Re-emerging contours of Islamic terror

By N.B. Menon

If the hostage-taking drama at a southern Moscow theatre, the Palace of Culture of the Podshipnikov Zavod, proves anything, it is the internal contradictions of the international war against terrorism. Possibly the most audacious terrorist action executed by over 30 Chechen separatists since the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist strike on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001, the unfolding crisis in Moscow once again exposes the dangers of granting intellectual legitimacy to terror as the expression of political grievances.

The risks of such rationalisation are even greater when Al Qaeda-Taliban fugitives are running free, following Afghanistan’s cleansing, spreading their tentacles through disaffected and hence manipulable sections of society the world over. That Al Qaeda men were said to have been spotted in Georgia – Pankisi Gorge is a Chechen sanctuary the way Pakistan is to Kashmir-bound leaves no room for doubt on this score. In a world recovering from the World Trade Centre destruction a year ago, hair-splitting over the many faces – profiled in terms of so-called "causes" – of death-dealers is a self-defeating evasion of an obvious reality: The ends – whether a Palestinian state, a Chechen haven, Kashmir, Akshardham’s "revenge" killings, or a Bali-type dress rehearsal for an anti-capitalist clash of civilisations – do not justify the means. And more, these ends are increasingly being conflated with a larger purpose: The assault of Islamic radicalism on the free world.

Admittedly, Moscow’s hostage crisis must assume global centrestage for the glaring reality that terrorism is truly on an international roam, only the context, the "cause", the destination, the origin, the people vary. Be it Al Qaeda operatives in the United States, Chechen rebels in Russia, "freedom fighters" in Jammu and Kashmir, or Palestinian suicide bombers in Israel, al adhere to an identical script of terror, wedded not to any cause – ideological, political or religious – but to a mindless game of death.

However, before turning to the debate that the Moscow crisis has once again forced upon the world, one thought it in order, albeit from the narrow professional prism of a journalist, to dwell on the treatment the crisis received on its first day in the electronic medium in India. In brief, it was nothing short of appalling. On a day the world was served a gruesome reminder of ever-expanding international terrorism that got the US on September 11, 2001, nearly got India on December 13 the same year, and hit Bali on October 12 this year, Indian TV news channels thought it more expedient to track the machinations of the Mayawatis and Amar Singhs through the day. This is not to suggest that domestic politics, especially events relating to the nerve-centre of Indian politics do not deserve close watch. Unacceptable, however, was the fact that Moscow was pushed to a footnote, the crisis featuring in the world affairs, videshse-samachar, section of most news bulletins. Late into the night, news channels debated on end the fate of the Mayawati Government in UP, issuing a token acknowledgment of the fact that Russia was in the throes of a major terror attack. With little realisation that it was one that could well become an Indian story, another time, in another place.

Indeed, one can hardly fault CNN or BBC for their obsessive concern with the sniper’s latest move, the Moscow crisis only a second lead on both channels. Americans, known to be an insular race, were being natural to their instinct in keeping track of the latest on the sniper story – 800-1000 odd hostages held by mindless Chechen terrorists in far-off Moscow a distant call for a nation that sets the highest premium on American lives – in America.

BBC once again was being only natural in according priority to America’s dilemma over one of Russia’s worst hostage crises in history. What was puzzling however was the fact that for a country that has been cohabiting with terrorism for nearly two decades and has thrust terrorism as a priority item both on the foreign and domestic policy agenda, its electronic medium appeared to have either ignored, or worse, missed the implication of the hostage-taking in Moscow.

At the risk of sounding prejudiced, one must submit that the coverage the Indian print medium reserved for the Moscow crisis Friday morning more than made up for the inexplicable indifference of the electronic medium. With most newspapers carrying the hostage crisis as lead, one was relieved to see the incident placed in due perspective, a moment that will be registered as yet another link in the endless chain of terrorist violence running round the globe, India one of its prime victims.

