1857 Indian War of Independence

(1857 Sepoys' Mutiny)

Causes and Consequences

Shahid Hussain Raja

 Dedication

Dedicated to all those who laid down their lives to ensure

that we are born in a free country
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Causes of the War of Independence
Chapter 3: Course of Events:
Chapter 4: Causes of Failure
Chapter 5: Significance and Consequences
Chapter 6: Conclusion
About the Author-Shahid Hussain Raja
Preface
On April 27, 1857, eighty-five soldiers of a Bengal
regiment of British East India Company, posted in
Meerut, disobeyed the command of their senior British
officer, to use the new cartridges for newly introduced
Enfield rifles, allegedly encased in cow and pig grease.
Harsh punishment meted out to the disobedient soldiers,
and that too in front of their colleagues resulted in the
mutiny of several regiments and ultimately became a
general uprising of the Indian people.

It was ruthlessly quelled by the British with the help of

their superior technology and the support of local elites.
However, like any cataclysmic event, it gave birth to
different social, political and economic trends which are
still shaping the course of events in the post-colonial
states of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries
of the Indian Subcontinent.

Several names have been given to this momentous event,

depending upon which perspective one looks at it ranging
from the War of Independence to Indian Mutiny, the
Sepoy Mutiny, the Rebellion of 1857 and the Revolt of
1857, to name a few. To the British public, state and
scholars it was just a mishandled case of Mutiny of a few
soldiers in a regiment of the Bengal Army of the East
India Company. To the nationalist Indians, it was the first
war of independence launched by the subjugated people
of India to get rid of their European colonial masters. To
outsiders, it looks more like the Civil Rights movement by
the public against the bad governance of a private firm
running an Empire.

Whatever name one gives it, the event is an important

milestone in the history of India's independence and of
the Indian Muslims' struggle for a separate homeland.
William Dalrymple, an authority on the British Raj in
India, has aptly described it as an Uprising in his
masterpiece account of the last days of the Mughal
Empire—the Last Mughal.

Similarly, there are vast differences of opinion about the

nature and scale of this uprising. A group of historians
considers it truly to be a war of Indian independence
because it was more than just a military mutiny that
spanned more than one region and people from different
strata of life. The announcement of the rebellious forces
to revive the old Mughal Empire that signified a national
symbol for them is another argument in this respect. The
revolting Sepoys, these historians argue, could have
easily headed home or joined services of their respective
princes, if their revolt were only inspired by personal or
communal grievances.

Following proclamation made by using the traditional

method of the beating of a drum in the town centre of
every city or town the revolting Sepoys conquered, is a
clear manifestation of their common resolve to impose a
country-wide rule of the Moghuls and drive out the
British from India: "Khalq Khuda Ki, Mulk Badshah Ka,
Hukm Subahdar Sipahi Bahadur Ka" - i.e., People belong
to God, the country to the Emperor and executive powers
to the Sepoy Commandant in the city).

However, there are opposing opinions on this issue by

writers who do not consider it to be a nationwide war of
independence, maintaining that a united India did not
exist at that time in political terms and the rebellion
remained confined to the ranks of the Bengal Army only
and affected the population of a limited geographical
area. In fact, they assert, the mutiny was put down with
the help of Indian soldiers drawn from the other wings of
the Indian Army particularly the Madras Army, the
Bombay Army and the Sikh regiments.
Many princes and maharajahs of bigger princely states
such as Hyderabad, Kashmir, Mysore as well as the
smaller ones of Rajputana, did not join the rebellion. And
those that did were joining the bandwagon for their own
vested interests of reviving and reclaiming their own
states, not in creating a United India.

This short book attempts to describe the nature, causes

and consequences of this very important milestone in the
history of the struggle of the Indian people for
independence.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Every event has a context, the peculiar situation
obtaining on the ground at that particular moment in
history, which gives the specific causes responsible for
that event greater relevance than at any other point in
time. Without understanding this context, it is not
possible to determine the relative significance or
otherwise of these specific causes. Some of the peculiar
features of the situation before the 1857 uprising cannot
be appreciated without understanding two very important
developments namely, the rise of the British East India
Company as a paramount power in India, and the socio-
economic transformation of the subcontinent during this
period

East India Company of Britain entered the Indian

Subcontinent in 1600 as a trading corporation but within
one hundred and fifty years ended as an imperial war
machine, more by default and less as a deliberate policy
of colonial expansion on behalf of its mother country.
Mughal Empire reached its peak under Aurangzeb when
almost the whole of South Asia was under their
suzerainty but within 50 years after his death in 1707, it
was in shambles. While vast swathes of India passed from
Mughal to Maratha's hands, the invasion of Nadir Shah
shattered the remnants of the Mughal Empire
accelerating its decline. Many of the rulers of states
broke away to form independent kingdoms.

