Unrest in Kashmir

We have been hearing about continuous unrest in Kashmir from past many days. People are on streets against the fraudulent encounters committed by some rotten section of Indian Armed forces. These incidents have actually created a huge hate against India as a state in common Kashmiris. With separatists leading from front, these scattered protests of contempt turned into a far spread mass-movement against state. All of this has made situations really boiling in the valley!

The main concern is Security forces are using severe violence to control contempt of public and as a consequence the civilian region is being converted into a kind of battleground. The way of brutality, in which the unrest in public is being dealt with, is very dangerous for the Indian state itself as the route of suppression would only hit the integrity of state as an outcome. The specific incidents involving the killing of underage boys are the highest examples of cruelty. The history has proved that the blood of innocents has power to bring down the empires. So both methodology & approach need to be mended as an immediate measure.

The use of battleground artillery by mob-controlling machinery on unarmed civilians protesting for their genuine causes, which may or may not suit to state policies & interests, has to be stopped as a very first step to restore the faith of people in the state. All efforts should be made to bring out the truth behind those fraudulent encounters and every perpetrator has to be booked under the suitable clauses of law of land irrespective of one’s rank and status. Justice could only wash the stains of bloodshed. And delay in justice would only be the denial of it which would lead to more loss of trust in system.

Addition to all above, there shouldn't be any opposition or ban on peaceful protests by public while humane ways have to be used to control violent situations in order to prevent state of affairs going out of control. After all our constitution has given this right of protest to all of its citizens and providing this right to Kashmiri brethren would only strengthen their faith in the constitution as well as the system.

Killings of commoners equate forces to ruthless terrorists. Forces need to learn that they are there to protect the public and to restore the peace in the region and not to create the environment of terror while making the situations even worse for the nation. Mainstream politicians of the valley also have to learn that using the public unrest for their filthy power games is like playing with fire. It would only ruin the whole state of affairs in the long run.

ਚੁੱਪੀ – The Silence

(Courtesy: Silence, 1799-1801, Oil on canvas, Kunsthaus, Zürich)

::: ਚੁੱਪੀ:::

ਹੋਠਾਂ ਦੀ ਚੁੱਪੀ ਕਦੇ ਕਦੇ,
ਗੁੱਝੇ ਭੇਦ ਪਏ ਕਹਿ ਜਾਂਦੀ |
ਬੋਲ ਸ਼ਾਇਦ ਜੋ ਮਿੱਟ ਜਾਣਾ ਸੀ,
ਅਮਰ ਓਸ ਇਹ ਕਰ ਜਾਂਦੀ |

:::Chuppi: Roman Transliteration:::

Hothan di chuppi kade kade,
Gujhe bhed pye keh jandi..
Bol shayad jo mit jana c,
Amar os eh kar jandi..

:::The Silence - English Translation:::

The silence of lips sometimes,
Use to reveal deep secrets..
What otherwise had died if spoken,
It actually makes it immortal..

ਵਹਿਣ - The Flows

(Photo by courtesy of  http://www.ecosystemsciences.com/ )

:::ਵਹਿਣ:::

ਓਹ ਵਹਿਣ ਕੇਹੇ ਸੀ,
ਜੋ ਮੇਰੇ ਸ਼ਬਦਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਵਹਾ,
ਅਜਿਹੇ ਪੱਤਣਾ ਤੇ ਲੈ ਗਏ,
ਜਿਥੇ ਮੇਰੇ ਸਾਹਾਂ ਦੀ ਗੂੰਜ ਨੂੰ ਵੀ,
ਮੇਰੇ ਆਪਣੇ ਹੀ ਕੰਨਾਂ ਦਾ,
ਪੈਂਡਾ ਭੁੱਲ ਗਿਆ |

:::Vehan: Roman Transliteration:::

Oh vehan kehe si,
Jo mere shabdan nu vaha,
Ajehe pattnaan te lai gaye,
Jithe mere sahan di goonj nu v,
Mere apne hi kannan da,
Painda bhul gya..

:::The Flows - English Translation:::

What were those flows,
Which carried away my words,
To those edges,
Where even the echo of my breaths,
Has lost the sight of,
The way to my own ears..

Nationalism – Myths & Realities

These days we are facing a very sickening type of nationalism in our society, which rather than protecting the interests of our nation resulting in a threat for its integrity. There is however no problem with having proud of our nation and its values but the way we are realizing this concept is flawed in its basics.

The problem with our nationalists is that they are always in denial mode to every injustice and crime against humanity committed by our state in past and present. This approach is like a pigeon which on seeing the cat closes eyes to deny its existence. However this refusal would be of no help to save it from grave danger. We could no longer behave as Dhidhrashtra* while dealing with the crimes against our own minorities, SCs & STs and other linguistic or cultural groups on the name of maintaining national honour.

The right approach to solve our problems is to first accept all of our failures audaciously, then regret for them boldly and then take every necessary step to make certain that perpetrators of such atrocious acts would face appropriate penalty by the law of land. This would help in reinstating the faith of all stake-holders of our system and would actually strengthen the footing of idea of our integral nationhood.

