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| Wednesday,
July 25, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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A simple and honest answer An avoidable tragedy Ouster in disgrace
Before and after Indo-Pak summit |
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Travails of a neighbour
British media racist, say
Asians
How 1919 Punjab rebellion was
suppressed
Feud may be brewing in Jackson family
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A simple and honest answer PRIME
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee fielded himself to respond to General Musharraf's some misplaced observations at his press conference in Islamabad late last week. His statement in Parliament on Tuesday was
simple, straight-forward and all-embracing unlike the General's one-point obsession. A close analysis, in fact, brings out a lot. Much of what Mr Vajpayee told the MPs is in the realm of public knowledge like the several concessions India made and the several demands it raised. If the overall focus of the General's stand was on the centrality of the Kashmir issue, that of the Prime Minister was on cross-border terrorism. His brief statement was silent on the Kashmir issue, indicating that at Agra this country was ready to respond to some of Pakistan's points. But the guests were adamant that a solution to the Kashmir issue was the necessary first step before other issues could be taken up. But India was and is rightly keen to link this point with Pakistan's export of mercenaries and their depredation in the valley, including the attack on the Amarnath pilgrims and the killings of innocent civilians. Mr Vajpayee came close to confirming that it was this insistence and Pakistan's rigid refusal to concede it that scuttled the summit. Still, there are two positive pointers. External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh will be travelling to Islamabad to continue the dialogue process. The Prime Minister himself will do the same, probably not this year but early in 2002. This shows that Agra has not closed the talks route even if it has not become a milestone. The Prime Minister gave himself two tasks. One, Indians should be reassured that the basic interests of the country were not about to be bartered away at Agra. In other words, the country can live with a stalled summit but not with unholy compromises. Two, he was telling Pakistan that its verbal jugglery about cross-border terrorism will not deflect this country from stopping or neutralising the marauders. He stressed this in two different sentences. The terrorists are no freedom fighters; they are mercenaries, plain and simple. And again India has the strength and stamina to stamp out this menace. It is a widely known fact that the Pakistan army can stop infiltration of the so-called jehadis based in that country if the government orders it to do so. The real clue to the government's thinking came in another formulation. Mr Vajpayee readily conceded that the wishes of the Kashmiris need to be taken into account. And then he knocked out the Pakistani case by pointing out that the valley people, those in Jammu, Ladakh and in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) very much want to live in peace. And it is no secret that it is the Pakistani establishment which is denying the Kashmiris this elementary right. India's fact-sheet on Kashmir speaks for itself. |
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An avoidable tragedy THE
road mishap which claimed the lives of over 50 pilgrims near Ropar on Monday should be included in the list of avoidable accidents. In fact, most accidents in India are the result of indifference to and ignorance about the basic elements of safety. In Dabwali in Haryana over 400 persons, mostly school children, were roasted alive about five years ago inside the pandal made of highly inflammable material. As a knee-jerk reaction orders were issued to "tent houses" to use only non-inflammable material for making shamianas and pandals. A surprise check across the country would show that most "tent houses" continue to put human lives to avoidable risks by using dangerous material for maximising profits. The Gujarat earthquake exposed the evil face of the powerful builders' lobby that in connivance with the authorities had used sub-standard building material. Monday's road mishap near Ropar was the result of two basic safety features being ignored by the pilgrims and road safety experts. The pilgrims were travelling in a truck which lost control and fell into the Anandpur Sahib hydel canal near Kirtarpur. Of course, it was not the first truck which was carrying passengers instead of goods. They are used in flagrant violation of the road safety rules by just about everyone for carrying pilgrims, marriage parties and hired crowd for rallies and bandhs. Tractor trolleys too are a standard mode of transport in semi-urban areas although it is illegal. Had the pilgrims been travelling by a regular passenger bus the accident may still have taken place because the stretch where the truck fell into the canal is an accident-prone zone. But the next of kin of those killed in the mishap would have been legally entitled to claim compensation had the pilgrims used a regular passenger bus. Keeping in mind the massive increase in the volume of road traffic in