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Mass murders destined for pages of a diary…

The recent development in the Hashimpura murders of 1987 has led one to believe that there’s no countering State-sponsored violence.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

It is painful to even think of this subject, but think about it we must. For those survivors who witnessed the May 1987 massacre of 42 innocent Muslim men at the hands of Uttar Pradesh PAC cops in Meerut’s Hashimpura locality, these last 28 years must have been a torture of a different sort. The country is pained, disgusted and angry that the 16 cops accused of killing those young Muslims have been acquitted by a Delhi court – for lack of evidence!

This is just another instance of State-sponsored mass murders getting brushed aside so casually, it boggles the imagination. Maybe the incident will remain forever tucked away in the pages of a survivor’s diary, to probably be destroyed (if found) by vested interests. I would expect that by now, at least a couple of books on the incident would find their way to publishing houses, but that hasn’t happened. I suppose we have stopped reacting to State-sponsored terror.

“The judge tried hard to persuade me to withdraw the petition and suggested I move to Allahabad. I refused. That judge later became the first Chairman of India’s Human Rights Commission.”

Activist lawyer ND Pancholi says that Nandita Haksar had filed a petition in the Supreme Court in 1987 on behalf of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), praying for the investigation into the Hashimpura incident and payment of adequate compensation for the victims. She had argued the case in person and the Supreme Court was constrained to award an amount, albeit nominal, for Rs 20,000 per victim. She has mentioned this case in her book, Framing Gilani, Hanging Afzal – Patriotism in the time of terror (2007).

I quote from the book, “And no one has apologised to the people of Meerut’s Hashimpura in May 1987. It was Syed Shahabuddin Sahib who had requested me to go to Meerut and intervene. He told me about the 33 men who were picked up by the PAC and taken to Murad Nagar and shot one by one near Ganga Nehar. I filed the writ as a petitioner in person (on behalf of PUDR) before the Supreme Court. The judge tried hard to persuade me to withdraw the petition and suggested I move to Allahabad. I refused. That judge later became the first Chairman of India’s Human Rights Commission. No one has been punished for those murders so far. It is not even on the agenda of any political party.”

What are your thoughts on the Hashimpura case? Do let us know in the comments below.

Humra Quraishi is a senior journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Picture courtesy muslimmirror.com)

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Urdu for the soul

A recent study proves that reading Urdu and Urdu couplets could aid brain development, even help in staving off dementia.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

Will our politics never settle down? Are we condemned to be in a constant state of flux? Going by what is happening in Delhi and Kashmir, one would have to agree that things are not going well for the country. One trend to emerge from all of this is the new ‘fashion’ of politicians going on retreats, either to introspect or to get back their health. So while Rahul Gandhi ‘retreated’ to introspect on the future of the Congress party, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal decided to get away from the capital to help settle his blood sugar levels. Every day we are entertained with pictures of him in the media, either practicing yoga or some natural remedy for his cough and cold, so at least it seems he is getting what he signed up for.

Arvind’s battle with diabetes will be a much simpler one, I’m afraid, than the battle of facing what is happening in the AAP at the moment. Brewing revolt, too many ambitious party members and a host of information leaks are plaguing the AAP. While Delhi watches in suspense about development unfolding every day, there is another battle brewing in Jammu and Kashmir, where opportunism recently joined hands and came to power. Till last autumn, I noticed that the saffron brigade was flourishing only in the Pampore region of the Kashmir Valley, but now it seems to be spreading everywhere. The BJP has not been able to grab any plum ministries in the State Government, but the RSS has now got an opportunity to spread its network. Don’t be surprised if, within a year, you hear of RSS shakhas and RSS-run schools spring up in the Kashmir Valley. The saffron will go much beyond Pampore from now on.

Moving on from these mind-boggling developments to some mind-clearing ones.

A recent study by the Lucknow-based Centre for Biomedical Researches (CBMR) reveals that Urdu can save our brains. Published in a recent edition of the international journal, ‘Neuroscience Letters’, the study states that reading the Urdu script and Urdu couplets helps in brain development. It is a detailed report that outlines how reading Urdu couplets and reciting them helps in controlling emotions, cope with stress and even delay dementia. It is also helpful for children with learning disabilities.

This means that reading Urdu could have large implications for one’s mental faculties. What’s more, Urdu couplets are steeped in passing and romance, so reading them is doubly enjoyable!

I would go as far as suggesting that Urdu be introduced as one of the prime languages in our primary schools, however, I am also aware of how this sentiment will be attacked with communal propaganda. But why see Urdu as a language of the Musalmaans of this country? Let State Governments introduce it in schools as a pilot project and let every child, irrespective of religion, learn to read it. There is nothing religious about Urdu, just as there is nothing religious about any language. Urdu derives many of its words and phrases from different languages such as Hindi, Braj, Persian, Sanskrit and Arabic. In that sense, it is a connecting language – and in today’s times, don’t we all need that connection with each other?

