Contrary to the rose-tinted view of decolonisation, the end of British rule in India was marked by blunder and duplicity, writes Sean Ledwith.
Jinnah and Gandhi in Bombay, 1944. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The two dominant nation-states of South Asia will celebrate 70 years of independence on (...)
It’s that time of the year when many countries remember the Allied victory in the Second World War and the fall of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. But on Monday, I met military historian Professor Anirudh Deshpande of Delhi University to talk about the last secular, anti-imperialist uprising in (...)
About 250 years ago, Bengal suffered a debilitating famine under colonial rule, partially brought on by changes in the colonial currency system.
“The lack of money is the root of all evil” – Mark Twain
History, they say, repeats itself. I hope this isn’t true, because history tells us of a (...)
“The Great Divide. The violent legacy of Indian Partition”. By William Dalrymple.
Partition displaced fifteen million people and killed more than a million.
In August, 1947, when, after three hundred years in India, the British finally left, the subcontinent was partitioned into two independent (...)
"I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion. The famine was their own fault for breeding like rabbits.”, Winston Churchill
The British had a ruthless economic agenda when it came to operating in India and that did not include empathy for native citizens. Under the British (...)
ISLAMABAD, November 1, 2012
The decision to rename Lahore’s Shadman Chowk after revolutionary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh has been delayed amid protests from some right-wing organisations, including the Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD).
The matter has been referred to a committee set up to look into all (...)
Saadat Hasan Manto’s centenary is being observed quietly by friends and admirers in Lahore. No official recognition or mention. He’s almost become a non-person. Manto died in Lahore in 1955. He was forty-three years old. The life of one of our greatest short-story writers had been prematurely (...)
“Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now time comes when we will redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but substantially. At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. … We end today a period of ill fortune, and India (...)
During WW1 Gandhi took upon himself to play the recruiting agent to enlist Indians for British army. He could one day call himself ‘an anarchist’ while next day could visit Italy on Mussolini’s invitation and attended Balilla’s demonstration.
When Burmese leader Aung Sang Su Kyi was recently (...)
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