 |
| Friday,
April 13, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
|
“Kharkoo” in the
net Where is Indian
intelligence? |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
by Hari Jaisingh
Import
liberalisation process
Scientists
find a way to turn fat into bone
The
“gracious gesture” and the grim warning Strength
of Sikhs in Iran falling
|
|
“Kharkoo” in the net WASSAN
SINGH Zaffarwal is a faded memory, but a very painful memory. Many have forgotten him simply because remembering him means reliving the terror days of the Khalistan movement when fear reigned and bloodletting was routine. Next only to Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Wassan Singh symbolised the uncompromising militant stream of the movement which sucked in hundreds of innocent youngsters, including girls, fielding them to kill and terrorise but also sending them to their graves. It was all so horrible, so futile and after nearly a decade it also looks so flawed. That is the message of Zaffarwal’s arrest on Wednesday at Amritsar. It is immaterial whether he gave himself up to the police or the latter spotted him and took him into custody. The former member of the Panthic Committee which proclaimed Khalistan in 1986, and the chief of the dreaded Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) had become a mere shadow, wasting his energies in Switzerland and nursing his frustration against former colleagues and mentors. There is a limit to consoling oneself by chewing the past and reshaping it. Zaffarwal has obviously reached this futile point and his quiet return proves it. He has not come to rebuild his future but live down his past. He cannot do that; the future is a dream and one can rearrange it in a hundred different ways every day. But the past is a burden and grows heavier with every attempt to reinvent it. Zaffarwal spent several years in Pakistan. Initially he was planning “attacks” which also meant killing. But after the 1992 Assembly election, a tainted exercise in itself, the Khalistan movement or what remained of it, lost steam and Pakistan lost interest in men like Zaffarwal. That country was not interested in the rights or welfare of the Punjabis but in settling score for the loss of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. When that possibility disappeared Zaffarwal and Co became dispensable. From that moment on they lived as prisoners, tolerated as museum pieces to be dusted off and deployed when Sikh pilgrims came visiting. It was ludicrous but inevitable given the harsh ground reality. Zaffarwal first came to grips with truth when he migrated to Europe and has done so again and has returned. The rumours of his willingness to surrender stem from and fit in with these known facts. It seems to be the season of defeated militants returning home. Satnam Singh Paonta Sahib and Hashmi Qureshi are back. And now Zaffarwal. If the few still lingering on in Pakistan and elsewhere correctly read the writing on the wall, they will come back to their families. They should remember that they lost not because they did not fight but because the cause was
unwinnable. |
|
Where is Indian intelligence? THE
crude bomb found in a parking lot near North Block in Delhi has again exposed the inefficiency of the intelligence agencies. The improvised explosive device was placed inside a lunch box. The presence of mind of the personal assistant to the Union Minister of State for Finance saved quite a few heads from rolling. He was the one who noticed the unclaimed lunch box on his scooter and alerted the policemen on duty. The device failed to explode because of weak batteries. It was literally a close shave. The personal assistant might not have had anything to report had the unidentified culprits used fresh batteries for exploding the device. Keeping in mind the enormity of the failed attempt to blow up North Block, which falls in the high security zone of the national capital, heads must still
roll. The nation is spending mind-boggling amounts of money on improving the intelligence-gathering and the security apparatus. The argument that the terrorists have the element of surprise on their side will not do. If they did not have this advantage, there would be no need for the nation to spend money on intelligence-gathering. The recent string of failures of the intelligence agencies in providing timely inputs to the security outfits began with unnoticed intrusion of Pakistani troops into the Indian territory in Kargil. The country had to pay a heavy price in terms of the loss of officers and jawans in the avoidable action for reclaiming the militarily sensitive positions in Kargil. The North Block episode is not the first of its kind after Pakistan stepped up the scale of cross-border terrorism in India. ISI agents have spread across the length and breadth of the country. Indian intelligence got to know about their strong presence in Coimbatore only after they successfully exploded a powerful device on the eve of Home Minister L. K. Advani’s visit to the city. The Red Fort in Delhi too is a high security zone. Yet the Lashkar-e-Toiba activists managed to sneak past the security personnel at the Red Fort last year. The resultant shootout did little to improve the image of the intelligence and security agencies. One of the militants allegedly involved in the Red Fort incident was shot dead in Srinagar in December. The Red Fort fiasco was doubly disturbing because fort houses units of the Army. Although no militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the North Block episode, the needle of suspicion would inevitably point in the direction of the outfits supported by the Pakistani military establishment. The only way the security and intelligence agencies can defeat Pakistan’s objective of destabilising India is to show the kind of commitment the militants continue to display for reaching their targets. |