One of the reasons for this cataclysmic change of

destinies was the inherent weakness of a decaying
agricultural empire of the Mughals which after more than
two hundred years of rule over vast areas of India, was at
its terminal stage and needed a small push to crumble
like a house of cards. That push was given by six East
India Companies of different European countries which
had extracted rights to trade with India from the Mughals
but transformed themselves as the arbiters and
protectors of several Indian states.

In this process, they not only became rich but also

militarily strong because, in the twilight years of the
Mughal empire, a deteriorating security environment
necessitated them to arm themselves to protect their
economic interests. Because of their inherent superiority
as representatives of rising industrial powers, they had
access to modern techniques and technology of warfare,
which turned out to be the decisive factor in capturing
vast territories in India.

British turned out to be smarter than others in this

process and they not only coerced the local princess into
submission but also defeated their European rivals
convincingly in this Indian game of thrones. In his futile
efforts to reverse the Mughal decline, the Mughal
Emperor Shah Alam II sought the protection of outside
powers and in 1784; the Marathas became the protectors
of the emperor in Delhi. This state of affairs continued till
1805 when after their victory in Second Anglo-Maratha
War, the British East India Company replaced the
Marathas as the protectors of the Mughal dynasty in
Delhi.

The Mughal Emperor, however, continued to be the

highest manifestation of sovereignty. Not only the Muslim
gentry, but the Maratha, Hindu, and Sikh leaders took
part in ceremonial acknowledgements of the emperor as
the sovereign of India. The French, the arch-rivals of the
British for regional hegemony in Europe and global
imperialism, had been defeated on two fronts—at
Waterloo and in India. Thus the British, who were now
consolidating their position as a paramount imperial
power all over the world, became colonizers of the jewel
in their crown-India.
During this process of gradual colonization, the British
East India Company had been carrying out socioeconomic
reforms which had transformed the Indian society in
multiple ways. One manifestation of that transformation
was the rise of nationalist sentiments among the Indians,
not only as a result but also as a reaction against these
reforms. India had never been a unified country in the
modern sense with two or three exceptions in its 10,000
years of recorded history. While the introduction of a
modern system of government by the British throughout
the country unified it administratively, the destruction of
the rural and local self-sufficient economy and the
introduction of modern trade and industries on an all-
India scale had increasingly made India's economic life a
single whole.

This integration was cemented by the introduction of the

railways, telegraph and unified postal systems which
brought the different parts of the country together and
promoted mutual contact among the people. The spread
of western education and ideas, infrastructural
developments, technological advancements and a new
system of governance introduced by the East India
Company in the Indian Subcontinent had facilitated
connectivity of hence isolated communities and had
created a sense of unity among the Indians. The
emergence of the modern press, both English and
Vernacular, saw an unprecedented growth of Indian-
owned English and Vernacular newspapers which played
a notable role in mobilising public opinion and promoting
nationalism.

Revolutions of the 1840s in Europe had kindled the

nationalistic feelings among the Indians educated from
the same institutions the Company established to get a
regular supply of ministerial staff for running India.
People came to realise that colonial rule was the major
cause of India's economic backwardness. The tone of
racial superiority adopted by many Englishmen in their
dealings with Indians created a reaction among the
educated elite inspiring them with a new spirit of
patriotism and nationalism. The theory put forward by
European scholars that the Indo-Aryans belonged to the
same ethnic group of mankind from which stemmed all
the nations of Europe gave a psychological boost to
educated Indians.

