Borders are Made of These

Shammi (#139):

It was very kind of you to give us a lesson in civics. I shall not quote from the Constitution of India where freedom of religion and speech are mentioned. Instead, let us see what we have from you by way of duties of a citizen…

[(c) to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India]

Are our leaders not citizens? What have they done to unify the country? I have not done anything divisive.

[(d) to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so]

In what manner can I be of service? If I have to heal the wounded etc I am ready. But I cannot be asked to fight terrorism blindly. Look, our defence minister and members of his ministry have been caught taking bribes and putting national security at stake and they are still ruling us. I cannot have respect for them. This is my way of rendering national service, by asking them to go take a long walk.

[(i) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence]

As you know I am a peace-loving citizen…I get scared of loud patakhas. If and when I can, I do protest against illegal constructions and as you have read in this piece, I did protest against the lack of adequate security in Parliament.

Now, I would like to know why I must protect leaders I have not elected? Why should the citizens who call themselves a part of this great democratic experiment have to put up with the back-stage buffoonery (and I am not talking about chappals being hurled in Parliament and mikes being broken), but how you may vote for a candidate of a certain party and find that the party is not unwilling to sleep with its enemy to run this country. I think coalition with any and everyone jeopardizes our democracy more than anything else.

I am curious to know when the NRIs last voted in an Indian election.

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Jawahara (#143):

The feeling of being adrift…I understand it so well. Please don’t misunderstand this, but living abroad you can afford to go to sleep and dream… I want to stay awake and dream. I thought I tried to do that with this piece, which, irrespective of how it was written, is the closest to me from all my work at Chowk. Thank you for your comments…it matters.

Regards,

Farzana

Re: Dost-Mittar

``...Mahashian di Hatti...``

Dost-Mittarji:

Roopak Stores and Mahashian-di-hatti brand is owned by the Gulati family (don`t know which town they emigrated from)-- their sons were class mates of mine in high school.

Uh Glen...so you are saying that Mao Tse Tung`s cultural revolution was a completely good thing? He not only forced ``pen pushers`` into the fields, but also implented short sighted, brutal and reactionary measures that are worthy of Stalin`s pogroms...you accused Sadna of being unclear; what is your point exactly? I also think you are another head that has erupted from from 12 head; only 12 head has such obvious vocab, grammar and punctuation and male inferiority complexes.

Dear Shammi and Dost sahebs:

What a small world – Chapparwala Kuan -- we and my two uncles (mamoons) used to live – right in front of that – there was an empty lot by the side of the Kuan – the Kuan was by the side of the masjid.—that kuan was the abode of wild pigeons – we used to try our BB guns on them – sorry to hear that there is no kuan now – ah that Ajmal Park – our favorite playground – I am glad that Ajmal Park is still there – I hope they have maintained it the way it was at the Raj times. There was a in gullie by the side of the masjid in which a famous Hakim called Massi-hulmulk used to live – his three sons Allo (Allauddin), Jallo(Jallaluddin) and Jammo(Jamaluddin), I and my cousin -- spent some memorable afternoons in the Ajmal park with their black dog perhaps a Labrador or a mutt – that dog with a shiny sleek coat is etched in my memory.—loved to run with the kids.

Dost-mitter ji -- you may be taking the bus right in front of where we used to live – Shammi ji – Delhi riots started from Karol bagh – on Gruduwara road right by the side of the masjid – that empty lot by the side of the Kuan was the site of many ghastly killings – yes that area was populated by lots of Muslims – they were decimated -- thanks to dad’s friends JP and Rajendre Prasad -- dad and our MamooNs families were evacuated the very next day of the rioting with only the “shirts on their backs” – and luckily nobody in our family was hurt.

Yes Sahmmi mian -- Nehru personally came to stop the rioting in Ksrol Bagh when he heard that Jamia Millia library in Karol Bagh was on fire – that was one of the most daring almost foolhardy gesture by the India’s Savior -- the Secular Humanist, Nehru -- to protect the Muslims and the Jamia – yes he faced a very hostile mob -- in the frenzy of killings and destruction -- single handedly – and overpowered them with the sheer force of his personality -- and stopped the burning and the looting of the library -- Randhwa was “late” as usual in providing the police protection before the army came in -- I am glad to hear that the masjid is still functioning.

