Sticks and stones - Newspaper

dawn.com/news/1726089/sticks-and-stones

December 13, 2022

AN old English rhyme teaches children, at a very early age, to

shrug aside insults and not make too much of mere words. One
wishes that those who walk the corridors of power in our
country were taught similarly to develop a thicker skin. The
manner in which Senator Azam Khan Swati is being treated for
publicly expressing his anger at the former army chief and
another senior security officer is a reminder of the petty
vindictiveness with which our establishment sometimes operates
against those who dare to cross it. His were unwise words, no
doubt, but they clearly stemmed from the pain and anguish the
aged and ailing senator seemed to be feeling over the shameful
ordeal his family was recently put through. It must be asked
what wisdom there is in putting someone who recently broke
down publicly through even more stress. Is there any need for
him to be parcelled off from one province to another for a tour
de force of the country’s penitentiary system?

It is a shame that this is happening during the government of the

PDM parties, which once went to great lengths to present
themselves as the exact antithesis of the PTI. Even though
Islamabad has attempted to distance itself from the series of
cases being registered against Mr Swati across the country, it still
has the power to put an end to this farce. A grave injustice also
continues to be done to another lawmaker, Ali Wazir, in a similar
fashion. Politicians must stand with each other, especially when
the limits of decency are being crossed. It is time for the
government to put its foot down. If these lawmakers are to be
punished, they should be returned to Islamabad, and the various
cases against them consolidated and taken to court. The
government must realise that it is undermined when elected
lawmakers — whatever their transgression may be — are treated
with such contempt by what is a subordinate organ of the state.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2022

Opinion
Imran’s dilemma - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1726090/imrans-dilemma

December 13, 2022

FORMER prime minister Imran Khan needs to give it a rest. His

expectation from the armed forces that they should be ‘guiding’
the government towards an early election is quite embarrassing.
It gives the impression that he has learnt little from his years in
power and that any ‘regrets’ that he had about never really being
in the driving seat were more an expression of unhappiness with
the last chief — who seems to have let go of his hand towards the
end — rather than an actual realisation that governance should
always remain the exclusive domain of the politician. “I have
expectations from the new set-up that the national security
institutions will take into account this serious situation of the
country’s economy on a downward spiral,” he said on Sunday.
Why should they? The management and mitigation of economic
risks is not the army’s job, even if it has, in the past, assumed that
role. Mr Khan cannot and should not expect the army chief to
take over this responsibility if he himself will not take any
initiative.

For a political leader, all legitimacy and power flow from the
court of public opinion. Given his popularity, why does Mr Khan
lack confidence in his ability to negotiate a deal with his
opponents, without the armed forces around to back him? It is
high time Mr Khan stopped relying on powerful benefactors to
get him what he desires and started putting in the elbow grease,
learning how to work the democratic system and making an
effort to understand its mechanics. As a public representative,
his place is either in parliament or at the negotiating table,
fighting to get the people he represents what they want. There
are only two legitimate paths open for him at the moment. He
can sit tight, refuse to negotiate, and wait till the next election
comes around on schedule, or he can return to parliament,
initiate a dialogue, present his case, and, through some
compromise, reach a deal with the PDM over an early election. If
he is so concerned that the country and the economy may be
irrevocably harmed if we do not go towards an early election, Mr
Khan must ask himself whether Pakistan’s welfare should be
above the intense personal dislike he has for his political
opponents. Perhaps it may make it easier for him to reach for the
second option.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2022

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Comments (1)

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COMMENT MOD POLICY

Denali
Dec 13, 2022 07:57am

It is Pakistan's dilemma. As long as the corrupt continue to rule

Pakistan, Pakistan's problems will not end. These people have
had their chance and the entire population knows where
Pakistan stands. It is time to vote these plunderers out. Pakistanis
want a change away from the Sharifs and the Zardaris.

Reply Recommend 0

Opinion
Chaman clash - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1726091/chaman-clash

December 13, 2022

IF the Afghan Taliban want the world to grant them legitimacy,

then they should be able to fulfil the duties of a responsible
government. This includes maintaining calm at the borders, and
preventing their own fighters or other militants from attacking
innocent people across the frontier.

The tragic incident at the Pak-Afghan border in Chaman on

Sunday indicates that either Kabul’s rulers are incapable of
securing their borders, or that some elements within the Taliban
want to test Pakistan’s limits.

