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ਜਪੁ | Jup
ਸੋ ਦਰੁ | So Dar
ਸੋਹਿਲਾ | Sohilaa
ਰਾਗੁ ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ | Raag Siree-Raag
Gurbani (14-53)
Ashtpadiyan (53-71)
Gurbani (71-74)
Pahre (74-78)
Chhant (78-81)
Vanjara (81-82)
Vaar Siri Raag (83-91)
Bhagat Bani (91-93)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਝ | Raag Maajh
Gurbani (94-109)
Ashtpadi (109)
Ashtpadiyan (110-129)
Ashtpadi (129-130)
Ashtpadiyan (130-133)
Bara Maha (133-136)
Din Raen (136-137)
Vaar Maajh Ki (137-150)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗਉੜੀ | Raag Gauree
Gurbani (151-185)
Quartets/Couplets (185-220)
Ashtpadiyan (220-234)
Karhalei (234-235)
Ashtpadiyan (235-242)
Chhant (242-249)
Baavan Akhari (250-262)
Sukhmani (262-296)
Thittee (296-300)
Gauree kii Vaar (300-323)
Gurbani (323-330)
Ashtpadiyan (330-340)
Baavan Akhari (340-343)
Thintteen (343-344)
Vaar Kabir (344-345)
Bhagat Bani (345-346)
ਰਾਗੁ ਆਸਾ | Raag Aasaa
Gurbani (347-348)
Chaupaday (348-364)
Panchpadde (364-365)
Kaafee (365-409)
Aasaavaree (409-411)
Ashtpadiyan (411-432)
Patee (432-435)
Chhant (435-462)
Vaar Aasaa (462-475)
Bhagat Bani (475-488)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗੂਜਰੀ | Raag Goojaree
Gurbani (489-503)
Ashtpadiyan (503-508)
Vaar Gujari (508-517)
Vaar Gujari (517-526)
ਰਾਗੁ ਦੇਵਗੰਧਾਰੀ | Raag Dayv-Gandhaaree
Gurbani (527-536)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਿਹਾਗੜਾ | Raag Bihaagraa
Gurbani (537-556)
Chhant (538-548)
Vaar Bihaagraa (548-556)
ਰਾਗੁ ਵਡਹੰਸ | Raag Wadhans
Gurbani (557-564)
Ashtpadiyan (564-565)
Chhant (565-575)
Ghoriaan (575-578)
Alaahaniiaa (578-582)
Vaar Wadhans (582-594)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸੋਰਠਿ | Raag Sorath
Gurbani (595-634)
Asatpadhiya (634-642)
Vaar Sorath (642-659)
ਰਾਗੁ ਧਨਾਸਰੀ | Raag Dhanasaree
Gurbani (660-685)
Astpadhiya (685-687)
Chhant (687-691)
Bhagat Bani (691-695)
ਰਾਗੁ ਜੈਤਸਰੀ | Raag Jaitsree
Gurbani (696-703)
Chhant (703-705)
Vaar Jaitsaree (705-710)
Bhagat Bani (710)
ਰਾਗੁ ਟੋਡੀ | Raag Todee
ਰਾਗੁ ਬੈਰਾੜੀ | Raag Bairaaree
ਰਾਗੁ ਤਿਲੰਗ | Raag Tilang
Gurbani (721-727)
Bhagat Bani (727)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸੂਹੀ | Raag Suhi
Gurbani (728-750)
Ashtpadiyan (750-761)
