| Issue 22 Vol I, August 31, 2006 | Archive |
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BJP attacks Punjabi Poet Paash
Punjabi Poet Avtar Paash, who gave away is life like his ideal Bhagat Singh by confronting Khalistani terrorists, was subjected to most insulting treatment by BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad in Rajaya Sabha debate recently on NCERT books. Paasha’s poem ‘Sabse Khatarnak’, The Most Dangerous has been prescribed in Hindi book for class XI by NCERT from 2006. This is part of 20 per cent literature in translation from other languages. Paash did Punjabi language pride, when his poem was selected for all India syllabus of NCERT. It might be reminded here that Hindi translation of Paash’s poetry by Dr. Chaman Lal, a professor of Hindi at the famous Jawaharlal University was given Sahitya Akademi national prize for translation. BJP MP told Rajaya Sabha that Paash was a Naxalite and how NCERT could teach a poem by a Naxalite. He also attacked writings of Dalit writer Om Prakash Balmiki, Sahitya Akademi award winner poet Dhumil and other major Hindi writers for being taught to students. He was also angry at internationally renowned artist MF Hussain’s biographical chapter being taught in Hindi text book. Many eminent writers of Hindi have expressed heir shock and dismay at such attacks on creative writings of distinguished writers. They include Naamvar Singh, Chancellor, Mahatma Gandhi international Hindi University, Ashok Vajpayee, former Vice Chancellor Mahatma Gandhi international Hindi University, Krishna Sobti, Rajender Yadav, Kamleshwar, Kamla Prasad and Chaman Lal. Paash was the pen name of Avtar Singh Sandhu, who was born in Talwandi Salem, Jalandhar (Punjab, India) on 9th of September 1950. son of Major Sohan Singh Sandhu, Paash as a young senstive person was highly touched by the poverty, deptivation , exploitation of the poor and a rutheless state aparatus exploiting and torturing the masses in India. He started writing revolutionary poetry quite early in his life to describe what he saw and felt. During his youth, Punjab’s students, farmers and workers were embroiled in an armed struggle against the establishment--called the Naxalite movement. This period in the 1970’s is also known as the Jujharu (Rebellious) era of the politics of Punjab. Pash's first book of revolutionary poems, Loh-Katha (Iron-Tale) was published in 1970 when he was not even 20. Due to his sympathies with the militant movement and the provocative nature of his poetry, Pash, at the young age of 21, was falsely charged with murder. He spent nearly two years in jail, but was finally acquitted. After his acquittal, he became active in the Punjabi Maoist front organizations and edited a literary magazine Siarh (The Plough Line). Pash’s progressive poetry was widely published in the leftist media and was very popular amongst students, communists and the left-leaning intellectuals. In 1985, the Punjabi Sahit Akademi (The Punjabi Academy of Letters) awarded him a one-year fellowship. He was well traveled and visited the USA and the UK in 1986. While in the United States, he produced a tract for the Anti-47 Front. He opposed the communal violence waged by the Sikh nationalists fighting for the creation of a separate country, Khalistan, during the early 1980s. This ultimately led to his murder at the hands of terrorists from his home village on the 23rd of March 1988, ironically the martyrdom day of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, the revered patriots who were hanged by the British during the struggle for India’s independence. We publish below a translation Paash's poem Sabse Khatarnak by Dr.Satnam Singh Sandhu of Punjabi University, Patiala. "The Most Dangerous." ”The Most
Dangerous |
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Britain: a
Regimented Society in the Making IT is indeed a frenzied approach to tackle law and order by the British establishment. Independent, a respected daily from London has counted that the Tony Blair's government has created more than 3,000 new criminal offences during its nine-year tenure, one for almost every day it has been in power. The astonishing tally brought accusations last night of a "frenzied approach to law-making" that contrasts with falling detection rates and climbing levels of violent crime. The Government has brought in 3,023 offences since May 1997. These comprise 1,169 introduced by primary legislation - debated in Parliament - and 1,854 by secondary legislation such as statutory instruments and orders in council. Shockingly, Labour has beaten the previous Tory administration in creating offences at twice the rate. Under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, fewer than 500 new crimes reached the statute book via primary legislation during more than nine years of their rule. It is indeed incredible for the British society that prides in being one of the best administered people in the world. Its Anglo Saxon legal system is trumpeted as a model. Not a day passes when the British Prime Minister Tony Blair does not offer, solicited or unsolicited advice on how to establish democracy or how to respect human rights and civil liberties. He finds rest of the world except America and some European nations as backward and barbarian. Blair is one with America president George W Bush in teaching Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon among many other countries through bombs and bullets how to create democracy. Now Blair is at the receiving end back home and faces the charges of meddling in the everyday lives of citizens, from restricting freedom of speech to planning to issue identity cards to all adults. Also, the British government is demonstrating more racial traits. