(370) My quoted Quotes in my Posts (7)

(92) “A nation is not lost as long as the women’s hearts are still high. Only when the women’s hearts are on the ground then all is finished, and the nation dies”. (An old Native American proverb)

(93) “In most of the countries of the world, ‘Honor killing’ is the burning issue. It is true that we may not be able to stop honor killings overnight, but it must be tried at all levels and we are sure to have the results to reduce them at least. People who are sincere, religious minded and believing in humanity may be good for them, but it is not enough. They should also think for others and not to turn blind eyes to such cruel practices in the society.” (Valibhai Musa)

(94) “Killing one person is the same as killing all humanity and saving one person is the same as saving all humanity.” (The Holy Qur’an)

# No honor in Honor-killing!

(95) “Torture is banned; but in two-thirds of the world’s countries, it is still being committed in secret. Too many Governments still allow wrongful imprisonment, murderunder the title of encounter or ‘disappearance” to be carried out by their officials with impunity”. (Peter Beneson)

(96) No doubt, everybody has to face the Day of Judgment as per most of the religions; but there will be punished only those confirmed sinners who might have committed unforgivable sins which may also be out of the God’s discretion for the sake of His promises for reward for good deeds and warning of punishment for evil deeds though He is Kind and Merciful.(Valibhai Musa)

(97) “What is in name?’ (A dialogue of Shakespeare’s Play)

(98) “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

(99) “Open your newspaper – any of the week – and you will find a reportfrom somewhere in the world of someone imprisoned, tortured or executed because his opinions are unacceptable to his government.” (Peter Beneson)

(100) “You canchain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body; but you will never imprison my mind” (Mahatma Gandhi)

(101) “Nobody in the history of the human kind has seen such atrocities as tragedy of Kerbala, the Martyrdom of Imam Hussein (a.s.) and post Ashura sufferings of women and children. (The renowned historian al-Biruni)

(102) “May God prevent our hands from committing oppressions; May He bestow on people with dignity and peace of mind; May He confer on prisoners throughout the world with repentance, understanding of turning away from sins, freedom and peace; May He bestow upon those who are ruling with justice and kindness; and May He favor those who are ruled with just treatment and good character. (A supplication that has been reported from The Twelfth Imam, Al-Qa’im Al-Mahdi -peace be upon him-, the renowned descendent of the Ahl al-bayt (a.s.), The Just Leader of Humanity, The Alive but Hidden – The Imam of the Age, according to the faith of the Shi’ite Muslims.)

# The Square World – I – II – III – IV

(103) “Our life is a long and strenuous quest of truth.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

# Mercy Killing or Merciful Death – A Debate

-Valibhai Musa

 

ચોરસ દુનિયા – ૩

Click here to read in English
હવે, મારા વાંચકો, જો તમે રોકી શકતા હો તો ઘડીભર તમારા શ્વાસને રોકી લો; કેમ કે હવે પછી રજૂ થનાર માનવતાના ઘોર અપરાધને સાંભળવા પહેલાં તમારી જાતને તમે સંભાળી શકો. અહીં તમે સ્ત્રીઓને કેદીની હાલતમાં બેઠેલી જોઈ શકો છો. અહીં તમે પોતાની માતાઓને ચીપકી ગએલાં નાનાં ભયભીત બાળકોને જોઈ શકો છો. અહીં તમે સહેજ મોટી ઉંમરનાં બાળકોને પણ જોઈ શકો છો કે જે જેલની પરસાળમાં ફૂટબોલને હવામાં લાત મારવાનો અભિનય કરી રહ્યાં છે કેમ કે વાસ્તવમાં ત્યાં ફૂટબોલ છે જ નહિ! આવા માનવતાવિહોણા સ્ત્રીઓ અને બાળકો સાથેના વ્યવહાર અંગે સાવ ટૂંકાણમાં જ ફિયોદોર દોસ્તોયવીસ્કી (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) ટીકા કરતાં લખે છે, ‘સમાજની સાંસ્કૃતિક માત્રાનું માપ કાઢવું હોય તો તેની જેલોની મુલાકાત લેવી જોઈએ.’ હું ફરી એક વાર પીટર બેનિસન (Peter Beneson) ના શબ્દો ટાંકીશ જે છે, ‘અઠવાડિયાના કોઈપણ દિવસનું સમાચારપત્ર ખોલો, જેમાં તમને એવો અહેવાલ જોવા મળશે જ કે દુનિયામાં ક્યાંક ને ક્યાંક કોઈને જેલભેગો કરવામાં આવ્યો છે અથવા તો તેના ઉપર જુલ્મ કરવામાં આવ્યો છે કે પછી ફાંસીએ લટકાવવામાં આવ્યો છે; એનું કારણ એ હોય છે કે જે તે વ્યક્તિનાં મંતવ્ય તેની સરકારને સ્વીકાર્ય નથી હોતાં.’