|
Exploring
new way-outs in Kashmir WHITHER Kashmir? The problem has been with us for the past 53 years and no one has yet provided a reasonable answer to this question. This, in a way, sums up the tragedy of the state. There are wheels within wheels, mainly driven by remote control, presumably in the hands of the ISI, foreign mercenaries, jehadis and innumerable vested interests. They all swear by people. Still, the people's will has been as elusive as ever. Caught literally in the crossfire, the will of the Kashmiris happens to be hijacked by one group or the other by the hour. In the circumstances, the mood and responses of the people keep changing frequently. Herein lies the real challenge to the Indian authorities. They have been constantly in the chasing game of crisis management for the past five decades or so with a basket of ad hoc ideas and incoherent and inadequate response mechanism that can hardly help strengthen the traditional bonds of the state with the rest of the country. Kashmir's is a saga of a series of blunders committed right from the days of Jawaharlal Nehru and after him by those from Indira Gandhi to Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. These blunders exposed numerous flaws in thinking and actions of Indian leaders. In the first place, there has been no consistency in Indian policies and postures pursued from 1947 onward. Two, policies evolved and pursued from time to time have lacked clarity and thrust to achieve the desired results. Three, New Delhi has never been sure of its goals and targets and their priorities which are essential for operational purposes on a sustained basis. Four, South Block has been found lacking in coordinated efforts to convey the right message to the right quarters at home and abroad. Five, since Kashmir is a hotbed of international intrigue, not enough efforts have ever been put in to evolve a viable policy taking into account the volatile internal and external factors at play. Global factors have to be countered globally. It is only now that the terrorism is being highlighted at international fora. Still, follow-up action has been far from effective. In any case, goody-goody diplomacy is a poor substitute for a well-focused diplomatic drive. This is where Pakistan has, more often than not, scored over us. Six, we have not tackled the problem in a larger global perspective in which interests of the USA, Russia, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other Islamic countries have got inter-mixed. This is not a simple matter of peace and secularism. At work is a strong geopolitical factor which has to be effectively handled. Mr Vajpayee's Iran visit this week and the Teheran Declaration are significant developments in this context. Seven, we have often overlooked certain sub-regional realities. Ladakh is not the valley. Jammu is free of the politics pursued by various interest groups operating in the valley. Then there are the Gujjars and Shias. Each religious and ethnic group has different perceptions and aspirations. However, the valley politicians have been calling the shots for the entire state. A shrewd pragmatic approach to men, matters and issues could have thrown up new options to our advantage. As it is, some pro-India political groups state that the government has not set any agenda or terms of reference for the proposed talks. They are not sure whether the people's representatives in Jammu and Ladakh would get due representation or not. Eight, except on a few occasions we have not allowed the democratic forces to have a natural growth, especially at election time. A free play of political forces would have possibly made a difference to the growth of the polity. The official approach has mainly been dynasty-oriented. So non-dynasty forces could never flourish through the ballot boxes. I personally believe that a number of persons belonging to the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and other groups would have taken different paths had they got a chance to come to power in a democratic way. To say this is not to decry the role played by Sheikh Abdullah and Dr Farooq Abdullah in the evolution of politics in the state. I always maintain that the present Chief Minister is the best bet for India. He has shown both guts and courage to stand against Pakistani forces and call a spade a spade. All the same, we would have served Kashmir better by allowing a free play of the democratic forces as is true of the other states in the country. Nine, poor housekeeping has been a major cause of alienation in the people of Kashmir. No policy could succeed unless the politico-administrative structure in the state is responsive, people-friendly and development-oriented. The lack of development, unemployment and the poor quality of essential services have all contributed to the rise of terrorism in the state. Ten, during the past 53 years or so, we missed several opportunities to