trifl e sur-
pr' ised. "Yes " they insisted
"because in lhe past all econo-
--- .... ---
rni sts who have come to us as
advisors have recommenrled
in their re port s - "On the
one hand ". but on the other."
So we are now pUl'Iing our'
foot down and indenting only
for one-ha nded economisls.
Conllibuted by Kamla Bhasin
The Manager
The Forum Gazette
3, Masjid Road, Jangpura
NEW DELHI -110014
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Tuesdav 1-15 Juiv 1986 5 _ _ _ _ ..._ _ _ v _ -
R __ ew__ew __ s_a_n_d_R_e_fl_e_c_n_o_n_s _________ __________ _
The Many Worlds of -
Ameena Ahmed Ahuja
A
IlH'l' 11 a Ah lll l'd l\huja
alllal.('S 01H' illitiall\' - ,I
s ilve r blonde with ,;
tongul' , not jus t onp tongue hut
a lll,vriiJd, all Ilowing and taking
shap0, s tl'ang0 shapt!s uf iJil'ds
and animals, abs trac ted exag,
gera tp. d, re pl'Osentational fi gul"l:Os
almosl. This visua l int e rpre ta-
tion becomes 10 1' Ailleena, a h.illd
or ' jus tujoo', or struggle. Fari-
dudclin Att ar's "Conlc l'cmcp. of
Birds " comes as a natural
o bj ec ti ve cOITl!iativ(! tu thi s
quesl. The allegory of Sufism
and blami c mys ti cism \ul.)(!ns
with a ll the birds of the world
gatherillg together to begin a
search 101' an ideal king Isea-
ml!l'gh l. The the me and
is jus t righ t-and Ameena's "con-
te re nce of the birds" seems tu be
set to Handl e's ., Messiah", echo- -
ing praises of c reation, whether
"Alalluia " of ".lal -al-Jallal a Hoo",
This is her most recent work,
a nd a of it s has been
grabbed by Ka thl een Raine, to be
used Ie',/' Pt!tel' Bmok's produc-
tion of Attar's poe m.
The same int erna tionali s m o r
pelvade ' everything about
Anwena-born of mixed pare nt -
agl' , Bussian, Engli sh iJnc! Indi an
hlr)nc! Ilows through her veins.
Il t'l IIlHI"1' in Dplhi becomes a
<.1111( ' 1) 101' h er- Pel' !'> i;11l and
Kauser Khan
Kashmiri carpet s cheek-by-jowl
011 111<' 11 001' : Hussi<11l elystal nes-
tling against It alian glass-wan' : a
big i\lul'ildabadi lam]> li ghls lip
Chinl !. covel'ml anliqul! rumi tul'U
from pl'ill ccly Indian estates:
gl'lllline China plates adom the
wa ll s. "Arl. fOI ' mG, is a universal
plwnolll c non," says AnH:(!na ,
holding lip a ' La vien
pos(" . "L.anguagp monlality intel'-
fen-),; sOllwtiml! s, but cannol
mask thp. Salllt!ll eSS of ideas "
Zil uq's "Jayc hava-e-shoq Illein
hain iss c haman sc zauq Aplli
bala Sl! IJaal -l:-saua, phil' kabhi
c hal(' ." combines with Esenin,
bliJck on whit e touched with
pink. the colour of life.
" Bul I am Indian". continues
Anwen<l: so niJtuf'ally Illy prim-
inspiration comos from the
colour, sound, emotions, smells,
philosophy and animals of
India ". Anima ls becollle expres-
sive of aspects of hUlllan per-
sonalit v and hllillall vvisdom, as
u se d in Aesop ' s 01' Knillof's
fabl es, 01' as in the Panchantan-
Ira. Within the highly abslracted
a nd representational forms, \low
verses of Mirza Ghalib, Zauq,
Anees, Rumi , Faiz, Iqbal. com-
bined wi th Pushkin, AJe:\<lnder
Blok, Mavakuvskv Ii'om Russia,
Cel'l',lIllPS from Spain, La Foun-
I.tilll' ,Inc! Rimbaud Ii'om
lJ NT ,'41 N
The pioneers of Himalayan treks, jungle lodges and wildlife camps
TOI'S
M 0 UN T 1 N T "I: I. 1 N I)
1/1 Rani Jhansi Road NEW DELHI 110055
Phones: 771055, 731075, 777483, 523057, 521932
Telex: 31-63016 TREK IN
6 Tuesday I-I::> 1986
is amazing,
as is her abili lv to iind idt1ntit v
of ideas transcending time
space. I-I u man concerns, accord-
ing to he r, kn ow no geographic
borders, amI have remained the
sa me down tlH' ages, Ameena 's
pl'Ocess of c reation is essentially
cerebral. where Ihe mind is first
activated bv [In e mbodied idea
from which emanates the ex-
IwC'ssive figure. To illustrate her
point. Arneena sho"vs me a trou-
bled deer, with head thrown
back and hooves in the ail' . A
closer look reveals Cyri li c and
Shikaste in colli sion, echoing the
10ve-lol'l1 tOlTllt,nt of Gha Ub and
TlItchev.
A Carnbelwell and Slade Arts
background gives Ameena mas-
terv over her tools, while thL
felicity of language is an out-
come of mixed parentage and a
liIe lived a round the wadel. Al
he r father ' s knee s he lea rnt
Arabic, Persian and Urdu. Wri t-
ing with 'qalam' and ' takhti ' gave
he r the traditional balance and
control ovel' ancient scripts li ke
the fourt eenth century Nastaliq,
the twisted fauna -li ke khat -e-
Re hani the cubi c Kuli c scrip!,
Khat -e-S ulu s , th e pathos of
Shikaste-a " " broken ", \l owing
scripl remini scent of bird forma-
tions in the sky.
"The le tt e rs of the alphabet
" SdYS AllleeniJ , "give me the
1110st perfect line, and after all ,
",hat e lse does an arti s t need,
lor composition, for design, 101'
pers pective, for anatomy. Han-
dling a brush is also, in a way,
doing lines in colour", "besides",
. he con ti n ues "I have a range of
syn,ho ls to play abo ul wi th.
vVhen I combine PlIshkin in
Cyrlli c with an aden tal script. it
tContinlled 011 p, 13 Col.
TRUTH TALES
Contemporary writing
by Indian Women
i\lan., of C'dul'al('ll. living
and lI'orkillg in ilig (' il it's. It..:LlcI -
inf! cOIllI()rwhlp ('\'en-tpnUl'cd
t('IHI to fOl'l'et how tlrp
ma jul'it \' ul Ilidiall \, on1(' 11 liv(' in
pur ro'un lr, lod<l\ . On('l' ill a
wiJilt> \\l' LI 1')()igllal1l !> Iuly
or a Illodng lilm. Ollce in a
",Ilil(' abo ('on1('" <I of
, .. Iurie:> lih.!' I'lw-r H T,\LES, sm n
Sllll 'H' :> \\Tiltt.'11 Il\' in
S('\ '('11 Ill" jill' Il ldi ;,n
l'l'l)/'l' '' l'nlillg "p\'!!n distincI Sl'n-
!oiiliJill's. TiJl' localinns III tlws('
storie" arc s ]l l'pad aero, tlw
Illdidil SU\)-(,lll1li ll('111. ,II HI f'(' -
cogllisaJJlp a. rural. uriJan, sma ll
I()\\ n, and TIl('
unde rlying powerful Ihtnw is
Indian \\lumen. Theil'
ulH'lllling ballI! ' for survi va l
amidsl tht' sllcia lmul'es of toeJay
on whil'h " I'HUCHESS" ha s
madl ! Iinlc denl.
TH I': \\, ET I LIHSE loriginal in
!\0ngali l ily Dcvi , tran-
slalr.'d bv Ell a Ilutla, de 'cribes
the lilE> 1;1' a wuman who is a pm-
ICls,.;iun,t1 1ll0tl wl'. Tlwre a 1'(' mil-
lions o f \volllp.n ewn toeJa\' , in
Ihe rural areas, 01' with rural
uach.p;l'l)un ds living in who
fulfil thi s vita l role, and who di e
as .lashocla dues, un s ung ,
UI1\W'PI. unknown. The e terna l
reli'ain of Hindu Ihinking, FATE
is I' espon, ihle 1'01' every1hing that
happl'll s, through-
ou t thi s s torv. The trans la ti on is
stiltnd in uut the power
of the theille remains unaffected
by il.
SMOKE IOI'iginal in Gujarati J
is a short story of a modern
widowed doc tol'-daught er-in-law,
li ving with a tl'acJ.ition -bound
widowed mother-in-law. Packed
into one brief e pisode is a gamut
of emotions and adjustments
made by the younger woman ror
the ::lake of the elder.
THE DOLLS loriginal in
Marathil by Sunit i Apaie is easily
the uest of the translations Idone
bv Dhvaneshwal' adkarni J. The
t1; e me, the woman being the
stronger and bread-winner for
the family, the compulsions that
make her go on despite her own
failing health, and how des pite
bei ng economjcally inde pendent
she is suspectibl e to maJe flat-
lery, come through very well
indeed.
TRA(;WY IN A MINOR KEY
by Mrinal Pancle loriginal in
Hindi ), is seeing a t.vpical middl e
class urban family, through the
eyes of a young woman. The
event s pOl'tl'ayed are a littl e jerh.y,
or it is the woman herself
who thinks lih.e that.
MUNIAKKi\ - b\' Lakshmi
Kannan lol'iginal in' Tamil) is
again a short slory, describing
the lite of a wom:lIl servant in
Tamil Nadu/ Karnataka. It is a
brilliant cameo outlining the
several aspe ts of her dai ly life
and routine, and pointing out
the futiJity of it aU.
IS MAT CHLIGTAI'S T INY' S
GR. NNV loriginal in Urdu l, des-
cribes iI Muslim woman. She is
never known bv Iwr name. She
WilS first somcon(1's daugh ter,
the n someone s V\ile, then some-
one's mothel' and finally a grand-
mother. The tate or a woman
who ha s no one to look after
her is broughl out vcry vividly in
this s torv. This is vet another
beau lifu(translation -leaving with
you the Ilavouf of the ' JllU halla'
scene.
Th , last s t Ol'\I, MIDNIGHTS
SOLDIERS - by Viswapl'iya
Iyengar in Engli sh, like a sur-
geon's scapel c ut s open and dis-
sects the condj tion. in whi ch
fi s her folk live, and describes
how Matilda fights a losing bat-
tl e ugainst tTemenclous odds.
There are it few print er's dev-
il s in the book which could have
been avoided bv a more careful
pmof reading. Nevertheless, it is
a trip into the li ves
of some Indian women, tha t we
have all at some point of time
seen, heard of or knoV\o11 . It is a
sober reminder to every edu-
caled woman in India today of
the reality of the c urre nt. contin-
uing Indian scene.
.IN )(ALI! More power to your
elbow!
Teji Viswam
Truth Tales
Kali for Women, 1986
N-84-Panchshila Park
New Delhi -ll0017
KB
F8rum
_R_e_"_e_W_S_3_D_d_R_e_fl_ec_ti_o_D_S _____ Gazette
YOU SAID IT!
R.K. Laxman is one of
best known cartoonists, As far
back as one can remember the
Times of India. one remembers
Laxman's column "You Said It",
His amusing drawings have
regaled readers with their satiri-
cal force and vivid potrait of
Indian society,
Laxman 's satire on politics
has been directed. one sup-
poses. against those villains in
socie ty who he be li eves can be
la ug he d o ut of e ,xistence, He has
depended upon wi t and reason
to score points agai n s t their
vices a nd follies which today
include genocide, Only the velY
Uteral minped would be e nt er-
tained by s uc h an unequal con-
fronta tion: "Yo u said it' , Yo u sai d
or accept the e ffi cacy of verbal
int elVe ntions, te llinl5 hit s, in
roday s prevaiUng mayhem and
monstrous inhumanity, That is
why the pen of Ravi Shanker of
Indian Express has grown aci d
and manic. That is a lso why
Ma l'io Miranda's line c url s all
the more in lyrical escapi m.
Whe n e ditors or leading news-
papers have aggrandised the
lampoon 1'01' t heir column ',
rohbed the caricaturist of virLl-
lencf' and scullilitv. those of
Laxman's ilk "viII be rendered
fatuou s,
Laxman's safeguard agains t a
\'ocaLiona l lav -ofr ha been hi s
crea ti on- the Common Man,
This bespectacled, dhoti -clad.
bu lbous-nosed Everyma n ap-
pears in every cartoon but never
utters a word. though he is often
-----
R.K. LAXMAN
,.0" .,0","
TItAvnOGUIS
USAYS
AN(COOtES
I

<:;71h

'-- <7-------;

addressed . An ubiquit o us ove r-
h earer, so m et imes eaves -
dropper, he has an engaging,
a lbei t peripheral. presenc(' in
the world of Laxman's cart oons,
In a collection or short stories,
travelog ues , essays and
anecdotes call e d Idle Hours
( 19821, Laxman wlite' : " For a
long time I beli eved that I was
giving readers a IlJief moment or
jov. making the m la ugh at their
ravourit e adversari es in Ill!'
govemment. in politi cs , , "
Laxman's Comlllon Man, how-
ever, never la ughs. He has never
even s mil ed . Wha t distances him
furth er from t h e Common
Reader of Times of In di a is the
fact that appears also to br
unimpressed by the captions,
perhaps from a lack of adequat e
knowledge of the Engli s h lan-
guage. and for the same reason
would never exclaim: "Laxman.
you said it!", In the same article
in Idle Ho urs, Laxman te ll s us
more about ourse lves. He con-
tinues: ". _ , But I was surprised
to discover that for a whole lot
of people my services as a car-
toonist were of a dillerent kind
altogether and not just that of
merely making them laugh! I
realise d that they look upon a
cartoonis t variously as a pro-
found thinker. a social criti c, a
political scien ti s t. a public
conscience-keepe r and even as
some sorl of a Illodern vers io n of
a cOllrt I gathered thi s
impression through some of the
le tt e rs I get. "
No wonder LaxllIan 's Com-
mon Man has a br wil dered look.
but mos t oft e n, a look of incom-
pre he nsion. Hi s vestigial pre-
' ence in Laxman 's ca rtoons
function s as a self-reflexive cl'i ti -
cis m o r t IWIll , It is a sign s how-
ing the accommodati un or prob-
able. unexprcssed , maylJe un-
th o ug ht or eve n uncomprr-
h!mdml. points or view of that
majori tv in India who hali(> no
voice , ' Laxlllan ' s
Common Mall is a signat urc
il1di ating that majorit,v whose
chi ldren \ViII he, like them. mcre
survivors in the fu I lire. no t the
inhflritors of a free and jll s t
nation,
Surjij P. Singh
Hours by R.K. LcU:IJl.1JJ
Indi" Boo/':' House Pvt. Ltd.,
1982.
\ \ dl, ,,!lal I .... \1'llr tnll'n.: ...... lull. IW'-' hu l h
"I h.I\\,; the \\hh.h h.I \".-
nHl1pLJtHt.:J til p" lIl11 1ul1 '
That W3' J Spirit ed. rlghllng.
May " C the suhJcct. r!c;\,;,c ')
Con"oerlng Ihe "7C or I he donatio" I ha\c
gl\ en to gel m) , on J hcrt' . I am 1101
gOing (0 let In)' hel\ Il In .lllY nrdmary -,edt'
My resignation h:.l 5 come as a cti lnpl ctc
urprisc 10 me!
