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In the book Train to Pakistan, author Khushwant Singh recalls the brutal and unfortunate times when Muslims were being forced out of Mano Majra. They, along with the Hindu and Sikh population, were living in relative peace. But when there had to be change, chaos ensued. There were several key individuals that shared the total responsibility of the expulsion of Muslims from Mano Majra; Even though some had purer motives than others, they all took stock in the unfortunate process.
Hakum Chand was one of the characters of the book responsible for the expulsion of Muslims. He didn’t actively involve himself in an expulsion of Muslims; he wanted to remove them to keep the peace. His intentions were never laced with malice, but rather complacency. He encouraged Muslims to submit to the commands of the police. His philosophy was that even if you feel strongly about a topic, you should keep silent on the matter. In situations where it is better to speak up like this one, Hakum Chand gave the dangerous advice to keep silent and take what life threw at you.
Another character responsible for the expulsion of the Muslims was the boy refugee at the end of the novel. It wasn’t so much the boy himself that drove the Muslims out of Mano Majra, but how he was an allegory for the broader ideologies of the incoming Sikh and Hindu refugees. In Mano Majra, Muslims were considered brothers with the Sikh and Hindu population, and they got along well. But to the refugees from Pakistan who witnessed the atrocities put on them by the Muslims, they were hardened individuals with a vendetta. They were no longer rational beings, but crazed and bloodthirsty. The Muslims of the village knew that because of this, it was imperative that they leave the v...
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... worst of all, they saw evil around them, and didn’t even attempt to stop it. This is analogous to SS officers during Hitler’s reign. When some officers were tried for war crimes, their defense was that they were acting under orders. It was an invalid defense in that case, as well as in this case. The police were aware of what wrong they were doing, and didn’t try to stand up and stop the hostility.
Many different people, and groups, were responsible for the expulsion of Muslims. And while all didn’t have bad intentions, or negative feelings, their actions directly influenced the course of events that lead the Muslims to leave Mano Majra. Maybe if Iqbal would have spoken up, or Hakum Chand would have put up a fight against his personal philosophy, the fate of the Muslims of Mano Majra would have been a little better of, and they would continue to leave in peace.
Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki and James D. Houston. Farewell to Manzanar New York: bantam book, 1973. Print
However, after reading the article the author noted that police are mandated to enforce civilian law and order, investigate crimes, and strictly follow legal procedures even when in pursuit of chronic and dangerous criminals (Kagoro, 2014). Ideally, it has been argued, there should be strict dividing lines between the police and the military; the former for domestic purposes with the latter protecting citizens from external threats (Kagoro, 2014). In his article on the anti-militarization of the police in the United States, Kurt Andrew Schlichter aptly put it that the military is designed, organized, and equipped to execute rapid, violent and efficient obliteration of the “enemy”-whoever the enemy may be ( Kagoro, 2014). However, the law enforcement is usually modeled after the military and in fact there a large number of police officers who are former military personnel. This was a new criticism of police that was unfamiliar to me in the study of criminal justice but, I found it to be a valid point. The idea of changing the focus of policing to be less of a battlefield and more of a community may be a compelling approach to make interaction with citizens less
...lue was going on. The way our police have adapted these aggressive and violent tactics of Mr. Balko showed us how both liberals and conservatives have allowed the militarization of our police forces to flourish In our country. The police and military are very different even in the way they conduct their raids, a lot much safer compared to police how is less accountable than the military and a lot less disciplined than the military. After read this book I would more likely not be able to work because I see the point and I can see its not heading in a good direction. These Para military tactics are something that really isn’t a big deal now but it will soon becoming a big deal. Not all police officers are bad like Mr. balko say’s. There are very good police officers in the United States but polices have elevated police over the people they are supposed to be serving.
The movie, Training Day, demonstrates how some police officers take advantage of their positions which is realistic. Mikkelsen states that, ?The new movie Training Day is an excellent fictional demonstration of how the State, in this case the police, provide a ?legalized channel for crime? (Mikkelsen 1).? It is hard to define the line between doing the right thing and doing the wrong thing to stop a crime. As Mikkelson explains, ?Many of the events are to be expected: violence against suspects, confiscation and use of drugs and especially money, violations of due process, graft (Mikkelsen 1).? At the end of the movie the main character is murdered and the police department makes up a story venerating his death in a positive manner. In all truth Harris was murdered by the Russians because he lost his temper and killed someone who was ?talking trash? about him. This is shown when Mikkelsen says, ?The state must defend cops, when possible, because publicity about ?bad cops? does not reflect well o...
In response to a protest at the McCormick Harvester factory in Chicago where the police reportedly killed six workers, local radicals led by Albert Parsons organized a meeting at Haymarket Square in downtown Chicago. Several thousand showed up to hear the speakers. The speakers were very careful to not incite violence in the already agitated crowd. After the speeches had been given large numbers of people left, however those who remained behind would be forever remembered in our history books. An army of police descended on the crowd and gave them an order to disperse. During the confusion, an unknown person threw a bomb into the crowd of police, killing one officer. Police began to fire on the crowd; the agitated strikers retaliated with a hail of bullets as well. A riot broke out in which one worker was killed and twelve were wounded, one policeman wa...
