Asa Nu Maan Watna Da Movie Review

Asa Nu Maan Watna Da (Punjabi film)

(Review by Jasbir S Kang, MD)

Director: Manmohan Singh. Produced by Wild Rose Entertainment
Starring: Harbhajan Mann, Kirandeep Kimmi, Arshvir Bajwa, Kanwaljit Singh and Deep Dhillon

Duration 179 Minutes

Harbhajan Mann, a Punjabi singer turned actor, stars in this new film Asa Nu Maan Watna Da – which translates to "Searching for Our Roots". This movie is going to give a major boost to the Punjabi movie industry worldwide, which has done poorly so far compared to other regional cinema.  It is produced by expatriate Punjabis from Calgary, Canada.

Directed by Manmohan Singh, a highly respected Bollywood Cinematographer turned Director. His first major Punjabi direction "Jee Aayan Nu" was a box office hit in the Western countries and India. The music soudtrack and songs were such a hit that it paid for the entire budget of the production. Manmohan Singh, Harbhajan Mann, and Kirandeep Kimmi were honored by the Punjabi American Heritage Society for their contribution to Punjabi films at the ninth Punjabi American festival, Yuba City in May 2003.  While giving his keynote speech, he said that he was encouraged by the overwhelming support of Punjabis worldwide and announced the launching of his second Punjabi venture (Asa Nu Maan Watna Da).  He also said his goal is to raise the standard of the Punjabi cinema to international standards.  He kept his word and the film was completed in less than a year’s time.  So far this movie has done quite well in India, UK and Canada and is now showing in US theaters. Unfortunately, it has not been adequately promoted in the US market.

Asa Nu Maan Watna Da is a roller coaster ride of human emotions, told through mesmerizing and enchanting music, filled with tears, laughter, and romance, decorated with the scenic beauty of western Canada and Punjab, India, and crafted with the astonishing cinematography of Mr. Harmeet Singh.

This film depicts what happens to those who return to their homeland after a prolonged absence abroad and deals with the following questions:

Are migrants really welcomed back to their motherland?

Is it the same motherland that they left behind?

Does the motherland have the same rich, cultural values that they strived to teach to their children?

Are they left confused about where they fit in?

Could Love bloom within two young hearts, born and raised in two different lands?

Does forgiveness and love calm the stormy ocean of human hearts?

What does the West offer the East and what does the East offer the West? Is unity possible?

Tears came to my eyes twice while I watched this movie at the Sutter Theater in Yuba City.

This is a clean film, suitable for families.

The music is a combination of both traditional and modern rhythms, composed by Jaidev Kumar.  Here are the songs from this movie:

1. Nach Le Gaa Le – Harbhajan Mann
2. Yaara O Dildara – Harbhajan Mann, Sunidhi Chauhan
3. Long Gavaiyan – Harbhajan Mann, Jaspinder Narula
4. Lohri – Harbhajan Mann, Jaspinder Narula, Arvinder Singh, Simejit Kumar
5. Ankhiyanch Neendar – Harbhajaan Mann
6. Lae Maaye – Harbhajan Mann
7. Nach Le Gaa Le (Indian Version) – Harbhajan Mann
 
Harbajan Maan      Kirandeep Kummi

Reduced to Ashes: The Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab

Book review by J S Kang, MD

Title:  Reduced to Ashes: The Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab

Authors:  Ram Narayan Kumar, Amrik Singh, Ashok Agrwaal and Jaskaran Kaur (Committee for Coordination on Disappearances in Punjab)

Publisher:  South Asia Forum for Human Rights

Order Info:  $35 to “South Asian Center”; PO Box 391732; Cambridge MA 02139

Free Internet version available on web site: www.punjabjustice.org

Modern societies only progress if they learn the lessons of history and don’t repeat mistakes of the past.  The contents of Reduced to Ashes: The Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab compels its readers to critically re-examine and re-assess the Indian state’s tactics in crushing the separatist insurgency in Punjab during the 1980’s and 90’s.  Even the internationally-acclaimed writer Khushwant Singh, who was an ardent supporter of the Punjab police’s use of extra-judicial methods to crush the uprising, has praised the objectivity of the report’s documentation and the professionalism of its writers.