That September ‘47 (that was OUR memorable catastrophic “September”) changed the lives of so many in Karol Bagh, Delhi – just the SAME way it changed the lives of so many Shammi’s and Dost-mitter’s families from Lahore.

Now we are left with only memories – some bitter -- but still most of them very pleasant.

Dost-mitter ji, and Shammi with your father -- we have to get together one day.

Dear Fazana:

Sorry, if I hurt your feelings.

What I am trying to say to you is -- GET OFF the Fence -- grab the collar of that Babri masjid criminal, Advani -- and tell him that -- INDIA IS YOURS -- YOU own India -- India is as much YOURS as it is his.

Don`t fall into the victimization trap -- YOU ARE NOT A VICTIM -- you`re an Indian like any other Indian -- TAKE SIDES -- and FIGHT for your RIGHTS -- don`t sit on the fence and sulk.

Fence is ONLY for the Vultures -- not for you.

best wishes and more power to your pen.

hasan

Farzana
Why do you write for a site where Pakistanis (who will NEVER vote in an election in India) write long articles and posts about human rights violations, political affairs and caste system and Dalits in India? Going by those whom you keep slapping down for being expatriate and still daring to speak here, its only Hindu Indians who should keep quiet according to you. Congratulations and keep spreading the poison!

Re: Farzana Versey

This is what you had originally said:

``...I think that the custodians of it (Parliament) are not you and I, but our elected leaders. It is their business to do something. I refuse to be forced to take a position on this...``

My response (civics lesson) to you was based on the fact that when you said `I refuse to be forced to take a position...`, it appeared that you were saying something like `I refuse to do anything to protect the Parliament`. `Anything` in this context includes non-violent protests, condemning the attackers, spreading the word against terrorism, and a host of countless other possibilities, that an ordinary citizen can undertake, which would be in keeping with the Fundamental Duties of a citizen under the Constitution. However, based upon your latest response, it appears that your heart and motivation are in the right place. Now, if I misinterpreted you, then I am in the wrong.

As for your part-by-part response to my citing the Fundamental Duties section, my underlying philosophy is encapsultated by JFK`s immortal words -- `Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather what you can do for your country?`

``...In what manner can I be of service? If I have to heal the wounded etc I am ready...``

I think that that would be a glorious example, along with some of the others that I have pointed out above.

``...Now, I would like to know why I must protect leaders I have not elected?...``

Because they are human beings first, leaders last.

``...I am curious to know when the NRIs last voted in an Indian election...``

They probably never will -- and rightly so.

Regards

Re: Nasah

``...Delhi riots started from Karol bagh – on Gurudwara road right by the side of the masjid –...``

The fact that riots started in Karol Bagh -- an area where the newly arrived hindu refugees from Pakistan settled in, somewhat explains why it was Karol Bagh that proved to be a flash point. I had no idea.

I have to confess to you that while growing up as a kid, I have known a Punjabi hindu man (low-level RSS functionary) who lived in Karol Bagh, who may have participated in those riots of September, `47. My guess is that he must have been around 25-30 years of age around Partition. Of course, he never told me this in so many words. But, I am able to make an educated guess.

His sons are slightly older than me, and were the most uncouth, rude, foul-mouthed (hindu Urstrulys, if you will) that you could come across in our `mohalla`. That in itself, is a reflection on their father. Anyway, their sons used to tell me (on the few occassions that I would socialize with them behind my parents` backs as a 10 year old kid) how their father had `fought` in the `47 riots, and would regale me with stories of his `valor` in much the same way that Romair talks about jehadis in downtown Lahore telling him stories about their `actions` in India. At the time, I had little understanding of what went on in `47. But, after you mentioned the riots, coupled with my father`s memories of a large middle-class Muslim colony that lived in Karol Bagh, I am able to piece together what their father must have been involved in. It is a very sad, and very troubling part of our history with so much guilt to go around, that most people have found it convenient to simply gloss over it.

Needless to say, the father was a member of the RSS and an election campaing worker for Jan Sangh and later the BJP. Many of their morning exercises were held on a former `kabristan` that was converted to a city park (now called Shastri Park) off of Gurudwara Road after `47. It is now a ghastly parking lot. The masjid still functions.

Your story also explains the muslim names of the surrounding areas (Motia Khan, Faiz Road, Abdul Aziz Road, Idgah, etc.).