clinch the issue. It happened in 1948 when we could have easily thrown out the Pakistani intruders from the rest of the state. Again, we developed cold feet in the wake of signing the Simla Agreement and did not take things to the logical conclusions. Democracy requires both tact and ruthlessness. We are bound to get stuck if we do soft-pedaling in a slippery arena. We are often guided more by emotions than pragmatism in the pursuit of our policies vis-a-vis Pakistan. In the post-Kargil situation we seem to be still groping in the dark, notwithstanding the fact that Prime Minister Vajpayee is sincere and serious about defusing the explosive situation in Kashmir. He would love to go down in history as a pace-maker and peace-maker in the sub-continent. Of course, the starting of the political process is a complex and complicated exercise in today's terrorism-infested atmosphere. The fear of the gun, which is all too overpowering, has virtually silenced the saner elements among the Kashmiris. Peace is a two-way street. It cannot be established in the absence of a proper response from the military dictator in Islamabad and the militants. Perhaps, the time has come to open a dialogue with General Pervez Musharraf. His response may be more forthcoming in view of Pakistan's harsh socio-economic and political realities. New Delhi will have to cover a lot of ground for the peace process to succeed. It has to integrate its Kashmir policy in the larger framework of Pakistan, the USA and other important members of the global community. It has also to evolve an appropriate response to the various militant groups pursuing different lines. Even the Hurriyat Conference leaders are a divided lot. Syed Ali Shah Geelani is for incorporating of Kashmir with Pakistan. Mr Abdul Gani Lone and Mohd. Yasin Malik are for total independence. Prof Abdul Gani Bhat is for a Switzerland-like status. Maulvi Umar Farooq, Maulvi Abbas Ansari and Sheikh Aziz Ahmed are not yet clear. They oscillate between pro-independence and pro-Pakistan stances. It is not certain if Mr Krishan Chandra Pant will be able to achieve any breakthrough with the militants where others have failed in the past. Pakistan and the militants, who matter in the current situation, have already rejected the peace initiative. Even otherwise, the Hurriyat leaders, rightly or wrongly, doubt the sincerity of the Central Government. Though they are all praise for Mr Vajpayee, they blame some senior BJP leaders and bureaucrats for forcing the Prime Minister to adopt a go-slow tactic in resolving the matters. Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, who was at one stage opposed to talks with the Hurriyat Conference, has become a votary of parleys because he has come to believe that nothing will come out of such parleys at any stage of time. Others, who are considered experts on Kashmir, are of the view that talks with the Hurriyat Conference and half a dozen other separatist groups in the state may not lead to a permanent solution of the problem. If at all talks succeed to some extent, the result may be a Delhi-Hurriyat agreement on the pattern of the Sheikh-Indira accord of 1975 which simply enabled Sheikh Abdullah to resume power after 22 years of political wilderness. An extraordinary situation calls for an extraordinary response. It is time we stopped the infiltration of militants and foreign mercenaries along the LoC. We also need to resume dialogue with Islamabad and force it to stop moral and material support to the rebels. It is equally necessary to persuade the US Administration to play tough with Pakistan and even impose new sanctions to convey the message that support to terrorism does not pay. Those issues ought to be hammered at even while the government embarks on holding parleys with the Hurriyat and other groups. Already Jammu and Ladakh leaders demand their involvement in the talks. We cannot ignore it. Otherwise, it would create an impression that the government listens only to those who wield the gun. The problem with our policy-makers is that they lack vision and political will to work on various complicated issues on the basis of which an agreed solution can be evolved. Of course, one practical possibility is to centre round a solution on the Line of Control (LoC) with give and take. Are we ready for this sort of arrangement? We cannot mark time. It is necessary to take steps which are easy and effective. |
|
Import liberalisation process THE import liberalisation process in India is complete with the announcement of the official import-export policy this year. This is to advance by two years, under a bilateral agreement with the USA, the coming into force of the WTO agreement on lifting of “quantitative”, that is administrative, restrictions, on India’s international trade. The import restrictions have been lifted when the access to markets of the USA and the other developed countries is still denied to exports from India. India has also to face year after year large trade deficits. The balance of payments position is, therefore, weak and vulnerable and it is in no position to go for an import spree. But the NDA government led by Mr A.B. Vajpayee, in its anxiety to improve and enlarge political-strategic relations with the USA, has succumbed to the pressure for the opening of the Indian market for the costly import of capital, services and goods of all kind, including for current