At least seven deaths were reported on the Pakistani side after

Afghan forces resorted to unprovoked shelling at the border
town, says ISPR, with Pakistan’s security personnel returning
fire.

The skirmish resulted in the brief closure of the border crossing,

and appeared to be a repeat of a similar incident last month that
resulted in the closure of the Chaman crossing for more than a
week. Then, too, gunfire from Afghanistan had resulted in
casualties here.

The prime minister has condemned the incident, calling upon the
Afghan rulers to ensure such episodes are not repeated.

Certain reports say that smugglers were trying to cross the

fenced border area into Pakistan, reportedly with support from
the Taliban forces, though some Afghan officials link the flare-up
to the construction of checkpoints in what they claim is Afghan
territory.
Pakistan should clearly communicate to the Taliban that it is
ready to defend itself from aggression.

It is unfortunate that while it is the Taliban’s responsibility to

keep the peace on their soil, they have not, previously as well as
now, reined in violent, lawless elements, including militants — a
fact that Pakistan, which has suffered as a consequence, cannot
lose sight of. It is in this context that Pakistan must display
firmness, despite its support for the Afghan people.

It is the Taliban’s responsibility to restrain smugglers, terrorists

and criminal elements trying to sneak into Pakistan.

Also, there should be no revanchist illusions: the Pak-Afghan

border marks the frontier between two sovereign countries, and
fantasies about redrawing the Durand Line must be abandoned.

Thanks to their regressive worldview, the Afghan Taliban have

an image problem globally. Pakistan has nevertheless — even
during the rule of the pro-West Ashraf Ghani regime — called for
the international community to engage with the Taliban to
ensure that Afghanistan does not implode, for the sake of its
poverty-stricken people.

The Taliban need to realise this and take steps to allay Pakistan’s
concerns.

Primarily, they must secure their side of the border to guarantee

there is no hostile activity directed at Pakistan, while if ties
become strained, they must be immediately addressed through
dialogue instead of any resort to violence.
Secondly, those anti-Pakistan terrorists that have sought refuge
in Afghanistan should be neutralised so that they are no longer
able to harm this country.

Anything less may cause Pakistan to reassess its ties with the
Taliban.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2022

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M. Emad
Dec 13, 2022 07:56am

Pakistan should stop constructions in the disputed 'Durand Line'.

Reply Recommend 0

Truth be told
Dec 13, 2022 07:58am
Taliban Khan's supporters want to test the current government's
limits, want to test the waters as well as are signalling to their
beneficiary that they will become relevant any time he needs
them. This is quite unfortunate.

Reply Recommend 0

Dr.Arshad
Dec 13, 2022 08:01am

"IF the Afghan Taliban want the world to grant them legitimacy,
then they should be able to fulfil the duties of a responsible
government. This includes maintaining calm at the borders.........."
The above quoted opening lines of the editorial conveys aptly
and succinctly the adage that Isolated and despised Taliban need
to bear in mind.

Reply Recommend 0

M. Emad
Dec 13, 2022 08:04am

Pakistan should settle the 'Durand Line' dispute with

Afghanistan.

Reply Recommend 0
Worthy victims - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1726093/worthy-victims

December 13, 2022

SOME observers have objected to the sile­nce of progressive

sectors over the alleged custodial sexual torture of PTI Senator
Azam Swati, for the offence of defaming state
officials/institutions.

Certainly, there must be unequivocal condemnation of such state

brutality and Swati should be unconditionally supported for
exercising his right to free speech and to criticise any public
official or state institution without fear of reprisal. However, the
case also offers other lessons and reveals the biases and
selectivity in prevailing attitudes about who qualifies as a worthy
victim.
The same coterie that doubted there was an assassination
attempt on Malala, despite the TTP claiming responsibility, now
insists, without evidence, that there was such an attempt on
Imran Khan by the incumbent government.

Many defended Khan when he blamed victims of sex crimes and

reasoned that men are incited by unveiled women, but they don’t
sympathise with state officials who claim to be ‘provoked’ when
they are defamed.

The same patriots who saw protesters and dissidents from

Balochistan and KP as traitors are now abusing the armed forces
for political intervention without anxiety over national
dishonour or demotivation.

This trend of double standards applies to the alleged torture of

Swati and Shahbaz Gill too. It has elicited extraordinary
sympathy from male supporters because of the alleged sexual
nature of the punishment. If both politicians had been
conventionally tortured, the outrage would be more measured.

