Shadow of the Great Game

[varun]

I had bought this book many months ago, but never got around to reading it. Haven't finished it as yet, but so far I think the author has done some absolutely fascinating research by poring through tons of records in British and Indian libraries and government offices. I have to say is that it's a total EYE OPENER.. All accounts are straight from letters/meeting records from Churchill/Attlee/Linlithgow/Gandhi/Nehru/Jinnah/ etc etc.. MUST READ for every Indian/Pakistani. The machinations of the British, the stupid idealism of the Congress (which btw ruled in 9 out of 11 provinces in 1939, and they all resigned over India's participation in the world war !!), Jinnah's rise (it started after the congress resigned -- he literally called the day "Deliverance Day".. until then he couldn't get even 1/4th majority even among the muslims) and how the Brits used him to create a separate state that would pander to the British military and strategic plans (they had their eyes on protecting the oil rich "muslim belt" from the Soviets).. Very fascinating if you're into history and strategy. What I find most interesting about this study is how relevant such strategies or "Games" still are in the current geo-political atmosphere. This is not an opinion book, but is based on facts gleaned from years of research. Here's a nicely written review from Amazon. Brilliant study of 'divide and rule', January 5, 2007 By William Podmore (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews The author worked from 1948 to 1985 in India's Foreign Service. He uses primary sources in this excellent book to show how from 1906 to 1947 the British state allied with Islamists to defeat India's majority-supported Congress Party. The Aga Khan and some Bengal landlords founded the Muslim League in 1906 and at once petitioned Viceroy Minto to introduce separate Muslim electorates, a sure way to split a country. Lord and Lady Minto immediately welcomed this: she wrote that it would mean "Nothing less than the pulling back of 62 million people from joining the ranks of the seditious opposition." Churchill too played the Muslim card, lying that the real problem lay in Hindu-Muslim differences about India's future and not in Britain's rulers' unwillingness to accept Indian independence. Viceroy Linlithgow forged an alliance with Jinnah's Muslim League Party. Linlithgow's successor Lord Wavell produced the 1946 blueprint giving the strategic prize of North-West India to Pakistan. Jinnah called a `Direct Action Day' for 16 August 1946. The British governor of Bengal knew of the League's intention, yet the British brigadier in charge of law and order in Calcutta ordered his troops confined to barracks for the day. 5,000 people were killed. Wavell's blueprint was implemented when the British withdrew from India in 1947, even though it was kept secret to avoid any impression of a British hand in the division of India. Sarila summarises, "Once the British realized that the Indian nationalists who would rule India after its independence would deny them military cooperation under a British Commonwealth defence umbrella, they settled for those willing to do so by using religion for the purpose. Their problem could be solved if Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League Party, would succeed in his plan to detach the northwest of India abutting Iran, Afghanistan and Sinkiang and establish a separate state there - Pakistan. The proposition was a realizable one as a working relationship had been established between the British authorities in India and Jinnah during the Second World War and he was willing to cooperate with Britain on defence matters if Pakistan was created." Imperial policy was and is divide and rule - whether setting Muslim against Hindu in India, Bosnian Muslims against Serbs in Yugoslavia, Sunni against Shia across the Middle East, Protestant against Catholic in Ireland, or Scottish against English in Britain. As Sarila notes, "The successful use by the British to fulfil political and strategic objectives in India was replicated by the Americans in building up the Islamic jihadis in Afghanistan for the same purpose, of keeping the Soviets at bay."

[Ram]

I quite cant bring myself to read history.. I dunno why.. :confused_smile:

[varun]

I quite cant bring myself to read history.. I dunno why.. :confused_smile:

I couldn't either.. but as I've grown older (ahem), I've come to appreciate history. The more you read about it, the more you realize how true the old adage "History repeats itself" is. Take a look at the cause of India's independence, and subsequent partition. Even though it's not apparent at first, it's plainly obvious as you investigate a bit further that it was motivated by a power struggle for control of the middle-east oil. I'm not sure that many people knew that. You understand the original intent of the majority of the muslims who considered themselves as Indians and were totally opposed to Jinnah and the muslim leage, and how they were used as pawns by the Brits and the US to form themselves into a military state just to keep the Soviets from controlling the oil.. This militarization of pakistan is the main reason for their current situation. What advantage does that knowledge provide us you ask ? Well History isn't just about looking back in hindsight at what really happenned in the past, but also provides a way for us to apply that "hindsight" on current events. For example, you can see the same patterns evolving in Iraq just the roles are different, same happenned after the fall of the ottoman empire where they installed dummy governments of Saudi/Jordan/Iraq, same in every other country with resources.. Divide/conquer/install dummy government/steal resources