Kaafee (761-762)
Suchajee (762)
Gunvantee (763)
Chhant (763-785)
Vaar Soohee (785-792)
Bhagat Bani (792-794)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਿਲਾਵਲੁ | Raag Bilaaval
Gurbani (795-831)
Ashtpadiyan (831-838)
Thitteen (838-840)
Vaar Sat (841-843)
Chhant (843-848)
Vaar Bilaaval (849-855)
Bhagat Bani (855-858)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗੋਂਡ | Raag Gond
Gurbani (859-869)
Ashtpadiyan (869)
Bhagat Bani (870-875)
ਰਾਗੁ ਰਾਮਕਲੀ | Raag Ramkalee
Ashtpadiyan (902-916)
Gurbani (876-902)
Anand (917-922)
Sadd (923-924)
Chhant (924-929)
Dakhnee (929-938)
Sidh Gosat (938-946)
Vaar Ramkalee (947-968)
ਰਾਗੁ ਨਟ ਨਾਰਾਇਨ | Raag Nat Narayan
Gurbani (975-980)
Ashtpadiyan (980-983)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਲੀ ਗਉੜਾ | Raag Maalee Gauraa
Gurbani (984-988)
Bhagat Bani (988)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਰੂ | Raag Maaroo
Gurbani (889-1008)
Ashtpadiyan (1008-1014)
Kaafee (1014-1016)
Ashtpadiyan (1016-1019)
Anjulian (1019-1020)
Solhe (1020-1033)
Dakhni (1033-1043)
ਰਾਗੁ ਤੁਖਾਰੀ | Raag Tukhaari
Bara Maha (1107-1110)
Chhant (1110-1117)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕੇਦਾਰਾ | Raag Kedara
Gurbani (1118-1123)
Bhagat Bani (1123-1124)
ਰਾਗੁ ਭੈਰਉ | Raag Bhairo
Gurbani (1125-1152)
Partaal (1153)
Ashtpadiyan (1153-1167)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਸੰਤੁ | Raag Basant
Gurbani (1168-1187)
Ashtpadiyan (1187-1193)
Vaar Basant (1193-1196)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸਾਰਗ | Raag Saarag
Gurbani (1197-1200)
Partaal (1200-1231)
Ashtpadiyan (1232-1236)
Chhant (1236-1237)
Vaar Saarang (1237-1253)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਲਾਰ | Raag Malaar
Gurbani (1254-1293)
Partaal (1265-1273)
Ashtpadiyan (1273-1278)
Chhant (1278)
Vaar Malaar (1278-91)
Bhagat Bani (1292-93)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕਾਨੜਾ | Raag Kaanraa
Gurbani (1294-96)
Partaal (1296-1318)
Ashtpadiyan (1308-1312)
Chhant (1312)
Vaar Kaanraa
Bhagat Bani (1318)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕਲਿਆਨ | Raag Kalyaan
Gurbani (1319-23)
Ashtpadiyan (1323-26)
ਰਾਗੁ ਪ੍ਰਭਾਤੀ | Raag Prabhaatee
Gurbani (1327-1341)
Ashtpadiyan (1342-51)
ਰਾਗੁ ਜੈਜਾਵੰਤੀ | Raag Jaijaiwanti
Gurbani (1352-53)
