1984 and the violence of memory
Opinion piece by Ravinder Kaur in The Hindu
More than a quarter century on, not much remains of ‘1984′ — shorthand for one of the largest pogroms in India’s postcolonial history when thousands of Sikhs were massacred in retribution for Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination — in the public memory. The voices of victims and eyewitnesses one often heard in courtrooms have almost retired in exhaustion. The names of state-appointed serial commissions to establish the facts on ground have by now joined footnotes of history in a long line of ineffective judicial commissions of similar nature. And more remarkably, the miscarriage of justice through long-winded judicial processes where eyewitnesses routinely turn hostile due to threats, incentives, pressures exerted by fixers, or because of plain weariness has ceased evoking any mass outrage. In any case, the victims are supposed to have ‘got over’ the event and ‘moved on,’ precisely as enterprising and forward-looking communities are expected to do.
Read full article: 1984 and the violence of memory
The idea of Punjabiyat by Pritam Singh
Despite fragmentation for centuries, the Punjabi identity today is engaged in a remarkably active attempt at consolidation.
For a community that has experienced such fragmentation through the centuries, the Punjabi identity today is engaged in a remarkably active attempt at consolidation.
The moment we use the word Punjabiyat, it suggests a reference simultaneously to something that is very tangible while still elusive. This dual character opens the term to many imaginations and possibilities. Is Punjabiyat a concrete socio-political reality, a project, a movement in process, something in the making, a mere idea floated by some ivory-tower intellectuals and literary figures, a wishful dream of some Indo-Pakistani pacifists, a seductive fantasy of some Punjabi nationalists, a secular utopia envisioned by leftist nationalists, a business plan of market-seeking capitalists, or a dangerous regionalism dreaded by the nation states of India and Pakistan?
Read full article: http://www.himalmag.com/read.php?id=4516
Faiz Ahmed Faiz – Birth Centenary – 1911-2011
A statement by Progressive Writers Association (PWA)
Faiz Ahmad Faiz was one of the most prominent poets of the Indian sub-continent who won unparalleled global acclaim. He symbolised all that is humane, dignified, refined, brave and challenging in Pakistani society. His poetry written in Urdu and Punjabi reflects his intellectual resentment and resistance against an unjust and archaic social order which he rejects on rational grounds as anti human; yet it has no bitterness. He remains loving and loveable, respected and respectful.
Faiz’s poetry articulates the aspirations, anguish, pain and suffering of not only the people of Pakistan but that of the whole world, as well as their unremitting resolve to create a better and just society. His was the voice of sanity, for he sought peace in a troubled world.
Read full article:Faiz Ahmed Faiz centenary celebrations
Link to website: http://www.viewpointonline.net/fullstory.php?t=Faiz
Amarjit Chandan
Since moving to London in 1980 after serving two years in solitary confinement for his role in the first Naxalite uprising in India, Amarjit Chandan has become one of today’s most celebrated Punjabi poets, with a large following both in India and among the Indian diaspora in Britain and across the globe.
Former poet laureate Andrew Motion selected him as one of the 10 British poets for the National Poetry Day in 2001 and his work has appeared in translation in scores of journals and magazines.
A short poem, Far Away On A Distant Planet, has been carved in 40-foot granite by Alec Peever and installed in Slough High Street square, both in Punjabi and English translation.
Read full article: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/91058
BNP exploiting the ‘Collective Amnesia’ of Marginalised Ethnic Minorities
The BNP is exploiting tensions between Muslim and Sikh communities, threatening to destabilise fragile relations, a leading academic has revealed.
The launch of a new report by Faith Matters (www.faith-matters.org) warns the BNP is seeking to ‘fish in troubled waters by reaching out to sections of Sikhs (and Hindus) in order to form a tactical alliance against Muslims to promote Islamaphobia’.
This is the first time any kind of substantive research has been undertaken on Muslim and Sikh tensions. It is a new but very real and growing problem.