post-liberalisation India the surface transport ministry should set up a federal road safety authority without further loss of time. The authority should have the power to take penal action against the agencies responsible for ensuring compliance of the road safety rules. As it is, India is among the countries which have an alarmingly high rate of fatal road accidents. And the accident graph after the flooding of the roads with all manner of passenger and good transport vehicles has continued to climb up. Every inch of road space has now more potential to kill or maim road-users than ever before. Apart from setting up a road safety authority the surface transport ministry should also revamp the system of registration of vehicles and the issuance of driving licences. Both are faulty because of which unsafe vehicles and equally unsafe drivers outnumber those who should have the right of way on any road in the country. In the global village inviting foreign experts for making us safe road-users should be counted as a wise investment in a worthy project. |
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Ouster in disgrace IN
October, 1999, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid was sworn in as Indonesia's first democratically elected President with much fanfare and tremendous public enthusiasm. In these 21 months the frail and half-blind Muslim cleric managed to squander away the public adulation thanks to his incompetence and corruption, so much so that on his ouster, none except a handful of his supporters is shedding tears. In fact, his removal is being seen by a vast majority as good riddance. The way he tried to stave off his impeachment by issuing a pre-dawn decree disbanding both Houses of Parliament made him all the more unpopular. The decree was rejected not only by the members of the supreme People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) but also by the army, the police and the Supreme Court. He had been warning that his ouster would lead to immediate secession of six restive provinces, but nothing of that sort has happened. The way he remained in occupation of the presidential palace made a pathetic sight, although the latest indications are that he will finally bow out. The last few months of his rule saw him bumbling from one ill-advised move to another. The annoyance of the army and the police did him in. He offered the post of the head of the armed forces to two Generals - one from the army and the other from the air force, but both declined. Mr Wahid has been replaced by Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who lost out to him in the struggle for the presidency in 1999. She has been elevated to a post from which her father was driven out in 1966 by Suharto, an army General who ruled with an iron hand for 32 long and brutal years. Her father too was no benevolent dictator, but whatever excesses he committed seem to have been forgotten and 54-year-old President Megawati (who was reportedly given this name by Biju Patnaik, a former Chief Minister of Orissa who was a close friend of Sukarno and flew him out of Java at Jawaharlal Nehru's bidding) starts with a clean slate and a large reservoir of public sympathy. However, there are widespread apprehensions that she might not be capable of taking firm and decisive steps that are needed to keep the fourth most populous country of the world united together. Recent political happenings have shaken the archipelago. Economy is in dire straits. Faith in democracy has been dwindling. Her close ties with the military are also seen with extreme suspicion. Mr Wahid went because of rampant corruption during his regime. The military too has a long history of corruption, made worse by human rights abuse and interference in politics. The new President will have to tread with extreme caution. |
Before and after Indo-Pak summit A
strong reluctance to call a spade a spade signifies in a nutshell what is wrong with Indian governmental thinking and diplomacy at the very top. That this sustained infirmity in our statecraft has proved demonstrably counter-productive event after seismic event has not deterred our policy-makers. The inexplicable official attitude is fortified by a section of the influential media and our freewheeling intellectuals who pick up the official refrain and dutifully echo it, thus contributing to the making of blunder after blunder in national as well as foreign affairs. The Agra summit is the latest case in point. Notwithstanding the morning-after effort by our articulate Minister of External Affairs to put a PR construction on the much tom-tommed event, the talks were obviously a failure. All thinking Indians and all those who don’t have collateral reasons for calling the summit “a step forward” recognise that the mysteriously bold Indian initiative turned out to be, and quite predictably, an out-and-out damp squib. They won’t admit it but in their heart of hearts the ruling establishment knows this. How else can one explain the official stand within 24 hours of Mr Jaswant Singh’s bravado that the next round of talks would have to take off from Shimla (circa 1972) and Lahore (1999); in other words, Agra will not figure in future India-Pakistan parleys. If this doesn’t convey failure, what else would? Much as I — like millions of ordinary people in India and Pakistan — would like to see peace and friendship between us, the