Page 23 - Pakistan Link - May 17, 2019
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COMMENTARY                                                                                                         MAY 17, 2019  –  PAKISTAN LINK  –  P23

              n By Ghazala Akbar      Drawing a Line on the Events of 1947                                                      by 9 months to hasten her depar-
                  London, UK                                                                                                    ture from India and Nehru -- a
                                                                                                                                charge he does not deny.
              he division of the Sub-                                                                                               Radcliffe too is confronted
              continent into India and                                                                                          with  a  crisis  of  confidence  and
         TPakistan and eventually                                                                                               conscience. He has already suc-
         into Bangladesh reverberates                                                                                           cumbed to arm-twisting on the
                     several decades                                                                                            final location of Calcutta. The fate
                     after the event.                                                                                           of Kashmir, earmarked by him
                     Partition, as we                                                                                           for Pakistan, will be ‘decided’
                     are    painfully                                                                                           through a referendum. But he
                     aware, did not                                                                                             must draw the line somewhere
                     begin or end in                                                                                            on making unethical compro-
                     1947. Not a sin-                                                                                           mises. He cannot be a gangster’s
                     gle day passes, in                                                                                         ‘patsy’ any longer. He will resign.
         the collective memories and in                                                                                         Cracking up under the pressure,
         the present-day politics of our                                                                                        he seeks solace in the wisdom of
         three countries when we are not                                                                                        the Bhagwad Gita. A nocturnal
         reminded  or  are  rueful  of  the                                                                                     visit from the deity in the shape of
         consequences of this cleaving. It                                                                                      Lord Krishna gives him his mo-
         is a continual work-in-progress,                                                                                       ment of clarity. The lines must be
         a chapter that never seems to                                                                                          re-drawn. Ferozepur, he cries out,
         close.                                                                                                                 divinely inspired, Ferozepur must
            Was Partition a logical con-                                                                                        go to Pakistan!
         clusion of the colonial policy of                                                                                          Soon enough, Radcliffe is
         divide and rule? Was it inevitable,                                                                                    rudely brought down to earth.
         unavoidable or engineered? What                                                                                        The representative of the King
         were the pressures on the British                                                                                      Emperor, Mountbatten pays him
         Government in scissoring their                                                                                         a visit to remind him of geo-
         most prized imperial possession                                                                                        political realities: India is bigger,
         and exiting the scene in indecent                                                                                      more populous and the more
         haste? Who was responsible for                                                                                         powerful. ‘If we must favor her,
         giving Pakistan its final ‘moth-                                                                                       so be it.’ Radcliffe must change his
         eaten’ shape? Could the blood and                                                                                      map again. A knighthood waits.
         tears have been minimized? And                                                                                         A fee too. Five thousand pounds?
         the eternal question: why didn’t                                                                                       Surely it can be increased. Aghast,
         they  settle  the  issue  of  Kashmir                                                                                  Radcliffe declines. He questions
         then and there in 1947?                                                                                                the viceroy’s neutrality -- to
            A play performed at the                                                                                             which Mountbatten retorts: ‘Fair-
         Hampstead Theatre in London a                                                                                          ness was just an outward show.’
         few years back re-examined these   the time he spent drawing the   physically, psychologically.   financially-independent wife is   Radcliffe appeals to the heavens.
         themes from a refreshingly new   border he had a personal crisis.   Not only must Radcliffe rec-  besotted with the future Prime   ‘Oh, God!’
         perspective. It is not the dominant   My playwright’s brain went into   oncile the implacable interests   Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. There   The rest we know is history.
         persona of Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah   overdrive…what a character,   of the Congress and the Muslim   is talk of divorcing ‘Dickie’, mar-  A contemporary poem by WH
         or Mountbatten that take center-  what did he go through, a decent   League, there is pressure from   rying Nehru and becoming the   Auden  entitled  ‘Partition’  lam-
         stage but a seemingly bit player,   liberal man confident in his sense   another  quarter:  the  imperious   First lady of India.   poons the moment superbly:
         Cyril Radcliffe, an unassuming   of ‘fairness’, thrown into that be-  Viceroy,  Lord  Mountbatten  and   Although it is not part of any   ‘…but in seven weeks it was
         judge who was entrusted with   wildering and violent situation…’                         official record, the romantic rela-  done, the frontiers decided
         the unenviable task of setting the   And so it begins in the heat   Not only must        tionship of Nehru and the vice-   A continent for better or for
         final boundaries of the lands we   of July 1947. Radcliffe who has                       roy’s wife has writ large in the gos-  worse divided
         now know as India, Pakistan and   never travelled abroad except for   Radcliffe reconcile the   sip columns of history. (Certainly,   The next day he sailed for
         Bangladesh.                   Venice is sent by the post-war   implacable interests      in Pakistan there were never any   England, where he could quickly
            Dramatizing a pivotal mo-  Attlee government to chair the                             doubts). In Alex Von Tunzel-  forget
         ment of South Asian history that   Boundary Commission that will   of the Congress and   mann’s engaging 2007 work (‘In-   The case, as a good lawyer
         is slowly being lost to living mem-  bring an ‘honorable end’ to the   the Muslim League,   dian Summer: The Secret History   must. Return he would not.
         ory ‘Drawing the Line’ by Howard   Raj in India. ‘Tiny little problem   there is pressure from   of an Empire)’ the English histo-  Afraid, as he told his club,
         Brenton is a vivid political essay   though,’ says his wife, matter-of-                  rian devotes considerable space to   that he might get shot.
