Simmering Kashmir

Jamal Qaiser, Sadaf Taimur

• Publisher: Books on Demand
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9783947818129
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

For generations, the Kashmir conflict has not only preoccupied the people living there, but also world politics. A solution seems impossible, doesn't it?This book talks about the history of the subcontinent from the 16th century and the British invasion, the division of the subcontinent and the political games after the division. The book tries to shed some light on the connection between the British invasion and Hindu-Muslim segregation, followed by hatred, division of the region, the Kashmiri conflict and a lack of trust between two states. The authors point out what went wrong on both sides and give recommendations on what can be done to end this conflict.

Chapter 1 – The British Rule in the
Sub-Continent

After Spanish Armada’s defeat, in 1588, the merchants of London presented a petition to the Queen Elizabeth 1: asking her permission to sail to the Indian Ocean. In 1591, on The Queen’s permission, three ships sailed from Torbay to the Arabian Sea. This was one of the earliest, English, overseas Indian missions. Three more ships sailed towards Arabian Sea in the year 1596 but all of them were lost in the sea and never reached their destination. Another group of merchants, with an intention to sail to the East Indies, applied for the Queen’s support in 1599. Failed in the initial attempt, the group tried again a year later and succeeded. These merchants were eventually known as ‘Adventurers’.

An Unfair Charter

After their success in 1600, a Royal Charted to “George, Earl of Cumberland, and 215 Knights, Aldermen, and Burgesses” was granted by the Queen under the name ‘Governor and Company of Merchants’ of London trading with the East Indies. In the light of this charter, the newly formed company exercised monopoly for 15 years with all the countries of the west of the Straits of Magellan and the Cape of Good Hope. All the people who wanted to trade were supposed to obtain a license from a company and anyone who traded in a way to breach the charter was liable of penalty on their cargo and ships (half of which went to the company and a half to the royal palace); along with imprisonment at the “royal pleasure”.

Clearly, the charter was not fair, as it was intentionally created to serve the royal palace and create disparities in the region.

During the years 1601 and 1608, four expeditions took Britain to East Indies in order to establish trade. The company, also known as East India Company (EIC), struggled with the trade of spice because they had to compete with well-established Dutch Company. On the first voyage, EIC opened a factory in Bantam. For 20 years pepper imports from Java remained an important part of company’s trade. Afterwards, EIC established its first company in Bengal, South India. Upon landing in India, EIC reported high profits which convinced King James I to grant subsidiary licenses to other trading companies in England. King James I renewed the charter given to EIC for an indefinite period. However, a clause was included in the charter stating that the charter would cease if there is no profit from trade for three consecutive years. Several conflicts occurred between the English traders and their Portuguese and Dutch counterparts in the Indian Ocean.

EIC decided to exploit the opportunity and get a foothold in mainland India with official permission of Mughal Empire and Britain. For this purpose, they requested the Crown to launch a diplomatic mission to India. Instructed by King James 1, in 1612, Sir Thomas Roe visited the Mughal Emperor Nuruddin Salim Jahangir to arrange for a commercial treaty. This treaty was to provide the company with the rights to establish factories and reside in Surat and other areas. EIC, in return, promised to provide Mughal Emperor with the rarities and goods from European market. This mission was remarkably successful, as the greed for goods and material was not one-sided.

From a Company to an Administrative Body

On being provided with imperial support, the company expanded its operations regarding commercial trade and took the lead over the Portuguese company which had bases in Bombay, Goa and Chittagong. These bases were ceded to England by Portugal. By 1647, EIC ended up having 90 employees and 23 factories in India. The Portuguese and Spanish influence in the region reduced, leaving intense competition between Dutch East India Company and EIC. This extreme competition led to Anglo-Dutch Wars in the 17^th and 18^th centuries.

With an aim to strengthen the power of the EIC, King Charles II granted EIC the permission to autonomously acquire command forts, territory, money, and troop and to form alliances. EIC was also allowed to make peace and war and to exercise criminal and civil jurisdictions over the acquired territories. So, the intentions of trade converted into the intentions to rule; and EIC was converted from a trading company to a de facto administrative agent demonstrating strong powers granted by the British government.