Along with we need to ensure the reestablishment of lives of the victims of our failures as our prime duty so that they can rejoin mainstream of our society. This would broaden our brethren by many folds and would also contribute enormously in our vibrant progress by making it more sustainable.

Wider involvement of civil society and local groups is required in addressing all of the grievances while giving complete consideration even to those viewpoints which are otherwise completely against to our self defined laws.

However it is the matter of shame that we are using muscle power against the voices for justice of ones who are already the sufferers of our atrocities on the very name of national spirit or synthetic patriotism. It is the main cause of further worsening of our troubles while endangering the very concept of our integrated existence over long run.

* For all non-Indian readers: Dhidhrashtra was the King from Kuru dynasty in great Sanskrit epic of Mahabharata. He was father of all Kauravas, the 100 villains of the epic. Blind by birth, he is known for his partiality towards Pandavas, the 5 heroes of the epic, while protecting the interests of his own sons. Pandavas were his step-brother’s children otherwise.

Life, Questions & Answers

What is the meaning of life? Is it only respiring, earning, eating, sleeping, romancing, reproducing or so? We are living on a planet full of around 6.5 billion of people. Everybody is doing these things, so de facto all are qualified of being alive. My conscience always asks me am I here to be just like crawlers or there is a specific purpose of my existence? Why am I alive otherwise? It seems to be representing spiritual alter-ego of my personality but it is a valid question in all senses. If completing my daily tasks is the only need then I am nothing but a crawler. There would be hardly any difference between the existence of a cattle or an insect and sophisticated, intelligent and so called humane existence of mine.

The best way to know the answer(s) of these doubts is to earn the eligibility to get answered. Wisdom says that there is no question without answer(s). Answers are ready much before the question is posed. Only thing is some answers are readily available while for others we have to put extreme efforts of ours to find out. In addition to these, there are some answers for whom we have to earn the qualification to get them known. Questions of life meet the criteria of answers belonging to later category.

Now this believe is itself a web of questions. How could one become eligible to get the answers of life? Where to start the journey and what actually is to be achieved? What is on stake and what could be in the way as facilitator or as obstacle? How could I be sure that I am following the right path or direction i.e. whether I am moving ahead on the road to attain eligibility to get the solutions of riddles put forward by life or just confusing with and getting all my energy wasted for none? Can someone be chosen as the guide or this travel actually needs guidance? There are millions of other threads in this web but foremost is whether these questions of life which appear to demand answers are genuine or just an escape route for running the routine challenges and pains of human life?

This subject is so mystic in itself that once you start with it and you find yourself in an unending maze. Begin with any corner and you never seem to find the other one while loosing the way from where you have actually started and left puzzled & perplexed in every sense. So do we need to quarantine this thinking to save ourselves form mental stigma or at least dive in the ocean of thoughts and try to search? I agree with later argument. It doesn’t matter if we would fail to reach to conclusion(s) but the pleasure of search is itself a big achievement. Answer(s) would definitely be the target but steps we follow and logics we employ could never be underestimated in its value.

Even though we could disturb our routine life while seeking out the solutions for the questions whose genuinity we couldn’t sure about, it would always be worthy to struggle for. It could be anything but an escape route. Every life in existence has a motive associated with it. It’s exploration worth our efforts.

Search of an individual is the reflexion of the intellectual capability one possesses in the way of one’s thrive for answers about the truths of life and is specific to particular identity. So there is no question of external guide. The one could take the guidance from self only. Others can give suggestions based on superficial thinking which could never be helpful until the self search. It is similar to way that we could never learn swimming unless we ourselves dive in water. Only the submergence of our conscience can make us able to find the pearls of truthful answers.

Even if we have doubts about path we are following we should at least attempt to search. A failure in an attempt wouldn’t be a failure in real sense but the success in manner we would have discovered another way via which success couldn’t be achieved.

Operation Blue Star 1984 – Remembrances

June 6th, 2010 was the 26th anniversary of heinous slaughter named operation blue star committed by Indian state against the Sikh minority of the nation in their holiest shrine. Innocent people including olds, women & children were butchered in sanctum sanctorum of Golden Temple by Indian Army claiming it fight against terror groups. Armed struggle brought into the place which is revered as sacred not only by Sikh community but many others, was a horrible act of state terror.

It was a first of its kind incident in modern world history where a state audaciously calling itself the world largest democracy used its full fledged armed capability & artillery against its own citizens. The day too chosen for this operation also raises severe doubts about the real intentions behind scenes. It was holy martyrdom day of fifth Sikh Guru due to which lots of innocent devotees collected in the Gurudwara to pay their homage. This shameful act had naked the real temperament of the values of which Indian system is boasting about.

This was the main cause which embedded the concept of a separate state, which was only the brainchild of few fundamentalists & separatists till then, in psyche of most of the Sikh minority of nation aftermath as their rights of survival with dignity were crushed to boots in Indian state, though they were the most visible group which contributed in freedom struggle of this very nation and resulted in its creation.