"And So Many More Will Die"
Ben Barka's Soweto
T
he Chi ldren surge forward,
p lacards borne aloft, in the
s t ands frenzied c rowds
s hout the ir defiance, the words
incomprehensible, the people's
power unmi s takable, On the
other side the gl'im faced s torm
troopers of the South African
police. weapons in hand, im-
personal. ex pressionless. in bat -
t le ca moutlage , be hind the m
masse d armoure d c ars and
trucks, l1ashing. wait for
thl' word to charge. The boys
and gi rls come and near -
cr At a given signa l Ihe Ii' ont Line
o r the s lornHJ'Oope rs don the
masks IVhi c h de pri ve the m
or ,tny ves ti ge or human qual ity ,
ancl as the c hildre n s tep over
till' ill visibl(' Iwnti!'r, the dchu-
l1lani.wd m ll uts their cit' ad-
I,v Firs t til(' tl'a r gas,
and \\ 11I'n tlll' blinding {' Io uds
don ' t !'> tllP thl' surgl'. ti ll' guns.
not 0 \' ('1' Il l(' Iwads Dr I hc
YOllngs l('s. hut ai med to kill.
Bod ies ('\'plywherc. The1'c
ar(' unforf.(l tt abll: pani c-
stf'ic"cn, I eopl ' rus h-
ing bli ndly in a ll directi o ll s, the
s taggering young ['uupl e, the ir
sllatt fll'P. d 1m ill their arms. the
men and women lit e mlly
h'oJ11 t h(-: s tands to ru s h to save
thuir c hildn'n, The sIllall child,
tears s treaming down a lear-
s tlicken ru nning away fi'om
the horror it not under
s l and , Th i s is Soweto, th e
Soweto recreated \ ith c hilling
power by AlgeJian film maker
Bcn Barka _ An eeri e e ' pcri e nce-
wa tching the Him o n til e 10th
annivcrsa rv ot Soweto_
Be n 13a'l'ka's mast erpipce is a
dOl'lIlll(' nl al'v o r aparthri d. the
lll il1lllcssnl'ss, ti ll' hol'l'l1l'. the
{Tllc lt y , till' cOllI' af.(t'. the degra-
dation or "hit l' Lind hl ack, tl1P
iIlIJllenS!: l!lllllan II 'agedy. I':I'CI'
f-lres nnt. til!-' o r Joil,lJl -
n e). lwl'g. its (I an
strCl' ls, its glitt rring f1('I)Jl
wit h ill(' mi s!'ry alld
nes:-. or the IJlal'k !'>l' lt 1l'Jl1ents
sets the scenp.
:\parllw id inhuma-
nit v, no t .troll1 whitt' to 1)l ach.
oniv, bllt Ili ac" 10 blac k, a Iru th
\\h1c l1 has onlv tuo rvi-
dent ill tllf' past 1I1011t hs , Be n
Barka shows u:; a glimp:;e of tl w
to tal agony of tl IP black pf'oplr
of oUlh t\fdcil , \\ H cannot
it. hut hr us sec it ill ruth-
tel1l1S so we cannot CSC'lJ.lC
it.
Por lhis is a r uthless r..Im.
Thel'!:' aJl' who al'!:'
almost unbelievable until you
read about South Africa, There is
the man in charge of the morgue,
who sells corpses to an export
firm, He teUs the South African
white journalis t in search of the
truth tha t white corpses are sel-
dom if ever exported because
they are a lways claimed, "And
w hat about the blacks?" the
jourmLii s t asks, "They are never
c la ime d " i s the a n swe r. For
whe n a black comes from the
Bantus tans to .lohannesberg he
is lost to hi s familv. Another
almos t unbeli evable c haracter is
the Sccurity Forces Captain who
is lolcl by t he morgue man when
hp comes to d ispose 01T corpses
tha t what he has to sell now are
not saleabl e brcause they are
too I11lltilat rcl ,
Otl1('1' t'haractprs, all lin ' lv
portra,wel, art' vibran t \ ith I if;',
1\.1;lItlww, srarc h for his
hi). l)I'otl1('r, illld hi !> : is ter
all Qillislwd il1t u the gaping hole
or .Iui1anlH'she/'g rrom the 13an-
tus lall , c l1angl:s r!'(J1ll the inno-
cent. l11an he was int o a
bC\\'ildC'rl'd. angly J1wn
who ha:. los t laith ill Cod.
His lJl'l> tl1 {'1' 1ll'liu s. a min e-
\\ a burn I!:'a der of
nll ' ll , I' Dmllli t led t u rreedom,
dil 's ill all l'\('t' ution ce ll. a long
I\'i th I\.tatt hcw's SUIl . thp bov
\\ 110 C<1I11(, to nlah.l' good,
fo und onl\- c rimI' ill tho settl e-
nW1l1 :o. IU;l1S, became a hired
ki ll l'/' liJl' the St'l'urit v rorces 10
Illurder til(' vvhill' jULlrnali s t who
cou ld not qu iet abollt the
inhuJ1liJnit v and inius ti ce he saw
aroulld hi;ll , Ma tt ew's daugh ter.
\Vll o comes to Juhannesberg to
look rur her husband whom s he
nevpr find s. has b(!come a whore
to earn Iwr li \ 'ing and care 1' 01'
Ihe only thing ill life tl tat has
any moaning, her litll e son_ We
las t see h e r r unning w ildl y
thf'Ough the ruins of Sowe to ca ll -
ing hi s name, hel' sanit,v left be-
hi nd in Ihe uead. The man who
has ca ll ed 1atthew to .lohan-
nesberg 10 I'eSCll e his grandson
and take hjll1 back to Bantus tan
is J.l erhaps the mus t unforg t-
t.1ble charactur ur a ll, L1lE' littl e
bent plies!. \!vi tll his 1l10nh.ey-
life 1;\(;1'. hi ,; unique J.lhilo!:>ophy.
hi s cOlllpassion and hi s irn -
tolerancr of humanit y.
He tuo di es in the c.\c{'ution I 'u'll ,
,\ft f'r SOW(HO, th ruwn
into jai l \\ith ti l[' hUJl(h' or
0 1111'1':-' he will no t s to p leadi ng
tlw f-ll'isuncl 's in a nc\er-t'llding
c hant ur prllt est. wh ich dl'i\ pS
tlw blac" guards in to un('olltrol -
I"hl(' anl:\l'I '_ \\.{> :-out' I\.lalthv\\ .
eyf's ril1l1l1l'd 1'(>cI wi til gripl <lI1 rl
ing, in \\ord s
tha t an' draggl cl tlul or lli nl
painru ll _\ , tl w lo ll -ca ll ur thl'
dead, saying "And so many
mort' will din" a llrl lillall v, a l-
\\ itll disl'l'li('f ta"illg till'
na me 01 hi" 1j-i('11(1. the pri,, ';!.
H,lIji Malik
A HINDUST AN OR A ROLLS ROYCE
WE WASH, CLEAN, SERVICE, CONNECT
AND FILL THEM UP AT
MODERN
SERVICE STATION
(),,111I -1
r l""lI" ,llrl'''-; IIIHiI;
Tuesday ) - I5.July 1986 7
:The
FOrum
Gazette
A Bad Example
The ugly incidents in the Punjab Assembly during
the debate on the Venka tarami ah Commission Report
are a sad commentary on Ihe rapid deteriora tion of pol-
itical behaviour in our imperi ll ed democracy. Parlia-
ment and the State Assembli es have witnessed unfor-
tunate unruliness and rowdiness before and many
persons, in and out of the legislatures, have publicly
condemned such violations of parliamentary norms by
certai n members since Ihose first veal's when Nehru
. ,
Palel, Azad and Shastri set the hi gh standards of Parl ia-
men tal:v di scipline e>. pected of the elecled representa-
tives of the people.
But not until now have we witnessed such deplor-
able conduct on the part of emjnent legislators. Mr Par-
kash Singh Badal, leader of the Akal i Dal for many years,
erstwhile Chi ef Minisl er, a man respected the country
over for his stateillanship and maturity, clelibp.rately cast
aside all norms of parliamentary conduct to lead a
physical assaull on the Speaker in the House and,
all egedly, even occupied the exalted Chair, exalted not
because of anyone individual. but because of its sym-
bolic emi nence in Ollr accept ed system. Some of Mr
Badal's followers in the 'di 'sident ' Akal i Partv are new to
parliamentary procedures. One would have expected
Mr Badal and Captain Amarinder Singh, a Member of
Parliament for some years, to have stopped their col -
leagues from indulging in violent behaviour, nol worthy
of their responsihilities.
Inste'ad Mr Badal actually spearheaded the assault.
Captain Amarinder Singh's subsequent apology for hi s
group's behaviour in no way excuses him from his fai l-
ure to have con troll ed his follower. One of the legisla-
tors, Mr Lalpura, is alleged to have used obscene lan-
guage during these unsavoury proceedings, which are a
disgrace for the whole country.
No provocation justifies such behaviour. If the dis-
sidents had any complaint about the Speaker's rulings,
they should have resorted to the means provided to
express their disapproval. Instead they have introduced
the same elemen ts of rowdj ness and goondaism un-
fortunately connected with some elements in Akali
politics, into parliamentary procedures. By flouting all
conventions they have done iIresperable harm to the
Akali Party in the eyes of others. Equally pernkious is
their behaviour to the larger Sikh community.
For let us be frank. The Sikh community today is
undergoing a crisis of major dimensions, a dual crisis,
both internal and internal. Sikh youth particularly is
passing through times of travail and trial, is in an
incredible_ state of confusion, looking desparately for
anchors to hang on to, for a basic infrastructure on
which to build their future. With violence in the air,
both inside and outside Punjab, with the' edifice of law
and order threatened by senseless, amoral terrorism, is
this the example Mr Badal and his followers expect the
youth, whose interests they are supposed to represent,
to follow? By flouting convention and taking the law
into their own hands they are setting a dangerous
example. As Sikhs they should know that .the Speaker's
fallen turban is the symbol of the insult inflicted on the
Sikh by the Chandigarh happenings.
_ 8, Tuesday 1-15 July 1986 .
Viewpoint
The Fate of
Secularism-I
FeUow at the Centre tor
Developing Societies, the
writer draws attention
to the various nuances
of secularism in India
and why the old ideol-
ogy of secularism is not
working.
I
must makc it dear at the
beginning that I am not a
seculari st. In fact , I can
be t:aUed an a n ti-secularist. I
say thi s with sOlli e tr epida-
lion , for , in the company in
whkh I move, this is not a
fashionable posi tion to take.
Fortunately, slich is the pull of
the ideology of sec:ularism in
India today that
when I wrote an anti-secu-
larist manifest(), many inter-
preted the article to bf! a hid-
den homage to secuJarism.
Pm'haps, I shall this
timc tno.
I call mvself anti -secularist
because I fe;' 1 that the ideoloKv
of seculari sm has mom or tess
exhausted its possibiliti es_ We
mav now have 10 work wilh a
differenl ideoloKv whi ch is al-
ready vaguely visible al bor-
den; of Indian polili cs.
When I say that the presenl
ideology and polilics of secula-
rism have exhausled themselves,
I hitv!:' in minci Ihe standard
Engtish mea ning of the word
'seculari sm' . As we know, Ihere
are two meanings of seculalism
current in modern and semim-
odei'll Indi a. Onl' of Ihe two
mea nings you can easily find
out if vou "onsull anv standard
dictiOl; arv. But vou wi ll nol find
the olher"meaning in any propel'
dictionalY, however hard you
may try For it is Iypi cally and
cli stinctivelv India.
The tirs t meaning becomes
clear when people talk of secu-
lar Irends in hi storv 01' econom-
ics 01' when they speak of secu-
larisa lion of the slal e. The word
secularism has been in this
sense in the Wesl for at leasl-the
tast three hundred years.
Ashis Nandy
Thi s secularism marks out an
area in publ ic life where religion
is 11 01 admilt ed. One can have
religion in one's privat e life, one
can be a good Hindu or a good
Musli m vvithin one's house or
one' s place of worship. But
when one enters public life, one
is expecled 10 leave one's faith
behind. This ideologv of secula-
rism is associat ed with slogans
like 'we are Indians first. Hindus
second' or 'we are Indians first.
Ihen Sikhs'.
Indian Meaning
As di . tinct from the firsl
meaning, the Indian meaning of
secularism urges one to equally
\'alue all reli gions. II says thai
the publi C life mayor may nol
be kepi free of religion bUI one
must Irea l all reli gions \vith
equal res pect.
We in India have, sometimes
withoul even admitting ii , fol -
lowed the Indian meaning of
'secularism', Ihough Ihe coun
try 's westel'lli sed intell ectual s
have always been uncomfortabl e
aboul it. "Thev have seen such
secularism an adulterat ed
one and as a compromise with
Irue seculari sm. Even Ihe ulti-
mate symbol of religious toler-
ance in India, Gandhi , on the
few occasions when he said ' I
am a seculari st" , had Ihis Indian
meaning in mind. This is ob-
vious from his famous saying
that Ihose who thought that
religion and polilics could be
kept separal e, understood nei -
ther religion nor politics.
Yet, il is the first meaning of
secularism which has donii -
nat ed our middJ e class public
ideology. Despite our practice of
depencling on the second mean-
ing in practice, it is the firsl
meaning whi ch i endorsed by
the process of moderni sation in
Inclia. And the declared ideology
of the modern Indian state, too,
supports thi s first meaning.
Victims of a 'Secular' Society:
Gandhi and TriIokpuri, which
has become Delhi 's KhaJi (empty)
Sthan (place).
Politics of Secularism.
Associated with thi s first.
more west ern, mea ning of
secularism, there is a hidden
poli ti cal hi erarchy or ladder.
Thi s hi erarchy makes a four-fold
classification of those in politics.
On the top of the hi erarchv
are those who beli eve neit her iil
publi c, nor in Plivate. They are
supposed to be scientifi c ilnd
rational. and they are supposed
to ultimately not onJy r ul e thi s
society but also dominate its
cultu;e. An obvious exampl e is
lawaharlal ehru. Though we
are now lold that he believed in
astrology and Tantra, Nehru al -
ways made us a little ashamed
of our faiths and he convinced
us. the westerni sed Inclians, that
he neither beli eved in pri vate
nor in publi and we should
model ourselves on him.
On the second pung of Ihe
ladder are those who do not
IColl linupci on Ill: \( flilf!,el
F8rum
_---_________ Gazette _________ O_p_en_F_orum __
Continued limn P,t) Col, .j l
beli eve in publi c but are very
devout beli evers in plivate, and
our be t example of the type
probably is someone li ke Indira
Gandhi. She was a true non-
beli ever publi c life (she after all
died in the hands of her own
Sikh guards, rather than accept
the advice of her security offic-
ers to change the guardsi but in
plivate she was a devout Hindu
who had to go to her seventyone
- or was it s ixtynjne " - pil -
gJimages. Both Inmra Gandhi s
were genuine and together they
represent ed the attitude of a
sizable portion of the Inman
middle classes.
On the third ru ng are those
who beli eve in publi c and do
not beli eve in priva te. Thi s may
a t first seem an odd category,
but if I give you some exampl es
you will unders ta nd what I
mean and guess why t his cate-
gor:v includes dangerous men
and women. The mos t obviou
exampl es from our part of the
world are Mohammed Ali .Iinnah
who was not much of a Muslim
in plivate li fe, but yet took up
the cause of Is lam successfull v
in publi c, and OV. Savarkar who
was an atheist in plivale life but
believed in Hinduism as a politi -
cal ideolol{V.
Such persons are dangel'Ous
because to them religion is a
political tool , not a matter of
piety. Their private non-beli ef
only puts the secularists off-
guard who ne er come to know
how se!iouslv th Jinnahs and
the Savarkars take religion as a
political instrument. On the
other hand, their publi c faith
puts the faithfull off-guard be-
cause they never suspect the
contempt in which their heroes
hold the common run of the
faithful. Often these heroes in-
voke the classical versions of
their failhs to damn the existi ng
way ' of li fe associated with their
fait hs.