Salok | Gatha | Phunahe | Chaubole | Swayiye
Sehskritee Mahala 1
Sehskritee Mahala 5
Gaathaa Mahala 5
Phunhay Mahala 5
Chaubolae Mahala 5
Shaloks Bhagat Kabir
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Swaiyyae Mahala 5
Swaiyyae in Praise of Gurus
Shaloks in Addition To Vaars
Shalok Ninth Mehl
Mundavanee Mehl 5
ਰਾਗ ਮਾਲਾ, Raag Maalaa
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Sikh History & Heritage
1984 And Injustices In A Democracy? What Is The Solution?
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<blockquote data-quote="Gyani Jarnail Singh" data-source="post: 99356" data-attributes="member: 189"><p><strong>Injustices in a Democracy ?? whats the solution ?</strong></p><p></p><p>Lot of hard work has gone into compilation in April 25th 2009 Tehelka edition.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409coverstory.asp" target="_blank">Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine</a></p><p> <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409the_boot.asp" target="_blank">Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine</a></p><p><a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409a_pack.asp" target="_blank">Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine</a></p><p> <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409a_darkness.asp" target="_blank">Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine</a></p><p><a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409in_a.asp" target="_blank">Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine</a></p><p> <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409police_used.asp" target="_blank">Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine</a></p><p><a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409when_he.asp" target="_blank">Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine</a></p><p> <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409i_had.asp" target="_blank">Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine</a></p><p><a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409i_lived.asp" target="_blank">Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine</a></p><p> <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409i_dont.asp" target="_blank">Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine</a></p><p><a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409bhagat_men.asp" target="_blank">Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine</a></p><p> </p><p><img src="http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/band_carnage.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /> <img src="http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/tytler.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p> <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409coverstory.asp" target="_blank">When A Big Tree Falls, The Earth Shakes</a></p><p> By Harinder Baweja</p><p>Jagdish Tytler is a symptom of the unfinished business of 1984. HARINDER BAWEJA examines why the Congress had to axe him once again <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409coverstory.asp" target="_blank">READ »</a></p><p> <img src="http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/tarunjtejpal.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p> <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409the_boot.asp" target="_blank">The Boot Of The State</a></p><p> By TARUN J TEJPAL</p><p>Three myths were shattered when a diffident Sikh took off his footwear <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409the_boot.asp" target="_blank">READ »</a></p><p> <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409a_darkness.asp" target="_blank"><img src="http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/rahulbedi.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p><p> </p><p> As charred bodies lay in hundreds, it was the utter silence that was haunting </p><p> <img src="http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/police_tushamittal.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p> <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409a_pack.asp" target="_blank">A Pack Of Wolves In Khaki Clothing</a></p><p> By Tusha Mittal</p><p> <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409in_a.asp" target="_blank"><img src="http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/harinderbaweja.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> The women screamed for help, but the police car drove by. Duty hour was over</p><p> <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409police_used.asp" target="_blank"><img src="http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/vedmarwah1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p><p><a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409police_used.asp" target="_blank"> </a><a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409police_used.asp" target="_blank">‘Police Used Political Clout To Stop My Probe’-Ved Marwah, IPS, </a></p><p> By Harinder Baweja <img src="http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/band_victims.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /> <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409when_he.asp" target="_blank"><img src="http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/chandusingh.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409i_had.asp" target="_blank"><img src="http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/bhaggikaur.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409i_lived.asp" target="_blank"><img src="http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/lakhwinderkaur.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409i_dont.asp" target="_blank"><img src="http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/nirpreetkaur.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> <a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409bhagat_men.asp" target="_blank"><img src="http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/darshankaur.