Once again the state sponsored & well-planned massacre of Sikh community round the country in November 1984 after Indira Gandhi's killing resulted in widespread support for militancy and strengthened the demand of separation. Again the way in which Indian state responded to these demands with largest human rights violations in the history after the holocaust by Nazis is a slur on its very character which term itself a democratic, socialist & secular nation.

In later years, thousands of Sikh youths were killed in fraudulent encounters by officers in police & forces brutally to gain rewards & promotions from government on killing terrorists. There was a literal hunting of Sikh youths by cops going on during those black days. Thousands of other innocents got killed or handicapped while being picked up & tortured mercilessly in Indian Jails cum hells. Till date there are unexplainable missings of thousands of youths, since those days, which could be the possible victims of atrocities of uniformed constituents of state, about whom no inquiry had been carried out ever to find out the truth.

The biggest disheartening tragedy in all is that even the Indian judicial system failed completely to provide justice in any of these unpleasant incidents. There is not even a single example where a single culprit from political circle to uniformed cadre got punished for these unforgiveable crimes against humanity. This has raised the questions on moral fibre which judicial system is supposed to carry around to some extent in our rotted system.

Sikh community is advised these days by Indian fraternity of majority community to forget those incidents and move ahead with so called progress in the country. But the biggest question is whether moving on without getting justice is possible? The answer is big NO!

State Terror In Indian Perspective

State terror towards its own people is the worst & most heinous form of terrorism. It results in de-rooting the very concept of state from psyche of its own citizens. All of our biggest troubles are products of monstrous act of terror committed by Indian state itself whether direct or indirect, whether it be massacre of 1984, fall of Babri, atrocities of armed machineries in Punjab, suppression of locals in Kashmir valley or human right violations in poor Aadivasi regions with the name of mighty Green Hunt as the fight against Maoist trouble.

We have to first accept the root causes before trying to solve the problem. As per any of treatment methodology there couldn't be proper cure without diagnosis of the disease. That is main reason that we are failing in our attempts to control are bubbling troubles in our country. Our approach of hitting hard on ones who are raising their voice peacefully or with gun against the state is flawed in its basics itself.

Violence would actually generate more counter-violence in response and rather than solving the problems and as an outcome we would get trapped in unending loop of bloodbath. Larger debate on all the issues, involvement of every section of civil society, redressing grievances of every constituent how-so-ever small it is, showing respect to wider viewpoints even if they are completely contradictory to our own-set rules & principles and shunning counter violence on very first place are the few of the steps from which we need to start with if we are really serious to resolve.

In continuance to "Indian Armed Forces Vs. Human Rights"

I have received many comments in last few days from readers, on my article Indian Armed Forces Vs. Human Rights, about our better track than China in human rights records or asking whether Indians don’t  have self respect as a nation? Some says that Canada’s moral posturing is strange as they are not showing same behavior towards armed forces of other nations, which are doing more human rights violations (!) than us.

I just want to say that this is not the issue to show our patriotic spirit which gets hurt when a finger is pointed even for real wrong–doings on our part. This is not the question to show loyalty to our country & its forces. It’s the question of universal Human rights. International Charter of Human Rights is there by UN & India is signatory to it.

As far as China & track records of its security forces is concerned, there couldn't be any comparison between track records of China & India considering the very fact that our constitution has clearly defined us a complete democratic state where representatives are chosen by all citizens. Will of citizens is will of government here. However, it is not so with China.

Moreover, it is not the question of comparison first place. Our armed forces had a bad track records, whether it’s black days of Punjab, targeting of Native aadivasis on the name of fighting Maoist terror, or militarization of complete Kashmir Valley. Are we unaware about recent fraudulent encounter of young villagers by an army major & other officers in valley for sake of money? Even J&K police has booked army major for such ruthless killings of young boys who lured to border before encountering them while showing them as terrorists. There are still thousands missings of youths in the valley and they are all feared to be the victims of human right violations of our uniformed forces.

Since the Black days of Punjab there are more than 5000 missings of youths of a particular community, they were all feared to be the victims of atrocities of Police, CRPF, BSF and other forces which were active in Punjab those days.

We are seeing Maoist terror these days. Have you imagined why government forces with so much manpower & ammunition are still not able to get success? The simple reason is due to the large scale human rights violations & atrocities against backward aadivasi natives  by police & other forces in the region, local people have made them loose their trust in our forces, so as result there is a lag of support among natives for the operations of forces against Maoists. And its well accredited fact that no operation in civilian region can be successful without native support.

In end I just wish to say, we have to improve our track record rather than wasting energy & time on comparison with others and allowing the heinous crimes against humanity continue just for silly reason that our track is better than others. We are defiantly a country with self respect. That is why I have said that we have to see this denial as an opportunity to introspect the character of our uniformed forces and take steps integrally to make our democratic, socialized and liberal civilization proud.