\.' At the bottom of the hi e-
rarchy are those who beli eve in
private as we)) as in public. The
best and most notorious exam-
ple is that of Gandhj, for he
openly beJieved both in plivate
as we)) as in public. The cate-
gory has its strengths and weak-
nesses. You can say that exact ly
as it has its strength in someone
like Gandhi, it has its weak-
nesses in someone Like Avatollah
Khomeini or .J arnail - Singh
Bhindranwale.
At the moment J shall not go
into that. AliI shall add is that in
Inma, we have been always
slightly embal'assed about thi s
modern classification in our
politics, for we know that the
Fa ther of the nati on does not
fare very well when the classifi-
cation is applied to him.
The Crisis of Secularism
Fortunately for Gandhi ' s
latherbood, thi s classification is
not working well today. It is not
working well because it has led
neither to the elimination of
religion from politics nor to
greater religious tolerance. This
is not the case only with us, thi s
is the case with every SOCiety
which has been put up to us,
some time or other, as an ideal
secular society.
For instance; for 150 years we
have heard that one of reasons
Britain dominated Inma an-d one
of the reasons why we were col-
onjsed was that we were not
secular, whereas Britain was.
Deep and Moving
Protect Gurudwaras from
Anti-Social Activities
Dear Si r,
It is alanning to note the
attitude or the ' non-Sikh' commu-
nit v lof which I am a memberl
the Sikh.
I happened to ue fl ying here
from Calcutta and noti ced a Si kh
fe ll ow-passenger being unduly
harassed at the secur;t v check.
This moved me deeply' enough
to \-vrit e a poe m about it. a copy
of whi ch I att ach to this.
Wi th deep regard,
Sanjay Shal' ma
C/ o Sacred Heart School
P.O. Chandmari
Guwahatj 781 00:.1
II 'h ()fl Operation: Bluestill' II 'a s
launched: [ IVilS une of the fi rst
r:hosen. Thel' wanted
proJessionais and they want ed
them 101lal . Theil wil nt ed men
avom ail prejudice and 11'11:11
bett er choice than I, -
tor Ivas [ not a Sikh?
When we st()l'med the te1l1iJl e.
[ was am()ng the tin;/. The bl ast
that bleil' the guts out of
the saffiurl turbaned tel7'Urist
had me runni ng to his aid.
The offense of'gi lling a dying
miln a drink was unpardonable
and my illligiilnce was priflle
suspoct. -
(01' was I not a Sikh ?
Seeing 111.1' alleged
'cosmopolitan ' sympathi es my
oll'n side the l eg.s tium
under me and sellt me packinf.{
to iJase hospi tal while my
'buddies ' were decol'iII ed ful'
such acts ofgallill1tl:'> . IIl iI"
cout't-martial/ed ,Ind found
gui/ty of{;oinf( 'douille', -
for was J not iI Sikll :'
On vuses :1I1d in pal'ks.
they eyed my amputated stump
wilh suspici on; May be it's some
nPl v-fangJedsuicide-!Jomv-bi d
and childnm steer elea/' of me.
/01' ,1m J 110t a Sikll :'
AI .4irporl -temJinab
and other public places.
ti WI' subject me to morc
derail ed /i"i sks and
things mor e dem/iiltoIY.
lor ilm I not a Si kh :)
Today, at parties il nd at
such 'suciai' liilthcrin/is J i llll
/l ot inti equent(1' mmindcd uf
the turb,lll that l'Cs t" lI n ea";I '
on m.I' patf!. My ('ri ends inefll/{;n
in jo(:ular vantf'r amll d / mf' :
.. . the all {v g()oci Sikh.
is il de,ld one . . ,
I alll supposed t(1 take i t nil
in IlI I ' stride. -
1'01' a'lll I nol a Si kh :)
c/:il d prefer .', p:lI'tinf.{
Il'it l1 his hair mlher than his
head. /-I e n() lonlier wew's
a t uriJa n. What i r hI' c/oesn 't
[ 11', Lllt him to l ive -
Sikh or not -
for alll I lIot human :,
- San jay Shallna
No person should accept the
use of religious places for anti -
social purposes, If a ny religious
place is used for anti-socia l pur-
poses in any fOlm, it is the duty
of the State to intervene and
stop it. The position should be
viewed in the following manner:
during the period o I' Guru Na nak
De\'ji to Guru Gobind Singhji ,
religio-politi cal acti vit ies of the
Sikhs were guided by the Gurus.
Wherever the Guru s were was
oh\'ious lv t he Gurudwara. After
Guru Gobind Singh 's deat h, the
Guruship passed on to the Guru
Gran th Sahib, so wherever the
Guru Gran th Sahib was ke pt,
tha t place obviously was ca ll ed
the Gurudwara.
Th\! prac tise or usi llg these
places for I'eli gious ,HId politjcal
actidti es t herefore continued.
But it was more foJ' conveni ence
thall l'or allV other reason. As Ihe
Sikh Raj es tabl ished, the use
of Gurudwaras for poli tical pur-
poses a ut omaticall y s to pped
because authorit \' emanat e d
ti'om the Rajahs: Government
machinel)'. The publi c was not
Cont,.ibutiolJ.'; fo,. opml
F O,./Jill ;"'/ ' welt:oluc in
tilt: 1'01'111 of /( : Il e,..<; or
commenl. Owing to ... pace
COliS t,..,;"t.'; , til e. Ic n g tll
should 1101 (:xcf 'e.d
column ("'Of) worl/..; ).
" ... Otherwise the border of
Pakistan would have been
near Delhi with J & K
sliced off,"
Sir,
If we eat well in 1985- 86, some
credit has to go to the Sikh
farmers of Punjab.
Ou t of the 11.45 million
tonnes of rice procured tor pub-
li c mstributi on in 1984, as much
as 9.85 million tonnes or 86.2 per
cent has come from Punjab. out
of the 9.28 million tonne of
wheat procured in 1984, five mil-
lion tonnes 0 1' 50 per cent has
come from Punjab.
Sikhs, more than anybody,
have been responsible for the
surplus food in our granaries. As
a miniori ty man, I strong'ly feel
that Sikhs represent what is mil -
itant and dynami c in Inma.
Sikhs have relatively shed
more blood for lnma than any
other communi ty. Out of the
2125 martyrs for freedom. 1557
or 75 per cent were Sikhs. Out of
2646 sent to Andamans for life
That is why we reportedly md .
not know how to live together,
whereas Britain was a world
power, perfectly integrated and
fi.red by the spirit of nationalism.
Now we find that after nearly
three hundred years the lJish,
the Scots and the Welsh are
creating as much problems for
Britain as some of the religions
or 'regions are creating for 'us in ,
Inma.
To be concluded.
sentence, 2147 01' 80 pel' cent
were Sikhs. Out of 127 Indians
who were sent to gallows, 92 or
80 per cent were Sikhs. In Sub-
has Bose's army or 20000. t2000
were Sikhs and Sikhs were just 2
per cent of the total popula ti on.
A capaci ty to absorb scienti -
fic technology i's the hallmark of
a Sikh farmer. Whil e the food-
grain yield in rest of Inma is just
1.5 tonnes per hectare, there are
mstri cts in Punjab where the
farmer s have reach ed world
s tandards of five tonnes per hec-
tare and more.
Punjab leads the country in
irri gate d area, fertili ser con-
sumption, electricity used and
motor vehicles. It al so leads in
pI' capita bank deposit at Rs.
1657 against an all Inma average
of Rs. 763. It is second to none in
schools, newspapers, hos pital
beds, which are social neces-
sities. Per capita assets in Punjab
are Rs. 31,827 while for Inma it is
Rs.11,311. .
All thi s has given birth to the
most prosperous state of the
Indian Union. Below the poverty
line population in Punjab as a
percentage of tot.al population is
15.1 perc_ent while it is 48.1 per-
Gent for the country as a whole.
Per capita national income for
Punjab for 1978- 79 was Rs. 2101
while it was Rs. 1267 for the
country. Availability of cereals
pel' day ill Punjab was 2052 gms.
whil e it was 384 grams in the
country. Milk availabili ty per year
was HI] kgs. per head in Punjab,
whil e it was only 45 kgs. tal'
India as a whol e.
Sikhs need more water fo r
t he i I' agricuIt ure, whi ch they
deserve. They wan t a separate
capital whi ch is their right. They
want some adj ustment in Pun-
jabi speaking distri cts which can
be looked into.
These are the ba ic demands
and immediate action wil l defuse
the situation, clear the atmos-
phere for a settlement. It is far
the present leadership to grasp
the opportunity.
The Sikh is the militant
child of Hindu religion, born
of necessity, shaped and tem-
pered by history, to fight
oppression. The Sikhs threw
in their lot with India in 1947.
Otherwise, the border of Pak-
istan would have been near
Delhi with Jammu and Kash-
mir sliced off.
The Sikh has taught us how
to pull oneself out of poverty by
self-help. At the same time Sikhs
in Punjab have seen more devas-
tation, disturbances through
wars, since 1947 than any other
community. Despite the threat
of war, they have stood like a
rock and made the border state
the most prosperous. What can
required to use Gurudwaras for
these purposes.
But during the Briti h regime
politi cal activities again started
from the Gurudwaras for the
reason s me ntion e d ea r li er,
because it was not possible to
call}' our anti-Bliti s h activities in
other places. The use of Gurud-
wa l'as far politi cal purposes
should be viewed in thi s hi stori -
ca l perspective ins tead of it
being made a major issue.
In the present context, when
political acti vi ti es are all owed in
the open, lhere should be no
questi on of using the Gurud-
wara 1'01' thi s purpose, Gurudwa-
ras are "Guru ke Ghar", and
should be used only for religious
purposes parti cul arly when an
equal number of non-Sikhs visit
Gurudwaras. I repeat that the
use of Gurudwaras for an ti social
and ant i-national purposes must
not be allowed. Nor should any
re li gious place of worship be
used (or politi cal p urposes
Col. H.N. Singh,
98 Hauz Kllas SFF
New Delhi.
PLEA FOR AKALI UNITY
UearSil'.
If' Bluet; ta f' was
undertaken to crus h tl1P s pirit of
tlw Sikh COlllfflun itv. til e li mit ecl
ac ti on of ti l!! Bar;la la Govern-
men l was to rc-es tablish
legal control o r the Sikh COI11 -
munitv over it s holi est or hol v
Til e "NO acti ons were
qui te uiffercnt in their int ent as
we ll as th e ir ou tcome. Yil t
Sardars Tohra and Badal LI S
the la tter to bring the Barnala
gOVCl'flfll('ut into di sreput p and
di vidf' the Aka li Part v. The il 'onv
of it was tha t they ke pi declaring
Ihat policy was nei lher in
lavour of Kha li sta n nor encoll -
raging tcrrorism. which only
shov\'eu tha t as suc h they had
no poli cy with the
main Akali Dal. lJespit e that, on
June 4, on the pre text of
cOl11lll emorating I he 2nd anni -
versary of Upera ti on Blues tar
thev flout ed the a uthori tv of thp
S.G:P.C an d dernal\deu ous ter of
the li ve heat! pri es ts right ly rein
stated bv Sardar Bal'llala. It i '
cl ear Sarcl ars Tohra and
Badal arc o n ly fi ghting t o
advance the ir own polit ica l
int erests. We appeal to them not
to fool their own people. It is yet
lime for them to s hun the pa th
of creating di sunity in the Panth
at thi s criti ca l junctu re and
appeal to them once again to
re join t.he main stream.
Isbar Singh
J-11/76, Rajouri Garden
New Delhi - llO027.
be more patriotic than that ?
All minorities whether Sikhs,
Muslims, Christians, lains, Bud-
dhists, arose out of Hindus.
Hindu is the mother, minoriti es
are the children and a mother
has to be more kind, under-
stanmng, loving than the child-
ren ; even a prodigal son s hould
be dear to her. An unkind,
unwi se mother destroys herself
and her children too.
Gilbert Lobo
Bombay
Tuesday 1-15 July 1986 9

F8'rum
A __ _____________
A Champion of the Oppressed
Mahashweta. Devi


T
h e governme nt which
awarded the Padrnashree
to the Be nga li noveli s t
Mahashwe ta Devi thi s year,
could have paid a be ll er tribute
to h er if it had made seri o us
etforts to put an end to til(!
fe rings uf t ho peo}Jle a mong
whom Ma hashwe ta is working
anel abou t whom s he is \,w iting
- tlw down trodde n tribal PC!o'
pie, tho d e pressml cas tes, thc!
bonrh!d the 1'1I1'a i pour,
Althuugh Im;l lV of Iw l' n()\'(!f s
haw been trans lal<'d in to Hindi
an d uther la nguages, \'(' IY I(!w
out si d ' West Bl!ngal or
within thi s s tat (! a re awar(' of
a ll1agazilw whi (' h s hl! I'uns ca ll
pd ' Barti ka ' IC' lIll.! I(! 1 wh ich ('al'
rips s tol'ic!s, puem;, ' not
on ly a bout I Ill' variuus segllll'n is
ul' til<' rUI',iI POOl' , h UI by th(,111
Bv let t ing tl1(' d (J\Vn l'()t1 d l' n
:5 1)('ah. oul in IIH'il' o\\.' n 1:lllglJilgl'
and ' llal' lika' has SI'I a
in 1\ (!l lg;t\i li lcra tll l'c' ,
As Mahashwp ta pu ts il. 1'\'1' 1:\"
tili ng a llOul i"ulh. t'u lt ul'l' ('all hI'
leal'llt in ' B;lrti h.a "s traigh l I'rolll
till' IlOrse's lll uUlh,
Expel'ime ni
In \'iP\\' 01 Il l(' rpl(!\,ilnt:C' II I
such a hold and int f! l'cSlillg (!,\ Ill"
ri lllnnt 1'01' the Indi a n c ul l lll'a l
s('ellC in gencral today, \\' Ill'n I
nl e l Ma has hwela lJovi in h c l' Ilat
in Ballygunge Sia l io n Hoa d o n!)
Sundav, I wa n tnd 10 kn()w a bo ut
111'1' in running Ill{'
magazine a ll these yeLl/'S,
" ' Ba rtih.a ' was slarl et l in
Ii 'om Baharall1pur in Ihe 1\lur
s hida ba d di s iric i ur Wc!SI Bpn
gal. " s he TIll! ndit o r al IIl a t
lim!' hur 1;lt her, Ihe \1' (' 11
kn()\.\ ' ll p oCI I'vi anish l; ha lah.
lh. no\ \11 as '.I uhanas hw' l' in Ren
gal i li wrarv circlesl, dc/ PI' 1)1'0111('1'
of I1Immaker Hhilw ih. Gha ta k, In
tl avs, it was a lil C'l'al'v
qual' tel'l,": " An(,1' Illy l;ll l1('l' ;s
c/C'alll in IJt'c('lll iJcr 1!J7H, I 100h.
on'I' Ihe Ill agaz illP, a ll tl W(' call
say from till' .J u ly Spptelll lwl'
iSSUI' , ' l\al'lih.a' a ncw
phasl' We carriml instrucli ons
allout hm\' to \Vri le , mainl\'
ainwd at thosl' who (I'
educaled and cuu ld cxpn'ss or
!JUI !lml' ll Ilwir \iC'I\
ill II riling, \\ 'C' pospd qu('st illll,
10 agricultural labuul /'l;, licbha\\ .