The affluence of the EIC officers not only allowed them to return to Britain but obtain political power by establishing businesses and properties. Later, EIC developed a lobby in the English parliament under the pressure from the company associates and tradesmen who wanted to establish private companies in India. This led to a deregulating act that was passed in 1694. This act terminated the charter, which was in order for around 100 years, and allowed English firms to trade with India (unless specifically prohibited by the parliament). Another act was passed in 1698 which allowed the establishment of another “parallel” East India Company (officially known as English Company Trading to East Indies). The two companies wrestled with each other for an overriding share in trade, both in India and England. After some time, it became clear that it was difficult to compete with the original company. Hence, in 1708, the two companies merged and became: The United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies.

The advent of the industrial revolution put Britain far ahead of its rivals in Europe. The level of production, demand, growth, and success made Britain popular in overseas trade. EIC’s private army was prepared to facilitate the company with skills required to assert its interests in the new regions of India without any hindrance from other colonial powers. However, local rulers continuously showed resistance towards EIC.

On the other hand, in 1755, Siraj ud Daulah became Nawab of Bengal adopting a pro-French policy in India. He invaded the British trading posts, including Calcutta. Lieutenant Colonel Robert Clive was sent from Madras to retake Calcutta and afterward they started plotting the defeat of Nawab. British secretly bribed some of the Bengali generals and Mir Jafar (one of the discontented followers of Nawab). Clive, then, started to advance towards Bengal’s capital and was confronted by Nawab’s army at Plassey (Palashi) by Bhaghirathi River. Seeing Nawab’s army, which was backed with French artillerymen, it was very difficult to foresee British victory. Nawab lost the battle because of the deception from his people. In 1757, during the Battle of Plassey, EIC defeated the ruler of Bengal and his French allies and re-established the company’s presence in Bengal. From that day onward, with each passing day, EIC started to function more like an administrative body and less as a trading company.

The Indian Rebellion Leading to British Raj

With the help of EIC’s private army, the company was able to assert its interests in the new regions of India without any hindrance from other colonial powers. However, local rulers continuously showed resistance towards EIC. The powers of EIC proliferated in the sub-continent and took two forms. The first form was taking control of Indian states and then governing the underlying regions. The second form was signing treaties with the local rulers to accept EIC’s authority in the region in return of limited internal autonomy.

The EIC’s independent armies expanded to a total of 280,000 men as they started recruiting local people in their army. Their Bengal Army ended up including landowning Muslims and high-caste Hindus. In EIC’s army, British officers were always placed on top of local Indians; irrespective of their service and experience. The local officers were not allowed to take part in any leadership or administrative training, so as to make sure that they stay dependent on the British Officers. This strategy, over time, gained dissatisfaction among the local Indian soldiers. Some grievances of the local soldiers were developed against EIC administration because of the ethnic gaps that existed between the British officers and their local Indian troops. In 1857, the British officers asked the local soldiers to use the newly introduced gunpowder cartridges. These cartridges were made from pig and cow fat and loading these cartridges required them to tear it with their teeth. This was taken as an insult to the religious practices of Hindus and Muslims. This act of lack of ethnic sensitivity on part of British officers and EIC administration converted the dissatisfaction of the local soldiers into revolt and aggression. This served as the major trigger of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The rebellion of Indian soldiers was exacerbated by local peasant and community armies who joined the Indian soldiers in the rebellion against EIC. Community armies were formed because of the underlying objections on British taxation and land captures. This was the time when Hindus and Muslims, irrespective of their faiths, were fighting against slavery, injustice, and disrespect. They revolted against the ethnic insensitivity of Britishers because they were aware that ethnic identities should be respected. This also reflects that Hindus and Muslims were living in harmony and they were used to respecting each other’s religions. If they were not respecting each other, they wouldn’t have expected the same from the Britishers and they wouldn’t have revolted.