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px"><em>From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 16, Dated Apr 25, 2009</em></span>[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 15px"><span style="color: #ffffff"><strong>CURRENT AFFAIRS</strong></span></span>[/FONT] <p style="text-align: right"><em>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: #ffffff">the victims </span></span>[/FONT]</em></p><p> <strong>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 18px">‘Bhagat’s Men Offered Me Rs 25 Lakh’</span>[/FONT]</strong></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"><strong>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]DARSHAN KAUR,[/FONT]</strong>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<em> Lost 12 family members</em>[/FONT]</span></p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">WHATEVER YOU need — chemicals, powders, anything — I will give them to you,” Congress leader HKL Bhagat egged the mobs. Darshan Kaur, 47, could hear him speak as she lay crouched inside her Trilokpuri house. Her husband was hidden in a small landing in the attic. The mob dragged him out, poured oil over him and set him afire. He was half-burnt when Kaur emerged from hiding and clutched at an attacker’s legs, pleading for mercy.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px"><img src="http://tehelka.com/channels/News/2009/Apr/25/images/darshan.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />The attacker dragged her down the road before throwing her off. She saw the local Congress leader Ram Pal Saroj instigating the mobs, saying, “No one should be spared.” As many as 12 members of Darshan Kaur’s family died in that attack. Many of them were stabbed in their stomachs with pieces of glass. Today, Darshan lives with her three sons, all in their twenties, in Ragi Bagh in west Delhi. Two of her sons are unemployed. One drives an autorickshaw. Her husband ran a garment export and auto-renting business before he died. The factories were burnt down, but some of the savings remain. Getting daily meals isn’t a problem. But Darshan barely eats. “It doesn’t feel as if it’s been 25 years,” she says. “It is still 1984 for me.”</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">Outside her gate, a policeman sits on a cane chair, an ancient rifle by his side. For the last 11 years, Darshan has been under police protection. In 1994, HKL Bhagat’s men came to buy her over. “Take Rs 25 lakh and don’t give an affidavit against Bhagat,” she was told. “Can you return at least one of my family back?” she asked.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">She testified against Bhagat, and asked the court for police protection. Despite the security given to her, she has been attacked several times. “I was leaving the court, when three men arrived on a motorcycle and brandished a pistol. I ran into the closest shop and just managed to survive,” she recalls. Another time, a group of 20 men with lathis were waiting for her outside a gurdwara. One of the attackers was Atma Singh Lubhana, the middleman who tried to bribe her on Bhagat’s behalf. She left the scene with a bleeding nose and scars on her forehead. A 10-day hospital treatment followed.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">Darshan now works as a nurse at the Tilak Vihar government hospital. “I want God to do the same thing to them as they did to us. Bhagat is now dead but I want Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar to hang while I’m still alive. Only then will I feel I’ve got justice,” she says.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">Since the case was reopened in 2008, Darshan has been helping the CBI gather more evidence against Tytler and Kumar. She has taken the team to meet 13 people, 11 of whom have testified against Kumar and two against Tytler.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">“The CBI told us to keep these testimonies secret,” Darshan says. “Why are they not disclosing them now?” When she put this question to the CBI, she got a vague reply from the investigative agency. “But I’m still hopeful that someday we will get justice,” she says.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> <p style="text-align: right">[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px"><strong>TUSHA MITTAL</strong></span>[/FONT]</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 18px">‘I Don’t Think Justice Will Come’</span>[/FONT]</strong></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"><strong>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]NIRPREET KAUR,[/FONT]</strong>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<em> Lost her father</em>[/FONT]</span></p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">THE PHOTOGRAPHS of the two men who are significant to Nirpreet Kaur’s life hang on the walls of her living room. The first is a faded black-and-white photo of her father. The second is a framed photo of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Khalistani separatist leader who was killed by the Indian Army in Operation Bluestar of 1984.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> <img src="http://tehelka.com/channels/News/2009/Apr/25/images/justice.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">Nirpreet was 16 years old on November 2, 1984 when the mob came for her father, Nirmal Singh. The gurdwara next to their house in south Delhi’s Raj Nagar had been set ablaze, and a mob of about 450 was looking for more Sikhs to butcher. The Sikhs of Raj Nagar decided to confront the mob.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">An hour later, Nirpreet recalls, Balwan Khokhar, the Youth Congress leader, came to her father requesting him to “settle the matter”. A day earlier, when violence against Sikhs broke out following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards, Khokhar had sworn to the Sikhs that they would be protected from violence.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">“Khokhar sweet-talked my father into coming with him for a compromise,” says Nirpreet. But Khokhar went straight to the mob and handed Nirmal Singh over. The oldest of three siblings, Nirpreet, ran to the mob but could only watch helplessly as her father was tied up and set ablaze.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">The family then fled to safety. When they returned to collect his ashes for Nirmal Singh’s last rites, the area had been swept clean.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">They moved from one rented house to another before settling in a home in west Delhi’s Tilak Vihar in 1986. Nirpreet moved to Chandigarh in September 1985 for her post-graduate degree. “My life then changed drastically,” she says. “I joined the Khalistan movement to avenge the brutal killing of my father.” Nirpreet married a militant in November 1986; the reason why Bhindranwale’s portrait hangs next to that of her father’s.