failure of the Agra summit has come as a relief. I may be in a minority to say this, but the fact that there was not even a joint declaration, a la Lahore, let alone an “agreement”, a la Shimla, is a blow for realism. It would have been foolish to succumb to the temptation of another make-believe rapprochement with its fabricate underpinning of entente cordiale. I hope we conveyed to General Musharraf that while we genuinely seek peace, on questions of India’s security and territorial integrity, we will neither bend nor break. Henceforth, we must make it unequivocally clear to Islamabad that they will never be able to realise, and should therefore wake up from, their pipe-dreams on Kashmir, and that, more importantly, if they persist in their bloody mischief they are in for serious countervailing measures by us. But, of course, before we say this to them we have to clear the cobwebs from our own thinking. This brings us to the heart of the failure at Agra. For Pakistan, Kashmir is “disputed territory” and normalisation of relations with India hinges not on the so-called confidence building measures, as India says, but on the resolution of this dispute. Whatever the diplomatic impropriety of General Musharraf’s calculated outburst at his much-criticised breakfast meeting with Indian journalists, I for one doff my cap to his candid articulation of Islamabad’s stand, no matter how untenable it may be. I wish we on our part also did such plain-speaking. Rather than reject the Pakistani claim on the centrality of the Kashmir issue, I wish we would insist that, yes, Kashmir is the core issue — for us. With four wars and a death toll of over 30,000 already in the continuing depredations by the terrorists created and unleashed by Pakistan, how can we, and why do we, seek to underrate the problem — and insist on putting it on a par with other things in the so-called composite agenda? In fact, given the Kashmir situation, I find our insistence on talking about such things as playing cricket with each other and trade and cultural exchanges not only unrealistic but also dubiously and quite unnecessarily diversionary. During the Agra meeting, there was no end to businessmen and economic experts waxing eloquent on Doordarshan on the need to open and step up trade relations between the two countries. In each such discussion, everyone but everyone made it a point to say how increased trade would benefit Pakistan much more than it would India. If this is indeed so, shouldn’t the pressure for this come from Pakistan, rather than from us? As for cultural exchanges, while I am in favour of such activity on the level of individuals and institutions, I fail to see the merit of making a fetish of it at official levels. Particularly jarring in the current state of India-Pakistan relations is the lobbying by vested interests (like the moolah-greedy cricket board) and certain so-called liberal elements in this country for the resumption of cricket matches between the two countries — mostly on the ground that politics should be kept out of sports. This is not only an unmerited compartmentalisation of international relations, it is contrary to what has happened and happens everywhere in this regard. Recall, to cite one of the many examples, the US-Western boycott of the Moscow Olympics, or nearer home, India’s refusal to play Davis Cup tennis with the then apartheid regime in South Africa. This was rightly a matter of high principle for us. Isn’t there more than just principle involved in a situation where, as General Musharraf himself admitted, perhaps unwittingly, “we are daily killing each other”? I am surprised that this comment by the General at the breakfast meeting has not received official and media attention, for this is the first time that Pakistan has admitted at the highest level that Pakistanis are involved in the killings... as much in wars as under camouflage like in Kargil, and indirectly by training, arming and sending across hordes of Afghan and other mercenaries to murder Indians in Kashmir. In the event, it will not do to merely insist on talking about “cross-border terrorism” along with the Kashmir “issue”. The Pak-engineered terrorism is the issue. We know this and yet seem to be apologetic and defensive about it. Why? If this is American “advice”, as it is by all accounts, then let us realise that it will lead us nowhere — as in Agra, as with the repeated and prolonged spells of ceasefire in Kashmir, as with such other moves like talking to secessionist elements there. All this apart from the fact that seeking and accepting such advice has compromised our national self-respect. The solution to Kashmir does not lie in Washington, nor in giving unilateral (and unrequited) concessions to Pakistan, and certainly not in showering extraordinary hospitality on the Pakistani dictator. The solution to Kashmir lies in Kashmir. It lies in going all out and using all means at our command to crush the terrorists, as well as take other measures elsewhere to make it unbearably costly for the mullah-military combine in Pakistan to continue their bloody mischief against this country. If the Agra failure succeeds in making the government resolve to do its own thinking, keep national interests and only national interests in mind, act firmly and purposefully against terrorism — it will eliminate the problem in Kashmir, truly uphold and protect our foundational principle of secularism, and end the uncertainty and misery of the people of Kashmir. Definite signs and signals that we are determined to crush the Pakistani gameplan (in Kashmir and elsewhere in India) is the best insurance against the next summit going the Agra way. The writer is a veteran journalist and commentator. |