consumption. Import liberalisation, to start with, was planned to arrange for supplies of raw materials and technological inputs to improve fuller utilisation of existing industrial capacities in the country. Subsequently, project imports were supposedly to help domestic investment to pick up and also attract foreign capital speedily to build the economic and financial infrastructure. None of these purposes, which were related to the economic growth objective have, however, been realised in practice. The cost of imports has been prohibitive. The investment pattern has tended to be delinked from mass aspirations and needs to satisfy the consumerist cravings of the elite. When, finally, the scope for import liberalisation has been extended directly to all articles of current consumption, it too has been inspired not so much to overcome shortages of essential supplies in the mass market but to cater to the up market of the elite. Import liberalisation has not been designed to promote either economic growth or social equity. The impact of import liberalisation has been so adverse on the domestic corporate industry that entire segments within it have come under the control of transnational corporations (TNCs). With all quantitative restrictions on imports lifted, it is going to be worse for the small-scale industry and agriculture. That domestic agriculture and industry can be protected by the imposition of customs duties is a facile idea. The Indian elite has got into the mood to buy phoren, the high prices of imported goods and services notwithstanding. While the imposition of the customs duty on imports may expose the inefficiency of domestic industry so far as demand of the elite is concerned, it is likely to push up the level of prices in general too and hurt the mass of the people. It is really amusing that a major newsworthy item in the media in this context has been the opening up of the Indian market for import of second hand cars at fancy prices. The government has found the fixing of tariff on old cars a ticklish problem. If the tariff for the import of cars is fixed at a “reasonable” level, there is pressure for reduction of the excise duty on cars produced in India. There is, therefore, opposition to the import of cars even though the cars produced in India still have a high import content. The idea of enlarging the local content of all consumer durables manufactured in India is bound to become invalid and will have to be given up after their free import. When the Commerce and Industry Minister assures that the domestic industry and agriculture would be protected and that India will not be a “dumping ground for junk” he is only being facetious. The talk of setting up a “war room” to stem a surge in imports to hit domestic industry and agriculture is quixotic when doors have been opened wide for imports. It is obvious that once everything can be imported, reservation of any item for the domestic industry, small or big will become impossible. The restructuring of the small-scale industry with foreign investment for stepping up value added exports has ceased to be meaningful. On the side of export promotion, official policy has become casual. Fiscal incentives to exporters have been continued and even enlarged. But export growth on a steady and sustainable basis is not possible when domestic investment is not picking up and the corporate industry is not generating surpluses for competitive exports. The concept of export led growth seems to have lost its appeal for policy makers and import liberalisation rather than import substitution is being relied upon by them to arrange supplies for the domestic market to meet consumption as well as production and investment requirements of the elite. The advantage of low labour costs in India for Indian industry to withstand competition of imports or generate export surpluses can be realised only if Indian industry is based on technologies and capital goods adapted and developed by indigenous research and development skills. Foreign business interests will enjoy vast opportunities for direct exports of their goods and services to maximise their profits rather than make risky investments for their production in India. TNCs and their local collaborators in India will tend to enlarge their trading rather than manufacturing activity. They may also operate as trading houses to canalise exports of agricultural commodities, handicrafts, and labour intensive production to add to their profits. The premise that the government would take effective steps to provide protection to Indian industry and agriculture from unfair foreign competition has become a hoax. The export import policy in tune with the economic liberalisation-globalisation objectives is serving brazenly the interests of foreign and Indian trading monopolies. It is putting indigenous manufacturing increasingly in an invidious position that cripples the ability to produce and sell goods at competitive prices even in the domestic, let alone the foreign markets. It is indeed funny that import of goods for sale in the domestic market has still been offered as an incentive for production in India for export purposes. The decision to convert export promotion zones into free trade zones too is a cause for misgivings. Economic activity in these zones would be engaged in trading without subject to export obligations. It will be located outside the