Every civilization has a love that warms its heart, for India it is Kashmir. There are large number of books available on Kashmir crisis and i have had read many - The Meadow, War and Diplomacy in Kashmir (1947-48) etc. 'Kashmir : The unwritten history' by Christopher Snedden claims that his history of Kashmir is the unwritten history. This book implicates India and erstwhile Maharaja of Kashmir Hari Singh for falsely accusing the Pakhtuns for invading Kashmir and ignoring the uprising of Poonchi Muslims against the 'repressive' regime of Maharaja.
This book blames highly polarized communal environment in Jammu province, in the midst of bloody partition of India, for the Kashmir crisis. The author accuses Maharaja of Kashmir for carrying out or passively supporting the massacre of Muslims in eastern part of Jammu province but he does not give any evidence for this alleged massacre. According to him and his political sources more than 200,000 Muslims were killed in eastern part of Jammu. He also accepts that non-Muslims were also killed in western part of Jammu in equal numbers - in region around Poonch, Mirpur etc, and there are more than solid proofs about this massacre. Hindu and Sikh Men were killed and their women were taken as booties and sold in the market for few hundred rupees. The best proof lies in the current demographic profile of these regions. Eastern Jammu and the PoK have absolutely negligible non-Muslims while western Jammu (or the Jammu Province) of India has more than 25% Muslims.
The author gives in details the demographic profile of Jammu province as per the 1941 census. Muslims in Jammu (that included Poonch, Mirpur etc) were about 61% and were about 77% of the total population of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu was the largest province in terms of population in 1941. The alleged 'repressive' regime of Maharaja as well as the pro Pakistan sentiments were the main reasons behind the uprising of Poonchi Muslims against the Maharaja regime. This uprising began in Sept 1947 and it declared the formation of Azad Kashmir government on 24th Oct 1947. The Pakhtun raiders started their invasion of Kashmir on 22nd Oct and by 26th Oct Kashmir was in precarious situation. The state forces were poorly equipped and thinly stretched to defend Kashmir and were fighting a losing battle. In the end Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession on 26th October and Indian forces started their movement on 27th Oct and this checked the progress of the raiders. Had India not gone to United Nations our forces would have certainly liberated the entire PoK. The author accuses India for unfairly accusing the raiders and ignoring totally the uprising led by the natives of Kashmir.
After this the book talks in detail about the politics of Azad Kashmir and its government. Till 1970 it did not have even proto autonomy, the 1970 Act gave this region a kind of legislative assembly and a President. Despite of all the political experiments this region never experienced the kind of democracy its Indian counter part experiences.
This book is full of repetitions and redundancies and Author has failed to do justice with the topic. Its a good read only for Pakistani propagandists and their supporters in India. For an Indian this book should be used as an important tool in the arsenal to counter any Pakistan propaganda.
Recommended (6/10)
There are two civil wars that have deeply influenced human history - The Mahabharata War and the Roman Civil War (49 - 31 BC ) and perhaps i have not read more books on any subject other than Mahabharat and Rome. The 'Julius Caesar' play by William Shakespeare was my first exposure to the history and characters of ancient Rome and from this play there has been no turning back. 'Dictator' is last book on this subject and it is the concluding part of the Cicero Trilogy written by Robert Harris. When i first read 'Julius Caesar' i became vaguely sympathetic towards Caesar while Cassius remained a man 'with lean and hungry face' and Brutus an innocent man caught in the
murky politics of Rome. Mark Antony and Octavian are truly the heroes of the play. Then i read 'Ancient Rome' and i started admiring the cause of Republicans and assassins - Marcus Brutus, Cassius and senators like Cato and Cicero. 'Rubicon' is a serious work on Roman Civil war. This book has truly made me a hard core Republican and an eternal fan of Marcus Cato and Marcus Brutus.
'Dictator' is based on the last phase of the life of illustrious Roman senator and great Orator Marcus Cicero; based on the writings of his one time slave 'Tiro' who survived the war. It was Cicero who tried to save the remnants of Republic from the tyranny of Mark Antony and over ambitious Octavian Caesar. He tried to save the Republic by exploiting subtle art of 'Balance of Power' but was outsmarted by Octavian and eventually murdered by the bounty hunters of the triumvirate - Lepidus, Mark Antony and Octavian.
Its a serious work of semi-fiction and it unravels in great details the reasons of the break out of the civil war between Julius Caesar and the Roman Republic led by Gaius Pompey, Marcus Cato and others. After the defeat of Pompey in the battle of Pharsalus (48 BC), Marcus Cato continued fighting for the Republic and only after his suicide after losing the last battle for the Republic in Tunisia in 46 BC, Julius Caesar became the defacto ruler of Rome. Cicero gave the ultimate tribute to Cato by writing his eulogy in glowing terms against the furious opposition of Julius Caesar.
In the end the Roman Republic got destroyed by the killings of the senators and sympathizers of the Republic by the bounty hunters of Lepidus, Octavian and Mark Antony and Rome became an Empire under an Emperor.
'Brief is the life given to us by nature; but the memory of a life nobly sacrificed is everlasting' -- Marcus Cicero (106 - 43 BC).
Highly recommended (8/10)
