Deconstructing the Punjab crisis of 1984: Deer, hawks, and siqdārs (‘officials’) as agents of state-sponsored violence

Abstract

Acts of violence or non-violence are social phenomena that take place at particular historical junctures. They cannot be described as essential features of any community. The Punjab crisis of yesteryear reflected the multidimensionality of violence. On the one hand, involvement of the agents of ‘Third Agency’ in the garb of Sikh militants in random acts of violence and guerrilla warfare was totally unwarranted and counterproductive; on the other, one cannot overlook the sheer egregious and unjust acts of state, killing in the name of order, security, and sheer power. This paper looks at this dark period in recent Sikh history through the lens of Gurū Nānak’s Malār hymn. This is an insightful composition in which the Guru employs the metaphors of deer (haraṇ), hawks (bāj) and state officials (siqdār) who act as trained agents provocateurs to push a community in a particular direction – especially on the path of self-destruction – to justify state violence.