Adversity, it is said, brings out both the best and the worst in
us. So it has been with the tsunami tragedy. It will no doubt be a long, long
time before near and dear ones of the over 162,000 people who were swept away by
the killer waves, and the hundreds of thousands of survivors, can overcome their
grief and trauma. Meanwhile, however, we can draw some inspiration from the
numerous accounts of individuals who risked their own lives to rescue others.
And some comfort from the fact that in India and elsewhere the response to the
urgent relief needs of the victims has been spontaneous and generous with both
commoners and celebrities contributing.
As in case of the devastating earthquakes in Maharashtra in 1993
and Gujarat in 2001, or the Orissa cyclone in 1999, the print and electronic
media promptly put out appeals and started their own relief funds in aid of the
devastated survivors. That’s our better side, which we can all, in some quiet
way, celebrate. Sadly, however, even in times that cry out for a show of basic
humanity, some of us cannot help but display the darker side of human nature. So
we have had reports about those whose first concern it was to snatch what they
could of the personal belongings of those no longer alive. There were reports in
the past of how the sangh parivar used the opportunity to weave their
network of hate into the post-cyclone relief work in Orissa and how caste
discrimination was built into the post-quake rehabilitation efforts in Latur (Maharashtra)
and Kutch (Gujarat). Yet again, within days of the tsunami striking, the
national and international media and Dalit organisations were sending out alerts
on how in the dispersal of relief Dalits were being sidelined in the tsunami hit
coastal zones of Tamil Nadu.
Of course, "we" can distance ourselves from such disturbing
accounts and tell ourselves that, thank god, "we" are not like that. But while
we give ourselves credit for responding promptly to natural disasters as in
1993, 1999 or 2001, should we not ask ourselves, yet again, what happens to our
human compassion and sense of social responsibility in the face of man-made
calamities as in 2002 (Gujarat genocide)? In the aftermath of a State-sponsored
carnage, where were celebrities and common folk and where were the media’s
relief funds?
Over the years, we have published several cover stories and
special reports highlighting the hijacking of the movement in Kashmir by
Pakistan-aided Islamic extremist outfits and also focussed on the plight of
Kashmiri Pandits forced to become refugees in their own land. In our cover story
in this issue, Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal, the Jammu-based executive editor of
Kashmir Times takes us back to the time of India’s bloody partition and
forces us to re-examine the roots of communal prejudice in the Valley. Delving
into the past she raises some uncomfortable questions that we need to face up to
if we are to have a proper appreciation of how this paradise on earth so rapidly
deteriorated into hellish conditions within a few short decades.
Among other things, the tortuous trail of the ongoing Best
Bakery trial has once again highlighted how judicial delays and the absence of a
proper witness protection programme subvert the judicial process in India.
Similarly, the commencement of the trial in the case of the 1991 massacre of
Dalits of Tsundur in Andhra Pradesh, 13 years after the carnage, makes a mockery
of the justice process. But it is also a tribute to the entire community of
Tsundur’s Dalits who have stood rock-like behind the surviving witnesses in
their resolve to ensure that the guilty are punished. We have a special report
on this along with an appeal for solidarity support from groups and individuals
during the trial. We also have an accompanying report from Kerala that clearly
shows how, in the absence both of a witness protection programme and a community
that is at once vigilant and supportive, politicians with criminal antecedents
continuously threaten and bribe victims and use devious means to discredit human
rights defenders fighting for justice.
Meanwhile, there is some very good news from Karnataka. The
Karnataka Communal Harmony Forum offers an excellent case study on how the
hate-mongers can be put on the back foot given persistence and an action plan
that appeals to ordinary citizens. Thanks to the Forum’s unique mobilisation,
the sangh parivar’s determination to convert the Baba Boudhangiri Dargah
into an ‘Ayodhya of South India’ stands frustrated, at least for the moment.