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, who uncovered the figures, said: "Nothing can justify the step change in the number of criminal offences invented by this Government. This provides a devastating insight into the real legacy of nine years of New Labour government - a frenzied approach to law-making, thousands of new offences, an illiberal belief in heavy-handed regulation, and an obsession with controlling the minutiae of everyday life.” He said ministers had failed to grasp the simple truth that "weighing down the statute book" with new laws was "no substitute for good government". Blair with his hegemonic agenda should not be expected to provide a good civil government. Many offences are uncontroversial and will have widespread support, such as tougher penalties for selling contaminated food or against violent crime. But the Government has still managed to produce a surreal list of new offences, writes Morris. It is now illegal to sell grey squirrels, impersonate a traffic warden or offer Air Traffic Control services without a licence. Creating a nuclear explosion was outlawed in 1998. Householders who fail to nominate a neighbour to turn off their alarm while they are away from home can be breaking the law. And it is an offence for a ship's captain to be carrying grain unless he has a copy of the International Grain Code on board. Every British citizen is expected to remember not only these latest laws and rules, but the old ones dating back to medieval times. There are thousands and thousands of laws and regulations. Law givers are becoming more and more of charlatans. Almost every other part of Whitehall has also found things to outlaw. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has brought in 640 new offences, the vast majority through secondary legislation. The Department for Trade and Industry has produced another 592, and the Foreign Office and the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister 277 each. Each addition enlarges the enormous number of offences already on the statute book, some dating back to medieval times. It claimed that the crime has fallen by 35 per cent since Labour came to power precisely because the police and criminal justice system has modern laws to tackle crime effectively. Among the modernised are new laws to tackle sex offences, domestic violence, antisocial behaviour and knife and gun crime. The government now plans to bring laws for summary justice. Shami Chakrabarti, the director of human rights group Liberty, said the figures demonstrated that politicians were becoming "addicted to law making". "The next time the cry goes up to legislate our way out of a crisis, a deep breath from the Home Office might just be more inspiring than further statutory graffiti," she commented wryly. The country is less free than before and there is a marked erosion of the trust which should exist between the Government and the governed. Blair, perhaps, believes that governance has to be cruel. But burning stakes do not lighten the darkness. |
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Doordarshan goes International FROM August 21, 2006, Doordarshan International became available for the first time on direct to home dish network in America. This 36 inch diameter dish so far carried only five Indian channels including "Star Plus", "Star News", "Star One", "NDTV English" and "Desi MTV". With the introduction of Doordarshan India, the popularity of this dish system is going to take a quantum jump. There is another competing dish network in America, which is available on an 18 inch diameter dish. It carries "Sahara One", "Sahara Samay", "Aajtak", "Headline News", "Zee TV", "Zee Cinema", "Sony", "Sony Max", "TV Asia", "B4U", "B4U Music", "Zee Alpha Gujarati", "Zee Alpha Punjabi, and "Sun TV (Tamil)". Most Americans have subscribed to the second dish network, which carries more Indian channels. America, for the past five decades, is targeting India on short-wave, using a multitude of super powered transmitters and now on TV also through its "Voice of America" network. All other important nations like Great Britain, France, Holland, Germany, Russia, Israel, Egypt, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and China beam their respective short-wave transmissions to America. There is a distinct listenership for these broadcasts. It is a strange paradox that India has never tried to beam its short-wave transmissions to America. Since technical limitations make it impossible for India, geographically sitting on the opposite end of America, to cover this continent with its transmitters located within the Indian subcontinent, I had suggested to both the prime ministers, Mr A.B. Vajpayee and Dr. Manmohan Singh to rent time on the short-wave transmitters of former Soviet Union, these transmitters have antennas already directed towards America and are available for rent. The private Indian TV networks excelled in giving sensational news only, now with the introduction of Doordarshan India, we will be able to get a bigger doze of developmental news and no frills news coverage. I have been watching Doordarshan India for two days now, the news content is quite good, but the quality and colour of received picture is dull. Doordarshan should spend some money on importing modern equipment for making the picture brighter and livelier, which will motivate more people to tune in to Doordarshan International.
