While Combat has a relatively small readership, limited further by our publication in English, it is some measure of satisfaction that this publication, which has always prided itself on journalism of the highest quality, has had an impact worthy of mention.

Our perspective and understanding on the historiography of communal violence, pre- and post-Partition – about the silent provocations of Hindu fanatic groups wedded to a non-democratic Indian state (Hindu Rashtra), often aided by bands of Muslim fanatic organisations whose paradigm of political ideals were and are achingly similar, for months before the violence spills into public vision; of the systematic infiltration into the law and order machinery that has rendered the Indian police and paramilitary partisan in their behaviour against the minorities; to our understanding and exposure of the systematic use of hate speech and writing as a precursor to the physical use of violence against sections of the population – have significantly contributed to the discourse and understanding of the genesis of communal conflict.

The pages of Combat over the past ten years have also been enriched by our work in the Khoj – education for a plural India – programme and its experiments in bringing history, social studies and conflict into Indian classrooms creatively. Khoj’s analysis of the content and perspectives of the education syllabus and textbooks has enriched Combat’s understanding of the politics of communal violence that depends so critically on the selective manipulation of the past.

Combat, our baby born in August 1993 has today grown into a healthy adult. Through these years, it has matured in its understanding of events and deepened its perspective. But we remain engaged in a continued struggle towards excellence.

This has been the story of our lives, too, and that of the team that works with us tirelessly. Our single-minded attempt to make this effort sustainable, our constant emotional, physical and psychological sustenance from each other, our constant struggle for resources continues today, into Combat’s adulthood. The reasons for the publication’s existence just do not seem to go away; unfortunately, they seem stronger and more challenging than when we started ten years ago. Just as the demands made on us increase and often overwhelm us.

Nine years after the tragedy of Bombay in 1992-93, following the demolition of the Babri Masjid, when its cosmopolitan myth stood bitterly shattered, Gujarat exploded. That we had, through this journal, predicted Gujarat in the making did not make the bitter trauma any easier to bear. Today, nearly 18 months after the Gujarat genocide, the wounds inflicted fester unhealthily, just as exclusion and boycott against sections of the Gujarati population remain unaddressed.

One aspect of our understanding of mass violence of the kind Bombay and Gujarat saw and our response to painful ground level schisms, is our constant engagement with the survivors, which has enhanced and embellished the quality of our work. Through this engagement, we believe, our sensitivity has been imbued by the real life experiences of those whose lives have been changed forever by murderous and mindless acts of violence. Through this continued engagement, our discourse resounds with a richer timbre because it is both more nuanced and more sensitive.

Our efforts to battle the forces of hate and unreason gain strength from this engagement. Our involvement in the post-carnage justice related work in Gujarat with the survivors of the Gulberg massacre or the Best Bakery mass killings exemplifies this.

Our belief in the system stands seriously shaken today, even as we feel committed not to abandon our struggle within and against it. We continue the struggle in the hope that a more humane system committed to the indigent emerges as the light at the end of a long tunnel.

Whether it is on the question of an independent police force committed to the constitutional mandate and international human rights law, or the belief that a judiciary can be just only if it delivers justice in accordance with the principles of natural justice, or a political system that articulates the demands for social justice and change, we need to go on believing that change must and can take place.

Combat will remain committed to creatively articulating the need for such a change, as it will also fearlessly continue in its endeavour to investigate and furnish the truth, un-garnished by hyperbole, before you. In our struggle, we hope to find greater and greater sustenance and support from our readers. We feel committed to also start publishing the magazine in Hindustani soon.