After briefly explaining the context of the 1857 Uprising

in the next chapter, an attempt has been made, in the
following chapter, to enumerate the various causes of the
general frustration which led to this uprising. It is
followed by an account of the succession of events that
shaped the course and content of the movement and the
measures taken by the British to crush it. Chapter 6
explains in detail the short term effects and long term
impact of this momentous event, maintaining that long
shadows of history are still affecting the course and
content of our everyday life in all the countries of the
Indian Subcontinent.
Chapter 2: Causes of the War of Independence
"Perhaps more stomach-turning than this, especially to a
British reader, are Mount's revelations of the dishonest
policies followed by almost every Governor-General of
India towards India's native princes, policies driven by
pure greed, conducted with cold ruthlessness in utter
disregard of treaties, promises or any code of honour, and
hidden beneath layers of hypocritical cant. Much of this
has not been made generally known. Few, for instance, in
the Far East, will know that as the First Opium War in
China ended in 1842, another began in India, for the
British conquest of Gwalior was aimed at the control of
the opium it grew independently of the East India
Company."-
Karl Marx

Introduction
Every cataclysmic event is the result of the synergistic
effect of several constants and variables. Some of these
may be interrelated and interdependent while others may
be independent ones. Similarly, some may be short term
as well as long term, economic as well as non-economic.
Some of them are visible, others invisible. Some have
their exogenous roots; some are homegrown. In the
words of Benjamin Disraeli, the opposition leader in the
British Parliament at that time

"The decline and fall of empires are not affairs of greased

cartridges. Such results are occasioned by adequate
causes, and by an accumulation of adequate causes."

1857 War of Independence can also be analyzed in terms

of several sets of causative factors namely
A. Economic Discontent of the Masses
B. Unrest among East India Company’s Armed Forces
C. Religious Tensions
D. Social Discontent
E. Political Tensions

A. Economic Frustration

The occupation of India by the East India Company was

not for any altruistic motives, rather for pure mercantilist
objectives. It was exploitative imperialism, pauperizing
the colonies for the benefit of the centre. This exploitation
through fiscal, monetary and commercial policies,
transferred huge resources from India leaving every
section of society economically frustrated.

Although they created a well-developed system of

railways and telegraphs, it was mainly geared towards
the exploitation of resources as the British foreign
policies stifled the Indian trade with the rest of the world.
This economic exploitation affected different classes in
multiple ways such as

1. Alienated Business Class

Business and commercial classes got frustrated due to
discouragement of Indian manufacture through high
taxes, large-scale import of manufactured goods from
England and export of only minerals from India, all
creating negative multiplier effects. After the Industrial
Revolution in England, there was an influx of British
manufactured goods into India which ruined industries,
particularly the textile industry, of India. Indian
handicraft industries had to compete with cheap machine-
made goods from Britain. During the period, 1780–1860,
India changed from being an exporter of manufactured
goods, mostly fine cotton and silk, to being an exporter of
raw materials which chiefly consisted of raw cotton,
opium, and indigo and a buyer of manufactured goods.

On the demand of the British cotton mill industry, the

government in Britain started taxing Indian imports and
allowed the textile industry access to markets in India.
Starting in the 1830s, British textiles began to appear in
—and soon to inundate—the Indian markets, with the
value of the textile imports growing from £5 million in
1850 to more than £10 million in 1855

The British colonial rule created an institutional

environment that stabilized law and order to a large
extent. The British foreign policies however stifled trade
with the rest of the world. They created a well-developed
system of railways, telegraphs and a modern legal
system. The infrastructure the British created was mainly
geared towards the exploitation of resources in the world
and stagnant, with industrial development stalled,
agriculture unable to feed a rapidly accelerating
population. They were subject to frequent famines, had
one of the world's lowest life expectancies, suffered from
pervasive malnutrition and were largely illiterate.

2. Increasing Unemployment
After gaining the right to collect revenue in Bengal in
1765, the East India Company became so rich that it
stopped importing gold and silver from Britain, which it
had hitherto used to pay for goods shipped back to
Britain. It also utilized this income in waging wars against
local principalities with the result that the money in
circulation was greatly diminished.

This crisis of the short supply of money was compounded

by the measures taken to modernise the currency system
of India. Thus some local mints were closed, others were
supervised closely, the exchange rate of currency
conversion was fixed and coinage was standardised. No
doubt, these steps were in the right direction to improve
the monetary system of India but these resulted in
economic recession due to shortage of currency, leading
to unemployment and increased poverty.
Systematic annexation of princely states by the East India
Company through dubious means left hundreds of their
soldiers jobless, adding to the pool of disgruntled Indians.
These were joined by the pauperized nobility after the
confiscation of their ancestral lands/jagirs on one pretext
or other.The Zamindars (landowners) of the time wanted
to protect their interests in the wake of land reforms by
the British and funded anti-English activities.

