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Will the Cultural Cover Ever Be Uncovered Or Exposed?
By Balbir Singh Sooch, Advocate, Ludhiana

 http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/48838-will-cultural-cover-ever-uncovered-exposed-balbir-singh-sooch-advocate.html

 http://zameer36.newsvine.com/_news/2010/02/28/3963341-will-the-cultural-cover-ever-be-uncovered-or-exposed-by-balbir-singh-sooch-advocate-ludhiana 

The Indian cultural cover and the transparency and accountability are conflicting terms and contradictory to each other, when the Indian culture is based on ambiguity and falsehood openly, and whereas, the transparency and accountability demand to secure access to accuracy, clearness and the responsibility. The Indian cultural cover and the transparency and accountability can not run simultaneously. 

Under the circumstances, the transparency and accountability can never be meaningfully and adequately promoted as being considered against the policy of culture cover and unnecessary for justice in the Indian system i.e. discriminatory in nature basically. The Indians were victims of their own history. 

Under the garb of the cultural cover, the people in India are facing humiliation, harassment and the planned State terrorism and not getting the information even under ‘The Right to Information (RTI) Act’. Could it be called as a part of the corrupt world phenomena and to remain for ever unchecked? 

Those who are in favor to keep the cultural cover intact over the transparency and accountability always remain in the good books of the governments in India and such characters are selectively and exceptionally trained to do odd jobs and for distorting the history.  

To a question of mine, as to why the Sikh massacre-1984 being remembered as 84 riots in the country by the media as well as by the intellectuals and the writers etc, the answer was, it was all being done in the name and under the garb of cultural cover by the flatters toeing the line of falsehood openly and they are against the transparency and accountability? It was really very negatively knowledgeable, but very disheartening answer to digest for me at late stage of my life.  

However, I could get an answer as why and where, I failed unbendingly in the eye of the system. I am proud of that the failure is not on the part of legal awareness and of conscientiousness and or religious in any manner.  

As to why Prof. Harinder Singh Mehboob, renowned Punjabi Shiromani Sahitkaar, noted litterateur and Sahitya Academy Award winner was being criticized till to day? The answer was obvious, for and because of his act of cultural uncover, a few lines of his poetry ‘Murder of sleeps and a wonderful act of Martyr’ i.e. ‘Neendan  Da Qatal and Shaheed Da Gajab’ in his book, ‘Jhanan Di Raat’ at page 826 to 828 and he was not suitably remembered and comparatively glorified for his work on his death. 

The operative part of the poem, ‘Murder of sleeps and a wonderful act of Martyr’ is being produced in English for ready reference as under: The poem, what a wonderful example of exposure of the Indian cultural cover?

“Murder of sleeps

and

A wonderful act of Martyr”

Listen! Oh cruel witch! ...

The Nation of the Martyr*

Slept after offering prayers at the door of Guru!

Then, a witch snake or cobra** stealthily sneaked in, thirsty to suck  blood,

The hands of Beant with firmness of mind

O woman with wicked sons, listen. You have killed the innocent children of my Qaum in their sleep.

But Jarnail who is an old guard of the Guru’s house, is riding the almighty Time and such a rider is never defeated. Listen, 0 heartless and cruel Witch!

The wrath of Beant will finish you like an insect and having demolished the gates of your kingdom, will push you in the darkness of Hell...

The woman like a female witch snake or cobra surrounded the Harmandir and Fate burnt the bread of the pious fakirs.

Then, an arrow shot by Beant came to destroy the poison of the wily witch who slept in the hearts of idol-worshippers.

The innocent babies eaten away in asleep

Listen! Oh cruel witch! ...

The Foot notes to the poem:

*Martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev

** A witch snake or cobra, known for killing its victims in sleep by sucking in their breath in imaginary stories.

Mehboob was given the Government’s prestigious Sahitya Akademi award for 1991 for his anthology entitled ‘Jhanan Di Raat’, which contains the long poem vilifying Indira Gandhi as a “witch snake or cobra**” and hailing her assassin Beant Singh as a martyr. It also makes communal references to “idol-worshippers”. 

Was it not an act of uncover and exposure of the cultural cover and should be honored by all in the interest of justice and the transparency?

It is already said that sources disclose that eminent poet Amrita Pritam, convener of the three member jury, was instrumental in Mehboob getting the award. Her one sentence report, described the book as “a beautiful happening in Punjabi literature” which explores “the agony and ecstasy of life”. The other members of the jury, Prof Amrik Singh and Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, did not find the book to be of high literary standard.

Hindi poet and critic Vishnu Khare said "The poem is definitely communal, it almost deifies violence and is certainly offensive to a large number of Indians The Sahitya Akademi must express regret and see that its jury members read all books most carefully."

Hindu writer Krishna Sobti described the Poem as “deeply disturbing.” She said it was “simply outrageous” that an assassin of the Prime Minister of India should be elevated to the status of a martyr in the line of Guru Arjan Dev.

Prof. Harbhajan Singh too found the book good, but agreed that the last poem was inflammatory and communal “It would have been better if this book was not given the Sahitya Akademi award,” he said.

When the question like this, “The final question is: what will the Sahitya Akademi and its parent Ministry do now to rectify the lapse, and to prevent a recurrence in future?”, being posed, whether the cultural cover ever will be uncovered or exposed to bring the transparency and accountability in the system? 

Was the demand to uncover and expose the cultural cover and the cry for justice in favor of the transparency and accountability, does it amount to revolt against the State and or the lawlessness?  

1. In case, the international community concludes so on the ground that it was the acceptable world phenomena, and there can never be any remedy except the whistle-blowers including me to surrender under protest grudgingly. But, I wish to pose the following questions to have answers in the larger interest to test the transparency and accountability in the context in Indian system:

2. Can the information under the Act, be provided as to how many Sikhs arrested meaning thereby taken into custody, captured, detained, caught, taken in for questioning, picked up etc and or how many sent abroad and now on the ‘black list’, and or arrested to arm them as terrorists and cats, and or how many surrendered meaning thereby: laid down their arms, admitted defeat, submitted, yielded, given in, gave up etc after the Army attack 1984 till today?

3. The details of the Sikhs and others who were picked up spontaneously, unplanned manner surprisingly and later on killed, eliminated, liquidated, shown disappeared etc all including the given categories as stated by former DGP K.P.S. GILL after the period stated above? See reference below.

4. As to why a 'Constitutional Commission' did not set up for facing justice on the demand of former DGP K.P.S. GILL?

Could the detailed identity of the main accused (Rajiv Gandhi) stands killed by a ‘Human Bomb’, the other co-accused, who remained the part and parcel of the then entire government machinery, responsible for the `genocide of Sikhs' or the `State-Sponsored Violence' against Sikhs not be disclosed being a matter of record as the accused were on duty on all the three days of Sikh Massacre-1984?

5. Why only the government always form or remain in search of some committee, team, the individuals as its henchmen, when the crime(s) committed by the state machinery become so open, to insist only to accept the adequate compensation and start pressurizing the victims families to accept the same and no guilty punished except playing political dramas like the cases of H.K.L. Bhagat, Jagdish Tytler and now case of Sajjan Kumar etc? 

www.sikhvicharmanch.com

Will cultural cover ever be uncovered or exposed?

Monday March 01, 2010 (1813 PST) 

http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?225051
http://pkpolitics.com/discuss/topic/will-the-cultural-cover-ever-be-uncovered-or-exposedby-balbir-singh-sooch-advo
Diary of anti- Sikh massacre | TwoCircles.net
http://www.twocircles.net/2010jan15/diary_anti_sikh_massacre.html

Udated: March 1, 2010