PUIl ('I''' , IJundl'd labourer::. , mar
gin;iI Ill'!lsanh, Irihal le;lI'lll'rs,
ordJlI ,': :" \ i I lilt-WI'" in such a \\ a,l'
ils In hl' lp tlwlll P'xPI'l!SS ill their
(1\\ 11 '\,J." all au thenti c pi('ILII Y' ul
Ihl' ""lial <lnd pconOlllic l'I'alil\ ',
aim \\'as 10 eSlabli s h ;]
di n': I , ulltact between the grass
I"OlIl- people' and lilt" IHinl ed
,lnd \\'c certainly ha vl' !>uc,
Sumantha Banerji
i,l,l d oing il ill a Id l'ge
Ill C!aSUI'(! ,
rvt al wslnVl' la assl!rte'ti :" ' Bal"
ih.a p lav!'> a V()IY 1'l !ll'\'al ll a nd
()ssPllli al 1'011 ' in ludal"s l'l di liral
wol'id , Tribal \lo ll,trillal
I'lIl'a l PUOI', or 11 11'
IllC'\' all
\\!'i lt' ;t/)(J1I1 Iheil' clIl llIl'a' l li li'
sl,vl('!'>, YOli ,\I' t tu kllO\\ ahOUI
fo lh. n Lllll l'(' fmlll Ill('
Ilwn l\;ll'l ih.a ill 11li:, n'
gal'd eiO('L lltl (' lll ing :tlld inll'll'
clu('i ll g illlpo rl al'lt 1!1('IlH' nl s of
1<11h. ("( LIlLII'(' nol thrulI gh aca-
dC!lll ic 1'l lll l(' lI ishrr/ wi th
I(JOI Il OiCS hv Il w()I'(' li eians, hut
thl'Oli gl l tll (! 1;lIlgll agl' or lil o:,c'
(; 1' wl lL)sn li l'es, c ultul'e
ilSl' lf is :t il illlll' I'l!11 1 parI. i{i tu als
l"ui1 lwcted wilh 1(1l'l !sIS a nei agl'i
cullul'l!, SUllgS, a nd les ti vals
are all inse para bly lillh.ed " ilh
Ihei r daily li ve'S, II is Ill ey who
\Vril e,
Abo ul Ihe ir s ty l() of expres
sio n, their language, Ma llas hwe w
said : "Th e Illaj ol'it v of India's
common peopl e bl! lI nl p. l
IeI' ' ri or s ligh t Iy Bul
they do not lach. in inlm; c1 suphis
c ivili zpd and politi ca l
a lt it u des and a rC' Il'e nl l' ndOll slv
pole nt. For them, to go IwynnJ
Ill ' primary schuol I('ve l is a l
mus l it d rea m, BUI si ncn in
Benga l l'illages, t hese pt'ople
know Benga li a nd can rpa ci a Ii i
lie, and nut being highly edu
cated II1(>v are nol C!x posed to
ui llel' langll'lge thoughts, Iheir
Bengali is in sen:'(' pUl'e Ikngali,
They have it pO\\lCl'titi abil ity 10
e,\prcss tilelllse lvp:" Their's is
Ihe authenlic Be llgali , tile Ben
gali of tlw grassrools, ur Ihe
c:trth, And \\'(' gI'l 11ll' litl'l';lI:1'
Ilavoul',"
'Bartika' has indeed int.ro-
duced to Bengali some
vel'\, talented I'l'om
sections of the popUla-
tion. Among them an: the
late Gunadhar' Singh Muncla;
Prahlad Bhukta and Jugal
Kotal of the J.odha Iribul
community; Sal'daprasad
H.industan Refrigeration Stores
.for
Kirl os k ar Hermetic Compr essors
Danfoss Controls etc,
2B.J I etaji Subhash Nlarg
Gnnj, Nt'\\' Dfllhi-l 10002
10 Tuesday 1-15 July
Ki s ku and Gomostapl'asad
Soren from among the San-
thals; the faetory worker
Subal Dutta; and the cycle-
ricks haw pullers Ajit Bairi and
Madan Dut1a.
Other Minorties
Since Ma hashwe ta Devi had
bee n working among and wri l
ing ahoul minority groups li ke
Iribab, deprc!sseti ca s te:., I
wonde re d huw s he le ll abou t
o the r minorily gl'Oups in oLhe l'
pari s of India likl ! th e Si khs
for ins tance' _ "Since> I have no
direc i eXpel' il! 11 CP a bo ul the pi'll '
o f Ilw Sikhs, I s ho ul d no l
sa,v LJl,vlh ing a ho ut it, " sll(' sai d,
ad d ing: "T hen! s ho u ld Il l' a
hea llh v, ci e ll lOcra li c sulut ion 10
th(' Plilljail Jll'rJhll'lll. II s hould
nol 1)(' kl!p t a ny
longw', "
vVhile ci isclI:-.:-.ing PUlljah,
Mahashwpla sIJugh l to p ial'!' it
ill the gl!npra l or Ill('
present " poli lical map of India ,
prickly wil h nu merous proh
lems," i{C' ferring 10 lilt' iJas iC'
problem o f po\'(!r IV, s hl' said that
a ll the puli tica l frUIll A to
Z, instead or Ir:ving lu solve Ihis
prohl nm, wei ' speking 10
captlll"<' pONer a nd ma h.i ng the
polili cal scene murky,
' T he conditi o n o r the lribal s
in pa rli c ul ar," s hl' sai d, "is the
mus l neglected." "Wha tever Ihey
had 1'01' the ir living - IOI'p.s ts,
rearing a nimal s, hunting, agl'i
cu ll ul oe - all had been ta ke n
away by thi s ' in de pe nde nce', In
spit e of laws to pl'Ot ect Ihem,
becau se of Ihe machinati ons of
the ' mai ns trea m', the ir lands are
ill the ha nd s of o thers: thev a re
depri ved of drinking wa ter, "their
own homes, Tha nks 10 t he polil '
ics of \,oles, lacti onal conOi c ts
are being encouraged wi thin the
tribal cOllllllullili es, "
Keep them HWlgry
Summing u p the govern
me n l 's }Joliey towards tri ba ls,
Mahashweta said : "Declare an
area 10 be Schedul ed Tribes
domina ted and undeveloped,
Only then, crores of r upees can
be chanlleliscd I'hrough difleren l
projects, pundits can he invited
tu make sclll'[lH!s, bUI it must be
snt'n Ihilt ll o thing readws Ihe
Keep theIn hungl:\
Fol', as lung a" Ihev :i laIY(' , Ih('\
\\ ill h<l\ '(' to sUPPOI;1 thi::. par l.\ e;r
thill. r\nc! , if they protest. lin
lea 'h the police 011 them.'
I'vlailashwC'la thell ilddl'd:
''The Iribal s arc no IOllger willing
In rC'llIaill uhjl'cls 1)1' research Ill'
acalielllil' a lltllropologi tl ts anrl
They w;lIl l In li ve
like human bei llg's 011 thpir own
l'ighlS,"
(BOJ'1l on Janual' y 14, 1926,
Mahashweta Devi published
her first book ' Jhanshir Rani'
in 1956. The next thirty years
saw the p ublication of more
than 100 books, including her
first novel 'Nati' (1957); 'i\ran-
yer Adhikar' wh ich received a
Sahitya Akadami awa rd in
1979; 'Agnigarva'; 'Sidu Kanur
Dakey'; a nd 'Akian taK.;l wav' -
to mention a lew. )
A REMEMBRANCE
Gurbachan Singh Talib
I
n 1936 I joined Khalsa College,
Amritsar as a student. It took
me almost a year however
b e for e I got to know Prof.
Gurbachan Singh Talib, Once I
got to know him, he came to
matt er more in my life than a ny
other person , During my two to
three years at Amritsar I was a
frequent visitor to hi s house and
could, prope rly speaking, des
cribe myself as almost a member
of the fa mily , One of the uni que
things about the teacher student
relati onshi p is precisely that one
gets to know a teacher as a
seeke r o f knowl e d ge, In the
process o ne a lso gets to know
him as a pe rson, Some times o ne
knows him from a di s tance but
some times, a s happe ne d in m)'
case, Ihe teacher a lso becomes a
liiend,
For my master's degree .1
moved to Lahore , Prof. Talib
meanwhile had a ls u moved to
Lah ore, During Ihose two years I
saw a good deal of h im and
received c:onsidera hl e guidance
from him in I'oegard to Illy s tudy,
By virt ue of hi s wide knowle dge
and intellec tual grasp he loomed
very large o n my m enta l hori zon,
1\ was o n e o f t h u se uni q u e
s il uat ion s w h ere hi s wor d
coun ted more wilh me than tha t
of anyone else, If he app roved o r
somethi ng, I a lso approved of it.
But when he disapproved of
something, my views were not
too d issimilar, Every s tudenl in
the process of groWing up goes
through these variou s stages of
development. To start with, one
learns from one's teacher, In
cOllrse of time as one grows up,
onp. begins to Ihink 1'01' one elf.
Even after I s tarled teaching,
I lllaint<'1ined 11lP. sallw close
contact \;,'ith Prof. Talib, He \ as
Ill V Illoci pl as a tt!ClCher and a
8("'110Iar, He' pl'Ovided a point of
refe rencE' ror' so many things
that I thought and did in my life ,
III course uf time, however, our
\ 'ie'\Vs in certain mailers begin to
diverge, But thai nevp. I' in
the way of the -regard and allee
tion that I have had for him a ll
my life,
Looking at his career, one
could say that the first quarter
century of hi s professional life,
whil e sati sfyi ng in many ways,
was a lso a difficult period for
him, He had abi lity but it was
not given it s due and adequate
r'ecognition, In those days in
parti cular, recognition was not
in terms of academi c standing
but in terms of the power that
one exercised, To to be
come a college principal seemed
the obvious choi ce for anv lec-
turoer who had any a mbition,
Profe s sor Ta lib' s c areer as a
princ ipal was marked bv various
ups and downs, part of which
could have been the I'oesuli of the
kind of person that he was, But
the larger pari, I am quite su re,
was because he had to work
wit h private managemen ts wh
in Iheir functioning and o utl ook,
did not conducl their affairs
with the detachment and objec-
tivity expected of such manage-
ments, More often than no l, Ihey
were factional and petty in Iheir
approach, So much of the dis
tress, that was caused to hi m
during those early years was
directly connecte d with the cir-
c ums t ances o f aca d emic li fe
whi ch obta ined a l the time,
Per h a p s th ose h ave no t
c ha nged ver:v marke dly loday.
But hi s fortun e took a t u rn for
the be t tet' whe n h moved to
Kurukshe tra and s ubseque ntly
to Chandigarh and then to Pati o
ala. If hi s outpul in terms of
writing is to be ass essed , it
would be see n tha t the best p art
of hi s work was done in the last
one quart er of hi s life, Now he
h a d more le isu re a nd mo r e
o pportuniti es , Thi s in turn
enabl ed him to concentrat e on
c hola rly wo rk.
Whil e hi s tTaining was in
Engli s h li tera t ure, he chose to
concentmt e on the areas of Pun
jabi literature and Si kh s tu dies.
Whe n he decided to tra nslate
the Adi Granth in to Engli sh, it
was almost a logical culmination
of wha t his car-eer had been
leading up 10, I have no doub t in
my mind that, more than a ny
thing e lse t ha t he has done, it is
this monumental achievement
of his which would be I'emp.lll
bered best or all. In lenns of
quality, authenticily or int erpre
lation and sensitivity of render
ing and all such re lated matlp[,s,
he- has established a norm of
performancp which il would be
diflkulL for many ot her people
to surpass_
A man 10 he
a nd admired'
Amrik Sing.,

Join the
Sikh Forum
3 i\lilsiid Rond, I
NIl\I' Delhitt 00 t
Phone:
F8rum
_____ Gazette _____________ _
Sikhs in India: A Vision for the Future
The late Sardar l-fardit Singh
Malik's add.'ess to the
All India Sikh Students'
- 195S,
A
s I undel' stand it the aim
of tlw Al l - I ll rl i 11 Sikh
Students' is to
promote the interests of our
comillunity generall,v and par-
ti c ulal'll' to ensure that the ikh
I tigiol; , Sikh culluT'P and Sikh
traditions are preserved in II 1('il'
purest form so that the Sikh
communitv mav attain unitv and
stl'ength a;ld be able, while con-
linuing to be a separa te entity,
to playa part worthy of great
traditions in the political. social
and economi c development of
india , I can think of no cause
nobler than this as I feel that OUT'
communit y \,"i th it s great lradi -
ti ons and' its glorious heri tage
has a most important role to
play in the future of OUI' country,
Indeed I ventul'e to th.ink that
the main tenance of a powerful
and united Sikh communi tv true
to great tra d.itions, is of
tancfl not on ly to the commun-
itv itself and ' to India but in a
s rnaJi wav. to the world it selC for
the Sikh the gl'ea t teach-
ings of the Sikh Gurus and o ur
al'u s uch tha t they
have a special significance not
onlv 1'01' ourselves but for huma-
as a whole ,
India's Spiritual
Tradition
We in I ndia are today concen-
trating on bui lding up' the tan-
dard of living of our people by
means of a comprehensiv(> eco-
nomic and soc ial dcvelopment.
Ob\10uslv this is a most com-
mendalJ lc undertaking, and
indeed essential. if India is tu
hold it posititilHl of importance
a::. sill? should among the grea t
nations of th world, The achievf'-
mf'nt s 01' this task will mean a
gl'Pat rl eal to Ineiia, hut only if
India s ucceeds in (J1'eserving.
whi le attaining greater material
prosperi t.v. her own gl'eat Iradi-
tion and wav of life There are
many cou ntries in the world
that have achieved VCIY'
high-standards of material lhing
' uch as those at which we are
Sardar Malik, as High Commissionc.' of India in Callada me .. wom of
honour pres(1I1ted to the MaharattJl Hcgimcnf ill Call'(aryin 1941i, Tht, Indians and
Canadians together in and tilt' Hapidu r;, 'cl' with heavy
casualties, Only Ihc Indian troup" ('ould with (he Canadians, Otlwr allied
troops had fail ed,
aiming, \\ 'hat du \\'e lind in
those coun t l' il's ') The
miraculous (Jrogl'!'ss that has
been achie\'ed bv scinnce has
brought with it ,ilany fears and
appmhensions. and great uncer-
tainti es abou t what will happe-n
to the \Vorld if tile e lemen tal fill'-
ces that have now been placed
ill the hands of man am used 1'01'
destruction rath e r tban pro-
gress. uncl'rtainli es and
fears have bred a certain cvni-
c i ' m. a sort of despair. and 'thi s
in its tu rn has led to a loosening
of mo ra l va lu es. it tende ncy to
live for the da,v and to ignore the
conseque nces of one's
since one does no t know what
lomorrow mav bring, This dete-
ri ora ti on of the Illoral tibre is
crea ting a great deal of anxiely
among the thi nking men and
wome n in thesc greal advanced
countries, and Ihol'e is a lready
evident in mos t of the m a re-
cognition of Ihe tac t tha t mate-
rial progress itself is not e nough
and that if hu ma nit v is to sur-
the spiritual. side of' Man
must a lso be attended to and
those qualities developed which
are so essential 1'01' his tTue well
being. failh s tabil ity of charac ter.
selLl essness a nd sacri fice, ser -
vice, ilnd dedicati on,
Rich Cultural Diversity
We in India arc f'ortulla te in
that of what l'eligion
WI' profess. what communi ty we
belong to, wha t part of thfl coun-
tlV we come frolll we do have all
ofd and nobh' tradition of what
you mighl call spiri t ual as aga-
nist purely mat erialistic va lues.
With the manv regligions and
sects that we have. "vith our
regional and linguislic area::.,
there always a daJ1g I' of what
is rather vaguely called cOlllmu-
nali sm and st'ctarianism, Cert-
ainlv commuJ1ali s m and sectar-
ian(sm which I would define as
the aiIlI of anv one communitv
or seet to be'lletit itself at Ih"
expense of others or to dOlm-
nate others. must be rought
\VherCH'r it rears its lIgly Iwad.
COllllll un,t\islll ilnd s('ctaIianisll1
if all(J\\'l'd to Il ourish sllid
and certain lv e nd in tht'
i ng up of OU'I' counll:v and pl'Ob-
ablv in tht: return sometimp 01'
allier 01 SOIl IC a lien pm,,'!'1' to
1'1I 1!' over us as has so fl'equl'n tly
happened in the pasl.