3. Inflationary Pressures
East India Company had no constitutional legitimacy to
rule India but they still enjoyed a certain degree of
performance legitimacy for ensuring law and order and
some semblance of good governance in contrast with the
last days of the Mughal Empire. However inflationary
pressures started to emerge due to oppressive taxation
measures and crop failures. With high inflation, their
performance legitimacy started to dwindle.

4. Pauperized Peasantry
Although after the acquisition of fresh territory, the
Company did carry out land reforms and distributed part
of the lands confiscated from the Nawabs among the
peasant it did not improve the lot of the peasants either.
The new revenue demands by the Company were even
harsher, in cash rather than in kind, and based on good
years rather than average with no relief in lean years.
Heavy land-revenue assessment in some areas by the
British resulted in many landowning families either losing
their land or going into great debt with money lenders
and providing ultimately a reason to rebel; money
lenders, in addition to the Company, were particular
objects of the rebels' animosity.

Petty landholders whose lands were not confiscated were

asked to provide written proof of ownership of land. This
farming community were a largely illiterate class, which
had always placed greater reliance on the fact of
possession, than on documents to substantiate their
claims. As a result, thousands of petty landholders, whose
families had received their grants for services rendered
to the rulers of the states or Mughal Durbar, were
dispossessed.

B. Military Unrest

British Indian Army was the first and the best institution
East India Company had introduced in India. Well
trained, well equipped and well paid Indian soldier, proud
of being a servant of the Company Bahadur, was the
vanguard of British imperialism in the Subcontinent.
However, as the Company changed from a trading
organisation to the ruling elite, paradoxically the soldier
lost his importance over some time adversely affecting his
loyalty towards his employer. There were several reasons
for this alienation of a common Sepoy of the Company;

1. Pay, Perks, Promotions, and Pensions

While the inflationary pressures had eroded the value of
the local currency, the pay and perks of the native
soldiers were not increased accordingly. At its peak, the
Company had around 50,000 British officers and soldiers
in its armed forces against more than 280,000 Sepoys.
However, more than 50 % of the budget was allocated for
the officers and soldiers of European descent while less
than half of the budget went into pay and perk of the
native soldiers. In addition, the Bengal Army was paid
less than the Madras and Bombay Armies. Chances of
promotion for the native soldiers were always scant but
they became bleak after recruitment of British soldiers in
greater number.

Many Indian officers could not hope to reach

commissioned rank until they were too old to be effective.
In armed forces, the higher ranks were closed to Indians
who could only aspire to a salary of no more than Rs.60
after a lifetime of service. Another financial grievance
stemmed from the General Service Act, which denied
retired Sepoys a pension; whilst this applied only to
recruits, it was suspected that it would also apply to those
already in service.

2. Recruiting Elite Units

After the victory at the Battles of Plassey and Buxer, a
large number of soldiers were absorbed in the Bengal
Army of the East India Company. Suspecting their loyalty,
the Company started recruiting high caste Rajputs and
Brahmins and almost stopped the entry of lower classes
in some regiments. These high caste soldiers used to
observe their traditional customs and rites very
religiously and any infringement was protested by the
members of these elite units. Mangal Pandey who first
rebelled against one such infringement was from one of
these elite units.

3. Tinkering with Religion

Not only among the elite units, even among the native
soldiers, but there was also a common perception that the
Company was introducing rules and regulations which
went against the religious customs and beliefs of the
Indian soldiers. Innovations in uniforms that created
resentment amongst both Hindu and Muslim Sepoys led
to the Vellore Mutiny in 1806. Similarly, orders
suppressing the wearing of caste marks on the forehead,
or of earrings and even beards were interpreted as
attempts to interfere with the faith of both Hindus and
Muslims. The General Service Enlistment Act of 1856
requiring an oath from everyone to serve even out of
India, greatly demoralised the Hindu soldiers who were
averse to sea travel for religious reasons.

4. Communication Gap
Another reason was the growing communication gap
between the Indian soldier and his officer class. After the
defeat of Tipu Sultan, Company's officers were forbidden
to marry Indian ladies from whom they used to learn the
language and the customs of the people and acquired a
much more sympathetic understanding of the
complexities of the Indian culture and society. With the
coming of shiploads of the white European ladies, due to
the shortening of the sea voyage between England and
India, the British officers lost their touch with the Indian
society and started behaving like true colonialists.

