Namak Haram is a Hindi phrase which
means "one who is treacherous" or "one who cannot be
trusted" while Deorhi is a word in Hindi which means "gate". So
the total sums up to "the gate to him who cannot be trusted". The
gate in the image is called the “Namak-Haram gate” or the ‘Traitor’s gate”. It’s the place where Mir Jaffar lived in Murshidabad in
Bengal. India’s history is replete with such traitors. It’s not just history
but even now there are many in our politics, NGOs, media and other domains who
may someday earn such an epithet. There are anti-nationals who roam around as
intellectuals. There are Fai Fighters who still remain untouched by any
process of investigation of their activities. This has become a country where,
to some people, calling oneself a ‘Hindu, a nationalist and patriot’ is deeply
offensive. We should continue to offend such people. Someday, there will be a
gate built in their memory too. But let’s move on to a different story.
Shoma
Chaudhury is angry. She tweeted on
July 18 that her “fearless” journo Rana Ayyub who dabbles with the Ishrat
encounter case and “gets” juicy papers from CBI is being slandered. Shoma
doesn’t admit that none of the crap of “Black beard-White beard” forms
part of the CBI charge-sheet which her yellow pages and Sreenivasan Jain of
NDTV so touted. Rana must be like Nadia, the fearless ‘Hunterwali’. Coming from
a Congress poodle who has slandered quite a few as alleged editor that is surprising
anger. She doesn’t name the ‘slanderers’ so you can guess where her fingers are
pointed because the article linked in her tweet pertains to one who she
despises with unbridled hatred. Maybe she should read the media guy’s post: ‘Pissy
Poodles Can’t Be Angry Journalists’. First slander others and then play victim. It comes naturally to some people.
Many are convinced that the CBI has
simply concocted a political-vendetta case under pressure by the Congress and some
of its own officers have been stating the whole case is based on hearsay. A
former Home Ministry official also claims he was pressurised to provide signed
statements. Naturally, I had to ask the poodles at Shoma Chaudhury’s yellow
pages why they don’t get any CBI papers when it comes to Congress members:
The Ishrat case will be blaring till
Elections 2014 and then none of these champions are going to bother about it.
That much is certain. But here is something that is being discussed in certain
groups and circulated on mails. It’s a long mail and I have reproduced it with
minor editing to shorten the article without taking away any of its essence.
You read, you decide (This is from a Pan-IIT group on Yahoo).
Quote:
-----------------------------
The on-going ‘trial by media’ of the
Gujarat Police Officers, subsequent to the filing of the ‘first’ charge sheet
by the CBI in the ‘Irshat Jehan Encounter Case’ is disturbing. One writer went
to the extent of a vicious calumny that “The police in Gujarat wear
lawlessness as a badge of honour, …” and another branded
the Gujarat Police as “KHAKI DEATH SQUADS” .
The ferocity of the nearly unprecedented
and allegedly unprincipled inquisition of the Gujarat Police, has raised
counter-allegations that the Central Govt’s mechanism for investigation and
litigation is disproportionately focused against the Gujarat police and also
has led to a confrontation between the two central agencies (one for
Investigation and the other for ‘Intelligence’). This allegedly is being
orchestrated and the attendant attrition has led to the crossing of a Rubicon,
wherein the functioning of the apex national Intelligence agency has been
severely compromised.
“The spat between the CBI and the
Intelligence Bureau (IB) has become so openly unseemly that it can only hurt
the Indian state’s long-term interests. The IB argument, and a fair one
at that, is that its officer exercised his judgment in evaluating certain
intelligence inputs; in retrospect one can question or disagree with that
judgment but it is an altogether different matter to insist that the IB
officials were a party to the Gujarat Police’s cold-blooded conspiracy. Now,
out of a sense of organisational loyalty, the IB finds itself having to reveal its
hand; reporters are being allowed to “access” the armoire of intercepts,
reports” - Harish Khare
To place the current goings on in a
historical perspective, it is essential to go back in time to a not dissimilar
crisis which confronted the Punjab Police wherein also, a vicious campaign of
calumny, hostility and the litigation route was adopted as the most convenient
strategy for vendetta against the police. This occurred after the Punjab Police
had contributed in significant measure towards the latter part of the Punjab
crisis of the 1980’s and ‘peace’ was ‘restored’ in that state.