 

The Square World – III

Click here to read in Gujarati
Now, my Readers, stop breathing for a while if you can; just to resist yourselves to hear the greatest crime to humanity. Here, you can see ladies seated in captivity. Here, you can see small babies fearfully clung to their mothers. Here, you can see also slightly grown up children playing in the corridor kicking the football which is not there, but with an action in air only. Such inhuman treatments towards women and children are criticized by Fyodor Dostoyevsky in a very briefstatementas “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” I would like to quote Peter Beneson once again in his words as “Open your newspaper – any of the week – and you will find a reportfrom somewhere in the world of someone imprisoned, tortured or executed because his opinions are unacceptable to his government.”

In the middle of the night, you can hear hysteric screams of the women from nearby cells and upper or downward floors. Either they sigh seeing their husbands or sons or youthful daughters captured or disappeared in their nightmare or for the pains in their ribs having been mercilessly tortured. These women have not been detained for any of their own crime, but they are here in lieu of their male relatives. The authorities have apprehended these women because of their male relatives’ so called defection or committance of an offence. Their male relatives might have run away to avoid any detention on suspicious ground leaving the ladies and the children at home. They people do not know that their ladies and children have been arrested in proxy of them. The cruel authorities have captured them to put an emotional pressure on gents so that they surrender themselves to get them released. Thus, this type of arrest is like the kidnapping of innocents. Whatever it may be, but here we can witness the climax of inhuman behavior of oppressors and miseries of the oppressed beyond words.

* * *

Let us turn, now, to an open ground which has high walls all around. Here we can see the male detainees compelled for the heavy exercise under the health pretexts of the prisoners.

Now, see Mr. D here. He has been brought for exercise along with all the inmates of his cell. He has been suffering from a nasty cough and a high temperature. The drill master takes a round and finds out Mr. D retired in a corner. The heartless drill master shouts, “What is the matter with you?” No reason can convince him. He orders Mr. D to run and jump. With this heavy exercise, he is panted and suffers from short breathe. He is admitted to the hospital but chained to his bed. Alas! The diagnosis is Tuberculosis.

Mr. D is a foreigner and has been in this country for a job. We can see that he does get the job, but job as a prisoner for suffering. In spite of his pitiable health condition, he is summoned frequently for interrogation. After unbearable torturing, he is finally threatened, “Well – well, you do not want to tell the truth. Enough time has been given to you till now, but you refuse to realize. We have decided to execute you.”

It is rather difficult to assess whether he will be executed with his ailment or by the bare sword which hung over his head.

* * *

The modes of chastisement vary. Now, see Mr. E here. He is an old man, a farmer. He does not know the reason of his arrest. He is forcedtoconfess the crime. But, what crime! The interrogators themselves do not know his crime and even though he has to confess any crime that may be imposed upon him. Mahatma Gandhi has quoted, “You canchain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body; but you will never imprison my mind”. But here, all these poor fellows do not come under the category of such great people. They are common people and it is obviously quite true that such people have no other option but to surrender themselves.

Continuous for six days, he has not been allowed even a single morsel of food or a sip of water. He is strong and stout; and that is why he survives, otherwise he would have finished. But he does not give in; and lastly, the dragons allow him the first meal. He can hardly open his eyes to see what goes into his mouth. Day and night, he is denied to sleep as well. Ever attending guards slap and kick him when his sleep takes the better of him. His speech becomes incoherent and eyes blank. Some signs of his recovery are seen after weeks. No offence is his offence and for that offence he has to pay.

When detainees reduce in the cell, the rest get relief otherwise the overcrowded cells seem to be a warehouse of the commodities of living persons. All have to adopt a method of sleeping in cycle in pairs. When one sleeps, the other has to stand upon his body for six hours or so. No movement is possible. They cannot even sit on the floor by interlocking of feet otherwise they can sleep in sitting positions. Then comes the turn of the other. He wakes up the first and asks him to stand over him as if to prevent him from escaping.

-Valibhai Musa
Dtd.: 4th January, 2008
[ Continues on Part – IV (final) ]