Page 23 - Pakistan Link - May 17, 2019

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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