It was early morning on January 1, 1988, when terrorists had struck at Cheema Batth, a village in Amritsar district. In the farmhouse where gun shots had rung out the night before. Through the half-open door nine blood-splattered bodies on the floor were seen. Not a soul was left to mourn as the whole family, including a four month old child, was killed by a terrorist gang on the suspicion that they were police informers. The massacres were as common as marriages during the 80s with more than 25000 lives lost including that of a prime minister. Two decades later, Cheema Batth is still haunting us. Statistics don’t do justice to the firestorm that swept Punjab in the name of the pro-secessionist Khalistan movement. What began as a non-violent political protest for greater autonomy in the mid-’70s, spiralled into a cycle of violence, fuelled by political chicanery, Sikh fundamentalism spearheaded by the preacher turned-militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, and the insidious support of militant groups from a hostile neighbour. It found resonance in a section of their Diaspora, while the pro-Khalistan agitation got only a ripple of support amidst the Sikhs in the country. The army action at the Golden Temple, code named as Operation Bluestar, codenamed was the watershed in 1984, and the anti-Sikh riots following Indira Gandhi’s assassination, defining events that stoked a debilitating phase of terrorism, driven more by a paroxysm of revenge than separatist ideological underpinnings. Much earlier before it was expected, public sentiment by the early ‘90s, turned against pro- Khalistan terrorists who ruled the state with a gun. When Punjab in mid 1992 had its first elected government after five years of President’s rule, terrorists were neutralized in a no-holds-barred police offensive. By 1993, terrorism was vanquished. It the operation Blue star had not happened; there would have been no bloodshed in the state. This premeditated movement was in actual thrust on the so called terrorists as explained one of the former terrorists. They were used by Pakistan to keep the pot boiling. The militant movement was hijacked by criminals. The violence-weary Sikh community wanted hardliners to take the democratic route and fight for their grievances but the radicals failed to do that.
Archive for May 17th, 2008
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THAT CABLE TV
May 17th, 2008 
krishna The saga of satellite television in India which started almost 15 years ago, in many respects, one of phenomenal success. With an access to around 200 channels and an estimated 70 million homes enthusiastically subscribe to cable—making it one of the biggest national markets. Quality unconscious cable operators, however, are cheating the broadcasters and subscribers. The Central government has also abysmally failed to tailor the exponential growth of the industry, at times even proving to be a hindrance to progress. It was the national broadcaster Doordarshan (DD), with a mainly unwatchable channel, for many years, was the only electronically-transmitted audio-visual presence. This supremacy was challenged in January 1991 when the US embarked on a bombardment of Baghdad, in retaliation for Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. From the rooftop of a Baghdad hotel, the Atlanta-based Cable News Network (CNN) was able to communicate the spectre of the aerial attack live via satellite to the whole world When a word spread of this channel’s coverage, five-star hotels in India allocated rooms, otherwise utilized for banquets, to offer a ring-side view of the action. It was illegal to receive such a signal, under India’s archaic laws. But a force of technology was overtaking the nation, with the government frozen in bewilderment as the revolution rumbled on. After a few months when Rajiv Gandhi was unspeakably blown to smithereens by a suicide bomber. Britain’s Independent Television News (ITN), in a world exclusive for electronic media, broke the story. Immediately, CNN, an associate of ITN, began broadcasting hourly updates. Roughly 4, 00,000 households in India had satellite or cable connections on the night of the assassination and could keep abreast of developments. DD amazingly closed down without a mention of the incident, as its horrifying rule book precluded the extension of its transmission over the death of an opposition leader, which Gandhi then was. In October 1992, with the advent of Zee TV, a Hindi general entertainment channel, that cable TV began expanding explosively. As word spread of this channel’s coverage, five-star hotels in India allocated rooms, otherwise utilized for banquets, to offer a ring-side view of the action. Today 68 m households in India have access to satellite and cable television. 54 m television households all over India have access to only terrestrial channels.