On another note, the Moscow theatre siege also suggests that some serious sociological and psychological enquiry needs to be made post-haste into what ails the Muslim psyche, what it is that makes an Osama bin Laden declare jihad in the name of Islam, why "freedom fighters" from Muslim majority regions across the world delight in taking lives, particularly their own. Freedom struggle and independence are not unfamiliar words to a majority of nations across the world. Virtually the whole of Africa and Asia as much as parts of Europe and America have known what foreign domination is. And, independence from foreign occupation has not been bloodless for most. Why then do these stories of independence struggles read so differently from the ones that are being scripted by Muslims in different parts of the world today? Why do Muslim-led freedom struggles across the globe target unsuspecting civilians more than the concerned establishments?

Granted for a while that Kashmiris, Chechens, Uighurs or Palestinians have a just cause for freedom. Whether or not global capitals arrive at a consensus on any of these "struggles", they can little ignore the fact that killing of innocent civilians has become a pathological compulsion in all these struggles . Admittedly, the world has done well to stay away from the "clash of civilizations" theory, aware of the saner elements in the Islamic world with whom business must be conducted. However something is going very dangerously wrong in sections of the Muslim world, a disturbing trend of death and destruction that must be attended to if the world ever hopes to end the scourge of terrorism. The insanity of acts like the attack on the WTC, endless killings in the Kashmir valley, near-daily violence across Israel and now the Moscow hostage-taking only suggest that the "Muslim freedom fighter" is in need of immediate psychological assistance.

Apparently Chechen Muslims trace their ties with Islam to the time of Caliph Omar when Arab missionaries spread Islam in the Caucasus and are said to be devout Muslims. Yet, they have no qualms about wrapping a theatre-ful of unsuspecting innocents with explosives. Osama bin Laden is a devout Muslim, yet in the name of Islam he smiles as the twin towers crumble to a heap in far-off New York. Palestinians have a grouse against Israel, therefore militant Hamas followers continue to blow themselves up along with Israelis aboard buses, in marketplaces and nightclubs. Successful elections in Jammu and Kashmir notwithstanding, innocent civilians must continue to die for the "self-determination" of the Kashmiri people. While each has a region-specific context, the modus operandi and psychological make-up of the freedom fighter has assumed uniform shape, the link to which must be found in the centres that train and develop such mindsets.

The obvious similarities in terror attacks across the globe in recent times, especially in the past year, point to the fact that if at all the world community is seriously concerned over global terrorism, it must work together, beyond narrow political compulsions, to identify countries responsible for the export of terror, as also their compulsions to do so. Russian President Vladimiar Putin has said those in control of the Moscow theatre have been trained in "foreign centres". New Delhi, itself a victim of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, was quick to identify "outside forces" as the mischief-makers in the current siege. The world has a common enemy today, one that can attack anytime, anywhere. It is therefore incumbent on global leaders starting with the United States, to undertake a genuine review of countries exporting terror, in order that a September 11 does not come re-visiting. INAV

Novels of Dalip Kaur Tiwana focus on women

By Ashok K Choudhury

While reviewing the contributions made by women in Punjabi literature, one comes across a long list of women novelists from the periods before and after the partition in 1947. The foremost of them is Amrita Pritam who is now a world-known figure for fiction and poetry. Dalip Kaur Tiwana and Ajeet Kaur are the next in the line. In the words of eminent Punjabi writer, Kartar Singh Duggal, "Dr Tiwana is the counterpart of poetess Amrita Pritam in Punjabi Letters. What Amrita Pritam says in verse, Tiwana depicts eminently in fiction, as much is short stories as in novels."

Dr Tiwana is primarily concerned with the psychic reality of the faminine characters. The characters in her novels are the downtrodden and the innocent rural folk with suppressed wants and desires. Tragedy and irony mark the main elements of her fiction. Complex inner duality of the female psyche is the chief theme of Tiwana. In her short stores, she is remarkable in the art of depiction of local colour, and she portrays faithfully the anguish and agony of a separated woman.