         that examines personal relation-  factly. ‘You know bugger all about   another quarter: the   the affair and the Mountbatten’s   As the hour of freedom ap-
         ships, political intrigue, double-  India’. What he knows about car-  imperious Viceroy,   ‘open marriage’. (Some critics say   proaches, Jinnah and Nehru ad-
         speak and outright bias that un-  tography and creating countries is                     she gives it too much s p a ce ,   dress  their  born-again  nations.
         derscored the final moments of   even less. But what he does know   Lord Mountbatten     given it is a scholarly work!)   Vicious  flames  erupt  ominous-
         the dying Raj. Deftly mixing fact   is that the task will be messy and   and his wife Edwina.   Mountbatten’s daughter Pa-  ly behind the delicate filigree
         and fiction Brenton weaves a pro-  bloody. 100, 000 deaths would be                      mela  Hicks  in  her  book,  (‘India   screens.  The  ‘free’  sub-continent
         vocative  historical  narrative  in   ‘an acceptable level’ says a cynical,  Far from being neutral   remembered: a personal account   is burning. It is a chilling moment
         two and a quarter riveting hours,   preening  Mountbatten,  the  last   spectators, the   of the Mountbattens during the   and … decades later, I could not
         with each line loaded with intent   Viceroy.                                             transfer of power’), admits the   help shed a tear or suppress anger
         and  meaning.  The  minimalist   Radcliffe has just five weeks   glamorous power-        couple were ‘in love’ but that the   at the unfairness of it all. Pakistan
         sets -- light-filtering through full-  to do the job. He must cut-up the   couple have their own   relationship was purely ‘platonic’.   was  deliberately  born  deformed.
         length filigree screens -- furnish a   map of India and locate a new                     They frequently wrote letters to   A bird without a head…two un-
         stunning backdrop.            country, Pakistan which ‘exists  concerns. Mountbatten     each other. And when Edwina   equal wings and no body. It was
            This is not the sepia-tinted   in the heart but not on earth’. He   has a particular vested   died prematurely at age 58, Nehru   crippled from the start, never
         Raj nostalgia that we often see on   must be logical, unemotional, im-                   sent two Indian frigates to accom-  meant  to  work,  always  meant  to
         screen, of stiff-upper lipped Sa-  partial, independent and fair…but  interest in exiting India,   pany her last rites at sea. (Imagine   fail.
         hibs and linen-clad Memsahibs   can he really be all these things?   fast: his beautiful,   the uproar in the Indian parlia-  My  mind raced backwards.
         wistfully lowering the Union Jack   Upon  arrival,  he  is  sucked  into                 ment and media were this to hap-  The  Wars  of  1948,  1965,  1971,
         on the Gateway of India. This is   the whirlpool of Indian politics  financially-independent   pen now!)               1999… the needless slaughter.
         a hard-nosed examination of re-  and confronts its ugly realities.   wife is besotted with   To what extent this friend-  Dark thoughts of revenge, retri-
         alpolitik, a revelatory fly-in-the-  Amongst  his  staff  there  are  lob-               ship affected the final shape  of  bution, righting historical wrongs
         wall account on how amongst   byists and spies for both camps.   the future Prime        the map of the sub-continent can   clouded my imagination. I re-
         other factors, an uneasy marriage   They can barely conceal their ha-  Minister, Jawaharlal   only be imagined. Brenton’s Play,   called a TV interview of Mount-
         and an illicit liaison influenced   treds and prejudices or even be in                   however, leaves little room for   batten -- he had gloated when
         the unfolding of political events   the same room together.   Nehru. There is talk       doubt and he uses considerable   East and West Pakistan had bro-
         and impacted the map of Paki-    The maps, the census figures   of divorcing ‘Dickie’,   poetic license to spice things up.   ken-up, the Two-Nation Theory
         stan.                         are outdated or unreliable. There                          Nehru and Edwina are shown in   in tatters. I remembered too of
            So how did this all come   is no time for on-the-spot inspec-  marrying Nehru         each other’s arms, cavorting in the   his assassination by the IRA in
         about? The author of the work,   tions. He has a timetable to which   and becoming the   corridors of power or hand-in-  1979. No flags were lowered in
         Howard Brenton, on a vacation to   he must strictly adhere. As the                       hand in refugee camps. Radcliffe   Pakistan. Then mercifully I had a
         India in 2009, met people whose   clock ticks, his unsuitability to   First lady of India  is reminded by Edwina that ‘hope   Nelson Mandela moment: focus
         families had migrated from the   the Indian climate takes its toll;                      lies with Nehru, not the Muslim   on the present, not the past. Move
         area of Pakistan. His curios-  he is stricken with a severe bout                         League.’ In one memorable scene   forward, not back. People that
         ity about Partition was aroused.   of ‘Delhi-belly.’ The complexity   his  wife  Edwina.  Far  from  be-  the Mountbattens have a blazing   continually invoke past griev-
         Back in England he wondered:   of the task, of dividing commu-  ing neutral spectators, the glam-  row about him being used as a   ances remain bitter and confused,
         how was the border drawn? His   nities, towns, villages, fields, irri-  orous power-couple have their   messenger for her ‘darkie.’ She is   stifled and stationery. We must
         researches led him to Cyril Rad-  gation schemes, communication   own  concerns.  Mountbatten  has   unrepentant and in turn accuses   draw a line on the events of the
         cliffe, ‘a brilliant legal mind…but   links, rivers, ports and cities is all   a particular vested interest in   her husband of deliberately fast-  past. Only then can the nations of
         there are indications that during   too much. He begins to unravel…   exiting India, fast: his beautiful,   forwarding the Independence Bill   South Asia be truly free.
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