Travails of a neighbour THERE is a profusion of literature of the “How to do” variety, on subjects ranging from the commonplace to the splendid and the most esoteric. These recipes could be in the nature of: How to — become a millionaire, negotiate a deal, control the boss, tame the shrew, age gracefully, improve your performance in the bed, and so on. But, it is a pity that the question of choosing one’s neighbour has not received the attention it deserves. For, he is the one individual who has a very great, if not the greatest, influence on a person’s life, with capacity to make or mar his day, and further, to make a mouse of him in his own den. According to G.K. Chesterton: “Your next door neighbour is not just a man; he is a whole environment”. The most upsetting circumstance of neighbourly existence is the “surveillance” you are subjected to. You can never afford to forget that a pair of eyes could be on your trail as you move around the house, for this chore or that, e.g. to get your daily supplies, deal with the stream of salesmen and peddlers, collect the post, cuddle the baby, dry the linen, lie down for siesta, etc. The furtive eyes may still be on you as you impulsively snuggle upto your spouse, or take off your clothes in a moment of unguarded abandon. Perhaps, the neighbour even keeps a vigil on your visitors, as they come and depart. He possibly knows better than you imagine, how of a wintry night, you had staggered back home in an unusually inebriated state. Indeed, the scrutiny he mounts on you can be too intense for comfort. Your neighbour’s rather intimate understanding of you and your affairs may first cause you some surprise. For, he can speak with authority on the discos you visit, the clubs you patronise and the pubs you haunt. He can distinctly recall which month your mother-in-law had made a stormy visit and given you a piece of her mind, how frequently you have altercation with the wife and who it is to have the last word. He can stand witness as to whether or not, besides your regular job, you engage yourself, unofficially, in private coaching, medical practice, property dealing, or any other part time job of an accountant, assistant, consultant, or whatever. If you are a husband of the niggardly or the henpecked variety, take it that the truth is known to the resident across the wall, all your pretensions to the contrary notwithstanding. He is all too familiar with the baldness under your wig, hide it as you may. If you keep pretty company clandestinely, be warned that your secret is known. With chagrin, you come to realise that you can fool the devil, but you cannot fool the neighbour. Further, he may come to borrow, now and then, something or the other — like your favourite author, the lawn mower or your scooter. An incorrigible gentleman that you are, you don’t have the gumption to refuse. For this artlessness, you may have to pay a price. Out of the two options, the one of writing off the loaned articles, is easily exercised. The other, of retrieving them, may require all the reserve of your patience and every ounce of your perseverance. God willing, you may succeed in your efforts. But, regard yourself exceptionally fortunate if your book comes back without smears, the machine in working order, and the scooter without a broken chain or a missing light. After hectic work you deserve some rest, don’t you? But what if, that very moment, your neighbour should take into his head to enjoy a boisterous cricket match on TV? Or, if it happens to be music time for his youngster, or whining session for his dog? The sound is deafening enough; no surprise, your entreaties of mercy and peace themselves fall on deaf ears. Indeed, there is no limit on the ways your neighbour can torment you, nor any predictability about his visitations. He may turn off your tenant; tap your cable TV; hijack the servant; pluck your guavas; rob the lawn of tulips; block the drain; push the sweepings to your side of the pavement. At the oddest of hours he may drop in to have your ear for his poetic compositions, or sympathy for the sufferings at the hands of a chronic gout, a difficult boss, indifferent staff, and an ungrateful world. You may also find that he envies your success, wealth and popularity, and has scant regard for the Biblical injunction: “Thou shall not covet thy neighbour’s wife....nor anything that is thy neighbour’s”. You must, therefore, build fences and, at the same time, learn to take these afflictions in your stride. For, truly speaking, the prescription lies not in choosing your neighbour, (and oftentimes, there may be no choice at all), but in choosing to live with him, as well as possible. One word of explanation. Only the seamy side of a neighbour has been discussed, for that was the compulsion of the title. There is a sunny side, too; but of that, some other time, some other occasion! |
British media racist, say