This communication gap further widened with the

forward policy of the Company as the best officers opted
for and were being sent on deputation to civil
appointments to administer the newly annexed
territories. It left young and inexperienced officers behind
who looked down on the Indian soldiers as inferior human
beings and treated the Indian officers with barely
concealed contempt.

5. Severity of Punishment
The use of European draconian punishments to suppress
any resentment by the Indian soldiers were one of the
main reasons for the 1857 Uprising Expression of open
resentment by the Sepoys had always been treated
leniently in the old Mughal/state armies because the
Indian soldier, however poor he might have been,
regarded himself as a gentleman and that was how the
rest of society looked at him. In Europe, soldiers came
from working classes for which harsh punishments were
necessary and were considered normal. 1857 Uprising
was not the first of its kind. The "White Mutiny" of
European soldiers in the East India Company's Forces in
1808 which resulted in the massacre not of the European
mutineers but of the Indian soldiers they led was one
such example. However, each such ferocity left its mark
on the subconscious memory of the soldiers.

6. Overseas Journeys
A major cause of resentment was the General Service
Enlistment Act of 25 July 1856 which made it compulsory
for recruits to serve anywhere including overseas on the
same pattern as applied to all Sepoys of the Madras and
Bombay Armies. Even the six "General Service" battalions
of the Bengal Army had accepted an obligation to serve
overseas if required. This law was enacted to provide
contingents for active service in Burma, readily
accessible only by sea, and China which had fallen
disproportionately on to the two smaller Presidency
Armies. However, serving high-caste Sepoys were fearful
that it would eventually be extended to them as well, and
began preventing sons from following them into the
profession with a strong family tradition of army service.

7. Loss of Privileges
With the annexation of the native states, the Company
increased its areas of jurisdiction and revenue but its
Sepoys discovered that they had also lost their privileged
status. Before the annexation, these soldiers had the right
to demand the residents' intervention on their behalf in
the domestic problems of their families vis-à-vis the state
administration. Similarly, the annexation of Punjab and
Sindh resulted in the discontinuation of Bhatta (extra
ration) for the Sepoys who used to get this additional
perk for serving in these foreign lands.

8. Cartridges Controversy
The last straw on the camel's back was the widespread
rumours that the cartridges of the new Enfield rifle were
encased in paper greased with the fat of cows and pigs—
offensive equally to Hindus and Muslims. The prescribed
drill for loading the new rifle required the end of the
cartridge to be bitten off by the soldiers, an act that
would effectively pollute their faith. The whole purpose,
according to the rumour, was that the polluted Sepoys
should be left with no option but to embrace the Christian
faith.
Later modifications, allowing Sepoys to use their
favourite oil to grease the cartridges and use hands to
tear the cartridge instead of biting merely caused many
Sepoys to be convinced that the rumours were true and
that their fears were justified. Additional rumours started
that the paper in the new cartridges, which was glazed
and stiffer than the previously used paper, was
impregnated with grease. However, in August 1856,
greased cartridge production was initiated at Fort
William, Calcutta, which used tallow supplied by the
Indian firm of Gangadarh Banerji & Co but the suspicions
remained.

C. Social Discontent

Not only were the Sepoys and the social, economic and
political elite of India feeling alienated due to high
handedness of the East India Company, but even the
common man also had grudges of his own against them
for one reason or another. Some of these reasons were

1. Disrespect to the Last Mughal King

The last Mughal King, though a mere figurehead, and
with all his weaknesses and diminished position, was still
a symbol of what India stood for before the British came.
Over time, British Residents stationed in Delhi stopped
paying him due respect and sometimes, even showed him
overt disrespect. Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General of
India, had asked the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah
Zafar and his successors to leave the Red Fort, the palace
in Delhi. Later, Lord Canning, the next Governor-General
of India, announced in 1856 that Bahadur Shah's
successors would not even be allowed to use the title of
'king'. In a close and traditional society like Delhi, such
discourtesies were taken as a personal slight by every
Indian who considered the Mughal King as the symbol of
Indian pride
2. Disrespect to Ashrafia (Nobility)
If the Mughal King was not given proper respect, the
nobility was subjected to greater ignominy. Not only did
they become unemployed after the confiscation of their
lands and property but also were reduced in social
esteem and felt humiliated in the public eye. They
became an object of ridicule in common parlance after
the confiscation of their perks and privileges as a result of
the loss of government offices.