Indian custom territory. But the sale of goods and services under this dispensation will extend to the entire domestic market. The free trade zones are bound to be enclaves of business interests. Indian and foreign, enjoying special rights and privileges sans any obligation, economic, social or political. The liberalisation of the trade in services too is a cause of concern. Selected services like the computer software and medical and educational services are being extended special incentives, which supposedly give India a comparative advantage because of its large skilled manpower. But the global trade in services is under the stranglehold of the TNCs which account for 70% of this trade. The receipts of the USA from royalties and license fee in the trade in services alone was of the order of 30 billion dollars in 1997. The developed countries have secured “free mobility” of capital. But mobility of labour is strictly regulated by them. The hiring of the services of cheap skilled personnel in the developing countries including India by the TNCs is extremely exploitative not only in economic terms but also social, cultural and political terms. |
Scientists
find a way to turn fat into bone American scientists report today on Tuesday that they have found a way to turn human fat into bone, muscle and cartilage for transplant surgery. The scientists took stem cells — the keys to the body’s ability to renew itself — from fat supplied by liposuction, and turned them into three other types of cell, they report in the journal Tissue Engineering. Stem cells from bone marrow have already been used to treat leukaemia. Ten days ago, two separate teams in New York reported that they used bone marrow stem cells to repair heart damage in rats and mice. In February, Florida University reported that stem cells from umbilical cord blood could restore brains damaged by stroke - once again in rats. A British biotech company is preparing to treat stroke-damaged victims with injections of human foetal stem cells. But adult bone marrow and nerve stem cells are difficult to collect. Fat is more available. Obesity in the USA is reaching epidemic proportions. In 1998, American women spent $ 607 million on liposuction operations. ``Fat is perhaps the ideal source. There’s plenty of it. It’s easy and inexpensive to obtain. It even has a secondary cosmetic benefit,’’ said Marc Hedrick of the University of Los Angeles school of medicine. ``Our findings show that fat is not the tissue we once thought. Just as the industrial revolution transformed oil from trash to treasure, our research shows that unwanted human fat is actually a vigorous tissue with a tremendous potential for good.’’ Stem cells are the agents that turn a tiny embryo into a collection of 100 trillion cells of 300 different kinds in just nine months. In January, after nearly two years of debate, Britain’s parliament permitted embryo stem cells not needed for fertility treatments to be used for research in the UK into diseases. But campaigners said that embryo research might not be necessary. They argued that stem cells harvested from adults might be used to reverse neurodegenative diseases and eventually treat heart conditions and other illnesses. The catch is to learn how to
"reprogramme’’ an adult stem cell to become something else. Guardian Children
are like ice-cream Studies show that pressures of work and economic constraints are forcing Australians to leave small children locked in cars leading, in some cases, to their death. A single mother admitted that she regularly left her three-year-old son in the car for up to four hours while working because she couldn’t afford childcare. Increasing brutalisation and violence among school children is another issue of concern in Australia. Driving home the message of the risks involved, Minister for Community Services Faye Lo Po says: “Just as one would not leave an icecream on the back seat, you should never leave your child unattended in a car.”
WFS |
|
The “gracious gesture” and
the grim warning MR
JASWANT Singh is overwhelmed by the “gracious gesture” of President Bush. Was he conscious that he was representing India? No one can be “gracious” to us. We are not “inferior”. We are a proud nation. The expression is feudal, monarchical. America does not want to make India an enemy. But it is also not eager to make India a friend. More often, we have been at each other. But whenever there was a crisis in relations, some “gestures” would be enough to defuse the tension. And that is all what the ruling class in this country wanted. America understood this weakness of India and exploited it to the hilt. The visit of President Clinton to India last year at the fag end of his presidency was one such exercise. He won over the middle class. And yet he gave us years of tension by encouraging the insurgency in Punjab and Kashmir. And the surprise meeting between Bush and Jaswant Singh is a similar gesture. Bush seems to say: everything is fine. But they are not. Even the sanctions are still there. There is much talk today in the USA of the need to have strategic relations with India. This is because China continues to assert its independence and challenge US policies. It is said that India should be cultivated as a counterweight to China. What do we get out of it? That is what we want to know. And where is the certainty that the USA will not change tack midstream? That will