Asians RACISM is as old as the very existence of the whites. As have they maintained their ancient buildings, architecture, railways, museums, even old trees belonging to the 12th to 15th centuries, so have they continued with racism. Enoch Pauls of the day in England can be seen on television in talk shows, spewing venomous expressions against Asians. In the name of freedom of expression, the pot of racism has been kept boiling. With the result you have pro-Nazi organisations springing up, that view all Asians whose skin is anything other than white as, “Pakis”. This over the years has become a popular abuse often hurled by white youth. Mostly it is the idle, rowdy, unemployed white youth who indulge in racial attacks on Asians. How deep-rooted the hatred against the black skin must be, that it did not prick the conscience of the white young men who beat to death an unsuspecting Rohit Duggal, who was waiting for a bus. While most of the Asian communities have refrained from indulging in counter-violence of that grave intensity, the same cannot be said about Pakistani youth. The latest racial violence at Bradford stands testimony to this statement. Interestingly, the British media in all probability purposely chose to ignore this clear distinction. Racial violence, which had started in Burlley, Oldham and finally at Bradford was without doubt between white youth and Pakistanis. Yet the entire British print as well as the electronic media repeatedly used the expression “rioting Asian youth”. Whether it was the BBC or The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Independent or The Guardian everyone was screaming with headlines like, “Wanton violence by Asian youth”. One wondered why they chose to categorise “Hurriyat”, “Taliban”? Why doesn’t the British media just say, “extremist Muslims”. In response to this view, the argument forwarded is that because they are different organisations. But so are Asians. There are Indians, Japanese, Pakistanis etc who all are Asians. Why were they all being dubbed violent? Many Indians in England like Harish Gupta feel, the “British media is racist when it comes to Asians. Besides, they are toeing the line of their government which would not like to jeopardise its political equations with Pakistan by singling them as the only ones indulging in destructive violence”. At all the three places — Oldham, Burlley and Bradford — the intensity of violence indulged in by the Pakistanis was the highest ever. At Bradford the scene was appalling: 120 police officers were injured, missiles and petrol bombs hurled, two white men were stabbed, pubs, shops and cars were set on fire by Pakistanis. The riots broke when some white youth drinking in a pub used the popular abuse “Pakis”. Obviously the abuse had only sparked the already ticking bomb. The deep-rooted background can be traced to the existence of the National Front, a group of white youth with pro-Nazi attitudes. The NF, which is a far-right organisation, had declared that it would hold a demonstration in Bradford. It was to pre-empt their march that the Pakistanis from Bradford as well as other parts of England had gathered in the city’s Centenary Square to hold an anti-Nazi league demonstration. The West Yorkshire police of Bradford had already warned the NF to stay away from the city. As a result, a majority of the NF members didn’t turn up. However, once the riots broke out, there was no stopping. Pakistani youth fought running battles with white youth. They hurled missiles and petrol bombs on the police and on pubs owned by whites, and even stabbed police horses. The hard-core rioters even threw stones, bricks, rocks, bottles and sledgehammers, which indicated that Pakistani youth had pre-meditated indulging in violence. Bradford has a population of about five lakh people of which 20 per cent are Asians. Of these Asians, 90 per cent are Pakistanis. Reportedly the contribution of Pakistanis to the economy of England is negligible. However, their involvement in criminal acts is much higher quite like West Indies, whose population as per a survey is about one per cent but their population in jails under various crimes is 21 per cent. David Blunkett the Home Secretary, took a serious note of riots. Expressing strong resentment, he said: “I am very keen on strengthening our police force in situations where people believe that they can go on to the streets, indulge in wanton violence and destruction, and get away with it”. The Home Secretary is also considering giving more powers to the police to tackle the rioting mobs. The police will now be provided with water canons to disperse rioting mobs, a step that has never been required so far in England. Interestingly, Blunkett made a statement that there was no evidence of involvement of “outsiders” in Bradford. Of the 36 arrested, all but two whites were very much local. However, Farooq Amin (26) said: “This has been caused by a handful of hooligans, wearing hoods who are not local residents”. But the hooligans were certainly not handful. As per official figures released there were more that 700 Pakistani youth indulging in violence. The police had to call in additional force to tackle them. And the violent scenes were repeated, doubling the intensity of violence. The Bishop of Bradford, the Right Reverend David Smith made an interesting observation. He said: “The BNP (another pro-nazi organisation) and the National Front must be sitting home with a glass of beer saying, “look at that, they (Pakistanis) are doing our job for us”. |