In Mughal India, great honour and prestige were

attached to government service where ruling elites could
rise to higher ranks. But under the Company rule, all the
higher government offices were reserved for Englishmen;
only the lower grade offices were open to the sons of the
Indian middle class. To add insult to injury, there was the
public auction of their personal belongings, particularly
the jewellery worn by their women.

3. European Justice System

Another reason for general dissatisfaction with British
rule was the introduction of the European civil and
criminal justice system. In place of a simple, direct and
fairly informal administration of justice, the new system
was highly formalized court procedure dependent on the
pleader's ability to present his case. In a highly illiterate
society, it was the biggest cause of frustration among the
people.

According to the official report "East India (Torture)

1855–1857" presented before the British House of
Commons, the Company officers were allowed an
extended series of appeals if convicted or accused of
brutality or crimes against Indians. The Company also
practised financial extortion through heavy taxation.
Failure to pay these taxes almost invariably resulted in
the appropriation of property through the courts.
4. Introduction of Technology
Introduction of technology is always disrupting and
results in social dissonance. New procedures and
practices introduced in India by the East India Company
no doubt increased the efficiency and effectiveness of its
administration, but they caused a lot of frustration and
resentment among the general public. Many of the
Company's modernization efforts were viewed with
automatic distrust; for example, it was feared that the
railways, the first of which began running out of Bombay
in the 1850s, was a demon.

5. White Man's Burden

In their zeal to show the superiority of the British culture,
the Company embarked on a massive and rapid
programme of modernisation which in effect meant
Westernization. Many religious customs, both Muslim and
Hindu, which were viewed as uncivilized by the British,
were outlawed. This included a ban on sati, the custom
among Indian Rajputs of burning the widows of a dead
Rajput male at his pyre. They also abolished child
marriage, tried forcefully to end female infanticide, a
common custom in rural areas and allowed remarriage of
Hindu widows. In 1853, the British allowed Indians to
appear in the competitive examination for the coveted
Indian Civil Service; however, the terms and conditions
were so harsh, particularly relating to age restrictions
and travelling to London, that even this measure was
considered as eyewash by the natives.

6. Religious Discontent
In a conservative and traditional country like India,
religion was the last thing the Company should have
interfered with. Although there is no evidence that
turning India into a Christian society was the official
policy of the Company, an increase in the religiosity and
evangelical fervour in many Englishmen were probably
the most dangerous developments in creating religious
tensions in the country. There were several drivers of
these tensions;
a) Land/Financial Grants: Company officers frequently
made grants of state land and provided financial
assistance from the national exchequer for the
construction of churches, missions and schools. It was
generally interpreted as the strategy to spread
Christianity. European-run schools were considered to
be the vanguard of spreading Christianity;
mathematics was replacing religious instruction,
stories were chosen that would "bring contempt" upon
Indian religions, and girl children were exposed to
"moral danger" by education
b) Christian Orphanages: Frequent famines left many
orphans who were taken into Christian orphanages
giving birth to rumours that famines were deliberately
caused by the British to get the maximum number of
children for their conversion to Christianity
c) Legal Framework: Passing of a law in 1850 whereby
a change of religion would not dispossess the
converted person of his share in ancestral inheritance
also reinforced this belief
d) Private Preaching: Sermons by the British officers to
their subordinates normally given privately but
sometimes in officially organised functions also
created this feeling

D. Political Discontent
Besides social and economic causes, political resentment
among the political elite of India was also one of the main
reasons for the 1857 uprising. Some of the reasons for
this resentment were

1. Doctrine of Lapse
Forcible annexation of Indian states on one pretext or
another, particularly the annexationist zeal of Lord
Dalhousie, played havoc with the trust exiting between
the Company and the protected Nawabs. In eight years,
Lord Dalhousie, the then Governor-General of India, had
annexed a quarter of a million square miles (650,000 km²)
of land to the Company's territory, turning the heirs of
these kingdoms into 'pensioners' overnight.

By applying draconian 'Doctrine of Lapse', the claims of

the princes adopted by the issueless Nawabs were
rejected and the state annexed despite vehement protests
of the head of the house. Annexation also resulted in
disbanding of state armies and confiscation of properties
of the nobility, leaving thousands of elite as paupers,
swelling the ranks of the disgruntled.