As I have said this is a countl:"
of many races, man,\ ' religious,
manv cultures a nd manv lan-
guages. The dilierent conimuni -
ti es have their own tradit ions
whic h are precious to the m, Le t
t hem bv a ll means c heri s h I hosn
tradit io"ns 1'01' the cOI11muniti p.s
can gmw only if they have thi er
roots in their own cultuJ'e and
their own traditi o ns,
This is not 'oll1I11unalisIl1 if
there is a lo ng wi th thi s efl'ort t he
consciousness tha t Ihey are truly
an in tegral part of this grea t
unity that is Indi a and that by
pmserving the ir trad.itions, by
s trengthe ning they
are re ndering themselv s fitt er
to serve their countIv and to
p laya worthy part in t he build-
ing up of India. This then is the
general backgro u nd again s t
which I would see the e fforts of
, any p a rli cu la r com muni ty in
order to judge whe ther the eflort
that il is mak.ing is purely com-
munal or national. And I woul d
appeal tha t none of' us s hould
have any thing to do wi th e flort.
that are pure ly communal a nd,
therefore, of
What Sikhism Is
Le t li S foJ' a momcnt consider
what Sikhi sm is an how it tits in
wi th th e so called )llOd , J'I1
scheme of things, The entire
ikh philosophy and teach.ings
are contained in the lives of our
len Gurus and eI11bowf'd in the
Guru Granth Sahib, r\J'f' vou look-
illg far a sociaiisl ide'al') GlII'U
Nanak preached il and Iiwd it
when he preferred 10 pat Ihe dry
bread of the poor' but honest
worker to the banquet offered to
him by the wealth, Illan who
made 'his money 'dishonestly,
Are \'OU look.ing for' Llnh'ersal
BJ'Otiwrhood'! What dol'S the
Guru (;I'anth Sahib say'?
"E!.. pita p!..as k(' ham bara!.. ",
Thcll again 'Nail koi bairi Ililhin
lJeg/liIl/a ,.,;,.,;;a/ /lilm ko iJan
di,
TIll' Ih r:s ur OUI ' are
of tailh, COlll'-
ag(', o,l'lf-sacl'ifil'P S('J'\ in' ul
hUlll anit,\ ' tl'ut h pi('I." JIId dc\'o-
ti on <lIld in l'lIlphati c
I'l'pudla tion or ,ill h\ POl'ris." and
fals!' \' alu(>s rlll'ir
s tl 'l'ngth out in ;111 Ihat
thp\, ('Iltllll'pd ;liltl ;lI'hi('\ '('d and
ill ;; 1/ that thl'\' lIa\,(' le n to liS 1'01'
our .-'1,1'( ' _\ flU IUDkillg
101' i nspir;lt ion, I( p, fIJ I'
till' illdol1li tabll' s piri I I hat laug h!>
a t odds, that kJl\\()s nol \\'hat
is. Ihal \\ill sill'l'itic(' ;111 1i)I '
tl1<' s, lkl' of a pr ilH'ipll' , tlH'1l
stud\ tile life ul that 1I'1I1v <llllaL-
ing ' man. Curu (;obimi ' illgh,
:-.ailll. scholar. poel. warrior,
ll'ad('I ': refoI'llH' I'. tl'll('l\' a I'ernar-
kalli e per::.on, II' .vOl; \\ant to
last( ' sOIlll'thing uf his
fai lh , couragt: and hllrnani ly
tltcn read till' account of tilt'
siege of Charnkillll' Sahih ami lI lt'
hi ! addl'('ssl'd t o tltl'
Emperol' at it linl(' \ Iwn all
sl'pnll'ci losi. I I' VOU ('\'Cl' Ii.!!' I
thl'1I r;' 1Ici a few
' sa\ 'avia ' 01' til l' -I l'nth GUl'lI , You
\\'ill ' lind a Ill'\\ liff' runlling
thl'ullgh your \'t:iIlS,
So I'icll i!> our hl'ritage. So
sadl,vwe seelll to I>l' unawal'(! or
il today:
Importance of ' Keshas'
Let 1111' a t t his poin t I'efer to a
ques ti on which is al prl'sent
tl'OlIhling a grea t maIlY of OUI'
e ducal e d young IlICn - 111t'
'l uesti on of ' keshas',
Some of them sav " How ca n
we !Jl'Ogress unless ' \VI' " moder-
nise ' hy d oing away with o ur
keshas and beards'} Mv a ll swer
would be " if VOII think' that thi s
cons titut es pl:ogn.!s ' and moder-
nisation I hen you a l'f' mak.ing a
very great Progress is
not so ea sil v a hi eved ". Others
say tha ( we'get on milch bett er
in OUI' various pl'Orc5sio ns alld
sel'\rices if we ' moderni se' in thi s
wav, I do Ilot know if thi s is true
- ' far I know tha t general ly
s peaking those who cut off the il'
hair tind all k.inds of excu ses 1'01'
it. My own faith a nd feelings on
this queslion are very clear ancl
can be put in a tew words - and
1 speak with considerable expe-
ri e n ce for I h ave frequ e ntly
found myself living in communi -
ti es where I was the onlv Sikh -
at in England' serving
w ith the French and British
during the Fil's t World
War, e t c , people who were
worlh whi le respected me for'
holding on to my way of Life,
Thcre was somet imes unplea-
santness bu t always rrom
unworthy peopl e , And why
s hOUld one attach any impor-
tan ce to opinion s of s lich
people?
I bfl lieve that th re are many
Sehjdhari Sikhs who are very
good Sikhs ,mel ma.v remarks do
Ilut a ppl,\' to Ihern, I refer here- to
those of whu hm'e taken the
Pahul and have therebv been
adillitll'd into till' glorious raJllil,\'
or (;urll (;o!Jind ' ingh, Anyone of
tl1l'lll \\'ho does awav wilh hi s
' kl'!>has is to 111,\ milid df'n,\ ing
Guru Cohind and a ll thai
Ill' stood 1'01' and achieved. For
our are in \'f'r:\ ' tru th our
link wilh Iht' Guru, They arf' part
of Ill!' unilol'lll 111' g;l\ e u", Surd,'
\\ l' can nut dis(,ard thai ullifol1l1
all d !-o til/ c1ailll that we all' part
01 t ha t "hal sa I hat
Guru (;olJilld Singh t:l'ea tl'd,
The Meaning of
'Sawa Lakh I
Wt' Sikhs take pride in our hi:.-
IOI'\' , What was thai but
and conquering Al
our best we laughed at difficul
ties, We I hri\'('d o n dilticulties,
w(' wha t we did, and
\\'ha l we ar(' . 10 some e.\ tent
eve n toda\'. lJl: citusc \\It' never
(' hus!' till: na:-;ier \\'av. What is
ti lt' !-oigniill'alll' l' of "Sil\va Lakh ''')
Surel" IlO Olll' is l'oolish l'llOligh
10 that one Sikh soldiel'
cou ld light successfully agains t
11/ -1 lakh soldi ers. II was just a
way of t hat a tl'll!' Sikh is
/lot afraid uf ojds, of obs tacl es
ai' difliculti('s, That has be('n our
s tr(,ng th ill tlw pas t, Our sUl'\1vai
in fa e l is due to that. Anyone of
LIS \\'ho choosl'S the easier way
- and I maintain that
\Vhu do away wi th their ' ke ' has '
are in thi s ca tegOl:" - ceas's to
be Sikh I woul d like it 1()
make il cl ear that in saying \\hat
I ha ve said I do not wi sl' IU con-
de mn o rhl ame anVOnl:, Those of
us who take questi on of
' kes has' some\\ ha t ligh tly arl' o I
beli eve either uIlinl'omled OJ' \'ery
badl v informed a bout the Sikh
ra ith- and tradit ions, For this lhe
responsibility mus t li e wi th the
communitv as a whole, The work
that li es dhead of vou wh ich
nothing morc or less than bring-
ing to our people generally a
tru e kno"vl e d ge an d a COIl -
scio usn ess of wha t the Sikh ('eli -
gion is a nd what o ur trad.itions
are in therefol'e noble work, A
great deal has to be dOll e far
there is 110 doubt that among
many of o u r people there is no
real knowl e d ge of a ll th esc
things, The work of Gur ma t
Prachar is of the lirst impar-
lance, and I would li ke to see
established an Institu te for the
tra ining or people who are reall,v
compe tent to do th.i s \\'ork" I
look upon t his, therefore. as till'
foundation on which other iIllPOI'-
tallt work can be built.

The Spirit of
Excellence
Tuesday 1-15 JuJy t 1
:The
T ___ . _____ ___________ _
12 Tuesday 1-15 July 1986
THREE ANNAS
AND
TWO PICE
Saadat Hasan Munto
Trans lation: Avtar Singh Judge
!\nother mastel'JJiece by Saadat Hasan Munto, one Ol' Pakistan and
the subeontinent's greatest exponents of the short stOl'Y.
I\n 1I1'du and Punjabi write r, this story by him is a superb exposition
01" the pel'ennial theme 01" Crime and Punishment.
'" WhV I co mmi tt ed thi s
murder .. . whv I dved
Ill V ha nds ,.vith hunlan
bl ood ... is a long stOI:V. Onl,v a
lonp; ex pl ana ti on would enabl e
vou to unuers tand it. Since the
of valli' di cussion is
Crime a nu Puni s hment. Man
and Prison, I thin k my opi ni on
on them ca nnot be far \O\lfong. I
have been to prison myself. I
agree wi th Mr. Munto tha t jail is
the las t pl ace for reforming a
criminal. What I say abou t pri -
son, has been said so oft n that
it sounds hollow: it is like telling
a verv stal e joke. Indeed, i it not
a joke that in these davs of
e nli gh te nment. th ousa n ds of
pri sons should stilJ exist '
J
. Tha t
irons and ha ndcuffs should s till
be there ? .. I sav thi s. becaus I
have had the honour of wcaling
these ornament s of law. '"
Havi ng said thi s Razvi looked
at me and smjl ed. Hi s thi ck
negroid lips tvvit ched quaintly.
Hi s small drunke n eyes-the eyes
of a murderer brightened.
We had been startl ed whe n
he broke in on our conversation.
He was sitting on the next table,
sipping cream coffee. When he
introduced himself, <ill the inci-
d e nt s co nn ec t e d w ith h is
murder-case ca mc fres h in our
memolY. We suddenl v re mell1 -
ber-ed liow c1everl v he h ad saved
Ius own neck hi s friends'
lives by turning an approver!
He had been released on the
vCly morni ng of a LI I' conversa-
tion \vi th him.
Ht hope you don' t mind my
jumping into this conversati on,
Mr. Mun to'" Hl' said in a verv
respectful manlier. You see, I (l In
not a wri ter, but all tht' same I
hal'e' to say a n th'
subj ect- of cuurse in mv own
inadequate languagC'. MY' name
is Sadiq HaL i. I conlwcted
with thl' L;lI1ua Bazar murder
case.
I had mad onlv di, intPl'Cst-
edl v about the murcier, bu t now
wh'en Razl'i in troduced himself.
all the hradlines came hack to
nl\" mind. The suhj ec t 01 UlI l'
di'scu::;sioll was whether ja.iI ca n
reform 11 criminal or not. While
ta lking ,thOll t it , I too had felt
that the subject had bel'n rus-
cussed threadbare. Razd's opin-
ion o nl v con fi rmed mown
apprehensions. .
Raz\i fixed hi s gaze on me
and s tart ed lidkj ng in a serioll s
tone. "Well , Mr. Munto, wha t is
it that drives a man to Clime'? .. .
Wha t i cri me ') ... What is I.HIIl -
is hment ? . .. I have pondered
long over these questi ons. I feel
that every crime has its own hi s-
tory. It s prings from the crin'll-
nal" s own life, and is a complex,
tangled, in expli ca bl e p h e n o-
me n o n . I a m no mas t er o f
human psychologv, but I can
sav thi s much. that a man would
neit commit a Cli me if he were
not lit erally driven to it by social
circumstances. "
(Cont inued on P. t 3 Col. Ii
,r,
:fhe

" Yo u a re pl'efec tly right ,"
assel' interposed.
Razvi ordered another cup of
cl'eam-offee a nd tu r ning to
Nasser said, "I do nol know
exact h'. but what 1 have told vou
i on my own experi e;l ce.
I thinl-. it was ictQr H.ugo - of
France. or mav be of some other
coun tl v . . \VeU, that vou know
bett er' - has wri ll e'l a lot on
this the me, 1 remember it few
words from hi s book. If I do
forget. it was your transla ti on
Mr. Munt o. It went like this:
Pull do\Vn the ladder whi , h
lea d s m.en to cr ime an d ' t o
mi sel:v.
But 1 often wonder what tha t
ladder is likp; How many stPps
does it hilve? Whatever it is, the
ladder cprtainlv exists. and it
has step too. -but they a re in-
numerable: to count them is not
an ea y lask. Mr Manto, govel'll -
me nts coun t Illen and votes and
lOIS of other 1hi ngs. Why don' t
Ihey eoun t these sleps ? Isn' t
this. too. their du tv ? I commi t-
ted , 1 murder. many stel S
of this ladder did t cl imb to do
so ') Governmen t made Ille' Lin
approver for the simple reason
that it had no evidence. But lhe
quetion is. whom shall 1 ask for
forgiveness'! The circumstn nccs
tha t forced my hand havf' simply
etisappeared! Between then and
now there has been an int erval
of one year. Do I invoke thi s
interval. ' or those circum. tances
that grin from a di stancE' at my
helpl essness
Razvi 's talk had kept us s pell
bound. He s poke lik a well -
informed man though he did
not look like one. He knew how
to put across hi s point effec-
ti ve ly. I woul d have co mpli
me nt e d him b ut r es tl' ain e d
myself fo r fear of inten-upting
him.
" I am probably talking non-
sense," he said a pologeti cally, as
he sipped his coffee. "I tell you, I
am constanllv haunt ed bv one
man, a sweeper who was in jail,
serving a year' ternl for stealing
three annas and two pi ce. "
"For such a pe tty amount ""
Nasser asked in surpl'i se.
"Yes Sir. onlv three annas
a nd two pi ce ... was Razvi ' s
impassive reply. "And even those
he ne\'er utili sed - the amount
is nov" secure in the govern-
ment 's treasury. Only Phagu. the
sweeper, is insecure ... He mav
again lind the pangs of
unbearabl e, and steal .. . And he
may again be caught. Perha ps
the peopl e who li se him as a
menial do not give him hi s pay.
for thev the mselves mav not be
gettini theirs. II is a"' strange
maze of may-bes. To tell you the
trut h, Mr. Munto. every thing is
possible in thi s worl d " . . even a
murder from a Razvi. " Havi ng
said thi s he stopped tal king, a n(1
seemed los t in thought "You
were telli ng-us about Phagu,"
asser tried to draw him out.
Raz\ i wiped the coffee olf his
bushv mous tache wi th a hand-
kercllier. "Well. Pha[-{u. inspite of
being a thief according to the
law, he all hones t mall , By
God. I hav(' not seen such a;1
man all IllV lite! That he
-tole thre al1nas "anu two pice
corrf'cl. HE' confessed it in
thl' court and mfused to put up
anv defellce for himself. All he
was, '1 had to tcal because
I had not touched a mor: c1 lor
"'\10 davs. I had to llll'ust mv
hand into Karim's pocket.
owed me five r u pees. t wo
mon th s pay. I do not blame
him. for even Ill" had not rea li zed
till" frui ts of his labour (i-Olll hi s
c ustomers. Phagu el'en told the
courl : T his is not thl! fi n;! time I
have done such a thing. OncE' I
stole ten I'upees from a madam's
purse. Then I stole a sil ver tov
from thE' Depu t.vs house. I wa's
despera te: my , hild was down
Wit.l1 pneumoni a and the doctor
dema nded a fee. Sir, I .te \l you
tlTa t 1 a m not a thief. Cil'c: um-
stances made me and cil"
CUTll stances got nlt' caught. W rp
it. not for circumsta nces. should,
so crimina \:; , muc: h bi gger
and more dang<' rous Iha n I a m.
bE' still at largp" Sir. my wifE' ari d
child are dea d. only. my hu nger
li ves on. If somehow thi s could
be elimi na ted ... all the strugglp
would \)e over. Sir. lorgh'c Ill( ' . I
pray tor mercy' . Fl ut till" .judge
awarded hi m a year's rigorous
imprisonment for being a ('on-
r; r med and a 51' 1 f-con
thief. "
Razvi s poke' \Vithoulemolion.