Reduced to Ashes is a milestone in the human rights research on Punjab because of its highly empirical and systematic data.  The report’s principal investigators include social activists, academics, and lawyers from both the United States and India.
 
The book begins with a preface by Professor Peter Rosenblum of Harvard Law School.  Professor Rosenblum admits his initial skepticism about researching human rights abuses in Punjab, but writes that the “careful methodology” of the report’s investigators has appeased his initial skepticism.  He surmises that the “sheer mass of testimonies” demonstrates that the work of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the courts in India has only barely begun “because there are glaring violations of rights to be addressed and responsibility to be apportioned” even after nearly a decade of relative “normalcy.”

In the book’s introduction, Tapan Bose explains the rationale behind researching and writing the report.  He states that this report was necessary to give “voice” to the victims of the state’s human rights abuses, to shift the discourse of human rights in Punjab away from partisan rhetoric to an examination of the facts and the law, and to present a body of empirically-verifiable evidence to the NHRC and the courts (both domestic and international) in the hopes that they will finally act in a meaningful way to apportion responsibility.

The core of the book consists of 582 case studies of residents of Amritsar district who were killed while in police custody, usually in “faked encounters” or by physical torture, and subsequently cremated as “unidentified bodies” in public cremation grounds.  Each case-history is based on multiple sources of information including cremation ground records, police documents, medical reports, press reports, and personal interviews.  The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also independently confirmed many.

The results of these case-studies reveal several patterns of state abuse that seriously challenge many of the previously held conceptions about the state’s actions in crushing the insurgency in Punjab.  For example, it was often assumed that the police used “illegal,” extra-judicial means to “eliminate” only armed insurgents (or “criminals”) who engaged in acts of violence.  The findings presented in this study disprove this claim and demonstrate that a vast number, perhaps majority, of those killed by the police where not armed insurgents (or “criminals”) but rather people whose only crime was being a “nuisance” for the police and the state.

This included members of Sikh nationalist (but non-violent) political organizations, relatives and associates of suspected dissidents (both violent and non-violent), human rights activists, and even “innocent” civilians.  The police also often acted in its own self-interests by picking-up individuals for extortion of bribes and killing them after their relatives could no longer afford to pay money.  Most of the case studies presented in the book also pinpoint the place and date that many of the “unidentified” persons were killed and the police party which arrested them before their death.  Khushwant Singh has described the case studies as being “spine-chilling.”

The study also points to another disturbing pattern regarding human rights abuses in Punjab- the relative impunity of the police and its immunity from meaningful prosecution.  With few exceptions, the study shows that cases filed against police officers have made little headway in terms of prosecution. This is so because of intimidation of applicants and witnesses by the police, the financial inability of applicants to sustain years of complex litigation, evidentiary complexities, and the reluctance of judges to prosecute agents of the state (i.e. police officers).  In addition, the legal jurisdiction of the NHRC, which came into existence in 1993, has been so narrowly defined that it cannot effectively take up a majority of the cases relating to Punjab.  Thus, the avenues for legal recourse for the surviving victims of the state’s human rights abuses have been few and ineffectual.

This raises a fundamental question.  The state can deliver various forms of “justice” to insurgents and criminals who threaten country’s unity or who violate the rights of others.  But, does this mean that agents of the state should be allowed to act with complete impunity regardless of their actions?  Furthermore, does the state have a monopoly on all that is supposedly “just” and “righteous”?  This book deals, in part, with the former question while the latter question is best left to political philosophers, which the authors do not claim to be.