2. Colonial Arrogance
The subsidiarity system of governance, through British
Residents, was the most effective way of controlling a
multicultural, multi-ethnic and vast country like India. But
it also had its pitfalls—British Residents used to become
intoxicated with the power and prestige they enjoyed in
these states and treated the rulers of the states as their
subordinates. Similarly, over time, even the ordinary
British residing in India in general and those in power
started behaving like true colonialists. They openly
scoffed at the social and cultural customs and religious
beliefs and rites of the locals.

Feeling proud of their colour, creed and technological

advancements, hurling racial slurs became common. Sir
Sayed Ahmed Khan believes that this was the single most
important cause of the rebellion. Karl Marx has rightly
remarked;

"Add to this noxious behaviour insulting racial pride,

ignorance of culture and tradition, and a religious
evangelism that persuaded army officers that it made
sense to tell their Hindu and Muslim soldiers that they
would go to Hell if the wars into which they were leading
them resulted in their unconverted deaths, and there
seems little need for further explanation of why it all
ended in disaster in 1857."

3. Reward-less Titles
In the Mughal period and even before that, nobility in
India was awarded titles along with monetary rewards
and land grants for the services rendered to the rulers.
East India Company replaced those with titles like Khan
Bahadur, Rao Sahib and the like which were purely
decorative honorifics given to rich gentlemen who
possessed the means to support these dignatries and
were usually awarded for services of a political nature.
The idea of a titled aristocracy, divorced from functional
office, was novel to India and did little to enhance the
prestige of either the recipients or the givers.
 Chapter 3: Course of Events:
The narrative of the 1857 Uprising has a classic sequence
of events just like any good novel—an emotionally
charged background, high drama, anticlimax, and a
doomed ending.

The Environment of Rumours:

According to one well-known prophecy, the East India
Company which had ruled over large portions of the
country for almost a century were due to be unseated at
that century's end. With the impending centenary of
Plessey (1757), this belief gained widespread currency.
Wandering faqirs and sadhus of both faiths (the Hindu
and the Muslim), spread these beliefs in the nooks and
corners of India, creating a sense of foreboding.

Frequent eruptions of fires were being interpreted as a

forerunner of some mysterious order to come. The
humiliating defeat of the British Indian forces in the First
Afghan War of 1840 had shaken their prestige. Rumours
of their disasters during the Crimean war (1853-1856)
further broke the myth of their invincibility.

In this atmosphere of charged emotions, rumours of

mysterious distribution of many thousands of chapatis—
unleavened Indian pieces of bread—from hand to hand
and from village to village throughout the interior of the
Subcontinent further thickened the mystery. The majority
of Indians thought it is a message from the East India
Company that after one hundred years of its rule, time
had come to Christianise India; one country, one bread,
and one religion.

Soon rumours started spreading that additional troops

were to be recruited for service in Burma, where they
could not follow all their religious rules, and that
Christian missionary efforts among the troops were to
receive official encouragement, strengthened these
beliefs. On the other hand, the British guessed the loaves
of bread were a piece of mischief-making on the part of
the Indians.

Although extensive inquiries into the meaning of the

loaves of bread produced plenty of theories but few facts,
the eerie feeling they created, provided a perfect
backdrop to the events of 1857.

The Simmering:
On February 26, 1857, the 19th Bengal Native Infantry
(BNI) regiment posted at Barrackpore came to know
about the orders to use new cartridges which were
rumoured to be encased in paper greased with the fat of
cows and pigs, offensive equally to Hindus and Muslims.
Upon their refusal to obey these orders, their Colonel first
tried to forcibly implement these orders by threatening to
use artillery, but then relented in the face of powerful
resistance, accepted their demand to withdraw the
artillery, and cancelled the next morning's parade.

On March 29, 1857, at the Barrackpore parade ground,

near Calcutta, Mangal Pandey of the 34th BNI attacked
and injured the adjutant, Lt. Baugh, with a sword.
General John Hearsey ordered a Jemadar Ishwari Prasad
to arrest Mangal Pandey. He refused to obey the orders.
The whole regiment with the single exception of a soldier
called Shaikh Paltu followed suit and refused to arrest
Mangal Pandey.

Mangal Pandey tried to incite his comrades into an open

and active rebellion; after failing to achieve his objective,
he tried to commit suicide but did not succeed. He was
court-martialled on April 6 and hanged after two days.
The Jemadar Ishwari Prasad too was sentenced to death
and hanged on April 22. The whole regiment was
disbanded.

