On disowning Bhagat Singh and Other Vagaries

The destruction of books....reminds me of more famous catastrophe perpetuated by plate pissers in Alexandria....

another reason the Christains left muslims behind...
Euro/Christians have embraced their Greek and Roman foundations and past....muslims continue to delve in darkness like pigs roll in filth.....
you can't reason with people mad and blind with religious fanaticism.....

Re: # 12

My only point is that the part of the shared history that a party does not need, could have been respectfully handed over to the other who values them more. Then again I have known bitter divorces where the outcome had been worse than consigning them to ganda nala, while in the other shared things were indeed handed over, however sad the situation. The action indeed reflects on the party.

drlokraj, obviously, not everyone in Pakistan could have supported getting rid of those (or any other) books. Even if zia had conducted a referendum asking whether he could replace those books with better books, he would not have won over all people.

(It seems like such a trivial issue. Why we are getting so excercised about it, and 'blaming zia' - I just don't know.

Had there been a good numbers of lovers and scholars of Hindi/Sanskrit/Gurumukhi who protested then, or now, in Pakistan, one would have thought at least Pakistanis had something to worry about.)

kaal, just because Zia was heading the country, that too in a un-constitutional way, it does not mean that he represented what all people of Pakistan shared his view on the collective past.

anil ji, perhaps we as Indians are very attached to Guru Ram Singh and Shaheed Bhagat Singh. It may be (since we do not have his explicit opinions) that that is why Zia had to/wanted to throw them in ganda nala. And many would agree with him.

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Now, no one is arguing that these things had no value for anybody. Only that they did not and need not have for some people.

Kaal:

There is a shared history, no point getting judgmental about it. Yes, there is a right choose that exclusively belongs to those who exclusively own. The question is no as simple, when it arises out of a shared history / past.

I do not see any sensible rational in throwing Hindi and Gurmukhi books in a ganda nala, or withholding information on Guru Ram Singh, and Shaheed Bhagat Singh. These are out of shared past.

Kaal,

Thanks. Complaining and moralizing is also a sword though perhaps not as effective (I have to agree). Your views as a Pakistani, must cause much palpitation in many a liberal Pakistani heart :) But point taken, boss.

GT, it seems to me that a lot of things are decided by those who have the (bigger) swords. It's only the losing side that habitually complains, and moralizes.

Was it worth the trouble of keeping all those books? Had I been a Pakistani I would have said, no. As an Indian, I would have (if I could afford) paid to bring them to India and preserve them.

Dear kaal:

You say,

"One ALWAYS has to pick and choose from one's past: what to remember, what to forget, and what to celebrate. One creates the past depending upon what kind of future one hopes for."

OK. But one should be able to pick and choose FROM a set of alternatives. Isn't that so? But here that set of alternatives is being destroyed. Now you may say that even that is fine. But then WHO decides as to which alternative should be destroyed from the set? The individual .... or someone else who knows what is good for that other individual. How does this ALL-KNOWING gentleman get to become all-knowing? Is he selected by people/god etc. Or is it the case that we all know what is good for others. Who-ever has the bigger sword then gets to decide for all others. If so, then is this also OK?

I would be extremely grateful if you could give a straight-forward answer, unlike those given by your social-science friends from Cornell and Stanford.

Zia'd have given those books to us than throwing them in gutter. ;-)

Re: # 5 Mr. Ras... people are not rejecting past, people are on hard times, just one has to work like animal ox to survive. There is time to remember or for sentimentality , this all heritage etc is western elite concept . To remember past is grief what we have become of whose ancestors conquired all world ( Ottoman + Mughal empire), when believers were surrounding Vienna and what have become of bus begging to western elites and begging to have right to vote. Better we forget past as study of past will make us shameful. Instead what our forefathers did we should do little.
Sorry for disagreeing.

Cemendtaur Sahib (aka Mr. C),

thanks for this beautiful writing and for exposing the truth

through Ahmad Salim about how Pakistanis reject their

heritage.

Please keep contributing on CHOWK and Pakistan Link.

Best Wishes,

Ras

It sad thing to read. But nothing against Mr. Singh as such. Now nobody cares even of Quaid. Its generic, people are tired od politicians even good. There is fatigue. Time creates heros and swallows also. Today leaders are PM aziz, presdent general , and so on . No body will miss them tomorrow just like general A,Y,Z and now General M, name will be rememberd may be due to misdeeds. KInd of life has become too fast to have time for reverence, life is fast and just sentimentalit is out. Time are appearing for old times like me but time will come for new young people when they will remember this as gone great times. Please read article about W.Stan that is new era. good morning.

Too much self-flagellation here. One ALWAYS has to pick and choose from one's past: what to remember, what to forget, and what to celebrate. One creates the past depending upon what kind of future one hopes for.

Bhagat Singh was a no doubt a great man, and few would disagree regarding the need to celebrate his life. But this shouldn't turn into a mess.

just reproducing a Daghistani saying which I read in Rasul Hamzatov's 'Mera Daaghistan':
"If you fire at your past with a pistol, the future will blow you out with a cannon"

I read whatever part of Shauqat Sardar's autobiography was published in Preetlari and was wondering why the publication was stopped midway.

Thank you for this...I myself am discovering the true Bhagat Singh and his ideology, trying to extricate him from the mythology that surrounds the great man...efforts of Ahmad Salim Saab will go a long way in that...I am grateful to him.

regards