The now of his words was 'natll -
ra l alld ellol'tl ess. I sa t
lis t(, Il ing. smoking one cig.II'C1l
after another.
Nasser coa.\("d him agai n,
"What \Va. it that vou were tell-
ing us about PhagLi 's honesty'?
" Hu .. . . " Hazvi light ed a bidi ,
" I dOIl ' t know what hones tv is in
thp eves of law. I an i this.
that '1 was hone t I COIll -
mitt ed mUJ'(] er. I think Phagu
was honest when he stole those
three anna s and two pi ce. Wha t
I cannOI unders ta nd is. whv
peopl e associat e honesty with
only the good things. I have
come to beli eve') that goodness
and badness <\1'8 relative lel111 S.
One man's mea t is anothel" s
poison. What is held good in
one socie ty is sti gmali sed in
other ... With the Muslims. to
all ow hair to grow under the
armpit s is a sin: wi th the Sikhs it
is just the If growing
hair under the almpits is a sin,
then God would cerlainly pun-
ish the Sikhs. If he does rea lly
exis!' it is my em-nes t prayer to
him that he abolish all man-
made laws and des troy all the
pri.-ons tha t men have raised.
and from hi s own establi shment
in the Heavens di slIibut e even-
handed justi ce, so that we mav
have at leas l the sati stacti on
it is God thal judges us."
I was move d b v Ra z i ' l)
words. Evefl t hough addressing
us'. he seemed to be talki ng to
himself
Hi s bidi had gone all'. He
tri ed to light it many times but
c ouldn t. Di sca rding it h e
addressed me, "Mr. Munto, I will
remember Phagu all my life. I
knOl.v vou will call me a sen ti -
mentai fool when I tell vou all
aboul him. But sentimEmtalitv
has nothing to do with it , for he
\Va ' not a frie nd. And vel. h '
was <l mend lor he surely' provml
to 11f' one."
Razvi pull ed OUI another bidi
out of his pocke!' it was ,til
cr u mp le d . I offpred hi m a
cigal'ett e.
"Mr. Manto, 1 shouldn t have
talked all lhis nonsense knowing
that vou are ' uch a ... "
I'did not allow him to linisil,
"For the tim bcinf( I am Saadat
Hasan, and not 1\1unto, the grea t
wri ter. a you we re pel' haps
going to sa . Please continue MI'.
Razvi . I am all ears."
Hazvi smi led, "This is velv
IJncl of you," and turning to
The Many Worlds of Ameena Ahmed Ahuja
Nasser said "What was I saying'?"
" Hm . . . " He li g ht c d a
cigarett e and sai d. Mr. Mant o, (Continll ed hum /J.6 Col. 31
Phagu was a conlirmed thier in is as if the symbols and spaces
tlw pves or law. Once he had in between, become like musical
s tol eli eight a nnas [or bi cli s, a nd noles whi ch together for m a
had hroken an ankl e try ing to concel'to or a symphony. " To
scale a to .escape. He vvas illustra te thi s beautiful simili e
uncl eI' treatment for one \'ear. she holds up a power packed.
But when mv frienn Jarji . ;1 co- ga ll oping horse in Kha t-(,-Rehani
accused wOl;ld sf' nci IlW a bu n- and Shikaste, ex pre. sion of the
di e of twcnt. bi eli s through him, sentiment.
he would hri ng the m sa fely to "Til e of life i ' running
me, using all cauti on Jo escape . uneoL1t l'Ol\,ibl e, I have neither '
be in g d e t ec l e d . You . kn ow stirrups nOl' vcin-s."
approvers are kept . under str ict On being ques tiorw d about
vigil afl c.e. Jarji had hefri('nded the predomina nt use Of bl ack
Phagu to do al\ sort s of jobs for . a nd whit!' , Anwena evokes Ahul
me. h.e was a me ni al hut had a f aza l. who savs ill Ain-e-Akbavri-
vCly d ean heart. In the begin- "at a superfi ci al glance. tlie lE' it E'r
ning when I1' hl'() ught bidis (i "om of ca ll igraphy might look likp a
Jarji. I thou"ht til e rasca l Illust sooty fi gure. hut it all ti l('
have stolen some. Howl' ver. I grada li olls of ligh t and !>had(', ('n-
I, as gl'() ssly mi staken. Hp was hann'd IJ v whi wncss of
honcs t to tlw ti ps of hi s I'i Il gprs: back-gl'Ou'Il(L" Almosl till' sanH'
for hidi. Ill" had Iractun'd hi s tl wol:\, tha t you might lind ill till'
3nk.I!' . hut in jail. wlwre tohacoo Chi nes' and Jap:lIl!' s(' approa('h
was ran' . IH' ha nded tlwlll all tll , al\ igrapil. ! To hl'ing til(> in ter
tu \In' . as if it \Va s a sacred na ti ona li sl11 round a full ('vd l' .
trust. I rUIIlt'lllher he wo ul d r\m(,I' na quot('s a Sanskl'it slil oka
sOI11(' li ll1PS Iwg 1'0 1' jus t onp hidi , "()\, <Inalll rashc!. ({a ngallr Shu
and that too. hesit a tingl.I'. i\ nd naYLI Tam" tSou nd must be seen.
call imagine how Il wa ll a a ne! colour heal'd!.
mall C'1I1 be') I \Vould him
onlv 011(' ."
'({azvi his Iwad as if he
was cursing "I I-. ept
unLi pl' s tl'i t vig il anlp. 'rhi s
gt' llPl'ally i:; til l' ase wi th all
IIpprnvcl's . .I arji. as eompal'Cd to
much great 'I' fl'ee-
da m. He had bribed hi s way to
many ameniti es. He could get
d othes. soap-cakes and bidis.
and eve n monev to ofte r bribes
in the jail. were the last
days of Phagu's tel'm in the pri -
son. I congratulat ed him 1'01' hi s
forthcoming release whe n he
ca me to me with the last bundle
of bid is. He was not happy at the
pros pect of leaving the jail. If I
don' t forget, hi s last wOI' ds were.
. Babuji, I am sure I wi ll come
back to thi s place, For a hunglY
man. the act of steali ng is as
normal as that of eating. ' He was
obvious lv moved, a nd added,
'vou have been so kind to me
Babuji , you gave bidi s to
smoke. It is my earnest prayer
that aJI your fri ends are aquitled,
Jarji Bahu has great regard for
voU.
.' "And he was imprisoned for
stealing three annas and two
pi ce! "1 asser repeat ed, if only to
confirm the fact.
Razvi had another sip of
ree. and said coldlv, "Yes, for
thrce annas and tWo pi ce; a nd
even those are safe in the U'Cas-
LlIy . 1- wonder whose hunger
they will sati sfY."
He had another sip, and thi s
time addressing me said, "Mr.
Mant o, there was only a day left
101' hi s release. I wa. in desper-
ate need of ten rupees. To cut a
long stolY short I want ed to
bribe a sentry. Somehow I pro-
cured a pen and a paper a nd
managed to send a chi t to Jarji
th l'ou<fh Pha<fu. Phagu, inciden-
taJly was illit erate. In the evening
he handecl me a chit f)-om Jarji .
Enclosed ill it was a tell -rupee
currencv not e, the chit read:
' Dea;' Razvi , 1 am seneting you
ten rupees through a confirmed
thief. I only pray that they reach
you: for the man is leaving jai l
tomorrow. A::. 1 went through
the chit, a smile broke on my
lips. For stealing three annas
and two pice he had erved one
li ngel'ing year in the pl'ison .. . "
A troubled deer, with head
thrown back and hooves ill the
air, on closer looks reveals
cyrillic and s hikas te ill coUision.
(Ghalib and Tutchevl
Touches of bronze, gold and
sil ver do sometimes reli eve the
stark black and white
paintings. Other colours, too,
find echoes hel'C and there, as
the pink in the Esenin and Zauq
horse. Shiraz blue has a parti cu-
la r connot a tion, just as the
Khurja-blue, or the Esenin blue
to the Ru ssians. Tha t is perhaps
why her Esenin Seri es, depi cting
hi s Persian cvde, were 0 widelv
appreciated in Russia. "Esenin (s
aLi hlue in thi s period" says
Ameena, pointing towards the
walls of the room whel'e the
paintings depi cting hi s "Persian
Motives", are di splayed. Working
on c an vas-c ove r e d b oa rd ,
Ameena uses a vari ety of ele-
ment s li ke cailigra pliy, mini -
atures worked in oi\' collages of
porcelain a nd ceJ'ami cs, glass.
za ndozi-ail combining to tornl
compositi ons of breath-taki ng
bea uty and sensual appeal .
Talking aboul this variati on
SHOP AT
9
lite 51.0,
of tools from the old fashioned
read-pe ns of Jamma Masjid to
the sophisti cated conglomera-
tion in the Esenin sel'ies, Ameena
says "Your intuition guides you".
refusipg to expand .further. And
who are we to question the
intuition of the an arti sti c tem-
perament'!
The same intuition leads
Am ee na . to somil.times use
huma n fi gures, lls in the
Dancers. or Hafiz's cl'ucifi xali on.
Iqbal's ramous lines:
" Bagh-e-Bshi s ht se mujhe
hukume-sa fa r diva tha kvon
Kare jahan danaz' hm. ab n;era
int eza r kar." are emboeti ed in
the fi gures of Aadum Aur Hava
IAdam and eve!. Again. who are
w(' to queslion the creative pro
cess:'
Ca.lli graphy and religion have
grown in conjugat ion,
nurturing each o ther. Bu t
Alllee na has modified it to the
rendering of ::lPcular poet ry-a
ma jor point of depart ul'C indeed
fro m con te mporary ca lli gra -
phis ts li ke Sadqu in. Evely arti st' s
life, according to is a quest
lor the perfect medium of ex-
pression-thesE' figures seethi ng
wit h lite and soun d seem to be
hers. She took up thi s lorm
because "it seemed right a nd it
has n't been done before. " The
universality of it s appeal ca n be
judged by the accl aim she has
found abroad-in Moscow, Lon-
don, Tokyo, ew York and Cara
ca her work has been widely
appreciated. One of her most
memorabl e moment s if; of he r
exhibition of some 80 works at
the Museum of Ori ental Art s,
Moscow. The late Faiz Ahmed
Faiz came to the opening and
sponteneously versified:
"Cham be dil, Shukr be lab,
Maslo ChazaJ [(hem chaJie
AuT' jab lalak saarh l ere,
Um(Je ghunIJ'ezan chaJie, "
(With a song on your lips,
walk non-chalantly on/
Even whe n there is sadness in
the heart , Keep up the pace as
long as !.ife keeps up with you}.
This deetication was especial -
ly impol' tant to her because she
has always lound a kinship with
Fai z- hi s int e l'llationali s m of
spi rit, and world view.
The time seems to be ri ght to
take leave of Ameena Ahmed
Ahuja, as she stands in her
salon, almost obl ivious of my
pl'Cse nce now.
Immersed in thought she com-
plement s her exoti c surround-
ings a colourful fi gure covered
with turqpoi ses as lal'ge as
pigeon' s eggs. The warmth of
her personality combines with
typi cal Muslim 'adab' to make
her an irresistably charming
person. The mos t powerful
image that 1 can-y away \-vith me
is of the deep husky voi ce reit er-
ating the same verses that are
embodi ed in the pai ntings she
holds LIp one by one. It was
indeed an a ueti o-visual tr'Cat!
Abl'uplly Razvi stood up and
left u . wi thout a word.
10 Regal Buildtllg .. \lew Oel hi-110001, INDIA
Tuesday 1-15 July 1986 13
:J1\tV-
:R:ium
T_h_e_G_oo_d_E_ar_th ________ Gazette -------------
World Environment Day
and Chipko
D
u ' k in th e Gal'hwa l
Hima laya set tl eu s lm Iy,
like a :>oft blu J s hadow on
the' 13 odd vi ll ages or akJana
vallev. 50 kIll S. n ort h-e ast or
Mus;oorip. . and sourc(! of tlw
ri\'f'1' Song. Gradually, the pa lette
changed colour, the li quid gn!f) n
and gold of la tc af1ernoon awash
now wi th mi s ty blues and pur-
p les, the occasio n a l snow-
capped peak lik!' a whi tn Oan!
against the deepening sky. As Wf!
wou nd down the hi ll s ide, t he
Rilu Menon
has desertifi ed the best Baslllati -
growing lalld in the ('olln t,y
th!' r'l' roresred hi ll s or Saklana
aI'(' a I'cminder of huw t h '
(jptnl'mina tion ur individuals and
call I'everse the immi -
nen t f!co logica l Cl' is(!s of thr.
Hima laya . Il ert', by
Su n d er l a l Hahllguna a n d
ViSlVt'swal' LJat t Saklani , ill par-
ticulal', vi ll age'rs hav!' ruplantcd
fUr(!Sb wit ll l'egelH!ra t i\'(' oak
trl!es, in n!cugnition uf thn
ecological value of broad-Ieav(!d,
Vis weswar Dati Saklani , from whom the 1I.1' . Forest Deptt. has
extracted ilnes 1'01' replanting on "their" land! " My slogan", he says,
is a Iree al bi"th, marriage and death",
bri lliant reds and vell ows and
gr een s o f the vvorn e n ' s s a r is
absorbed the last of the light ,
just as in one's eal's the dying
s trains or Shail ani ji's songs and
slogans echoed s till : Aaj Hima-
l a.va jage gao /.;r oor kuJ/1CI /'a
iJhagega / Aaj Himalaya ki lalka/',
ball pa/' gaoll ka adhikar ...
Ju ne 5. Worl d Environment
Dav, was celebra ted in Sakl an<l
t h i s Y' a I' , ina s i g n i fi (' a nt
departure from the rit ual pl ant
ing of saplings by assort ed VIPs,
schoolchjl dl'Cn a nd politi cians
that norma II \! mar k t h e riav.
Organis e d 11Y the Ga r hw:1I
chapter of INT CH Ithe Indian
Nationa l Trust ror Ar t and
Cul t ural He ritagf' 1 it was t he'
culmjna tion of a :1 day Illeeting
of roughly 60 Chipko ac ti vists,
prim mo\'ers in t he ca mpaign
to save the Hilllala. a through
afforestation and thf' staiJilisa-
tion of its hydrologica l cyelf' : the
Himalava. it is to he 11'111('111-
bered. -a re tlw source of watnr
for onethircl the countl\,.
Chipko Participants
Under the shaue of an agl'd.
leafv tree in thf' courtvard of a
' ted t >c1illical col
legl' . in Saklana. gathered tl1(>
di\ 'crsc part ic ipants of th e
Chipko alldalan : Su nd er lal
Bahuglll1i1 OhOOl11 Singh Negi.
Haturi IShailanil the
Bard 01' Chipko. Datt
SalJani, Sude ha Devi. Illen and
women who walked Ii'om neigh
bouring l iltarakashi and Tehri .
in a rninor re pl ay of the many
padyatra:; they had undertaken
during Chipko' s histo'ry. The
choin'! uf Saldana couldn't have
beE' n more appropriate. In the
heavily dl'nud d and degraded
mountains iues of Doon and
Tphri Garhwal - sustained lime-
s t OIW quarr,vin ' . ror example,
humll s- pruduc ing and wat e r -
generating s pecies.