The case of the then SSP Ajit Singh
Sandhu of the Punjab Police (somewhat reminiscent of Mr. Vanzara of the Gujarat
police, now) and the classic statement of the then Punjab Police chief KPS
Gill, unknown to most Indians, require to become a subject of national
debate in the context of the “current trial by media”.
SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu, during the
1980’s, was perhaps the police officer most dreaded by terrorists in Punjab,
after K P S Gill. A. S. Sandhu came into limelight for liquidating some top
terrorists and restoring peace, particularly in the once terrorist hotbed of
Tarn Taran police district in Punjab.
In 1997, nearly a decade after normalcy
was restored in Punjab, Punjab Police personnel and especially A.S Sandhu began
to be probed by the National Human Rights Commission and the courts, for their
alleged excesses during the militancy. What were once touted as ‘achievements’
suddenly became ‘excesses’? Reportedly, SSP A.S. Sandhu faced more than 40
cases of alleged excesses, killings and ‘stage-managed encounters’.
On 23 May 1997, at about 11.05 AM, SSP
A.S. Sandhu (52), threw himself in front the Kalka-bound `Himalayan Queen' and
committed suicide; 20 km from Chandigarh. He left behind two daughters and a
son besides his wife.
The police recovered a suicide note
written by the deceased declaring: "Jalil ho ke jeen to changa hai
mar jana'' (It is better to die than to live a life of humiliation).
By citing the above, no case is being
made out for ‘immunity’ for any member of the Gujrat Police. Nor is it being
suggested that there will take place any ‘suicides’. It is only to iterate that
the investigations and trials be held, according to the laws of the land, and
also considering the special circumstances that prevail in dealing with
“Terrorism”, while applying the statutes and also that trials should not
proceed according to the processes that are seemingly being improvised on a day
to day basis to implicate the Gujarat police personnel.
Two points before going on to KPS Gill’s
statement .
1. In 1997, when KPS Gill gave the u/m
statement, “Low Intensity Wars” were being fought only in Kashmir, Assam, Manipur,
Nagaland and Tripura. Having somehow dealt with the ‘Punjab Crisis’, the
national leadership should have taken note of the existing pattern of the “Low
Intensity Wars” in the country, that could only be expected to grow in the
future. Unfortunately, they did not and continued to dismiss them as
‘non-military threats’ and the ill equipped police of the states and the Home
Ministries (both of the states and the centre) dealt with them. The
result is that at present, the “Low Intensity War” Zone has got extended to an
area stretching right from W Bengal, through Bihar, Odisha, Chattisgarh right
down to Andhra and even Kerala( Maoists) ! But that is another subject all
together.
2. In 1997, when KPS Gill gave the
statement, he spoke of “We are not far from the edge of the abyss”. But,
presently, we are perhaps in a state of free-fall in that abyss. That too is
another matter altogether.
Now on to “Is namard desh mein
paida mujhe kyon kar diya'' [ Why was I born in this country where
there are no men?] which is an excerpt from the classic statement of former
Punjab Police chief KPS Gill on the death of AS Sandhu.
Every word in the statement of KPS Gill,
made way back in 1997 is very relevant and significant even. Those of ‘US’ who
were young Captains’ and Majors’ during the peak of the ‘Punjab Crisis’ and
were involved with it in one way or the other, would be able to better connect
with the words of KPS Gill.
HERE'S THE CLASSIC STATEMENT OF FORMER
PUNJAB POLICE CHIEF KPS GILL. READ IT AND DECIDE FOR YOURSELF.
I have not called this press conference to express my
grief at AS Sandhu’s death. My feelings on this count are between his family
and myself. What I have to say today is that we have already given up most of
this country to criminals, to corrupt politicians, and to unscrupulous
lobbyists who will work with any cause that serves their personal ends, whether
criminal, political or secessionist.
Nonetheless, in a country dominated by
those who prefer to criticise from the safety of their homes, or the comfort of
air-conditioned debating societies at Delhi and Chandigarh, there are still a
handful of people who are willing to risk everything including their lives and
the lives of their family to protect the unity and integrity of their nation,
and the lives of citizen’s terrorised by an utterly unprincipled and merciless
enemy. I can say without reservation that AS Sandhu was one such man.
Tarn Taran, at the height of terrorism
was sometimes spoken of as the rocket that would propel Punjab out of the
Indian Union. The terrorists influence was absolute; for years, it was
virtually out of the control of the civil administration, and even the police
had no more than a nominal and symbolic presence there.