Harjap Singh Aujla |
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Nawab Akbar Bugti — Whose body was finally buried at Dera Bugti? A shroud of mystery surrounds the manner in which the Dera Bugti administration on September one quickly buried a wooden, padlocked coffin said to contain the body of Nawab Akbar Bugti in the ancestral town of the slain tribal chief once known as the ‘Tiger of Balochistan’. There were only a handful of mourners. The grieving sons of Nawab Bugti, whose body was flown to Dera Bugti from the neighbouring Kohlu, boycotted the funeral which was concluded within minutes amid tight security. The administration refused to show the tribal chief’s face to mourners and newsmen. Dera Bugti District Coordination Officer Abdul Samad Lasi said: “The body of Nawab Bugti has decomposed a lot and it cannot be shown to media and mourners.” He said the Imam of Dera Bugti’s main mosque, Maulana Malook Bugti, had seen the corpse and confirmed that it was indeed Nawab Bugti’s body. But when asked Maulana Malook about the identity of the body, he refused to make a comment and said such questions should be put to the district coordination officer. The Dera Bugti DCO said while Nawab Bugti’s face and legs were unharmed, the torso had been crushed by a heavy boulder. He showed Nawab Bugti’s gold-rimmed spectacles, Rolex watch and wallet to newsmen. He said the wallet contained Rs15, 000. These events were reminiscent of the 1979 burial of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto whose funeral was also held in the absence of his family members and his body was identified by the Imam of a Garhi Khuda Bux mosque. The media persons commented wryly that the watch and the glasses had escaped without a scratch from the heavy explosion that brought down the mountain cave which was supposed to be Nawab Bugti’s last sanctuary. A visibly incensed Jamil Bugti, one of three surviving sons of Nawab Bugti, told newsmen in Quetta that the military had used chemical weapons to kill his father. “The chemical weapons used in the military attack left my father’s body in such a state of impairment that it can no longer be shown to the media. This explains the government’s refusal to hand over the body to Nawab Bugti’s immediate family,” he said. He demanded that an independent team of doctors should examine the body buried on Friday and determine if it was indeed Nawab Bugti’s and what the cause of his death was. He reiterated the family’s demand that the body be handed over to them. “We don’t know whose body they have buried in Dera Bugti today,” he said. Nawab Bugti’s grave is close to the graves of his father Sardar Mehrab Khan Bugti and his son Nawabzada Saleem Akbar Bugti. |
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THE
bigoted mindset of the right wing Bhartiya Janata Party is full display
these days. It had been trying hard either to communalize cultural issues by
attacking artists and their creations or showing its intolerance towards any
dissent. These are indeed the signs of not only perverted mindset but also
extremely intolerant fascist tendency to attack poets, painters and artists.
The latest to come under attack is the late Punjabi poet Paash who was
killed by the Khalistani militants in Punjab when they found him opposing
through his writings not only in Punjab but in Europe too.