Same-sex male sexual violation carries more prerogative for

offence than routine rapes and harassments, humiliations,
abuses and jokes that sexually objectify women, transwomen and
non-binary people.

Pejorative attacks, sexual innuendos and memes mocking female

politicians reduce their political identities to mute sexualised
bodies. However, such is the gendered nature of sexual violence
that while women bury their trauma in silence, for fear of male
disapproval, Gill can mock the alleged offence against him by
belittling the crime through humour and irony.
Stigmatised silence isolates the few women who dare to speak
out, and the common response is one of disbelief or occasional
pity. But when Swati and Gill speak out as male survivors, there
is mass trust by men and full support by an indignant media.
All victims of sexual abuse must be equally trusted.

In the 1990s, custodial rape of women was a disturbing epidemic

and rights activists campaigning against the trend were
castigated as ‘anti-state’ and ‘Western feminist agents’. In 1991,
Human Rights Watch found that 70 per cent of women in police
custody experienced physical or sexual abuse at the hands of
their jailers and that 50pc to 70pc of them were detained without
due process for suspicion of sex crimes as penalised under the
Hudood Ordinances.

Procedural hurdles and the impossibility of prosecuting abuses

by the police extended impunity to custodial violence against
women. This was possible due to discriminatory laws and the
efficacious implementation of the zina laws in particular, which
confirmed that men and the state were zealously committed to
controlling women’s sexualities and to punishing any perceived
transgression of the male-beneficial gendered and sexual orders.

Over this decade, vicious infighting weakened the political

classes and undermined democratic protection of citizens’ rights.
This vacuum encouraged state excesses and afforded licence to
policemen and LEAs who saw women victims as easy prey and
subjected them to sex crimes in police stations and jails.

All righteous men — civilians and military, liberal and

conservative — need to align their biases and acknowledge that
sexual violation is a crime not of ‘shame’ but of body, and that
such violence threatens mental security and degrades basic
dignity. The resolution for such crimes lies in redressing
inequality in power relations everywhere — in the hands of state
officials or men in household/communities — regardless of
gender, choice of wardrobe, political affiliation or class and faith.

Without equality of power across all genders, provinces and

classes — economic, social, political — violence will always be
the language that fills the gaps.

Critics of the military’s politicisation or the practice of punitive

torture of politicians must recognise that the abuse of state
powers and discriminatory laws prevail when parties stop
cooperating and enable a democracy deficit. Misogynistic biases
in the military, judiciary and communities, and suspecting and
blaming victims are tools that can be weaponised against all
genders.

Those who blindly support Swati for partisan reasons must

accept that any and all victims of alleged sex crimes — past,
current and future — have to be equally trusted and supported
on the same principles and grounds. Then, maybe, we can all be
on the same page about sex crimes, torture, harassment and
leveraging democracy rather than exacting political revenge.

The writer is the author of Faith and Feminism in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2022

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Paths to doom - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1726094/paths-to-doom

December 13, 2022

AFTER years of slow decay, states that are nearing doom see a
tipping point and a point of no return when their descent into
the abyss hastens and is hard to stop. It then often takes an
external effort to extricate them from the pits of doom. We may
well be the only large state facing all recent security and
economic pathways to doom, with the exception of Liberia with
its warlord politics. How far are we from each tipping point and
can we change course before the point of no return?

The gravest security pathway is the scenario of nuclear conflict.

Escalatory steps may come from Islamist militancy in India,
which pins the blame on us and retaliates through an air or even
land attack. Another sub-path is an attack by India on Azad
Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, as threatened by BJP hawks
recently. This could escalate to a level where tactical nuclear
arms are deployed in response. No two nuclear states have
fought yet but there is always a first time to new mania.
Extremist sway by the BJP and hawkish elements in the security
establishment here may increase risks reduced by recent FATF
action on us. But civilian sway will cut the risks for us and
secular sway for India.

Another grim security pathway is internal extremist conflict,

which ruined Somalia and Syria with large areas falling to the
extremists. The TTP too seized former Fata and Swat in 2007 and
were 100 kilometres from leafy Islamabad, sending panic waves
among its cocky elites. Army action cut the risk, but the Afghan
Taliban’s Kabul win has upped it again. It may increase slowly
over the years as our numbers cross 300 million and huge
climate change impact and a slow economy lead to more
dislocation, crises and extremism by 2050, a century after
independence. Giving the youth a modern education and jobs
will cut this risk. It may still be many years away but is our
scariest internal risk.

