| Punjabis won't forget because you want them to | ||||
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OP-ED ~ by Dharamvir Gandhi Chandigarh | Tuesday | 7 June 2016: THE Indian Republic that came into existence in 1947 suffered an ignominious “communal Partition,” acceding to creation of a quasi-theocratic state. Pakistan, leaving a bloody trail and lasting bitterness in the subcontinent. The three communities — Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs — held prolonged and sometimes acrimonious negotiations with the British and amongst themselves finally to agree on partitioning India. Yet the decision of Hindus and Sikhs to stay put together did impart secular and democratic credentials to the young Republic. It was achieved with an assurance by no less than Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister, that ‘the Sikhs would be allowed to function as a semi-autonomous unit so that they may have a sense of freedom.” followed by a resolution passed by the Constituent Assembly on December 9. 1946 to envisage the Union of India as an “independent sovereign republic, comprising autonomous units with residuary powers”. The “dark days” have spoiled the experiment and lest the present may not sour India’s ‘tryst with destiny," we should invoke a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission. Truth! Not an ideal or absolute truth. But truth in all its concatenations, revealing to all, what actually happened in the runup to. during and alter the dark decades. The Bluestar Operation on the Golden Ttmple. a place revered across communities and classes, shook the soul of Punjab. The fact that the people could never know the reality of Hindus killed while travelling in buses or trains; the number or the names of the pilgrims killed during the Bluestar operation or why justice could not be delivered to Sikhs killed during the genocide of 1984 in Delhi and elsewhere or how many were killed in extra-judicial killings and disposed of as unidentified. Equally tragic was the death heaped on the innocent, unaware family members of the policemen. The most intriguing was the cold-blooded murder of Jaswant Singh Khalra who was trying to figure out the number of young men killed in fake encounters. Anybody who has a story to tell or lift the veil on some aspect of the sordid tragedy must be facilitated to do so. The mystery shrouding these events hides the causes and reasons these were enacted for. Unless the truth reveals itself through publication or reading of all government records, recording of all available evidence and all narration of victims, the festering wound created by history, cannot be given a healing touch. Justice! More than three decades over, barring few exceptions justice has been aborted. Not only by the wall of secrecy built around the whole episode but by the complete failure of law-enforcing agencies as is the case of the Delhi massacre. |
The successive governments tried to thwart justice as has been recently brought out by the Pilbhit incidents. The Hindu commuters on buses or trains could never know for what fault they were being killed. The families across communities were eliminated, with women suffering the most, either raped or killed or both. The innocent and unaware family members of the policemen were done to death for no fault of theirs. The need of men individually or humanity collectively to move on. makes it imperative to give a proper closure to dark chapters as we try to do a decent cremation, burial or perform the bhoq for every human. It is already more than three decades and if justice could be delivered to some who got killed, maimed or suffered, the “souls" can rest in peace. Reconciliation! Only reconciliation has the ability to erase the communal divisions among communities and individuals. make them compatible, mutually beneficial and prosperous. Reconciliation involves repentance, forgiveness and forgetting. Moreover, it is a new beginning; and entails adoption of large heartedness and broad-mindedness. And this will not be the first time to embrace these virtues. Human society has over millennium evolved through such actions of individuals and statesmen. I hereby demand a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, broadly on the pattern of the post-Apartheid “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” in South Africa, but with the addition of justice and provisions necessary to unearth the truth of what happened in Punjab and similar events outside Punjab. The earlier People's Commission, established under the aegis of retired judges by Justice Kuldip Singh was aborted through legal action in the high court. I believe that communication and discourse are great instruments for bringing down the walls of hatred and promoting fraternity and brotherhood. In
the same measure, these form the foundation of democracy. As Baba Nanak
pertinently reiterates the importance of
openness of dialogue. “Jab lag duniya rahiye Let democracy thrive. Let fraternity and brotherhood prevail in Punjab. Let the spirit of humanity win.
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