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How 1919 Punjab rebellion was
suppressed THE British imperialists unhesitatingly showed their cruel and ugly face when they imposed martial law on Punjab in April, 1919. The way summary trials took place with people being punished with transportation of life and confiscation of property for simply raising slogans against the British King and the ruler showed the brutal, but also the frightened face. The British even after winning the war were feeling the ground slipping from their feet. Earlier, the Defence of India law, as draconian as the martial law, was in operation due to World War I. The month of April witnessed mass protests in Lahore, Amritsar, and Gujjranwala and in the rural areas of Majha. The British followed with it repression and hundreds of people were killed, maimed, imprisoned or exiled. Interestingly Punjab, which had supplied 2,50,000 combatants and 70,000 non-combatants to help the British Empire fight the war and had been bled white in the words of Lord Hardinge. This sword arm of India had supplied over 50 per cent of the manpower required from India and despite acute poverty since prices during the decade preceding World War I had shot by hundred per cent and unemployment rose very high, it supplied over 25 per cent of the funds fixed arbitrarily on India by the British rulers. The year 1919 also saw the British duplicity at its best. The very Governor of Punjab, Sir Michael O’ Dwyer, who had praised Punjabis at his public appearances in Lahore, Amritsar and Gujjranwala and sung of great Punjabi spirit of sacrifice clamped martial law resulting in untold suffering on the people who had made such sacrifices for the Monarch. In this situation when countrymen began their real war for independence, many journalists were in the forefront. They naturally suffered at the hands of the authorities. The Tribune’s legendary Editor, Mr Kali Nath Roy, was in the forefront. So were others like Partap’s Editor, Lala Radha Krishan, who was sentenced to 18 months rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 500. His fault was that he had published news reports not to the liking of the martial authorities in Punjab. There was one interesting newspaper called “Danda Akhbar” and here are some excerpts from one of its issue: Notice Mr Shaukat Ali ki Jai/Mahatma Gandhi ki Jai. First event-when Mahatma Gandhi arrived at Palwal; the English monkey informed him that his entry into the Punjab was forbidden. And that he should please go back. He replied that he would never go back and then that pig monkey arrested him. Reports of his arrest reached here at once. Second event: When the news reached here in Amritsar, the Danda Fauj of the brave Sikhs set fire to the bank, the railway station and the electric powerhouse. They cut the telegraph lines and the railway lines. The Danda Fauj bravely killed a number of British monkeys. The Sikh Regiments revolted and deserted. Oh! Hindu, Sikh and Muslim brethren enlist at once in the Danda Army and fight with bravery against the British monkeys. Third event: Remember Hindu and Muhammdan and Sikh brothers were martyred in Amritsar on April 10. Does it not excite you? Were not those killed in Hiramandi area on April 12 not our brothers? Right and avenge. Several writers, public men connected with this movement were sent to transportation for life. Some of them were-Harkishan Lal, Rambhaj Datt, Dharam Das, Gokal Chand, Mathra Prasad, Habibullah, Karam Chand, Moshin Shah, Allah Din and Mota Singh. Coming back to The Tribune, the case came up before the Martial Tribunal under Lt-Col Irvine, Kali Nath Roy was first sentenced to two years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000. Mr Roy submitted a lengthy statement denying that his writing was seditious in any manner and that he had done his duty. He also addressed an equally detailed representation and apology to the Lt-Governor of Punjab. But the authorities considering the importance and influence of The Tribune were mild in their punishment. But still harsh. What were these articles? First was a news report, Prayer at the Jama Masjid on April 6, 1919. There were several articles later. The Delhi Tragedy-A Memorial fund. Then there was an editorial that paid tributes to martyrs in Delhi. It was titled, “Memorial to Delhi Martyrs”. Next articles, which the martial court found highly objectionable, were related to demonstrations and protest rallies and the speeches of the leaders protesting against the Rowlett Act. These were published before the Amritsar massacre. One comment was about action against Dr Kitchlew and Dr Satyapal and then a focussed piece on the Defence of India Rules. Many other newspapers were treated the same way. Representatives of the Hindu Leader, Bengali, Amrit Bazar Patrika and Independent from Allahabad were not allowed to enter Punjab for months. They tried to send C.F. Andrew, a British citizen, who was sympathetic to the cause of freedom, but he too was not allowed. They were bluntly told this scheme would not work. Cities were under declared or undeclared curfew and there was every attempt to black out news, but then leaders and journalists adopted another method of printing pamphlets and distributing them in thousands. About 16,000 copies of Mahatma Gandhi’s message were distributed in one week alone. Word of mouth did the rest of the job. And Pandit Pearay Mohan, a highly competent lawyer who was a Senior Assistant Editor of The Tribune, has recorded all this and much more in his two volume book running into thousand-odd pages. “The Punjab Rebellion of 1919 and How It was Supressed.” This fearless journalist who died at the young age of 41 not only preserved valuable record of the happenings, but penned his forthright, sharp and fearless comments. The book was first published in Lahore in 1920. It is indeed a very truthful account, which somehow escaped the wrath of the British rulers. |