Extremists aim to capture whole states; ethnic groups aim to

secede with a part, as with Sudan, Yugoslavia and us too in 1971.
We have already tread two security doom pathways and partly
even the third one with non-nuclear combat with our easterly
nemesis. Our ethnic Achilles heel is now Balochistan. Baloch
rebels lack the capacity to secede soon or even hold much area
but have made some areas no-go and can now stage big attacks
beyond home. Apathy towards justified Baloch complaints will
only up the risk.
Can we change course and avoid the point of no return?
Economically, one path is the Soviet one: the Soviet Union fell
after decades of de-growth due to misrule and military outlays.
We, too, have both. We haven’t yet seen long de-growth except
once under the tabdeeli brigade due to Covid-19, but may in the
long run as its two causes persist.

Another economic path is hyperinflation, as in Zimbabwe. I saw

the country in 2009 in the grips of million per cent inflation, with
prices doubling every day and a US dollar fetching 50 trillion
local ones in Harare streets. Loose monetary and fiscal policy
creating wage-price vicious circles caused it. Our usually cheery
central bank glumly told us recently those circles are emerging.

A last economic pathway is currency collapse, as in East Asia in

1998 due to external deficits. The private sector took short-term
foreign loans for long-term work that gave no dollar earning. A
scare in one state made foreign lenders pull loans regionally,
causing currency collapses. We have had external deficits for
decades but now take bigger foreign loans for works with no
dollar earnings, though mainly less panicky state-to-state ones.
But any souring ties with big lenders may mean default.

Among the six, the nuclear war risk may be low, but that of the
last two interlinked economic pathways is high. We may only be
a couple of years from the tipping point as new economic risks
like wage-price spirals and foreign loans for local works increase.
Economic doom doesn’t cause the gory violence of security doom.
Yet it causes silent, covert violence that hurts the poor badly via
local disease, crime and abuse. The ways to avoid all six are very
well known for long and need no repetition. But how to get our
uncaring and insular twin-cities elites to adopt them is a puzzle
stumping even the wisest in this stricken land.
There is another puzzle too. Why do we alone apparently face so
many pathways to doom? Oddly, the indications are that the
starting points of all the paths converge in the garrison city of
Pindi. Living a stone’s throwaway from them, I keep blithely
ignoring the sane advice of sages that people living in weak glass
houses must not throw (verbal) stones, as only change in the
establishment’s views will shut our scary pathways to doom. May
we all stay safe from its retaliatory wrath.

The writer is a political economist with a PhD from UC Berkeley.

murtazaniaz@yahoo.com

Twitter: @NiazMurtaza2

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2022

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If it’s football, it’s not cricket
dawn.com/news/1726095/if-its-football-its-not-cricket

December 13, 2022

THE question seemed inevitable as the applause panned to Asia

and Africa at the football fest in Qatar: why don’t India and
Pakistan play quality football? They excel in hockey, or at least
used to. The sport, not unlike football, requires an incredible
amount of stamina to run with the ball while tackling opponents
en route at high speeds. Or maybe they were not fast enough, as
Europe’s entry into the sport revealed, ending South Asia’s
hegemony over hockey.

Considering that the best runners in their favourite pastime of

cricket can go out of breath making the mere three or, on rare
occasions, four runs of 22 yards each, chances are that Indians
and Pakistanis, and with them the rest of South Asia, may not
have the legs and the lungs for football. This would probably
have less to do with the physique per se, as the Japanese and
Korean squads revealed with their ability to outrun the
opponent.

Does it then boil down to nutrition, since both countries fare

poorly on the hunger index? South Asia, with the world’s highest
hunger level, has the highest child stunting rate and by far the
highest child-wasting rate in the world. Afghanistan is the only
country behind India in the region.

Perhaps P.T. Usha or Shiny Abraham, who’ve won prizes as big-

time runners for India, would have a truer answer.

But we’re posing the wrong problem. In fact, it was a relief that
India and Pakistan were nowhere near the World Cup in Doha.
Imagine the needless hostilities they express in cricket being
carried to the already mired field of football. Countries have gone
to war over football matches, a fate that has mercifully eluded
the South Asian cricket rivals.
Countries have gone to war over football matches, a fate that has mercifully
eluded the South Asian cricket rivals.