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Picture courtesy www.theguardian.com)

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The SAARC Writers Meet – a round-up

A meeting for writers from all the SAARC countries concluded recently in Agra, and had several prominent persons in attendance.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

I have just returned from the SAARC Literature Festival held in Agra. It was a great getaway from Delhi’s frenetic pace, compounded by a harsh winter. I was glad to head to this meet of writers and poets and academics from our country and from the other SAARC countries – Nepal, Pakistan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

We landed at Agra on Thursday evening and after the usual formalities – the inaugural and interactive sessions – the meet took off. For me, however, the interaction had started much earlier with the Afghan writers and poets who were my co-passengers on the plane heading towards Agra. I was pleasantly surprised to see at least six Afghan women in this group, with a couple of them speaking fluent English.

When we reached Agra, it was great to meet friends from all across the country and outside. One of the positives of such meets is that one can freely interact with people from other countries without a hint of tension and hectic schedules coming in the way. Many academics who we ordinarily see only on television were there in the flesh – Ashis Nandy, Rajmohan Gandhi, Alok Bhalla, Om Thanvi, Suneet Chopra. Though all of them spoke about issues concerning them at the moment, the most vocal was Om Thanvi, as also Ziya-us-Salam, academic and journalist and the senior deputy editor of The Hindu.

Also present were two of our well-known poetesses, Ambala-based Paul Kaur and the New Delhi-based Tarannum Riyaz. I was also glad to meet Bangladeshi writer Selina Hossain (I had met her almost eight years ago at another SAARC writers meet), who has not changed at all. There is something serene and modest about Selina – the 67-year-old writer has authored 36 novels, 13 anthologies of short stories, 27 children’s books, 10 anthologies of essays and heads several organisations. While we were chatting, we were joined by Nepal Bhupen Vyakul, and the topic drifted to the extent of freedom a writer could indulge in. She was rather categorical in stating that “there is nothing called ‘absolute freedom’ for a writer or for any creative head, and words should not hurt or become the cause of disaster.”

The group from Pakistan stood out, especially with their ‘malangs’, the whirling darveshs from Lahore. I was thrilled with poet Nasir Ali Syed, and as I heard his verse, it became increasingly clear why his writing is so popular in Pakistan. He has a definite way with words and his verse leaves a mark?

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Of flying chariots and other ‘scientific’ claims

If the claims in the recent Indian Science Congress were to be believed, ancient India had invented and discovered everything.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

I don’t understand this. If India was really as evolved as all that, where did all the knowledge go? Worse still, why are we such an unevolved species now, when we have technology at our fingertips?

I have been following news reports about the Indian Science Congress held recently in Mumbai, and I am amused and bewildered by turns. The scientists attending this Congress must have been even more bewildered by the goings-on.

Here’s why. If the claims made during this event are anything to go by, the India of yore achieved the unimaginable. Take flying, for starters. As per one claim, Indians had flying devices that not just roamed the skies from one end of the universe to the other, they also hopped planets and were able to fly sideways and backwards. And here we are in present-day India, our flights stalled for hours and passengers stranded when their standard issue plane is able to fly in no direction, including flying forward.

Then somebody else spoke with authority of ancient Indian doctors performing miracle cures and conducting the most advanced surgeries with basic tools.

A Lucknow-based scientist said India knew about America years before Columbus supposedly discovered it in the 15th Century. According to the scientist, not just India, but all of Asia was aware of America long before Columbus. (I wonder who will break the news to US President Barack Obama when he arrives here for the R-Day celebrations).

And then I began to wonder, if we were all that wonderful in the ancient years, at what point did we start losing this information? How is it possible that entire generations became slowly ignorant of their predecessors’ great discoveries and inventions? Surely there must be some record in existence somewhere that documents all these ‘facts’ that were laid out at the Congress? Where is the proof that all this happened?

And assuming that all of this was true, it is a shameful state of affairs that today, we are unable to solve murders that are years old. We cannot contain our pollution levels and we have no concept of population control. We don’t know how to treat our old parents and we are shamelessly sycophantic of moneyed people. Despite so many different industries opening up today, we still push our children into studying either medicine or engineering.

So what is the truth? Were we really such an astonishingly intelligent civilisation? So why are we such buffoons now?

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Picture courtesy www.niticentral.com)

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As the New Year begins…

We bid adieu to a horrifying year of hate and violence, and say a fond farewell to two trailblazing Indians.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

I bid adieu to 2014 with a shudder and a prayer on my lips. The year started well enough, but soon spiralled out of control, with killings and violence in India and all over the world.