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">As a functionary of the then dreaded All India Sikh Students Federation, Nirpreet came in contact with those involved with the Khalistan movement, an armed insurgency fighting for an independent Sikh homeland in Punjab, and became part of the militancy that ravaged the state for over a decade in the 1980s.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">Twelve days after her wedding, the Delhi police picked up her husband. He was never heard of again. Nirpreet, then pregnant with her son, was declared an absconder. She went into hiding. In December 1986, Nirpreet’s mother, Sampooran Kaur, was sentenced to three years in Delhi’s high-security Tihar jail for “sheltering a terrorist”. “She didn’t even have an inkling of what I was up to when they arrested her,” Nirpreet says.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">In May 1988, Punjab Police and paramilitary forces launched Operation Black Thunder against armed militants who had built up a fortified stronghold within the Golden Temple in Amritsar. At least 40 extremists were killed and several arrested.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">Sampooran Kaur was watching the news on television in the jail. She leapt with joy as she caught a fleeting glimpse of her daughter among those arrested. She hadn’t heard from Nirpreet for over a year.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">Five months after her arrest in Amritsar, Nirpreet, by then a mother of a oneyear- old boy, was also brought to Delhi’s high-security Tihar Jail. Sampooran rushed to Nirpreet’s cell as soon as the gates were unlocked. “She wouldn’t stop weeping,” recalls Nirpreet, a tear betraying her resolute demeanour. Other inmates gathered around the cell to witness the reunion of a 20-year-old “dreaded terrorist” and her mother.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">Nirpreet joined the Khalistan movement to avenge the killing of her father. She married a militant in 1988. ‘I went to jail for this,’ she says, ‘but those who massacred Sikhs still roam freely.’</span>[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">AFTER EIGHT-and-a-half years in prison, Nirpreet was acquitted on October 24, 1996. Though, her family was supportive, it took time to start life anew. Today, Nirpreet, a readymade garments exporter, is actively involved in fighting for justice for victims of the 1984 Sikh carnage.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">She is one of the 11 witnesses who, in January this year, testified before the CBI against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">On the morning of November 2, 1984, Nirpreet says Kumar stood up in a police jeep near Palam colony and announced: “No Sikh should live. If anyone gives shelter to Sikh families, their houses will be burnt.” The CBI is yet to file a chargesheet against Kumar.</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">Though she regrets having taken the extreme step of joining the Khalistan movement, she is not unhappy with the way life has turned out for her. “I was forced to take that step because of the Congress government’s injustice. The irony is that while I have been punished for what I did after the 1984 killings, those who executed the massacre of Sikhs still roam freely.”</span>[/FONT]</p><p> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 10px">The situation took a new turn following the CBI’s exoneration of Jagdish Tytler this month. A Delhi court has postponed the hearing on the CBI’s plea that the case against Tytler be closed. The survivors of the Sikh killings still live in the hope that the courts will bring them justice. Till that day, they will, like they have been doing for almost 25 years, relive the horror of 1984. “I don’t think we’ll ever get justice because the politicians are bothered only about votes,” rues Nirpreet.</span>[/FONT]</p><p><strong>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<span style="font-size: 18px"></span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px"></span>[/FONT]</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gyani Jarnail Singh, post: 99356, member: 189"] [b]Injustices in a Democracy ?? whats the solution ?[/b] Lot of hard work has gone into compilation in April 25th 2009 Tehelka edition. [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409coverstory.asp"]Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine[/URL] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409the_boot.asp"]Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine[/URL] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409a_pack.asp"]Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine[/URL] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409a_darkness.asp"]Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine[/URL] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409in_a.asp"]Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine[/URL] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409police_used.asp"]Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine[/URL] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409when_he.asp"]Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine[/URL] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409i_had.asp"]Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine[/URL] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409i_lived.asp"]Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine[/URL] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409i_dont.asp"]Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine[/URL] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409bhagat_men.asp"]Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine[/URL] [IMG]http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/band_carnage.gif[/IMG] [IMG]http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/tytler.jpg[/IMG] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409coverstory.asp"]When A Big Tree Falls, The Earth Shakes[/URL] By Harinder Baweja Jagdish Tytler is a symptom of the unfinished business of 1984. HARINDER BAWEJA examines why the Congress had to axe him once again [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409coverstory.asp"]READ »[/URL] [IMG]http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/tarunjtejpal.jpg[/IMG] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409the_boot.asp"]The