Professor Gurharpal Singh who authored the report on behalf of Faith Matters, an organisation which works to reduce conflict both nationally and internationally, warned that ‘as tensions grow it will become increasingly difficult to contain this dispute within Britain’.
Despite this, the report indicates that both communities are suffering from a ‘collective amnesia’. In other words they have forgotten they share a common heritage, culture and history.
‘The only way to resolve the crisis is to re discover the sense of shared cultural and historic identity – it is better for them to work together,’ added Professor Singh.
Faith Matters founder and director Fiyaz Mughal OBE said: ‘There is a collective amnesia among the two communities which must be addressed, and quickly, otherwise it may cause localised tensions to flare into actual violence.’
‘Although the report illustrates how the BNP have exploited existing tensions, it also highlights that – by realising both groups have a shared common heritage, culture and political experience – these tensions may be overcome’
Full Report:The Adab – ‘Respect’ Research Programme Final 020510
DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Punjabi Taliban; a growing threat
DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Punjabi Taliban; a growing threat.
DERA GHAZI KHAN: The Pakistan Taliban is not the sole militant group threatening Pakistan and the region.
Punjabi groups are deepening their ties with the Taliban, representing a growing threat for a country already hit hard by militant violence.
This was highlighted by the twin attacks in Lahore on Friday which killed between 80 and 95 members of the Ahmadi community. Initial investigations suggested a possible link to the Taliban operating from Waziristan.
Security officials in the region say while there are no “militant strongholds” in the province for them to enable them to operate independently – as is the case in northwest Pakistan – their presence in the area, especially in southern Punjab, cannot be denied.
Waiting for Spring by Nirupama Dutt
The emergence of a Dalit identity in East Punjab is a recent development, spurred in part by the failure of Sikhism to abandon caste discrimination as it initially averred to do.
For us trees do not bear fruits
For us flowers do not bloom
For us there is no Spring
For us there is no Revolution …
– Lal Singh Dil –
These are lines from the last poem of Lal Singh Dil, hailed as the foremost revolutionary poet of Punjab. He passed away in 2007. The despondent note of the poem is both surprising and telling, for a poet who had once declared that the song and dance in his heart would not die, no matter how dire the circumstance. It took Dil a lifetime to discover this sad yet provocative truth, against the backdrop of the complexities of caste in Punjab. Yet centuries before Dil’s birth, the same frustration with caste was intricately linked to the emergence of the Sikh religion.
Read full article: Waiting for Spring. Punjabi Dalit Poets. Nirupama Dutt. Apr 10
WHEN THE ‘WILD’ PROVED MORE EDUCATED By Majid Sheikh
When the British conquered Lahore in 1849, Lord Dalhousie, the Governor General, declared that he would educate the “wild illiterate Punjabis” in a new system of Anglo-Vernacular education. When they started the East India Company Board was shocked by what already existed.
The board was amazed to find that the literacy rate in Lahore and its suburbs was over 80 per cent, and this was qualified by the description that this 80 per cent comprised of people who could write a letter. Today, in 2010, less than nine per cent can do this, while 38 per cent can sign their name, and, thus, are officially ‘literate’. If you happen to read Arnold Woolner’s book ‘History of Indigenous Education in the Punjab’ you will come across some amazing facts we today just do not know. To understand the situation it would interest scholars to go through the ‘A.C. Woolner Collection in the Punjab University Library. My review is a scant one. But studying other similar pieces provides a picture of the educational system as it existed in Lahore in 1849 when the British took over.
Read full article: http://watandost.blogspot.com/2010/02/when-wild-proved-more-educated-must.html
Ram Sarup Aņkhi 1932-2010
Ram Sarup Aņkhi, who has died aged 78, was a prolific Punjabi writer with 15 novels and eight story books and five collections of poems to his credit.