Another interesting tid-bit -- our house was built in `41, and to cover the costs, my family rented out one floor. In `47, a rich refugee (former banker) from Lahore came as a tenant. He had obviously enjoyed a high-flying life in pre-partition Lahore. One of his passions was the game of cricket. When the first Pakistan tour of India took place in `52, the entire Pakistan cricket team came for dinner at our place as guests of our `sharabi-kababi` tenant.

Re: Nasah

``...Nehru personally came to stop the rioting in Ksrol Bagh when he heard that Jamia Millia library in Karol Bagh was on fire ...``

That also rekindles another memory -- Zakir Hussain used to have a library/school in Karol Bagh. Now it has been relocated and a huge university called Jamia Millia Islamia has been built over the years in Delhi.

BTW, I am curious to know how your family was treated after the riots in independent India. In particular, if you were dispossessed of your house, how did you find alternative accomodation? Did you get any govt. compensation?

#178

Saminashah

``and male inferiority complexes.``

Just b/c i commented ontwo consecutive FEMALES ,Jawahra & Sadna you are upset ,that i am Misogynist !

ERA,& women lib has peteered out .Go talk to aging Betty Freidan ,Gloria,Jane Fonda what poison they left behind while cuddling up in arms of very men they talked to like you have leant from them...jalli bhuni lahorie tikka

Your ideal MAN ...SUX SENA spent one page teaching SHANKAR bhai to spell hypocrisy.

THE INTERVIEWS

REFLECTIONS

IMPRESSIONS

50 INDIANS



The military and the birth of Pakistan



Thursday. The political impetus that created Pakistan is wellknown. What is not as wellknown is the military motive for the genesis of an independent Muslim state.

In determining the British attitude towards the demand for Pakistan, the Muslim element in the British army and the strategic location of the Muslim majority provinces were of considerable importance.

Brigadier Noor ul Haq appraises the military factor in the making of Pakistan.

The political fabric of the British supremacy in India, in the last resort, rested on the loyalty of the Indian army. All through their stay in India, especially after 1857, the British had been haunted by the fear of another revolt by the Indian army. To prevent this from happening, the British sought to do two things; first, root out community feelings and politics from the armed forces; and secondly, prevent discontentment and alienation in the service.

As such, the recruitment, organisation, and training of the forces were designed primarily with these objectives in view. Additionally, loyalty was ensured through limiting the strength of the Indian army, supplying them with inferior weaponry and by keeping the officer class an exclusive preserve of the Europeans.

The Muslims, who were slightly less than 25 per cent of the population of India, were about 40 per cent in the army and thus were given parity with the Hindus, probably for the reason that they had to guard the northwestern frontier of India. But all this was to change with the passage of time.

The emergence of Indian nationalism led on the one hand to the birth of Hindu revivalism and on the other motivated the Muslims to safeguard their political, economic and cultural interests. The outbreak of World War I, in September 1914, gave a jolt to the British rule in India. The inevitable participation of Indians in the war shattered substantially, though temporarily, some of the British policies laid down for the armed forces.

Under the stress of the war the British were compelled to agree to the increasing association of Indians in every branch of administration which led to the development of self-governing institutions and the progressive realisation of responsible government in India. This gave the sanction for the Indianisation of the officer cadre in the armed forces. The Indian leadership knew the relative importance of the army in the realisation of self-rule. They, therefore, tried to secure its control partly through the legislative procedure and partly through the process of Indianisation.

From 1939 onwards, the events in India took a dramatic turn as they were closely linked up with the fortunes of World War II. Early that year, the British decided to modernise the armed forces so as to meet the challenge from the first-rate powers of Europe. Besides, the Indians were called upon to look at the problem of external defence squarely in the face and bear the expenses of the Imperial war through the concept of `shared responsibility.`

The Indians were generally satisfied with the prospects of modernisation of the armed forces, though some Hindus were apprehensive of the military training being concentrated in northern India where the Muslim community happened to be strongly represented.

With the outbreak of the war in September 1939, when the possibility for Indian independence increased somewhat, the British, the Indian National Congress and the All India Muslim League were forced to reorientate their policies and priorities. The immediate objective of the British was to get the maximum possible Indian support for their war effort. Therefore, they were obliged to look towards the princely states and the Muslims for help. In the process, they suspended the scheme of an Indian federation and promised to modify the Government of India Act 1935 once the war was over.