Boot Of The State[/URL] By TARUN J TEJPAL Three myths were shattered when a diffident Sikh took off his footwear [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409the_boot.asp"]READ »[/URL] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409a_darkness.asp"][IMG]http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/rahulbedi.gif[/IMG][/URL] As charred bodies lay in hundreds, it was the utter silence that was haunting [IMG]http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/police_tushamittal.gif[/IMG] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409a_pack.asp"]A Pack Of Wolves In Khaki Clothing[/URL] By Tusha Mittal [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409in_a.asp"][IMG]http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/harinderbaweja.gif[/IMG][/URL] The women screamed for help, but the police car drove by. Duty hour was over [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409police_used.asp"][IMG]http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/vedmarwah1.jpg[/IMG] [/URL][URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409police_used.asp"]‘Police Used Political Clout To Stop My Probe’-Ved Marwah, IPS, [/URL] By Harinder Baweja [IMG]http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/band_victims.gif[/IMG] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409when_he.asp"][IMG]http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/chandusingh.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409i_had.asp"][IMG]http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/bhaggikaur.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409i_lived.asp"][IMG]http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/lakhwinderkaur.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409i_dont.asp"][IMG]http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/nirpreetkaur.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL="http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne250409bhagat_men.asp"][IMG]http://tehelka.com/home/20090425/images/darshankaur.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2][I]From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 16, Dated Apr 25, 2009[/I][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=4][COLOR=#ffffff][B]CURRENT AFFAIRS[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [RIGHT][I][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=3][COLOR=#ffffff]the victims [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/I][/RIGHT] [B][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=5]‘Bhagat’s Men Offered Me Rs 25 Lakh’[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [SIZE=2][B][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]DARSHAN KAUR,[/FONT][/B][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][I] Lost 12 family members[/I][/FONT][/SIZE] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]WHATEVER YOU need — chemicals, powders, anything — I will give them to you,” Congress leader HKL Bhagat egged the mobs. Darshan Kaur, 47, could hear him speak as she lay crouched inside her Trilokpuri house. Her husband was hidden in a small landing in the attic. The mob dragged him out, poured oil over him and set him afire. He was half-burnt when Kaur emerged from hiding and clutched at an attacker’s legs, pleading for mercy.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2][IMG]http://tehelka.com/channels/News/2009/Apr/25/images/darshan.jpg[/IMG]The attacker dragged her down the road before throwing her off. She saw the local Congress leader Ram Pal Saroj instigating the mobs, saying, “No one should be spared.” As many as 12 members of Darshan Kaur’s family died in that attack. Many of them were stabbed in their stomachs with pieces of glass. Today, Darshan lives with her three sons, all in their twenties, in Ragi Bagh in west Delhi. Two of her sons are unemployed. One drives an autorickshaw. Her husband ran a garment export and auto-renting business before he died. The factories were burnt down, but some of the savings remain. Getting daily meals isn’t a problem. But Darshan barely eats. “It doesn’t feel as if it’s been 25 years,” she says. “It is still 1984 for me.”[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]Outside her gate, a policeman sits on a cane chair, an ancient rifle by his side. For the last 11 years, Darshan has been under police protection. In 1994, HKL Bhagat’s men came to buy her over. “Take Rs 25 lakh and don’t give an affidavit against Bhagat,” she was told. “Can you return at least one of my family back?” she asked.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]She testified against Bhagat, and asked the court for police protection. Despite the security given to her, she has been attacked several times. “I was leaving the court, when three men arrived on a motorcycle and brandished a pistol. I ran into the closest shop and just managed to survive,” she recalls. Another time, a group of 20 men with lathis were waiting for her outside a gurdwara. One of the attackers was Atma Singh Lubhana, the middleman who tried to bribe her on Bhagat’s behalf. She left the scene with a bleeding nose and scars on her forehead. A 10-day hospital treatment followed.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]Darshan now works as a nurse at the Tilak Vihar government hospital. “I want God to do the same thing to them as they did to us. Bhagat is now dead but I want Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar to hang while I’m still alive. Only then will I feel I’ve got justice,” she says.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]Since the case was reopened in 2008, Darshan has been helping the CBI gather more evidence against Tytler and Kumar. She has taken the team to meet 13 people, 11 of whom have testified against Kumar and two against Tytler.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]“The CBI told us to keep these testimonies secret,” Darshan says. “Why are they not disclosing them now?” When she put this question to the CBI, she got a vague reply from the investigative agency. “But I’m still hopeful that someday we will get justice,” she says.