It was in such a situation that I was
looking for an officer who had the courage to mount an effective campaign
against militancy in this militant heartland. I spoke to several officers, and
each excelled in the invention of ingenious excuses to avoid the responsibility.
When I asked Sandhu if he was willing to go to Tan Taran to put down terrorism,
he accepted without hesitation. Some will say that he went there to exploit and
enjoy the “power of the state”. But the state, when Sandhu went to Tan
Taran, had no power there. I know that he was a hair's breadth away from death
throughout his tenure in the district. I know he never compromised. And
yet, he achieved everything I could hope for.
Few, today, understand the significance
of what happened in Tan Taran. Had we lost control over the district, Punjab's
secession would have become an inevitability. Had we lost Punjab, Kashmir
would certainly have followed. And once this process of fission began,
every linguistic, ethnic and cultural group would have raised the standard of
revolt. Pakistan would have been celebrating this 50th year of
its independence through the realisation of its dream of a balkanised India.
Delhi and its “think tanks” would have no hinterland to analyse and exploit. The
unending supplies of electricity, food, water, and a cornucopia of goods that
keep Delhi’s elite in a state of luxury would have come to an abrupt end.
And the Government and the Apex court of the land would probably have presided
over a jurisdiction from “Delhi to Palam”. Judges may have still continued to
write erudite and exquisitely worded judgements. But they would have no
relevance for this country. This country, as we know it, would no longer have
existed. The fact that this scenario appears incredible today is testimony to
the achievements of men like Sandhu.
All men are heroes in a time of peace.
But those who are heading the self-righteous witch hunt against the officers
and men of Punjab police today should ask themselves where they were hiding for
10 years when terrorists roamed free, unchallenged by any but the Punjab police
and their comrades in uniform from other services - and a handful of
courageous farmers who would not succumb to terror? For 10 years the judiciary
remained in a state of unmitigated paralysis in Punjab. Where was their
commitment to justice then? For 10 years, the press published on the
terrorists’ diktat- with only a single exception that all of you know of. That
is a long vacation for the ‘truth’.
I am not here to defend corrupt or venal
policemen. But the distortion and manipulation of legal process that is being
resorted to by an utterly compromised ‘human rights’ lobby cannot be
supported. This lobby understands the nuts and bolts of the judicial engine,
and knows every method of the orchestration of the media and the new tyranny of
trial by the press. A police officer can effectively fight their designs only
if he has a great deal of money to buy the best legal advice in the country – and
only the corrupt have that kind of money.
A sustained campaign was carried out
by the Human Rights lobby against A.S. Sandhu on the Goebbelsian Doctrine
that an untruth repeated endlessly becomes the truth. He was supposed to have
made a lot of money.
I do not, despite these circumstances,
justify the action of a proud Jat Sikh committing suicide. But I understand the
reasons. This is not the action of a coward unable to face the dangers of
life. Sandhu faced more dangers during his tenure at Tan Taran than many
brave men could in several life-times. It was not fear that drove him to death.
I do not think that the man knew the meaning of the word – it was
ingratitude.
It is not, of course surprising that having
lost the battle for Khalistan through force of arms, the terrorists and
their front men should have exploited the human rights angle to target men
like Sandhu. What is unforgivable is that the nation he fought to defend,
the people who he risked his life to protect, simply turned away in
indifference or joined the crescendo against him, when such a plot was
engineered; without checking the merits of evidence, without even giving him
the opportunity of a fair trial.
The Indian state must start educating
itself on how it is to tackle individuals and groups trying to destroy the
State. And it must learn how to arm
and protect those who put their lives at stake in the defence of India’s unity
and integrity.
We are not far from the edge of the
abyss. Let this nation beware of the hour when no man will risk his life
to protect another or to defend the nation, Josh Malihabadi once wrote, “Buzdilon
ke ishq mein, shaida mujhe kyon kar kiya. Is namard desh mein paida mujhe kyon
kar kiya''. When men of courage begin to say this, all hope will
die. No people who treat their heroes as we have done can expect to survive.
K P S Gill
Chandigarh
------------------------------
Unquote
Although the speech of KPS Gill has been
reported in various sites, the full speech reproduced in the mail is not
verified by me. Readers can make their own assessment and conclusions.