“Pervasive racism and the resulting exclusion of the Jewish victims form any common ground with the perpetrators made it all the easier for the majority of policemen to conform to the norms of there immediate community (the battalion) and the society at large (Nazi
The Major of the county police department ordered them to stop the protesters.They didn’t want the protest to be successful, they thought it wasn’t fair for both blacks and whites to vote. Major John Cloud ordered the 600 marchers, they had less than two minutes to leave. The marchers left the first time, but came back for a second time. The second time they came back, the marchers refused to turn back and got tear gas, beaten with sticks, injured, shot or had a gun pointed to their head, clubs and other weapons. The police officers were wearing protective gear, but the marchers were not. Police officers broke up the group of marchers and then beat them on the highway. On this march, they had governor George Wallace. George Wallace was the 45th governor of Alabama. He too believed that blacks should be treated equally. When the officers were arresting people, they arrested Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was one of the people who led the marchers from Selma to Montgomery. At night when everybody was marching or in the streets taking a break, police officers would come, shoot the lights out in the street so no one of the marchers could see them. The police officers then beat them. Sometimes, the marchers would go into corn fields to get sleep instead of walking all night or sleeping on the streets. Cops and police officers during Bloody Sunday were just following what they were ordered to
It is easy for police to get caught up in the idea that it is them against the rest of society (Barkan, 2012). Many citizens in today’s democratic society have a negative or fearful view of our law enforcement. Think back to grade school, who was that one kid in class that everyone was annoyed by or despised? Most people would answer the teacher’s pet or the tattletale. We have grown up from a young age to have a negative view towards those that get us into trouble when we think we can get away with something we know is wrong. In the adult world, the police force can equate to those tattletales.
"Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it" [Lord Acton, British Historian]. It is human nature that the more power one desires the more corrupt actions they have to commit to attain power. Power is the ability to have control over people and/or things. People who are powerful can and in most cases will create an illusion of anything they want you to see about them. This illusion can make people blind to their true intentions. For instance police officers are looked at as good, we looked to them for our safety because they are here to "protect" us. Yet there are many reports of police brutality on innocent citizens. Even if a crime were to be committed there is no need for police to use violence of any sort unless action was taken on them. If no attempt of action was taken on an officer then the officer is abusing its power. Leading people to believe that police officers are corrupt meaning dishonorable, immoral, or not pure. In which case this idea of power leading to corruption is not only true but happens to those least expected to. In William Shakespeares' tragedy, Macbeth, the character Macbeth gains power by killing people and lying, he kills king Duncan out of greed, he kills his "best friends" Banquo out of fear, and then fails to realize that he is not invincible.
After the British empire separated itself from India, inner-country religious problems began to arise. The Muslims and Hindus of the liberated India released their pent up anger on each other and combusted into civil war right after they won the peaceful war against Great Britain. This war distressed Gandhi, who has insight into the unity of mankind, and encouraged him to go on a hunger strike until the brutality ceased. While on his near-death bed, he is approached by a Hindu who “killed a child” because the Muslims “killed [his] son,” and in response, Gandhi said that the way out of his “Hell is to “Find a [Muslim] child, a child whose mother and father have been killed and raise him as your own,” therefore the man would be able to see the equality in all religions. Throughout his entire life, Gandhi, though a Hindu, never prosecuted anyone for their religion and was able to see through everyone’s eyes as fellow brother’s and sisters, not enemies. This ability to empathize and recognize the general unity of the human population allowed Gandhi insight into the human
The three men, Said, Hubert, and Vinz were without a doubt unfairly discriminated and mistreated by the cops. Simply because of where they came from, the police never gave them the full respect everyone is entitled to have. The police did not even know them or have proof they committed a crime or offense, but still beat Said and Hubert up severely. Even when a group of the people from the projects were just on the roof top, not causing trouble, they were forced to get off and disperse. And when they refused, the situation got out of hand and violence was
Through day-to-day knowledge of what is happening in the world there is observable evidence that Islamic followers have employed different techniques to proclaim ‘power’. The techniques being employed are basically inflicting pain in the opponent by methods of kidnapping, hijackings, and recruiting members (such as Al-Qaeda in the Middle East) in order to make them a more powerful and a more appealing group in their societies. According to Mandaville, Islam is directly linked to politics (they cannot be separated); Muslims wanted to challenge new technological innovations as well as new institutions without forgetting about their religious values. Mandaville proclaims an important aspect of the Islamic religion. During the Ottoman Empire many Muslims gained important power and began to interact with Europeans in order to move into a more modern system; but times have changed.
The police back then much like now were held as heroes and that they were protecting the rest of us from the bad people. However as time has passed there has always been the question on how much power the police can have, how much force is necessary for the police to use. “The use of force to effect an arrest was as conservational in the 1840s and 1840s as it is today” . From the 1840’s till now there have been little to no actual improvements made. The police have continued to become even more powerful, when the police department was created the people questioned on whether
Waïl S. Hassan,(2003). Gender (and) Imperialism: Structures of Masculinity in Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North. Sage publications. Retrieved from jmm.sagepub.com at University of Balamand.Dec, 2013. dio: 10.1177/1097184X02238529.
Many of Manto’s stories derive conflict from one source- the partition of India. In his stories, Manto explores the theme of communal conflict and many of his characters face extreme situations of ruthlessness, which are generally expressed through murder, rape or other forms of violent conduct. Women are most of the times the victims of the onslaught of communalist madness that Manto brings to the fore but there are times when they rise up against the hypocrisy of gender beliefs and show defiance in different forms. They at times are righteous and not easily dominated. Today in my presentation I will examine the defiant positions that women take up in different ways in stories of Manto in times of conflict.