As a result of the Indian rebellion of 1858, EIC was dissolved and got nationalized by the British government. British restructured the financial system, the army and the administration in India. The crown started governing the country directly and the British Raj, as a colonial rule, was FORMALLY established in the Indian Sub-continent. The British Raj remained in the subcontinent through the years 1858-1947.

The British Raj was extended all over the present-day: Pakistan, India and Bangladesh (excluding some areas which were then held by other European nations e.g. Goa and Pondicherry). The sub-continent area is known for its diversity with fertile floodplains, Himalayan mountain ranges, a long coastline, Indo-Gangetic plain, arid uplands, tropical dry forests, and the Thar Desert.

The Civilizing Mission

The “civilizing mission” was used as a rationale to justify the imperial control of the subcontinent. This mission aimed at introducing limited reforms to produce a qualified, white-collar, workforce which could loyally support the colonial rule. The same rationale was used by the British to establish colonies in other Asian and African countries. The British not only governed these colonies but they also tried to westernize them by implementing a colonial ideology i.e. “assimilation”. The concept of racism emerged with the concept of the “civilizing mission” where British saw the “backward” nation in the subcontinent as incapable of achieving, what British perceived as, an advanced level of social development. Therefore, they decided to “civilize” the sub-continent and colonized it by influencing the indigenous elites in order to get loyal local support for the imperial rule.

The main focus of the “civilizing mission” in the subcontinent was to introduce educational reforms. The perception of the imperial rule was that ‘English’ will speed up modernization in the region. Hence, the English language became a high priority. Thomas Babington Macaulay was amongst one of the most influential reformers. Macaulay, having a utilitarian approach, believed the Sub-continent had nothing to teach regarding modernization or modern skills and therefore education should happen in English so as to maintain the quality. Macaulay urged the Governor-General to reform the secondary education to deliver “useful learning”; and he equated “useful learning” to Western culture. He argued that Sanskrit and Persian, as languages, do not serve the purpose of “useful learning” and these languages are also less accessible than English. Macaulay did not know either Sanskrit or Persian, but he claimed that Western experts have a consensus that a single shelf of the western library is equal to the whole native literature of Sanskrit and Persian. Hence, he advocated for implementation of the Western English curriculum after the sixth year of schooling. This strategy was designed to create a class of local Indians who could serve as cultural intermediaries between the people of the subcontinent and British. According to Macaulay, creating this class was essential before reforming the overall education system. The “civilization mission” soon became an explanation for racism and British misrule, and this time British did not even pretend that the progress of the subcontinent was ever a goal. The advocators of real reform and prosperity of the region became less influential. This led the British to assume that Indians had to be ruled with an iron hand. Democratic opportunities for the people of the sub-continent were postponed for an indefinite period. Most of the debate on the role of Britain in subcontinent took place in Britain, this allowed the imperialist and the general population at home to believe that “civilizing mission” was working well. The imperial support in Britain got strengthened with the help of this fake campaign: “civilizing mission”.

The economy of the British ruled sub-continent was designed in a way to serve the British economy. The British collaborated with local elites to make this strategy successful. These elites also benefited from many British induced economic changes. In the second half of the 19^th century and with the advent of the industrial revolution; railway, canals, roads, and bridges were built rapidly, and telegraph links were established. The major purpose of establishing these channels was to export raw materials, most notably cotton, from the sub-continent to England. The finished goods from England were then transported back for sale in Indian markets.

The industrialization in the sub-continent remained limited, although Britain was considered as one of the global leaders of industrial development. Despite colonizing the space, Britain did not accept any ties with the subcontinent. “Civilizing mission” was used, ONLY, as a buzz word to justify colonization. Self-interest of the British rule was the main reason that caused stagnation of industrial and economic development in the British colonized India. Before colonization, in the 17^th century, India was a relatively commercialized and urbanized country. India used to export not only textile but silk, spices, and rice and was recognized as one of the main producers of cotton textiles in the world. After coloniz...