Today’s narrow-minded, nationalist India may not wish to play

cricket in Pakistan and also bar Pakistani players from its
domestic cricket circuit to pander to Delhi’s domestic politics.
That’s kindergarten stuff given the political animus that lurks
around the football fields.

There is, of course, the familiar story of the brief war that broke
out between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969, ostensibly over a
football match. The 100-hour ‘football war’ ended with a
negotiated ceasefire arranged by influential Latin American
countries.
It’s not as widely known that football rivalries between the Gulf
states erupted into a military threat between Saudi Arabia and
Kuwait. It’s nearly impossible to find any reference to the stand-
off on the search engines today, though the flare-up nearly broke
up the Gulf Cooperation Council, whose members both countries
are. Then GCC secretary-general Abdullah Bishara had to run
between several Gulf capitals seeking help for a peaceful
conclusion.

Matters came to a head when a routine GCC football contest in

Saudi Arabia found a Kuwaiti delegation mocking the hosts with
images of a white horse, apparently a reference to Turkey’s
occupation of Hejaz, the name by which a part of the current
Saudi Arabia was then known. Kuwait represented old money,
having discovered the black gold ahead of its neighbours. Saudi
Arabia was only beginning to grow in stature for the West after
the fall of the Shah in Iran in 1979. There was speculation that
Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait would not have riled
Riyadh had it not feared a similar fate for itself.

Another, possibly far more consequential football feud is raging

between Saudi Arabia and Morocco ever since Riyadh opposed
Rabat’s bid to host the 2026 World Cup. Saudi Arabia was miffed
also by Qatar’s successful bid, but it went out of its way to stall
Morocco’s quest, thus enabling the trio of Canada, US and Mexico
to become joint hosts of the next World Cup.

India and Pakistan often take it out on each other by publishing

their maps of Kashmir to rile the quarry. Saudi Arabia delivered
pretty much a similar insult to Morocco, by showing the Western
Saharawi Republic (Polisario) as a separate state, a claim that
Rabat contests.
The blow hot, blow cold relationship has manifested in Morocco’s
withdrawal from the Saudi-led war on Yemen. Riyadh responded
by cancelling the Saudi king’s visit to Morocco, where he would
otherwise spend his summer holidays lavishly indulging his
friendship with the Maghreb.

Rabat had refused to back Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin

Salman too, who was in need of support from fellow Arab
countries over the brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal
Khashoggi in Turkey.

The die had been cast in Moscow in 2018 where Morocco bid for
the 2026 World Cup and Saudi Arabia opposed it. The fact that
the as yet unbeaten Moroccan team displayed the Palestinian flag
at a packed stadium in Doha is clearly part of the joust between
two powerful and ideologically opposed Muslim nations.

I witnessed the Arab League summit in Fez in 1981, where

Morocco unveiled the Fahd Plan for the first time, which
advocated the recognition of Israel to go with a separate
Palestinian state. Morocco’s King Hasan was himself elected as
the head of the Quds Committee to ensure that Jerusalem
remained part of Palestine. A lot of water has flown under the
bridge since.

The Saudi camp has befriended Israel with no sign of a state for
Palestine on the horizon. The Moroccan team was mocking the
breach of this promise. Here, even Qatar, which has kept close to
the Muslim Brotherhood and the Hamas, finds itself on the
ideological end that’s more sympathetic to the cause of
Palestinian sovereignty. Qatar supports the Palestinian quest to
excel in football.
Regardless of where India or Pakistan find themselves in the
league of major football playing nations, even Palestine has not
allowed its troubled existence to interfere with its passion for
football. As a member of FIFA, it may be primed to spring a
surprise anytime, as Morocco has done in Qatar.

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.

jawednaqvi@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2022

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Good things - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1726097/good-things

December 13, 2022

THE year draws to an end, having passed in what appear to be 12

blinks of the eye. Even though 2022 brought the end of the
pandemic, it was not an easy year for many reasons. And more
so it seemed in Pakistan than the rest of the world, which also
grappled with conflict and recession. But this is not about 2022,
for week after week, or day after day, the unpleasantness that
was 2022 has been recorded by all of us, in different ways.