Aņkhi was Brahmin by caste but Sikh in appearance. He kept the Hindu name as is the custom in the Malwa region of East Punjab. Only a tiny minority of Brahmins converted to Sikhism and changed their names – Bhai Bhagwan Singh of Ghadar Party, Gyani Hira Singh Dard, SS Amol and Vidhata Singh Tir being the four most famous names amongst them.
Read full obituary by Amarjit Chandan: ram sarup ankhi
Reaching for roots by Nonika Singh
The Sunday Tribune, 14 Feb 2010
Roots remind me of root infinite, the source of everything.
THAT’s Amarjit Chandan, the celebrated poet rooted in Punjabi soil—its chaste language and ethos—yet spanning continents, the universe, the timeless zone. Living in the UK, where his poetry is etched in a 40-feet-long sculpture, he seeks and finds refuge in his language. And just as the lines read, “Far, far away on a distant planet there lies a stone unseen unturned, it can only be seen with closed eyes as you see your loved ones,” he, too, can see and feel Punjab with closed eyes.
Read full article: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100214/spectrum/book8.htm
Debate about the right to carry a kirpan
Should religion be an excuse for carrying daggers?
Sikhs should be allowed to carry ceremonial knives in schools and other public places, says Britain’s first Asian judge. But can religion ever justify loopholes in the law, asks philosopher Rebecca Roache.
The idea of children being allowed to carry knives while at school sounds like a red rag to a bull. But that is what Sir Mota Singh QC, Britain’s first Asian judge, who is now retired, says should be allowed. Not any old knife – but the ceremonial dagger known as the Kirpan.
The Kirpan is one of five “articles of faith” which also include Kesh (unshorn hair) and Kara (steel bangle) that are worn by practising Sikhs.
Read full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8506074.stm
Mightier than the kirpanI find it hard to justify knives being allowed in schools – be they Sikh ceremonial symbols or otherwise
Hardeep Singh Kohli The Guardian, Tuesday 9 February 2010
What do you know about Sikhism? The men wear turbans. It comes from the north-west of India. It has at its heart the five “Ks”, the kesh (long hair), kara (steel bangle worn on the right hand), kaacha (undergarment), kanga (comb) and kirpan (a ceremonial dagger); all baptised Sikhs are expected to wear the five “Ks” daily. Sikhs are regarded as the best dancers in the world. This is all unequivocally true, especially the last part.
But I’d like to concentrate on the fact that Sikhism is the only world religion that requires devotees to carry a dagger. The function of the kirpan arose from necessity. From the end of the 16th century, as the Moghuls swept through Persia into the peace-loving hinterland of the Hindus, converting them to Islam, Sikhs became defenders of freedom, guardians of religious independence, champions of tolerance; and we were willing to lay down our lives for the cause. In that context it is easy to understand why we needed daggers, which were carried with us at all times since the threat of violence was constant.
Read full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/feb/09/dagger-dilemma-sikhism-kirpan-schools
Language, the Nation, and Symbolic Capital: The Case of Punjab by Alyssa Ayres
Journal of Asian Studies Vol. 67, No. 3 (August 2008): 917–946.
ABSTRACT
A movement to “revive the spirit of Punjab and Punjabi” in South Asia has enabled a surprising thaw between the two Punjabs of Pakistan and India. That this revival movement has been catalyzed from within Pakistan rather than India raises intriguing questions about language, nationalism, and the cultural basis of the nation-state. Although the Punjabiyat movement bears the surface features of a classical nationalist formation—insistence upon recovering an unfairly oppressed history and literature, one unique on earth and uniquely imbued with the spirit of the local people and the local land—its structural features differ markedly. Pakistan’s Punjab has long functioned as an ethnic hegemon, the center against which other regions struggle in a search for power. Yet the Punjabiyat movement presents Punjab as an oppressed victim of Pakistan’s troubled search for national identity. This essay argues that a theory of symbolic capital best explains this otherwise peculiar inversion of perceived and actual power, and underscores culture’s critical role in the nation’s political imagination.
Read further: http://alyssaayres.com/2008/08/language-nation-symbolic-capital-punjab/
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