A substantial portion of Reduced to Ashes is dedicated to its original investigator- the slain human rights lawyer, Jaswant Singh Khalra.  Mr. Khalra came from a family of freedom fighters.  His grandfather, Harman Singh, was a passenger on the infamous Komagata Maru ship in 1914, and spent most of his life either in prison or away from his home fighting for Indian independence.  Mr. Khalra’s father, Kartar Singh, was an active member of the Indian National Congress before Independence.  As a university student, Jaswant Singh Khalra had leftist leanings and was involved in numerous social causes.  His spirit of activism continued into the 1980’s and, especially, the 90’s when he joined the human rights wing of the Akali Dal and began to investigate the cremation of “unidentified bodies” by the police during the separatist insurgency.  His research caused him to become a “nuisance” to the Punjab police.  The police abducted him in front of his home in Amritsar in September 1995 and subsequently he was declared, “Disappeared.”  His case, in which former Punjab police chief K.P.S. Gill is also a prime accused, has been lingering in the Indian judicial system for the last eight years without nearing any resolution.  His widow, Paramjeet Kaur, is quoted in the book as saying, “I have no hope.  In ten to fifteen years, we will also sit down and give up.  How much can we do?”

In conclusion, the evidence presented in this book is too systematic and too compelling for the book to be simply characterized as a denunciation of the Indian state.  The findings of this study present a mirror for the democratic Indian polity to see that it, even with its many positives points, has in this case failed to respect its own constitution and the fundamental human rights of many of its citizens.  This book is a must-read for well-wishers of human rights and also for all well-meaning, enlightened Indians who wish to see their society progress into a healthy and just state.  To forget and forgive injustices and abuses of today is to welcome their reoccurrence in the future.  This approach is not commensurate with the professed ideals of any democracy.  Read the book and critically judge for yourself.

Twenty Years of Impunity Book Review

Twenty Years of Impunity: The November 1984 Pogroms of Sikhs in India. Jaskaran Kaur, ENSAAF. Foreword by Barbara Crossette. Published by Nectar Publishing (2004). ISBN 0-9548412-0-4.

Twenty years after the government-sponsored Sikh pogroms of November 1984, the Indian government continues to deny survivors the rights to knowledge, justice and reparations. Twenty Years of Impunity, an ENSAAF report written by Jaskaran Kaur with a foreword by former New York Times reporter Barbara Crossette , analyzes 6000 papers from the Misra Commission, a governmental body of inquiry set-up to investigate the violence against Sikhs in November 1984 in the cities of Delhi, Kanpur, and Bokaro. By dissecting the government record, the in-depth 150 page report reveals the identity of the perpetrators and nature of the violence and its organized dynamic. After a thorough discussion of administrative and judicial impunity, the report applies the international law of genocide and crimes against humanity to the pogroms, relating the massacres with international understandings of gross violations of human rights.

Kaur’s analysis of thousands of pages of official records, including over one thousand affidavits from eyewitnesses and survivors of the massacres, conclusively establishes that the government planned, organized, and participated in the murder of thousands of Sikhs and in the destructions of their homes, businesses , and places of worship. In addition to the Misra Commission papers, Kaur analyzes news articles from over 25 news sources, reports of administrative committees, and human rights documents, among other secondary material. As Brad Adams, Executive Director, Asia Division of Human Rights Watch writes, “Jaskaran Kaur’s meticulous account of the failure of justice for Sikhs brings to life a period that many in India wish they could forget. With many connected to the violence now enjoying prominent positions in public life, Kaur makes it clear that India continues to ignore this dark chapter of its modern history at its own risk.”

Chapter One of the report provides context to the November pogroms by discussing the politics of the time and major events leading up to the massacres, including Operation Blue Star–the Indian army assault on the Sikh’s holiest place of worship, the Harimandir Sahib, or Golden Temple and 41 other Sikh shrines (It was done on the martyrdom anniversary day of Guru Arjan Dev). Chapter Two discusses the patterns and characteristics of the November 1984 pogroms, such as: the Congress-led meetings where they distributed weapons; the identification and tracking of Sikhs killed; slogans of extermination; sexual violence; refusal of medical treatment by government doctors; and attacks on the media covering the violence. This chapter, like the third, fourth and fifth chapters, ends with further questions or points of study.