Forty agu Mira behn.
al1cl' touri ng the hill cat chment
of the Bhagirathi , had dra\o'oII1 the
countl y's_.att enti on to the utility
of oak for'sts and urged their
protecti on in order to save the
COUllt ly fro m devastating fl oods.
SIlf' obselved tha t their main
call Sl' vvas not merelv defores ta
ti on but the conversion of oak
loresls into pine I'ores ls 1'01'
commercial benefit. Bahuguna
savs: "Conifers have disastrous
el1'('ct on soil a ne! water. Mira-
behn's ti mely warning \Vas dis
missed as Ilwclness hv thosl'
dnciding the ciest inil's 0'1' peupll'
fru m t h(' air 'c ol1c1i t iol1pd
chamllPrs of Lucknow anu New
Delhi, hut \il lagel's with their
practical wisdolll knl'\\' I his
scientific truth.
Resistance Movements
Vill agt'rs' destinies - had. in
facl. heen uc(' ided much earlier.
in t!)27, when thc Bri ti sh passed
til(' Forest Act, declaring
as n-'served denyi nt:( vii
law'l's their t radi ti onal right s to
fores t prou uce. and a ppropl'iat
illg both the managcment and
exp lo ita t ion of fores ts . rShip
buil ding 1' 01' thn Brit ish Roya l
:-.Javy an cI s leepers 1'0 I' th e
ex pa nding railway network in
Indi a created a n ex traordinal}1
101' destructi on.1 r: hi pko's
t rue hi story begins wit h the
n!sis tance movement s of that
time , rE's po nding to Gandhi ' s
call for nun-viole nt sillyagrilhil ,
and it was the sus tained resist-
a n ce by th ese villa ge r s to
expl oitati ve lorest ma nageme nt
that led to the passing of the
Fores t Protectiun Ac t in t980,
with it s t5-year ban un commer-
cial green l-elling in the Hima laya.
Sudes h a iJ pvi, a mo ng the
more militant of the women say:;
succin tly: "Tum chi/he padya-
Ira kilro, cilahe politi cal Yl/ l r a
ka/'O. Main /'02 iJojh va lra kar ti
hUIIl. " Indeed. the impact of eco
logicall.v unsuund development
has been great est on women.
a nd they are, in large measure,
res ponsibl e 1'0 1' the shih in the
d.vnal1l ics of the Chipko move-
ment to a n eculogically sustai-
nabl!' us!' or 1'('SUlII'Ces. The
Himalaya 's primary prod uc t is
wa ter: the meeting at SakJana
centr(, d around the int egrated
wa ter crisis in th is region. lont'
jerrv-can of water here, 100 n.
alrov!' tht' wat er bet! , sells 1'01' Hs
30 !1 alit! the recognit ion that tht:
('cologica l (/ evel uf)ment of the
Hilllalava in the consclva
tion 0;' its water. Fores t man
agcnwnt is thus LTucial and
ol'Cs tation Imist gu hand in hand
with solving the wat er cri sis. and
pursuing an enli gh tened agricul-
tural polie.\'.
.\s \\'(, climbed up thE' hill to
the lon'st rr plant ed by the \'il -
lagers I 100 ht c tal's in Saklana
no\\' I't'gcncl'ilt c'd r til(' \alle_
\,vitll theil' slogan!>:
.Iangal he llilin IIpkil/ ; AJitl i.
pani dUl ' bay"r ,'vli lti, pani alII'
bal'ar I'C' hai ll jil'illl ke adhal'.
Ea'ch out ider plantl'd vvi le! apri-
cot on thi s hill. a and
s:'rn IJO lic gest u re on Wor ld
F.mi 1'0 11 ll1t>n t Dav. in s i ncere
apprec iation of,t hl' fact that
planning for the Himalaya must
come from the grass-roots up,
and that Sukh ' C agil/, jeena
clliI!JO, hal' II'<lql chi/he'per lagao.

Fear and Migration Syndrome
in the Punjabi Press
The t rut h is tha t the exod us
of Hindus from some areas of
Aml'it sar and GUl'daspur dis-
tlicts has assumed dangerous
proporti ons. U' some solid steps
are not taken to prevent more
migra ti on out of these areas, we
may have a situation on our
hand whi c h could be very
muc h like the partiti on days. So
fa r all s te ps take n in thi s di rec-
tion have proved futil e. Most of
the poli ce force either helps the
extremi sts or is scar ed of them.
An exodus of Sikhs from other
sta tes to Punj ab has also started.
There is s till time to check thi s
phenomenon. Instead of paper
work. the poli ce force should be
compl e te ly reorgani sed and
patrioti c elements be trajned in
the use of arms.
(June 18; mnd Samachar)
(Courtesy Naya Zamana).
.
Talking at a press conference
in Chandigarh. Shri Chandra
Shekhar , President of the Janata
Party. said that the exodus of
Hindus from Punjab is causing
grave a nxie ty. Th e Barnala
government ha d completely fail -
ed to cont rol the situation. Both
the Cent re and the stat e were
responsibl e for thj s cri sis and
their contribution to tackle it
was not more than zero.
(June 13; Hind Samachar)
A four- membel' investi gati on
Committ ee a ppoin ted by the
Pu njab Prauesh Congress-I to go
into the reasons of a sudden
s pur t in te rrori t ac t i it ies
around Tarn Taran and t he con-
sequen t exodus of the minority
communitv has come to the
con lusioli that the ext remi st
want to clear this area of all
those opposing their designs
and make i t safe fO l' pro-
Khalistan clements.
(,June 13; Hind Samacharl
POLICE HEPRESSION
The people of Dhari\Va l llJist.
Gurdaspurl had tarted migrat-
ing out or Punjab becaLis ' of the
fear or cxtrcmist and harass-
nwnt ilv the loca l police, said Sri
B.:. l\zaci, the Secrf' t,II,' of the
Bharat Lalit Ka la Socict\' of Pun-
jab. He s tated tha t the
poli('e was scared to go after the
rcal culprit s. innoct>nt peopl l'
wel'f' tortul'pd bv it for no lilu lt of
thei rs. Rf'veali'ng that he be-
longer! tu the schedul e caste, he
recoun ted a r 'cent epi sodn. The
police picked up a memiJer of
th ei r ramily. When p op lc
gatherpd and protested , the
police they relea ed him. but
not before heating him merci
lessl, . Now people are leaving
the place hecau e of the s are
created by the police,
(June 10; Daily jit)
UNHELPFUL OFFI CIALS
The deputy leader of the
Congress-I Vidyarthi Party , Shri
MohanlaL who also happened to
be the president of the Sa natan
Dharam Sabha, revealed after a
tour of Dis t. Gurdaspur that one
thi rd of the mj nority population
in Fateh Garh Churi a n had al -
ready migrated. The rest wel'e
tryi ng to arr'ange fOl' trucks to
load their household goods. but
the local offi cial s wel'e not allow-
ing them to move out. Many
peopl e had been kill ed and
many others were receiving
threat ening letters. Sri Moha nlal
expressed surpri se at the cancel-
lation of the proposed vi sit of
police chief Rebeil'O to thi s aJ'ea.
Such action creat ed a sense of
insecurity in the local populace.
That was why peopl e there were
eager to move to the big citi es or
areas outside Punjab .
(.'wle 17; Daily AjitJ
VlLLAGE SECURJTY
COMMI'ITEES
Plans were afoot to form vii
lage security committees in all
the 1200 villages of Di st. Arnrit-
s a l'. Thi s was reveal e d by
Ramesh Inder Singh. Deputy Com-
nti ssioner. Amritsar . These com-
mitt ees would keep a wat ch over
the movement of intruders and
undesirable element s in the area
and form a securi ty task force of
5- 7 people aft er thorough scrut-
inv. The sec tal' Commander wi ll
t heir overa ll incharge. Along
wi th thi s the policy of granting
arms licenses would be Ubera-
li sed S0 that law-abicling cilizens
wel'e prepared for self-defence.
(Jun e 20; Ajit Weekly)
Addressing a party conte-
rence at village Sidhwan /12 K.M.
from Gurdaspur), Chief Minist er
S.S. Barnala said that the num-
ber of people migrating from
Punjab was not big. Moreover
the Government was not sparing
any effort s to bring back the
people \,vho have already mj -
grated. He said that the exodus
of people from Punjab could be
dangerous not only fol' Punjab
but also for the whole countT\,.
(, Iune 1-1; PUlljaiJi
Tlw ue puty leader of the
legi slative ",ri ng of the Congress
I. hli MohanlaI. said that if the
situation in Punjab v\'as not
brought under' contl'O) soon, the
problem of the pxodus of the
minol' it v communit v would
a:;sume dL ngerous proportions.
He that the ongress-I
:>upport to the Bamala Govern-
ment was ex tended on the con-
clition lJ1at it should provide
security to the minority com-
munity and stop killings of in-
nocent people.
tJune 17; Punjabi Tribune)
F8rum
----------:-----:-------- Gazette ------------
Centre Bu.ngles. Over Chandigarh
IContilwed lium p.l Col. 51
the Barnala faction 'S need to .
look over its shoulder at the
Badal-Tohra combination . the
Punjab Government agreed to
transfer 45.000 acres of Hindi -
s peaking territory and also
acceded in principle to transfer
an additional 25.000 acres to
Harvana las awarded bv the
Ve n'kataramiah Commissionl .
Punjab maintained that Chandi-
garh should be transferred to it
by June 21 and Ha ryana be per-
suaded in the national int erest
to accept a delayed dat e for
receivi ng the contentious 25,000
acres.
Government, Opposition,
Press Pressure
Punjab's selective acceptance
of th e Ve nkataramiah Award
however attracted a barrage of
criticism. accompanied by intim-
idation. and pressure to force it
to transfer all 70,000 acres right
away ' in the national interest'
even though time was required
to identity the extra 25,000 Hindi-
speaking acres.
The reaction in Punjab to
this pressure was marked by
exasperation that the burden of
the national interest inevitably
fa.ll s on its shoulders. Report s
Justice Venkataramiah
from Punjab a lso suggested
widespread apprehension that
the Centre it self was more con-
cerned about the Congress-III 's
future in Harya na than the
national interest. What is more,
the opposition and much of the
press appeared to follow their
' Master's Voice'.
The Desai Fiasco.
On top of all thi s camp the
fias co. Appointed as a
': judi cial authority', the
Chairman of the Law
Comission , .Justi ce D.A. Desai ,
was asked to take over the task
l e ft half-don e by Ju s ti ces
Mathew and venkatarami ah. He
was asked to perfoml a twel ve-
hour miracle if not a central
government rope trick to iden-
tity the 70,000 acres which could
be transferred to Haryana on
Justice Desai
June 21. His appointment
announced on Iv on Fridav 20
June. It is not dear what kirid of
a 'higher judi cial' process the
Desa i Authoritv could have
initiated in the ti'me available to
it without arousing suspi c.ion
that the Centre's intentions were
less than trustworthy.
Suspicions Confirmed
The suspicions were con-
firmed when it came to be
known that Justice Desai was
not to be guided by the tripl e
principles of lingui stiC affinity.
village as a unit and contiguity
while formulating his recom-
mendation. In other words he
was empowered to transfer even
Punjabi -s peaking villages to
Haryana-much agai nst the int ent
and letter of the Accord. To
make matt ers worse, the Desai
Au thoritv was asked to devi se it s
own procedures. Sardar Barnala
rightly protested against the tra-
vesty of tail' dealing. The Centre
then amended (on Friday 20
Junel Desai's term, of rererence
to all ow him to keep in view the
terms mentioned in para 7.2 of
the Memorandum of Settlement.
By adding this perplexing para
and thus seeking to reopen the
terms of the Accord, the Cenlre
was hardly making amends: it
was in fa ct allowing itselr to
become a party to a back-door
conspiracy to re-open the
Abohar-Fazi lka question, which
it was beli eved had been put to
rest bv Justice Mathew. Or so
Punjab believed.
And so it was that Punjab
rejected the Desai panel. The
curtain has thus still not corne
down on the Chandigarh drama.
Eve n th ough mu c h of th e
nation's publi c opinion outlets
chose not to see it that wav, the
past fortni ght 's event s it
clear that along with the terror-
ist factor, ther'e is also the factor
of the credibilitv of the Govern-
ment of Indi a" that tends to
come in the way of breaking
through the impasse in Punjab.
F8ru

Stands For
Minority Rights
Civil Liberties
Equality for Women
Democratic Values
Environmental Protection
Health for All ...
ICOl1l il1l1f'd limll p.16 Col. 31
in collusion with some WHO
bureaucrats succeeded in sabo-
taging any move in that direc-
tion. Its stakes are high : a $100
billion IRs. 120,000 croresl a veal'
world market, about a fifth 'Of it
landed in the Third World.
Add to that the h'eedom that
exists for it in most Third World
countries to make wild claims
about the efficacy of drugs - till
recentlv, a British MNC
lessly advertised vitamin C as a
cure for smoking in some Afri-
can countries - suppress
information on' the adverse reac-
tions, side-effects and contra-
indications in respect of its pro-
ducts, and, above all, bribe the
medical community with free
samples. gifts and junkets so as
to secure its compliance in the
industry' s high-pressure and
unethical marketing practices.
And.you have the picture of a
multi -billion-dollar business
. prospering at the cost of the
health of the people, unfettered
. by int ernational restrictions and
under no pressure to conform to
the rational frameworks of drug
therapy that are becoming
increasingly current in some
First World countries and even
in a few Third World ones, such
as Bangladesh, Mozambique and
lran.
Essential Drugsj Bangladesh
Example
Such frameworks are, typi-
cally speaking, premised upon
the establishment of a li st of
essential drugs and in.elude a
regime of tight social control on
th e production, quality as-
and promotion of drugs.
Bangladesh - Drug Policy
Consist ent wi th the de-
clared guidelines of Govern-
ment to provide basic needs
of life to the majority of the
people through austerity. and
to improve the economy of
the country and prevent was-
tage of foreign exchance, the
pI'Oduction and/ or importa-
tion of unnecessary drugs 01'
drugs of mar'ginal value have
to be stopped.
Almost any drug may pro-
duce unwanted or adverse
reactions. The combination of
two 01' more acti ve ingre-
di ents not only makes the
product costlier, it also in-
creast' s the possibility of ad-
verse reac tion without in-
creasing the efficacy over a
single ingredi e nt product.
He nce, as a general rul e,
combinations of similar or
di similar drugs wi ll be
prohibit ed.
One of the greatest sour-
ces of drainage of the coun-
try's financial resources is the
irTes ponsibls prescribing and
marketing and inapPl'Opriat e
self-use of vitamins. Another
great wastage of meagre re-
source is cough mixtures,
gripe water', alkali prepara-
tions, and digestive enzymes
which are of little or no the-
rapeutic value.
It is unanimously decided
that the following cri teria will
serve as the guideli nes in eva-
luating all the registered/ li -
censed pharmaceutical pro-
ducts manufactUl'ed and/ or
imported in Bangladesh.
The combination of an
antibiotic with another anti -
biotic or antibiotics with cor-
ti costeroids 01' other active
substances will be prohibited.
Antibio ti cs harmful to
chi ldren leg Tetracycline) will
not be allowed to be manu-
factured in liquid form.
The combination of
analgesics in any fom1 is not
all owed as there is no thera-
peuti c advantage and it only
increases toxicity, especially
in the case of kidney damage.
The combination of analges-
ics with iron, vi tamins or
alcohol is also not allowed.
The use of codeine in
any combination form is not
alowed as it causes addiction.
iv. In general, no combina-
tion drugs wilJ be used unless
there is absolutely no alterna-
tive single drug available for
treatment or if no alternative
single drug is Gost effective
for the purpose.
