M A I L B A G

The caste divide at Talhan

I read with great interest “All in the name of Almighty, the caste divide at Talhan” by A.J. Philip (June 16). I was surprised to see my name mentioned in said article.

I would agree with you that the caste divide at Talhan, home of the revered Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh, is causing some issues at this time. Caste is something that has been created by us humans. It was not created by God. At Talhan, caste is not supposed to matter. Everyone is equal and is to be treated equally — whether it’s Jat, Dalit or anyone else. Unfortunately, A.J. Philip’s article does not reject this reality.

All holy places teach us that service is most important, not caste. If one enters a holy temple with service in mind and in heart, they should be welcomed happily by the committed members.

I would like to tell you about Talhan through my eyes and my family’s eyes having believed and frequented it since the young age of 10. My earliest memories of frequenting Talhan Sahib harken back to the days when we only had a cycle. Every Sunday, our whole family would travel from Jalandhar to Jalandhar Cantt via train. From there we would then walk to Talhan — when there were no roads, and it was just farm land. At that time some 40 years ago, there was only one small prayer room (Samadh). Additionally, there was only one well from which every person drank. This well still remains, though it is now accessed through a modern water pumping system.

Rana Amarjit Singh, Sharjah, UAE

Jhubal brothers

Regarding the writeup of Prabhjot Singh on Dr Parkash Kaur’s contribution to the introduction of Punjabi "How Punjabi became the official language" (June 13), I would like to point out that S. Amar Singh Jhubal, the great Gandhian freedom fighter and stalwart of Akali movement, was her father-in-law, and not the father. He was also the founder of the Shiromani Akali Dal and had nominated his younger brother S. Sarmukh Singh Jhubal as its first president.

It might be news for many that the original leaders of Gurdwara Sudhar or Akali Movement were all Congressmen, including Sardar Kharak Singh, Giani Kartar Singh, and Master Tara Singh.

Bhai Aridaman Singh Jhubal, the Amritsar based elder son of Dr Parkash Kaur, is writing the history of Jhubal brothers and Akali movement and has read a few papers in Punjab History Conference throwing new light on the Akali movement. His wife, Dr Jaswinder Kaur Dhillon, a senior Professor of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, had written a couple of beautiful articles in their journal of Sikh Studies in 1988-89 on Dr Parkash Kaur’s contribution to Punjabi, including her full speech, revealing the lukewarm response of Giani Kartar Singh, Master Tara Singh, Dr Jodh Singh and even Partap Singh Kairon.

Dr Parkash Kaur’s daughter Hariveen Kaur Nain, a well-known sculptress and golfer is settled in Chandigarh. Her husband, an IAS officer of J&K cadre, himself a keen golfer, was the Principal Secretary to Dr Farooq Abdullah. Completely selfless and upright contribution and sacrifices of the Jhubal family to Punjab politics and freedom struggle are rare and unique. They suffered long imprisonments and repeated property attachments at the hands of the British, but did not even accept the Tamra Pattra in return.

Harbhajan Singh Sran, Chandigarh

Futile visit

Neither Mr L.K. Advani was required to have gone to the US and spend 10 days there to tell them that India can take on Pakistan of its own to combat terrorism being faced by this country for the past 17 years nor to learn from the US that because the Iraqis need us now we should send our troops there so that the US troops can be pulled back to save them from the snipers’ gunshots.

Iraqis have been truly friendly to India. They need a friendly army like ours. Sending troops there at US asking would be giving credence to the unilateral actions of the lone super power defying the UN to dethrone a secular Muslim regime in the Persian Gulf. Hasn’t the US failed to unearth the WMDs in Iraq? After such a long lapse of time if at all the WMDs are shown to be found in Iraq then it will be strongly argued that these were planted by the US/UK combine later.

The Iraqis might get hurt for us not taking our actions in their interest independently. Indian and the Asian strength now lies in a concerted action with Russia and China. The Prime Minister is going to China. It can be deliberated with the Chinese. They had earlier pressurised Nawaz Sharif to withdraw troops from the Kargil heights thus tacitly agreeing to the viability of the LoC in J&K as de jure border between India and Pakistan. This was extremely positive shift of the Chinese with respect to their Indo-Pak relations. The Chinese supreme leadership was very positive recently at St. Petersburg about possibility of improved Sino-Indian relations.

The US/UK attack on Iraq was bitterly opposed by France, Germany and Russia. India had also followed suit. Indian action in Iraq in concert with Russia and China must not come in the way of newly found friendship between the two greatest democracies of the world as has been vouchsafed by the outgoing US Ambassador Blackwill.

Subhash Baru, Kaluchak, Jammu Tawi