I am also saddened by the loss of two prominent personalities in Delhi who recently passed away. One was Saiyad Hamid, a retired civil servant of the UP cadre, and the other was journalist and writer BG Verghese.

Speaking of Saiyad – he was unlike other sarkari Mussalmaans. He will always be remembered for his extensive work and the effort he took for the betterment of minority communities, conducting exhaustive surveys and research on the reasons for the decline of the Muslim community in education and economic spheres.

I had interviewed him on several occasions, and also met him when he wrote a detailed volume on the dismal educational framework in Bihar’s Muslim mohallas. He had detailed a basic observation – in a majority of these mohallas, police thanas and chowkies had be set up in the very plots of land allotted for schools. “So where could the Muslim children study? And why did these mohallas need extra policing?” he had asked.

Another person to remember is BG Verghese, especially for the several important books that he authored. I had attended the launch of his last book, Post Haste: Quintessential India, which was released the last summer and was a truly offbeat book.

In the book, he narrated Indian history in the rather unusual technique of using postage stamps to take the narrative forward. These stamps added essential inputs and acted like ‘fragments of history’ to the book. When asked why he had written the book, Verghese simply said, “Today there is a sort of ‘intellectual illiteracy’ about our country’s history and geography. I worry about the fact that even the political leaders of the day mix up vital historical facts.”

To  the  why   to  this  book  ,  Verghese  had   quite   simply   put  across that today  there  seems to  be  some  sort of  a  “intellectual  illiteracy”     about  our  country’s  geography and   history  ,  and   he  worries  about  this    trend when  even the   political  leaders of   day    mix  up     vital    historical  facts  .

Verghese’s book can do a great service to the young, as it talks about India’s diversity in a very interactive way, and delves into details of the country’s tribes and their traditions. It also addresses little-known figments of history and clears religious misconceptions – books like this one lessen the divide among men and help shrink regional and religious gaps. More importantly, this book reflects the very idea and true spirit of India.

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Featured image courtesy www.bbc.com)

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As Christmas nears…

Why are Christians in several parts of the country being persecuted? Is this trend a coincidence or a systematic design?
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

Recently, I got in touch with a prominent Christian leader, John Dayal, for his reaction on the destruction of St. Sebastian’s Church in East Delhi. He was very upset by the manner in which the Church was found burnt and destroyed.

He also said that for the last few months (from the summer of 2014, to be precise), there had been systematic attempts to attack the Christian community in the country. “In Madhya Pradesh, on November 30, two house churches in Annupur district were attacked,” he said. “Chhattisgarh has particularly witnessed regular and repeated attacks on the fundamental rights of the minority Christian community.

“Most recently, local politico organisation such as the VHP are pressurizing local Catholic missionaries to put up pictures of Goddess Saraswati in their educational institutions. Catholic schools are under pressure to rename the principals in their schools, as ‘Pracharya’, or ‘Up-pracharya’, instead of the term ‘Father’, which is usually used,” he said.

Dayal added that the entry and propaganda by Christian missionaries is banned in more than 50 villages of Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region by the local gram panchayats since late May. Elsewhere, in Odisha’s Deggarh district, several tribal Christian families were excommunicated on April 28 allegedly at the behest of religious extremists. “Three Christian families were excommunicated and deprived from enjoying common facilities of the village road, water and forest land because of their faith in Christ. The well commonly used by the Christians was polluted by adding filth to it. And the Christians have been forbidden to mix or talk to anybody, to take part in any social functions or walk on the main road,” Dayal explained.

Reportedly, extremist elements have also threatened to snatch away the Government land allotted to the Christians, cancel their BPL Cards and demolish their houses if they do not renounce Christ. “In Chhattisgarh’s Jagdalpur, about 100 Christians who were denied rations for two months for their faith in Christ were beaten up by a mob,” Dayal went on to add.

Madhya Pradesh fares no better, apparently, with reports of local religious political groups threatening to harm Pastor Bhikanlal Dhurvey several times for conducting prayer meetings in Bhopal. However, the pastor continued to conduct worship services and later started to build a prayer hall in his land. Subsequently, the extremists filed a police complaint against the pastor for illegal construction. The construction has since been stopped and prayers are now being conducted in the homes of local Christians.

Two churches in Kundupur, Karnataka and three chapels in Irinjalakuda diocese were also damaged by miscreants.

I can’t help but wonder, coupled with extremely inappropriate utterances by ministers in Modi’s Cabinet, which way will the tide turn for the religious minorities in the country?

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Picture courtesy www.lapidomedia.com. Image used for representational purpose only)

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