leave India to face the consequences alone. Today, there are more people in this country ready to toe the US line. This is because of the process of globalisation. This was not the case when India became independent. Then we chose to remain nonaligned. Today that option is not open to us. We are expected to play a major role in the world. But as a satellite of America! We are a confused people. The point is: we cannot pursue a noble goal in concert with America, for its own goal is to dominate the world. So, in the concert of nations for the pursuit of ideals, we must find friends and allies imbued by the same ideals. And our relation with America must be based on reciprocity and mutual benefit. Is that how we look at America? America wants to be in Asia for two reasons: (1) to promote its economic interests. (About 45 per cent of US exports used to go to South-East Asia before the Asian crisis), and (2) to ensure its security. The US presence has helped Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, as also the South-East Asian nations. They have had to spend little on their security. True, today they all allocate substantial amounts. That is because the US aim is to reduce its commitments in the region. But Clinton’s plan to make China a “strategic partner” — a junior hegemony — threw a spanner in the works. It raised questions about the seriousness of US commitments to their security. The nations of the region are no more sure of their security against an increasingly assertive China. Which is why Japan was thinking of an independent approach to its security. This would have created problems for both the USA and China. Both of them are not in favour of a military upsurge in Japan. But can Japan revert to its militarism? It cannot. It has huge investments in both China and South-East Asia. It will not want to damage its interests. Which is why the US nuclear umbrella is still a welcome thing in the region. But Japan continues to revolt against its status as a giant in the economic field and a pygmy in the political field. With the coming to power of the Republicans, Japan has resumed its importance in the American scheme of things. And, to that extent, the role of China has been reduced. Obviously, India cannot accept similar security arrangements with the USA. It cannot compromise its independence in foreign and economic policies. But the USA knows that a strong and stable India will contribute to peace and stability in the region and thus reduce its own responsibility. To what extent is the USA willing to back India? Does it want to see India as a great power and as a permanent member of the UN Security Council? On these one has doubts. The USA has always been for hegemony, for a unipolar world. Its opponents are naturally in favour of multipolar world. Only recently the Heritage Foundation of America advised the Bush Administration not to provide technology that could improve India’s ballistic missile programme. Does it mean that India should remain defenceless against Pakistan and China? That is why one can never trust the United States. On the economic front, too, South-East Asia is heavily dependent on the USA and Japan, especially for exports. But both the USA and Japan are hit by recession. Only China continues to be in the growth mode. But it is a competitor Chinese goods, low priced and of good quality, are “flooding” the world markets. More so, in South-East Asia. Today Chinese textiles and high value electronic goods are threatening the nascent industries of South-East Asia. The spy plane episode has come handy to China to push the Bush regime to the defensive. It wants to take an offensive stance. The idea is to exact concessions from the USA. But the game may be counter-productive. It is more likely that Bush may go on the offensive in order to force China to accept his policies, particularly his plan for a theatre missile defence of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Taiwan was not a matter of high priority to Clinton. China was. This explains why Clinton did not supply advanced weapons to Taiwan. Taiwan expects that Bush will remedy the neglect. This will create a crisis in US-China relations. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has recommended the arming of Taiwan. The USA has said that all disputes between China and Taiwan must be solved peacefully and that the final solution must be agreeable to the Taiwanese people. In other words, it challenges China’s suzerainty over Taiwan. Obviously, with the Republicans in the Oval Office, tensions with China are bound to grow. Any effort on the part of Bush to disturb the strategic balance in Asia by introducing theatre missile defence will create great problems for India, for China will also build a theatre missile shield. This will initiate at least a minor arms race between India and China and will impose on India an unacceptable economic burden. The USA has no formal diplomatic relation with Taiwan after having accepted the “one China” policy, but its domestic legislation, mainly the Taiwan Relations Act, commits Washington to supply the island with weapons. Beijing opposes this role. Now that the USA has plans to provide an anti-missile defence system, which will degrade the Chinese missiles, Beijing is in an ugly mood. But in the final analysis, Beijing will not precipitate matters by invading Taiwan. The build-up of tension between the mainland and the island of Taiwan has brought up a new crisis in US-China relations. And yet Beijing cannot push this crisis beyond a point, for it stands to lose much. |