So just for a bit of a break, I will attempt to turn critic, rather

than political commentator (that is just about everyone in
Pakistan, though I am among the minority which gets paid for it).
And hence, I will attempt to review a podcast, which was truly
among the most enjoyable I came across this year (Revolutions is
a close second): Empire by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand.
Beginning with the East India Company and the end of the
Mughal rule in the subcontinent, the two have talked, laughed
and even cried their way to 1947 over 20 episodes before
reluctantly (for them and more so for their listeners) calling an
end to their travels through the subcontinent. But this is not to
say the podcast is a chronological account of days past. That
would be too simple a fare for these two.

Empire is more of a meandering, leisurely walk through a

historical period, with detours and gentle rests and a pace which
can be brisk or slow. There are unexpected daylong picnics and
equally surprising deviations, which don’t jar because the subject
and the discussion are worthwhile. In other words, don’t expect a
cookie-cutter approach either to the episodes or to the manner in
which they proceed.

The podcast ‘Empire’ is a walk through a historical era with detours and a pace
that’s slow or brisk.

When the Queen died, the two ‘stopped’ regular transmission to

do an episode on the legacy of the Empire, the discussion about it
at present, the lack of awareness in Britain about it and the role
of the royal family with historian David Olusoga — not for a
moment did it seem out of place.

And more than anything else, what stayed in my head was

Dalrymple’s story, as they discussed the difficulty of talking about
history in the present day, of how Olusoga had come for a public
talk with bodyguards.

Later in the series, the election of Rishi Sunak led to an episode

where historian Mahmoud Mamdani joins the podcasters to talk
about Indian migration to East Africa, Idi Amin and then the
exodus of the South Asians to UK.
I suspect the podcast is such a great experience because Anand
and Dalrymple are obviously enjoying every moment. The
podcast is as much about them as it is about history — the
Kohinoor diamond takes up four episodes because the two of
them have co-authored a book on it and they have much to say.
But to give them credit, the four episodes don’t seem too long
because they know how to spin a tale which spans India,
Pakistan and Afghanistan, along with London and Queen
Victoria.

And along with their great rapport, the series shines because
these two history buffs, with their journalistic background, know
the importance of telling a story through characters rather than
just narrating the wider arc. Jinnah and Gandhi get an episode
each (with Ramachandra Guha and Ayesha Jalal as the guests)
and the former allows the podcast to talk about the Muslim
community, the Muslim League and partition. Similarly, Uddam
Singh leads us to the Ghadar Movement, Gen Dwyer takes us to
Jallianwallah Bagh, and Ranjit Singh’s son and Queen Victoria’s
relationship turns into an exploration of Punjab, as well as
British attitudes towards the Empire.

Adding to this is Anand’s penchant for bringing in quirky folklore

or gossip — the moment when she asks Mamdani if Idi Amin’s
dislike of Indians was due to his having fallen in love with the
beautiful wife of an Indian businessman is pure gold!

And this is the series’ greatest strength as well as its weakness.

The focus on people — and interesting people — sometimes
prevents the series from delving too deeply into the details of
events. For instance, the Cabinet Mission Plan is mentioned at the
tail end in the two episodes where they have taken questions
from the listeners (and this one came from Dalrymple’s son).
Similarly, there is not much on the later socioeconomic changes.
But this is nit-picking, for the period is obviously one that is more
than just history for this listener from Pakistan.

But beyond all else, this podcast is important because every

episode more or less underlines how relevant and personal
history remains even now. And for this, Anand and Dalrymple
are to be appreciated; they never let their listeners forget for a
moment that all of this continues to impact our lives even today. I
have already mentioned the Olusoga anecdote, highlighting how
difficult it is perhaps for some to discuss race and colonialism in
Britain.

The discussion about the East India Company or the Kohinoor is

interspersed with references to the current debate about how
museums in the West are filled with artefacts forcibly removed
from colonised lands. The episode on Gandhi takes us through
the changing debate on the leader of India and how the BJP and
in particular the present prime minister view and refer to him. It
is to their credit that they can weave the past and the present and
the personal so effectively — the episode on partition is a case in
point.

They have now moved on to the Ottoman Empire. And I look

forward to it, especially because I wonder if it will be as easy to
follow it as the one on the subcontinent was. But so far, I can say
that these two raconteurs have met their match in Peter
Frankopan.

The writer is a journalist.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2022

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