On its part, the Congress supported the idea of an all-India federation in order to obtain control of the armed forces through their dominance in the legislature. Therefore, it demanded that defence should not be kept as a reserve subject but instead be handed over to a federal ministry. Precisely for this reason, it wanted that the representatives of the princely states in the Indian legislative assembly should be chosen through election and not by nomination.

At the same time, it tried to prevent the Muslim League from assuming the role of being the `sole effective representative of Muslims` and when it failed, the Congress ministries in the provinces resigned as a tactical move to put pressure on the government. But this had no effect on the government because it did not seriously mar the Indian war effort which was colossal. Apart from the monetary contribution, the recruits to the army were coming forth in large numbers.

The Muslim League, conscious of the Muslims`s majority in he strategic areas of the Northwest and the Northeast and their relative strength in the armed forces, began to assert its long cherished desire of an independent and sovereign Muslim state or states in India. The proposed state(s), as demanded in its resolution of March 24, 1940, were to be established in the Muslim majority areas in the Northwest and the Northeast of India.

The demand for Pakistan, as the new state was to be called, was bitterly opposed by almost all sections of Hindus, Sikhs, the nationalist Muslims as well as by the British, each for different reasons. But this had no effect on the struggle for Pakistan. In August 1940, the British, under the pressure of reverses in the war in Europe, were forced to promise a new constitution after the cessation of hostilities. They also agreed that they would not contemplate any system of government whose authority was directly denied by `large and powerful elements in India`s national life.`

The later clause was obviously included to satisfy the Muslim community whose contribution to the war effort had been substantial. The offer was rejected by the Congress, but the Muslim League considered it as a `considerable progressive advance` as it had implied that the new constitution would not be imposed on the Muslims against their will.

Excerpted from Making of Pakistan: The Military Perspective, by Dr Noor-ul Haq, Reliance Publishing House, 1997, Rs 395, with the publisher`s permission. Readers who wish to buy a copy of this

re:Reply #: 173

Farzana Versey,

Sorry to have made you angry with some earlier comments. Some of those comments were clearly not warranted. I was piqued by the fact that you took a movie (that too a bollywood movie) so seriously. Have you noticed how these bollywood movies made fun of ``madraasis`` in the past. They show them as speaking atrociously accented hindi. Their accent, if well done (like what Mehmood did in ``Padosan``) always brings a laugh but is in poor taste. Few would take bollywood movies seriously. If my brother were to be believed, all this has changed now after ``Lagaan``. He keeps urging me to see this movie though i do not have the time.

why was the Pakistani diplomat foolish enough to be caught with rupee and dollars? The implication is that he may have been a plant. That may well be so. Nations go to all lengths to prove a point. The point simply is this: terrorism is bad business, however justified the cause for this may be (eg terrorism in Kashmir by jehadi forces, terrorism in Srilanka by Tamil separatists). Have diplomats and rulers not done foolish things in the past? Musharraf`s biggest blunder was Kargil but this was being initially touted as a strategic masterstroke. If the attack on the Indian parliament was staged by Indians, i would say this was a masterstroke. I believe otherwise. I ,however, respect your views on this topic, which clearly are contrary to mine.

regards,

Sridhar

re:Reply #: 140

sarwar,

This article lacks credibility when it says (literally taking it for granted) that Pak`s nuclear arsenal is superior because it was designed with Chinese help. As they say the proof of pudding is in eating. Only a full fledged nuclear war can demonstrate whose nuclear arsenals are better , not that i want to ever see such an event unfold. If India knew its limitations, it would certainly have tried to fill gaps with Israeli help but it is not going to tell the world. Some say India tested a miniaturised Isreli bomb with its own in 1998. We will never know the truth. It is hard for me to imagine that India, which started at par with China, would lag much behind China in nuclear technology (unless our chinese friends have been successfully pilfering all secrets from west).

Sridhar

Stuka #171 ``I am in Delhi now...`` Welcome back to chowk. And good luck with whatever your plans are for the future.

````Those who marry across religions must be given similar privileges as those reserved for the scheduled castes and tribes.````(Farzana)

??

A backhanded compliment to mixed marriages -- or an activist speaking against the ``victimization`` of mixed marriage family in India?

anNy to urstruly:

````sikhs are some of the funniest people ever..ever had their aloo ka achaar? u will die of pleasure````(anNy).

I have tasted their Karailey ka achaar -- and that is heavenly -- I have to ask my friend Dr. Bhag Singh Sidhu how come never -- an ``aloo ka achaar``.