|
Strength
of Sikhs in Iran falling Teheran: The resident Indian community in this country predominantly comprises Sikh families, mostly in business, who have faced the vicissitudes of the Iranian Revolution of 1979 with an element of stoic realism. The strength of this industrious community, most of its members hailing from Rawalpindi in undivided India, has dwindled over the years due to a combination of factors, including the problems of continuing with their vocation. There are now only about a 100-odd families in this sprawling capital of 13 million persons, ringed by snow-capped hills, who have kept their moorings with relatives and friends in Amritsar, Chandigarh, New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. They are mostly people of second or third generation, having been born in this country after their forefathers first came here via Quetta to Zahedon between 1918 and 1930, a small hamlet on Iran’s border with Pakistan. Some of their peers had served in the British Indian Army and in the course of duty had travelled to Iran and made it their home ultimately. Only a miniscule part of the Sikh community has taken Iranian citizenship though the majority of them retain Indian passports. The community has its share of niggling irritants as they have to cough up a hefty sum of money every month per individual in the family for being able to pursue their avocation. This, despite the fact that for all practical purposes they are Iranians but continue to hold Indian passports. Amarjit Singh Chaddha, 72, who heads a commercial company of his own, regrets that Indian leaders give a patient hearing to their woes whenever they are in Teheran, but when they return home these problems are conveniently forgotten. “We have submitted any number of memoranda to the Ministers with absolutely no follow-up with the Iranian authorities. Our only source of help is the Indian Embassy here”. “Most of the members of the Sikh community are in trading, imports and exports”, Darshan Sawhney, 68, said. He has opted for Iranian citizenship and had applied for it during the deposed Shah’s regime. The sprightly Mr Sawhney, running a popular Indian restaurant and a hotel, stresses that life is by and large comfortable, barring the small irritants. His parents originally hailed from Amritsar. He and others explained that they have been able to surmount some of the problems of post-revolution Iran, thanks to their rapport and proximity to Iranians. All of them speak fluent Farsi (Persian) and are highly popular among the fiesty and friendly Iranians. They acknowledge that things have changed for the better under the reformist Iranian President Seyed Mohammad Khatami. They are, however, keeping a close tab on the crucial upcoming elections in Iran, scheduled to be held in June. Juggu Sawhney, whose wife hails from Burdwan in West Bengal, and runs his own transmission company, says the Sikh community here is not alienated culturally. It has one of the biggest gurdwaras in this region and everyone is eagerly looking forward to the Baisakhi festivities on Friday. The Indian community runs its own school, where Gurmukhi is taught by the granthi of the gurdwara, which is more than 40 years old. The granthi is invariably brought from New Delhi on a contract for a period of three to five years. Mr Sawhney informed that granthis coming from India keenly look out for greener pastures despite all facilities. The previous granthi of the gurdwara zipped off to Manila in The Philippines when the Sikh community in that country offered him a lucrative package. Overall, the law-abiding but small and robust Sikh community in this country enjoys considerable influence with Iranians. Interestingly, the Iranian ambassador in India has a host of childhood friends among the Sikhs, having grown up with them in his younger days in Teheran. |
|
When the bough adorns itself anew, The wife awaits her Lord; Her eyes fixed on the door, ‘Come my love’ Come have compassion for me, Thou my love alone can help me cross. The turbulent waters of life; Come home. Without Thee I am as worthless as a shell, Cast Thou Thine eyes upon me. O who can make me worthy of Thee? Who can make me win Thy love? Who has seen my Love? Who can show Him to me?’ Spake the Guru; Thou hast not far to go for the Lord, Know him within thee, Thou art his mansion. If thy body and soul Yearn for the Lord, The Lord shall love Thee; And Vaisakh appears beautiful; If thy mind is imbued with the Lord In Vaisakh — You will meet the Lord you love. — Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Baramaha Tukhari **** By observing the fast of taking food only once, daily in the month of Vaisakh, one could acquire prominence among kinsmen and people of one’s caste. — The Mahabharata, Anushasan Parva, chapter 106 **** Hatred (some people argue) cannot be turned into love. Those who believed in violence will naturally use it by saying, “Kill you enemy, injure him and his property wherever you can, whether openly or secretly as necessity requires”. The result would be deeper hatred and counter hatred and vengeance let loose on both sides. —Mahatma Gandhi, Autobiography; Harijan, February 24, 1946.. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
