Thanks to modern technology, we have access to what is happening across the world at the tips of our fingers. With a few simple clicks and swipes, we can tune into what is happening on the other side of the world. Such has been the case for many people with roots in Punjab, who have been closely monitoring the ongoing flood relief efforts in the land of their forefathers.
In the 1990โs, the world didnโt have the luxury we do now. There were no smartphones, no alerts, and no instant immersion into knowledge and information on a topic which peaked oneโs interest. Information trickled in through the tv, radio, newspapers and of course through good old fashioned word of mouth.
Many of us were really young at the time, but we recall some of the things we overheard our parents talking about in Punjab, particularly the disappearances of young men at random, conducted by authorities without any proof of nefarious activity.
In that era, the atmosphere within the community was one of silent dread. Young men were rounded up from fields, schools, bazaars and even their homes and were missing for days and sometimes even months. When they returned, they did so with terrible stories of torture which left them scarred, both physically and mentally.
Ironically enough, they were the lucky ones, because thousands never made it back home. Their families searched for years, never to find out what happened to them. An entire generation of young men simply disappeared and was never heard from again, and the lack of technology we enjoy now kept the world from ever hearing about it to the scale it would if it happened now.
It was during this time and under these circumstances that a man named Jaswant Singh Khalra uncovered evidence that thousands of young Punjabi men had been killed by authorities, and their remains disposed of via mass cremations across the state. He brought this information to light knowing full-well that considering the climate, this would put him and his family in grave danger.
Sure enough, 30 years ago today, on September 6, 1995, Jaswant Singh Khalra was picked up by authorities outside his home while washing his car. He was brutally tortured for over a month and eventually murdered; his body was then thrown into a canal. Over a decade after his abduction and murder, five police officers were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Like the many thousands of youth for whom he advocated, his body was never found.
Jaswant Singh Khalra raised his voice in a dangerous time. Virtually everyone in tune with the situation in Punjab knew what was happening, but most chose to keep quiet out of fear of being subject to the same fate as Mr. Khalra. Although many secretly agreed with him and supported him in thought and spirit, few were willing to add their voice to his in a public forum.
In a powerful speech, Mr. Khalra shared the following story (paraphrased):
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ค. ๐๐ด ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ณ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ป๐ฐ๐ฏ.
๐๐ด ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ง๐ข๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ต, ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ, โ๐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด. ๐๐ง ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง, ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต.โ
๐๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ, ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ.
๐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฎ ๐๐ณ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ง ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง-๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ข๐ฃ, ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ, ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ถ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ณ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ต.
The world is in dire straits. Whereas the masses were largely unaware of the events in Punjab in the 90s due to a lack of connection, today we are able to witness some of the horror and evil happening across the globe first hand.
Punjab was recently hit with devastating floods; people have lost everything. It seems like yet another devastating blow for a place that just canโt catch a break. It has endured everything from partition to abductions and murders, to corruption, disputes over water diversion, an ongoing fight for respect, rights and recognition, a drug pandemic and multiple disastrous floods and much more.
Punjab and its people have suffered in countless ways for decades.
As Mr. Khalra said over three decades ago, it feels as though Darkness is trying to overwhelm Truth with full strength.
Social media is allowing those sitting thousands of miles away to witness the devastation first hand. Weโre seeing crops destroyed, dead livestock, homes collapsing and people who have lost everything in complete shock and disarray.
Amongst this Darkness, however, we are also witnessing lamps lifting their heads and spreading light.
We are seeing the people of Punjab come together to help those impacted by the devastation. Men and women are travelling from village to village to help those in need. Celebrities are stepping up with massive donations, and countless organizations abroad are raising funds to send to Punjab to assist where needed most.
Whatโs more, people are still smiling.
The situation is sombre, but those impacted and those assisting are in chardi kala (a state of unflinching optimism), They are accepting this as hukam (the will of the universe) and embracing it as an opportunity to engage in seva (selfless service).
Punjab has the odds stacked against it – it always has. It’s been cleaved into pieces and battered and bloodied time and time again. There are many who want nothing more than for its people, its traditions, its history and its heritage to be forgotten.
Darkness is forever at its door, but despite all odds, it continues to fight back.
Despite all odds, lamps continue to be lit.
Despite all odds, the spirit of Mr. Khalraโs sacrifice continues to remind us of our obligation to speak up and step up when needed most.
And despite all odds, Punjab will continue to produce lamps which challenge Darkness at every turn, standing with Truth, just as Shaheed Jaswant Singh Khalra had hoped.