[/SIZE][/FONT] [RIGHT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2][B]TUSHA MITTAL[/B][/SIZE][/FONT][/RIGHT] [B][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=5]‘I Don’t Think Justice Will Come’[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [SIZE=2][B][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]NIRPREET KAUR,[/FONT][/B][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][I] Lost her father[/I][/FONT][/SIZE] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]THE PHOTOGRAPHS of the two men who are significant to Nirpreet Kaur’s life hang on the walls of her living room. The first is a faded black-and-white photo of her father. The second is a framed photo of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Khalistani separatist leader who was killed by the Indian Army in Operation Bluestar of 1984.[/SIZE][/FONT] [IMG]http://tehelka.com/channels/News/2009/Apr/25/images/justice.jpg[/IMG] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]Nirpreet was 16 years old on November 2, 1984 when the mob came for her father, Nirmal Singh. The gurdwara next to their house in south Delhi’s Raj Nagar had been set ablaze, and a mob of about 450 was looking for more Sikhs to butcher. The Sikhs of Raj Nagar decided to confront the mob.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]An hour later, Nirpreet recalls, Balwan Khokhar, the Youth Congress leader, came to her father requesting him to “settle the matter”. A day earlier, when violence against Sikhs broke out following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards, Khokhar had sworn to the Sikhs that they would be protected from violence.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]“Khokhar sweet-talked my father into coming with him for a compromise,” says Nirpreet. But Khokhar went straight to the mob and handed Nirmal Singh over. The oldest of three siblings, Nirpreet, ran to the mob but could only watch helplessly as her father was tied up and set ablaze.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]The family then fled to safety. When they returned to collect his ashes for Nirmal Singh’s last rites, the area had been swept clean.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]They moved from one rented house to another before settling in a home in west Delhi’s Tilak Vihar in 1986. Nirpreet moved to Chandigarh in September 1985 for her post-graduate degree. “My life then changed drastically,” she says. “I joined the Khalistan movement to avenge the brutal killing of my father.” Nirpreet married a militant in November 1986; the reason why Bhindranwale’s portrait hangs next to that of her father’s.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]As a functionary of the then dreaded All India Sikh Students Federation, Nirpreet came in contact with those involved with the Khalistan movement, an armed insurgency fighting for an independent Sikh homeland in Punjab, and became part of the militancy that ravaged the state for over a decade in the 1980s.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]Twelve days after her wedding, the Delhi police picked up her husband. He was never heard of again. Nirpreet, then pregnant with her son, was declared an absconder. She went into hiding. In December 1986, Nirpreet’s mother, Sampooran Kaur, was sentenced to three years in Delhi’s high-security Tihar jail for “sheltering a terrorist”. “She didn’t even have an inkling of what I was up to when they arrested her,” Nirpreet says.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]In May 1988, Punjab Police and paramilitary forces launched Operation Black Thunder against armed militants who had built up a fortified stronghold within the Golden Temple in Amritsar. At least 40 extremists were killed and several arrested.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]Sampooran Kaur was watching the news on television in the jail. She leapt with joy as she caught a fleeting glimpse of her daughter among those arrested. She hadn’t heard from Nirpreet for over a year.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]Five months after her arrest in Amritsar, Nirpreet, by then a mother of a oneyear- old boy, was also brought to Delhi’s high-security Tihar Jail. Sampooran rushed to Nirpreet’s cell as soon as the gates were unlocked. “She wouldn’t stop weeping,” recalls Nirpreet, a tear betraying her resolute demeanour. Other inmates gathered around the cell to witness the reunion of a 20-year-old “dreaded terrorist” and her mother.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]Nirpreet joined the Khalistan movement to avenge the killing of her father. She married a militant in 1988. ‘I went to jail for this,’ she says, ‘but those who massacred Sikhs still roam freely.’[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]AFTER EIGHT-and-a-half years in prison, Nirpreet was acquitted on October 24, 1996. Though, her family was supportive, it took time to start life anew. Today, Nirpreet, a readymade garments exporter, is actively involved in fighting for justice for victims of the 1984 Sikh carnage.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]She is one of the 11 witnesses who, in January this year, testified before the CBI against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]On the morning of November 2, 1984, Nirpreet says Kumar stood up in a police jeep near Palam colony and announced: “No Sikh should live. If anyone gives shelter to Sikh families, their houses will be burnt.” The CBI is yet to file a chargesheet against Kumar.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]Though she regrets having taken the extreme step of joining the Khalistan movement, she is not unhappy with the way life has turned out for her. “I was forced to take that step because of the Congress government’s injustice. The irony is that while I have been punished for what I did after the 1984 killings, those who executed the massacre of Sikhs still roam freely.”[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]The situation took a new turn following the CBI’s exoneration of Jagdish Tytler this month. A Delhi court has postponed the hearing on the CBI’s plea that the case against Tytler be closed. The survivors of the Sikh killings still live in the hope that the courts will bring them justice. Till that day, they will, like they have been doing for almost 25 years, relive the horror of 1984. “I don’t think we’ll ever get justice because the politicians are bothered only about votes,” rues Nirpreet.[/SIZE][/FONT] [B][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=5] [/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [/QUOTE]
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1984 And Injustices In A Democracy? What Is The Solution?
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