"Tiwana is one of the foremost novelists in contemporary Punjabi literature. She has mostly written about the mindscape of the downtrodden woman and her secondary position in society. Even if some of the women in her novels are educated and economically independent, they are unable to assert their identities as equal human beings. Nor do they demand equal status in the family and in the society, for fear of what is at stake", says Ajeet Kaur, a Punjabi literary critic.

Dr Tiwana is the winner of the 11th Saraswati Samman, instituted by K K Birla Foundation, for the year 2002, given for an outstanding literacy work in an Indian language, for the novel Katha Kaho Urvashi (Urvashi, Narrate the Story). The Samman comprising a cash prize of Rs. five lakhs was conferred on her last August. Katha Kaho Urvashi, published in 1999, is a saga of three generations and comprises five sections spread over 600 pages, encompasses the religious didactic tale, fable, the oral tradition, the monologue, the journal and the dialogic form. Viewed as a composite picture of reality, the novel breaks new ground and projects a broken world in which there are no black and white divisions, no saints or villains but human beings who are victims of their own impulses and frailties.

The Central theme of the novel lies in the complexities of life and the cultural structures, as they strive to salvage the best in themselves. It does not have any protagonist in a conventional sense. The listener's presence is important all through, but within the range, and the reader-narrator relationship is altered in each section. "The novel is the pinnacle of Tiwana's long literary journey. All renowned litterateurs and critics of Punjabi literature have greatly appreciated this novel.

Prior to Saraswati Samman, Dr Tiwana got the coveted Sahitya Akademi Award in 1972 for her second novel Eho-Hamara Jiwana (Such is Our Life, 1968), the story of a woman, Bhano, who lived the life of a destitute. She loses her husband very shortly after marriage and is thrown out of her husband's house after his death. His memories haunts Bhano and she decides to commit suicide but is saved by an opium addict Narain, who later accepts Bhano as his spouse. Bhano accepts Narain, who is a good for nothing fellow only having a house and a piece of land in a village. She adjusts herself to her new social surroundings rather well. Since she was barren, Narain marries Bhagwati and becomes the father of a male child. Now he does not need Bhano and asks her to leave home. Narain poses as if he is doing a big favour by sending her to another place for the sake of her happiness.

Since the publication of Eho Hamara Jiwana, she does not seem to have looked back. A chain of novels, a spontaneous flow of creativity, followed. The novels of Dr Tiwana are basically heroine-oriented and deal with the themes regarding the women situation in their socio-cultural context. The slow awakening for their rights seems to develop through a self-analysis of the leading characters. They journey towards the question of their existence and are directly in confrontation with society and themselves simultaneously.

Whereas the heroine in Teeli Da Nishan comes to terms with her situation of being a widows, the leading woman in Doorsi Sita when raped by the village landlord could not go back to her in-laws' house and hence ends her hopes by suicide. In Hastakshar, Seema suffers at the hands of her husband Amar, who was her beloved earlier. She dies in labour after giving birth to a female child. Her death is considered a form of her rejection of the world.

Seema in her second birth in the novel Paricha becomes Simran who is the reincarnation of her mother. She has inherited the pain of the her mother's failure. Simran does not want to forget her own independence in the form of marriage.

Her finest work, Langh Gaya Darya, Dr Tiwana emerges as a stunningly powerful narrator of the decadent society in the erstwhile princely State of Patiala reflected in the day-to-day life of those connected with royalty. It is different from her other novels as no individual vision is allowed to emerge and no individual life placed centre-stage. "In its depiction of culture of the princely State, it offers itself for comparison with other similar novels, like Manohar Malgonkar's The Princes and Nayantara Sehgal's Mistaken Identity", says Jasbir Jain.