Horse thieves in Lahore Following close upon the dacoity at the Chiefs' College on the night between the 10th and 11th there occurred another theft in Shalimar when two horses were removed from the old Government stables, which now belong to the Horse Breeding Society and the District Board, under the charge of Major Mitchell, Remount Depot. Fortunately no one was injured. The thieves were cautious to cover up their tracks and, as on previous occasions, made good their escape. The report about the theft in the Mayo Gardens, a portion of the Civil lines close to the Punjab Government House has been found to be baseless. |
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Feud may be brewing in Jackson family IT appears that a family feud may be brewing among pop superstar Michael Jackson and his five brothers over plans for what would be their first performance together since their 1984 “Victory” tour. A reunion of all six brothers had been billed as a highlight of two all-star concerts slated for September at New York City’s Madison Square Garden to celebrate Michael Jackson’s 30 years as a solo artist. But an open letter last week attributed to two of the brothers — Jermaine and Randy — raised objections to “exorbitant ticket prices” being charged for the shows and to plans for the Jacksons to share the stage with other performers during their reunion.
Reuters
Hearty ‘yes’ for working parents Most working parents feel that they don’t spend enough time with their children, but two-thirds of the children interviewed by the Australian Institute of Family Studies thought their parents worked “the right amount of time”. According to the study, 71 children aged eight years and over had insightful and sensible things to say about the impact of their parents’ work on their lives. The number of hours apparently didn’t determine the children’s relationship with their parents. Nearly all the children whose parents worked full-time described the hours as “about right”. ‘Time’ was only one of the critical factors that influenced the quality of family life. Many children did want a “bit more” or a “little bit more” time with their parents to do things such as going to the park and talking to them, but none of them thought their parents should be present in their lives all the time. Virtually all the children interviewed accepted their parents’ need or desire to work.
WFS
She put cat in microwave British animal welfare officials were severely critical of a light sentence handed down to a woman convicted of placing her cat in the microwave oven after one of its fleas had bitten her. A five-year ban on keeping animals along with a two-year rehabilitation order were “far too lenient”, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said. Nadine Trewin (31) had admitted cruelly ill-treating female tabby cat Sasha (6) at her home in West Sussex on March 23 last year. The court heard that Trewin, who had drunk seven cans of lager and almost two bottles of wine, became angry with the cat when she was bitten by the flea.
DPA |
The man whose knowledge itself is wealth, Does not cast a glance at pearls and gold. ***** He who has lost himself in ignorance Is a pauper even though he owns hundred jars of gold. — Kulliyat-e-Anasir Dawawin ***** The love of money is the root of all evil. — The Holy Bible, 1 Timothy 6:10 ***** Money like dung, does no good till it is spread. — Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1680 ***** The value of a dollar is social as it is created by society. — Ralph W. Emerson, The Conduct of Life ***** True money is obtained through the instructions of the Guru, but false money comes and goes. ***** Such a person is rare who gathers the riches of Truth and loves the Immaculate Name. — Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Dhanasri M 3, page 665; Ramakali Dakhni Oamkar M I, page 934 ***** Those who deem injustice shameful never commit guilt-yielding deeds driven by money-yielding desires. — The Tirukural, 172 ***** Renounce money-mindedness, but there is no need to renounce money. — Osho, Philosophia Ultima Mammon unites; mammon divides Mammon the men pray Mammon, the profession sways Mammon, the devotion rules Mammon, the traders supports Mammon, the farmer swings, Mammon the services corrupts Mammon, the rich blesses Mammon, the poor, squeezes Mammon, the politics controls Mammon, the God holds. — G.C. Mago, Thorny Petals ***** High thinking is inconsistent with complicated material life based on high speed imposed on us by Mammon worship. — Mahatma Gandhi,
Nonviolence in Peace & War ***** Those who live by bread alone will submit, for the sake of it to the vilest abuse, like hungry dog. — Jami, Baharistan ***** Curb your desires and control yourself and do not let others control you. — From M. Smith, Rabia the Mystic |
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