The Hindu : National : Kalam addresses the last Mughal's lament

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Friday, Mar 10, 2006

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National

Kalam addresses the last Mughal's lament

Sandeep Dikshit

President brings a bunch of flowers and lights a candle for Bahadur Shah Zafar

HOMAGE: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam pays homage at the Bahadur Shah Zafar's mazar in Dagon township of Yangon on Thursday. — PHOTO: PTI

YANGON: After more than 140 years, President A.P. J. Abdul Kalam addressed the dying lament of India's last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar by offering floral tributes and reciting the fatiha at his grave.

Just before he passed away in a British Army officer's garage here, following the failure of the 1857 war of independence, the poet-king Bahadur Shah Zafar wrote: "Who would pray on my behalf? Or bring me a bunch of flowers? Who would light a candle for me? I am nothing but a gloomy tomb."

Mr. Kalam visited the mausoleum to offer floral tributes, light candles and donate a chador brought from the dargah of Sufi Saint Nizamuddin Auliya. "You wrote who will come to my grave. Today on behalf of my nation I have come, prayed and lit candles, offered chador and recited the fatiha. May your soul rest in peace," wrote the President in the visitors' book.

The tomb also has another significance. After giving his famous "Delhi Chalo" call from Rangoon, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had visited the mausoleum.

The tomb was discovered during a restoration exercise in 1991. A bamboo fence surrounds the grave for a considerable distance. By the time the fence is worn out, the grass would have again covered the spot and no vestige will remain to distinguish where the last of the great Mughals rests, according to British Army officer Captain Davies who had supervised the building of a fake tomb on the top while the real grave lay somewhere below. The President's visit also underlined the shared colonial past between Myanmar and India. For while Bahadur Shah Zafar was exiled to Rangoon and died there, Myanmar's rebellious King Thibaw was sent to Maharashtra where he died. There had been a proposal to shift the remains of Bahadur Shah Zafar and that of Myanmar's King Thibaw but the leaders of the two countries had felt that these shrines were part of each other's shared historic and cultural legacy and should be maintained at their present locations.

Incidentally, King Thibaw's great-grandson Soe Win, now Deputy Director-General of Myanmar's Ministry of External Affairs, was present to receive Mr. Kalam at the airport.

MoU signed

India on Thursday served notice on Bangladesh for dithering on an Indo-Myanmar pipeline passing through its territory by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that envisages an alternative route through Mizoram.

The proposed route would skip Bangladesh completely and follow a land-cum-water route proposed to be built with generous Indian assistance. During talks between Mr.Kalam and Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), Senior General Than Shwe, India also evinced interest in exploring for fossil fuel in more areas than the two blocks where gas has been found.

India also urged Myanmar to move towards restoration of democracy and offered assistance in capacity building such as setting up an electoral machinery and providing training in parliamentary practices.

However, the specific issue of incarcerated pro-democracy leader and Nobel Laureate Aung Sang Suu Ki did not figure in talks between the two heads of State, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said.

On the proposed pipeline, Mr. Saran said, "we want to ensure that energy does not become a limitation on growth. Since we have not been able to conclude a trilateral agreement (involving Bangladesh), the MoU would enable us to carry out actual exploration through other alternatives. We are also interested in other exploration possibilities and our request for some onshore blocs is under discussion. But we have not abandoned it (through Bangladesh)."

The route for the proposed bilateral pipeline skirting Bangladesh would be paved by work on the Kalagan multimodal transport project linking the port town of Sitwe with southern Mizoram with India agreeing to pick up Myanmar's nominal share in the project with credit at "very easy terms." However, the gas find still awaits certification of quantity and a study on economic feasibility of transporting it to India.

Briefing Mr. Kalam on the political situation, General Than Shwe spoke about the progress in restoring multi-party democracy and underlined the SPDC's keenness to take the process forward. The two countries also took forward their cooperation in ushering in high technology in Myanmar.

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