Most of her well-known novels are deeply rooted in the socio-cultural ethos of the erstwhile princely State of Patiala, but going beyond its confines to address questions of loneliness and rootlessness, cultural alienation and existential anguish, the individuals need to accept change and the inability to cope with its dynamics, and above all the unrecognised longing for an anchoring in the stability of past. She is not interested in projecting the sublimity of love relations through her mute heroines.

Tiwana exposes the women of conventional thinking who are traditionally suppressed. She depicted, in her earlier novels, the helplessness of conventional and rather illiterate women, but her later novels are about the woman who is highly educated and fully conscious. Her novels reflect the reality of a woman's life against different caste and economic backgrounds, nomadic, uprooted, compelled to live within the system of polygamy or bigamy, inhibited by her singleness, marginalized because of her barrenness, controlled and famed by the patriarchal structure. They leave one with a feeling of sadness. Yet these women are strong and at times they surprise one by their boldness. The character emerges as a strong category in itself.

Dr Tiwana, author of 27 novels, has also to her credit over 100 stories published in a number of volumes. Sadhana (Endeavour), Yatra (Pilgrimage), Kise Di Dhee (Someone's Daughter), Ik Kuri (A Girl), Tun Bharin Hungara (Please Respond), Malan (The Florist), Tera Kamra Mera Kamra (Your Room My Room) are the anthologies of her stories. She excels in narrating the woeful tale of deserted woman. Most of her stories have been translated into English, Hindi and Urdu published in various journals.

Besides novels and short stories, Dr Tiwana has written a few sensitive autobiographical accounts - Nange Pairan Da Safar (A Journey on Bare Feet, 1980) and Puchhde Ho To Suno (Listen, if You Ask, 1993). Together these two reflect her dominant concern for social change and aesthetic values. Nange Pairan Da Safar got and the Gurmukh Singh Musafir Award in 1982. The autobiographical piece is a personal and deeply moving account of woman's struggle towards intellectual and emotional self-realisation in a hostile environment. It is a testament of faith born of deep a convictions.

Apart from fiction, short stories, autobiographical account, Dr Tiwana has written ten books on literary criticism. Her writings gave the reader special insight into Punjab and its people. She confines her canvas to the areas of Malwa and Majha that lie around and downstream the Sutlej. She writes about there, their failures and their fortunes. But she has captured their spirit through a woman's sensibility, gives a different dimension and colouring to her writing.

A sensitive and prolific writer, Dr Tiwana was born on 4 May 1935 in Unchi Rabbon village of Ludhiana district, Punjab. Doing a Master's degree and a Ph.d. On the Technique and Development of the Short Story in Punjabi's from Punjab University, she joined there as lecturer. Dr Tiwana retired as Professor of Punjabi, and Dean, Faculty of Languages. Presently she is the Life Fellow of the university. She has been associated with a number of literary bodies, including the Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi (1988-92), as member of the General Council and the Advisory Board for Punjabi.

She has been the receipting of four State awards, two national awards, and one international award, for her literary pursuits. Besides, Saraswati Samman and Sahitya Akademi Award, she received: Govt of Punjab Award (1961); Nanak Singh Puraskar (1988); Shriomani Sahitkar Award (1982); Best Novelist of the Decade Award (1989-90) from Punjabi Academy, Delhi; Canadian International Association of Punjabi Authors and Artists Award (1985).

In the words of Amrita Pritam "Tiwana captivates and enthrals" not the way a female pop singer does, but just the way the fragrance does to entire earth". In all her work it is the agony of being or becoming a woman in all possible incarnations - as a daughter, as a wife, as a mother, as a sister or as a lover."

K S Duggal says, both Amrita Pritam and Tiwana are given to talking about the plight of the weaker sex in the man-made society around us. The only difference is what while Amrita's milieu is mainly urban, at times even universal, Tiwana is rooted in the soil, her own tradition and folklore, economic exploitation of the social curbs inflicted upon the other sex in society in Punjab". However, critics have considered the women depicted in her novels suffer because of her emotional attitude towards life. -  CNF