Chapter Three analyzes the role of the police. Kaur first describes the police structure, and the police’s failure to act to stem the violence, as per the orders of senior police officers. The chapter then focuses on police instigation of violence against the Sikhs including instructing mobs to kill, ensuring they would be protected from retaliation or prosecution, and disarming Sikhs who were defending themselves. The chapter next discusses the destruction of evidence and investigations against perpetrators of the massacres, from failing to properly record police reports, to tearing out pages from the logbooks of senior police officers. Kaur also demonstrates that senior police officers had sufficient knowledge and force to counter the pogroms. Chapter Three ends with sections on the role of the Railway Protection Force and Fire Brigade in engaging in violence or failing to protect Sikh victims.

The next chapter establishes the complicity of the Congress (I) Party and Delhi Administration in the massacres. This chapter, among other things, further examines the Congress (I) party massacre planning and the role of the administration in preventing the deployment of the Army in a timely manner, rendering them ineffective, and its failure to provide adequate relief measures.

The fifth chapter focuses on the aftermath of the violence and the twenty years of administrative and judicial impunity. Post-massacre elections, where Sikhs were portrayed as a threat to the nation, alienated the minority Sikh community and solidified the majority vote, leading to landslide victories for key perpetrators and organizers of the pogroms. Kaur uses government papers to analyze the establishment and lack of transparency in the operations of the Misra Commission, and compares the analysis in Misra’s report to the actual contents of the Misra papers in ENSAAF’s possession. Kaur demonstrates, for example, how Misra dismissed allegations against senior Congress party leaders on the basis of the legitimacy conferred by their political positions thus dismissing serious allegations of abuse. Kaur also compares the findings of subsequent inquiry committees, and the judicial impunity resulting from the police’s destruction of evidence, the failure of the prosecution to properly prepare cases, delays in filing cases, and the failure to comply with legal procedures.

In the sixth chapter, Kaur applies the international law of genocide and crimes against humanity to the facts related by the government papers. In her legal analysis, Kaur defines and applies the elements of genocide, including intent, the quantitative criterion, and theories of responsibility. As the Nazis had marked the homes of Jews before they were visited; so too were Sikh homes identified to direct the murderers. As the Rwandans were chanting slogans to eliminate the Tutsis, so too were mobs chanting for the blood of Sikhs. As Serbs had targeted Mosques, besides massacring Muslims in concentration camps, so too were Gurdwaras and their occupants burned to the ground and desecrated.

Through this report, Kaur has challenged its readers and the Indian government to acknowledge the continuing injustice inflicted upon the survivors of November 1984. The government and its supporters totally deny the organized nature of the violence and its extent, and insist upon forgetting it. For the survivors, these are not issues of the past. Each day they are denied justice and reparations, their anguish is compounded and their nightmare prolonged. However, the duty to acknowledge and remember the carnage is not the government’s alone. To ensure that neighbors do not become killers, wives widows and children orphans, the public must share this obligation–to read this report. Since India is striving to be a world leader, it is in its own interest to give just closure to this unfortunate scar on its secular and democratic image.

ENSAAF (www.ensaaf.org) works with survivors to engage in advocacy and outreach, documents violations, and educates the public about human rights violations in India.

A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, Jaskaran Kaur is a lawyer focusing on documentation, research, writing and advocacy on human rights issues in India. She currently serves as Executive Director of ENSAAF.

To order this report, please order online via www.bookmarks.uk.com . For credit card orders, telephone Bookmarks at +44 (0)20 7637 1848 or email enquiries@bookmarks.uk.com. (₤7.99 or $15.00)