Vitamins should be
prepared as single ingredient
products with the exception
of B complex. Members of
vitamin B complex with the
exception of B 12 may be
combined into one product.
B 12. always has to be pro-
duced as a s.ingle ingredi ent
inj ectable product. Other
members of B complex may
also be produced as singl e
ingredient products leg B 1,
B2, 86 etc.!. Vitamins will not
be allowed to be combined
with any other ingredient
such ilS minerals, glycero-
phosphate, etc. It will be al -
lowed to produce vitamins in
tablets, capsules and inj ecta-
ble form only.
No liquid forms will be
permitted because of wastage
of financial resources and the
tremendous misuse involved.
No cough mixtures,
throat lOzenges, gripe water,
alkalis, etc. will be alowed to
be manufactUl'ed or import ed
as these are of little therapeu-
ti c vall) e and amount to great
wastage of our meagre I'e-
sOUl'ces.
The sale of toni cs ,
e nzy me mixtures/ prepara-
tions and socalled restorative
products flourish on consu-
mer ignomnce. Most am habit -
fom1ing and with the excep-
tion of pancreatin and lactase
these are of no therapeuti c
value. Henceforth local manu-
facture of importaHon of such
products will be discon-
tinued.
However, pancreatin and
lactase will be allowed to be
manufactured and/ or import-
ed as single ingredient
products.
Some drugs are being
manufactured with only a
sli ght difference in composi-
tion from another product
but having similar act ion.
This only confuses both pa-
Hent s and doctors. This wi ll
not be allowed.
Products of doubtful.
little or no therapeutic value
and rather sometimes ham1-
ful. are subject to misuse and
will be banned.
All chemi-
cals and galenical prepara-
tions not included in the la-
test edi tion of British Phar-
macopeia or British Pharma-
ceutical Codex will be prohi-
bited.
Certain drugs, in spite
of known serious side-effects
and possibility of misuse,
having favourabvle risk-bene-
fit ratio may be allowed to be
produced in limited quantity
for restricted use. These will
be prescribed by specialists
only.
The same or close subs-
titutes of a drug which is
being produced in the coun-
try will not be allowed to be
imported, as a measUl'e of
prot ection for the local in-
dustr:v. However, if local pro-
duction is far short of needs.
this condi ti on mav be re-
laxed.
'A basic pharmaceuti -
cal raw material which is
localt v manufactured will be
given - protection by disallow-
ing it or its substitute to be
imported if suffi cient quantity
is a' 'ailable in the countrv.
The rol e of multina-
tional s in providing medi-
cines for thi s country is ac-
knowl edged with apprecia-
tion. In vi ew of the calibre of
machinery and techni cal
whi ch li es in their
hands for producing impor-
tant and innovati ve drugs ror
the country, the task of pro-
ducing antacids and vitamins
will li e saleh, with the Na ti o-
nal Companies, leaving the
Multinationals Iree to con-
centrat e their ellort:; and re-
sources on those it ems not so
easily produced by small er
National Companies. Multina-
tional s wi ll . however, be al-
lowed to produce injectable
vitamins as singl e ingredient
products.
No foreign brands will
allowed to be manufactured
under license in any factory
in Bangladesh as this leads to
unnecessary high pri ces and
payment of royalties. In the
light of thi s policv, all existi ng
licensing agreement s should
be reviewed.
No Multinational Com-
pany without their own fa c-
tory in Bangladesh will be
allowed to market their pro-
duc ts aft e r manufacturing
them in another factory in
Bangladesh on toll basis.
Your
travel

SInce
1948
MERCIJIIY TRAWlS
(lIIDIA) UllnEII
Jeevan Tara Building.
Parliament Street,
New Delhi -110001
Phone: 310602.312008.
Tuesday 1- 15 July 19!'!6 15
Spotlight
F8rum
______________________ _
"Health For All" in Reagan's Shadow
MNC Victory at WHO Meeting
By Salam Murad
Our special correspondent in Geneva
I
f you reaJly want to see an - At th e thirt yn inth World
int ernati ona lly bully, a Super Health Assembly held in Geneva
Rambo, in acti on, come to be twee n May 5 and lfi, th e
Geneva." a vcry senior official of attack was mul ti -pronged, First .
GATT IGeneral Agreement o n cut the LIS contribution to WHO
Trade and Tariffsl told me, - i.e. put it on noti ce. Second
Hr was referring 10 the U.S. circu late a I'enomous report by
roll' in s pec ia lis ed Uni t e d Reagan 's iJmins tTus t, the ult ra-
Nalions agencies such as GAlT, l'ightwing Heritage Foundatiun,
UI CTAD IU. N, COllf >rencp nil on WHO ju:,1 before Ihe assem-
Trade and Uevdopmcnt), 11.0 bl\' and. through it. deliver tlw
{Int ernatiunal I. abour Organba- threa l to walk uut of the orga ni -
tion l a nd WHO IWnl'ld 'I-ll'a lth s ati o n J la UNeSCO, Third,
Organisation!. That mit' undpr atteillpt III bl od, and sabotage
Ronald Hcagan 's sP(:oll d l!'rlll is, all \'('so luti ons that spe k Iu
to put it simpl,\' . that of thn p:>.tC'nd a pro-Third World, anti -
oiJslrUI.'IOI' , Ih (' 1'11'('('],,('1' . tllP 1\.1\1<: . anti -cummercia l ur irn-
drstrOl( 'r tatilln Ull healt h and drllg:> pul -
Reaga n s .\n]('ri ca, COllllncp.d icl' , F(!ur/h. cnnt pntiolls
that thpsc' L'. :\J . agclH'i(' s hu\'(' i:-: : UP!> such as Libya s credpll -
turned into hotlJ!'ds of sulll'cr- tiab so as 10 detract atten ti on
siv(' poli tical at'tid t." dil't'(:tl'd Ii' olll ti ll' ("I'i tical questions on
against ti ll' 1-1'('(' Ilodt! , IS uut to ti l(' i-'ilih. [(JITUlise 11ll'
IVcakc'n, pal'alys(' and dr s tr u,l' \\ 'HO and !Jrowill'at
Ihrm. In thall Ih'c veal's it it inlu lOning till' ("uillent
has succppcil'd III undoing a of il,; mort' illlpurtant rcsolu
good deal Ihill ac hil'I'rd tiuns, t\nd, lilla lll ', launch a fwn -
th rough painstaking errort " tal atlacl; un tllP {hrust or til!'
made ol erwhol e drcadm;, main argumell ts for ratiuna l
Thb is truPI' Ih,ul ul Iwalth polici rs, , oeial cant I'll I or
vVHO. which tlw Ameri cans - drllf.(s iln d their stricter regula-
and tl1(' pharma c c' ut ic,rls . tion lor Sa rf'ty, for han ning tlw
tobat'('o and baby food Illllltintl - acivl'rtisi ll l-\' ;lIld promotion of
(i onal" - regard as a dallgf'I'OUS lInn ecessarl' a n d i rrati o nal
org(lnis<ltion out 10 restricl thp l'}l' pa s l llli lk subSlitutl's and of
"ti'ee play ur market forces". and tobacco s moking.
t o promo t e such c au ses dS TIll' unfol' tunatl:' Ihing. o f
"Health for All hI' 2000 t\D", COll rse, is that tl1' combined
"rational use of dl'llgS" imel the Ameri can-multinational attack
intemational code 0 11 the mar- did. succeed e\'en if to a limit ed
keting of breastllLilk substi tutes ex t e nt. And thi s il did on l.v
and babv foods. because the WHO bureaucracv
From a Third World vi ew- and several Third
point. these are some of the best govel'llmenls, including India's
things that have happened leven crumb l ed under the jo int
if they often remain mere paper ofie nsive.
programmes and slogansl after Thus , a ll hopes tha i the
the WHO campaigns of the fifti es World Health Assemblv would
against TB and small-pox, move forward. on the vital issue
. For the Reaganites and the of rational drug therapy were
MNCs, they are totally negative shatt ered,
developments, even act s of war
waged by "Mad Dogs" agai ns l
sacred commercia l interes ts,
and hence appropriate targets of
attack.
Revised Drug Strategy
S u c h hop es w e re n o t
unfound ed . Many of th em
del'ived 11'001 the Assembly ses-
sion of 1984 and a conference 01
experts held in Na irobi last year
at the recommendation of the
Asse mbl y . The principal
recomendatiuns of the Naimbi
nwcting were toned down, d is
tort ed or simply ignore d in the
officia l r e port that was pre-
sent ed ill Geneva in May,
The r e port has b ee n
drs!'Ii bed as an awkward com-
promi sl' ilel\vpen the perspec-
ti n' for the rational use of drugs
put forward by volu ntar:v health
action and cons umer g ro ups
anri in ci epC'n d ent pharma -
cologists and ductors, on the
Ulll' hand, and the of
tlw drug cOlll panies and
I'atil'!' un tl1' otlll'r
- OJ ('ompl'OlIli sl' reacill'd ilt Ihe
of til(' I(wnwr,
,\t al1\ I'al(' ti l(' I'('POl't PI'l'-
pan' d till' ground II)!' til(' a"Sf 'lll'
hl.1 If) adupt lI'I1at WiI" tpl'lll('d
till' . 1'1'1 bl'd drug :;trat(';.(I ' -
\\itll (lut dil l llleililingl ul df'. hatp
11'1 Iii I S ()(,I'(, I:, II i" s ignificant that
I'( '\' i:-.(!d ' 1l'a tegy ha-;ica ll y
the I'l's pon:-:ibility f()r Ihr
ra tional W, l' uf' drugs tu I\'l'ak or
inrlllcif'n t nation.1i drug Ivgula-
lUl'l aut h orities and re t l'eats
fl'Oin thc! derJar'Ptl goal 1191itll of
working towards (I ('udr of
ethi cs lor the pl'Oll1otion a nd
ma rketing of drugs,
Such a cude. alo ng the lines
of tht, i>reastmilk substitutes and
babvfuod code, could at least
hav;' had the effect of setling
definite e thi c a l mark e ting
norms, pu tti ng pressure on the
big companies not to pro-
mot e harmful or iJTational pro-
ducts, and of making it diffi cult
for national regu lat ory au thori-
ti es to turn a blind eye to mal -
practices in the drug trade and
the flooding of up to 70 per cent
of Iheir markets with dangerous
or useless drugs.
However, the MNC lobbv
working wi th .5, suppmt ancl
IColl tillued filml p, t5 Col, .11
WHO - Essential Drugs
The selection of essential
drugs, Technical RelJOf't Ser-
ies 615, WHO, 1977. Excerpt.
" While d r ugs alone are
nOI suffi c ien t 10 provide
health care, they do play an
important role in protec ti ng,
maintaining and restoring the
health of peopl e. In recent
vears, there has been a tl'e-
rnendous number of phanna-
ceutical products marketed;
however, there has not been
a pro ortionate improvement
in he;llth,
Many phannaceutkal pro-
ducts are marketed with tittl e
co ncern for the differing
health needs and priori.ties of
individual countri es. Promo-
ti onal activities of the manu-
facturers have created a de-
mand grea te r than ac tu al
needs. Since up to 40% of the
total health care budget in
developing countries may be
spent on drugs. the resu lt has
bee n an increase in the cost
of health care or a reduction
in funds availahle for other
16 Tuesday 1-15 .July 1986
health services. The cost has
aftected even the affiuent na-
ti ons. and their governments
arc worried by
the rising ex penditure on
phannaceutical products. In
deve loping countri es, th e
probl em is magnified by limit-
ed economi c l'esources, shor-
tage of trained health per-
sonn L and lack of organised
drug polici es, In the leasl
developed countries. where
communicable diseases and
lack of elementarv health care
are the major medical con-
cerns, large segmen ts of the
population are in urge nt
need of essential drugs,
It is clear that for the
optiman use of limited fi-
nancial resources the avai-
lable drugs must be res-
trictedto those proven to
be therapeutically effective,
to have acceptable safety
and to satisfy the health
needs of the population.
The selected drugs are
here called 'essential '
drugs, indicating that they
are or the utmost impor-
tance, and are basic. indis-
pensable and necessary for
the health needs of the
popwation.
The notion that the num-
ber of necessary drugs is rela-
ti vely small is support ed by
ex peri e nce. Several develop-
ing countr ies thai have ad-
opted limited drugs li sts re-
port good acceptance, as well
as favourable medical and eco-
nomi c result s. Lists and for-
mularies wi th a limited num-
ber of drugs are also success-
fully used in many developed
countries.
A limited li s t may not pro-
vide for the needs of every
person but certainly should
meet those of the vast major-
ity. Whether or not drugs or
pharmaceuti cal products out-
side the list are avai lable in
the private sector should be a
local decision.
DANGEROUS? NONSUJSE - H
WHATEVER (,AVE 'IOU SUCH AN IDEA ,.

"
-./
, \
, '
Third World Consultant Pushing MNC Line
Protest by Third World Network
- a grouping of organisations and individuals
involved in development issues -
Dr Ha lfdall 1\lahlpr
Director (;clwral
I'\,HO
12 I I CPI)t'I'<! 27
5wi tl.prlan d
[kal IJr :'vlahlel'
Third World Network
W:" . Cantunml'nJ Boad , "Ponan,l(. \1.\J ,\\ SI t
29 April IBRt1
It comr to Olll' knuwledge Ihat Mr 0 C Ja.vasuriya, a Sri
Lanka n Iml Pr has wrillen a book en litl cd The Public HPillth
Dimensiulls uf the ell' Drug Poli c:. 1 01
Bangladesh which is ' ponsored by the lilt pl national
of Pharmace u tical Manufactul' 'rs .\ s 'ocia tion,
basf'd in Gt'nHl'a,
This report as you maybe aware is all at tack on the
l3allgladesh Na tion al Drug Poli cy. Th e Bangaladesh lJrug
Pol il' is basrcJ on WHO's Model List of Essent ial Drugs
whi ch has up-en recomnwncled for all df've loped and
developing As such, the re port appear\ also to be
an act of saboI. age on the \>\fHO' s Poli cy on E, sent ial Drugs,
More disturbing. Jayasuriyi:t is using hi s former WHO' s
consultancy s tatus to give hi s ' evaluati on' of the Bangladesh
Drug Po li cy some measure of legitimacy. This docume nt i
now be ing passed about as a ' WHO document on the
Banglades h Drug Poli cy'. The Third World Ne twork is
perturbed by thi s a nd views it with deep concern,
We appeal to your goodself as Director General of the WHO
to ins titut e the following measures:
111 The WHO sho uld officially distance itself [rom the
Jayasuriya study, The Public Health and Economic
Dimensions of the New Drug PoJicy of Bangladesh.
121 The WHO itself should make an independent evaluation
of th e Bangladesh drug policy, a move that would be not
onlv in it s own int erest, but also in the interest of a more
rattonal drug policy benefitting cons umers all over the
world.
131 The WHO should take care to see that in future
o C Jayasuriya is not hired as a cons ultant in the
organi s ation, for the role he ha s played in underminin(
a poli cy [llrthel'ing WHO policy.
We would great ly appreciate that the WHO takes the above
measures as soon as possibl e. This is because WHO's ma jor
con tribution to health in the area of drugs will be seriously
undennined should D C Jayas uriya ' s report have the effect
it so desires.
We seri o us ly hope that you will consider Olll' reques t as it
comes from the peoples of the Thir' d World,
The Third World Network lends its wholehearted support to
the WHO for it s excellent work and we wish you all the best
in .vour e ndeavours. Best I,vis hes.
Sincerely
S M Mohd Idris, J.P.
Coordi na tor
Third World Nel\,vork
You do not have a
bette. choice
Prinl ed and pu'blished by A,S. Narang for Ihe Si kh Forum. 3 Masiir! Road. !lhoga l, !oJew Delhi-I 1fI1l14 dl lilli lCd India Press, Bahadur Shah lar., M,'rg, I." Deihl.