The Revolt:
It started on May 09, when eighty-five soldiers of the 3rd
Light Cavalry at Meerut refused to use the cartridges of
the new Enfield rifle. The prescribed drill for loading the
new rifle required the end of the cartridge to be bitten off
by the soldiers, an act that would effectively pollute them.
The whole purpose, according to the rumour, was that the
polluted Sepoys should be left with no option but to
embrace the Christian faith. All of them were imprisoned,
sentenced to ten years of hard labour, and stripped of
their uniforms in public. Since their comrades had acted
only in deference to their religious beliefs, the
punishment meted out by the British colonial rulers was
perceived as unjust by many.

The Rebellion:
When the 11th and 20th native cavalry of the Bengal
Army assembled in Meerut on May 10, they broke rank
and turned on their commanding officers. They then
liberated the 3rd Regiment and attacked the European
cantonment where they are reported to have killed all the
Europeans they could find, including women and
children, and burned their houses. The rebellious forces
were then engaged by the remaining British forces in
Meerut which had the largest percentage of British
troops of any station in India i.e., 2,038 European troops
with 12 field guns versus 2,357 Sepoys, lacking artillery.

Some commentators believe that the British forces could

have stopped the Sepoys from marching on Delhi, but the
British commanders of the Meerut garrison were
extraordinarily slow in reacting to the crisis. They did not
even send immediate word to other British cantonments
that a rebellion was in process. It seems likely that they
believed they would be able to contain the Indians by
themselves. This misjudgement would cost them dearly.

The March:
Hearing the news, other disaffected regiments in the
Bengal Army quickly followed suit. Meanwhile, the 3rd
Cavalry, who had revolted against their British officers,
marched to Delhi where they were welcomed by Indian
soldiers, who had left the gates of the city open. There
were very few British soldiers in Delhi who were
overwhelmed easily. The rebel force quickly proclaimed
the eighty-three-year-old figurehead Mughal Emperor
Bahadur Shah Zafar, the leader of their cause despite all
his reluctance. More and more regiments in the Bengal
Army revolted; rebel soldiers came in large numbers to
reinforce those who had reached Delhi which became the
centre of the rebellion.

The War:
Over the next few months, the revolt took the shape of a
full-fledged war in much of north-central India where
people started pitched battles with the British army. It
turned into an all-out popular revolt that enveloped all
classes of the population. Due to the paucity of British
troops throughout the region, the Company forces found
it difficult to suppress these outbreaks and had to
struggle hard to control or stop the progress of the revolt.

After taking Delhi, on May 30, rebel forces laid siege to

the British garrison at Lucknow, home to nearly five
hundred British women and children. In late June, they
forced the surrender of the small British garrison in
nearby Kanpur (Cawnpore). Although the terms of
surrender had promised the British population free
passage to Allahabad, three hundred fifty men of the
garrison were murdered near the Ganges River, and a
week later, one hundred twenty-five women and children
were also killed, their bodies were thrown into a well.
The Counterstroke:
In the autumn of 1857, the British counter-rebellion
measures began to show results that had a serious impact
on the progress of the revolt. With the help of
reinforcements from Punjab, the British and Indian forces
that had been besieging Delhi for months successfully
recaptured the city on September 21, 1857. On
November 17 a force under the command of General Sir
Colin Campbell, Commander-in-Chief in India and former
hero of the Crimean War, successfully broke the siege at
Lucknow and evacuated the Residency after much hard
fighting.
However, combat continued around Lucknow, Jhansi,
Gwalior, and Bareilly until the middle of 1858. The
woman ruler of Jhansi, Rani of Jhansi and Tantya Tope,
Nana Sahib's artillery expert, kept on fighting and proved
difficult to defeat until both leaders were killed.

The End:
Although the rebellion was over by the end of the year
1857, there were some pockets of resistance that
prolonged the formal end of the war. The last rebels were
defeated in Gwalior on June 20, 1858. On July 8, 1858, a
peace treaty was signed and the war ended. Rebel
leaders Bakht Khan and Nana Sahib were never heard of
again; probably both had been slain while fleeing.

The Retribution:
The end of the war was followed by the usual retribution
whose graphic descriptions are now available in some of
the books written on this issue. There were four cardinal
principles, religiously followed while meting out the
punishment;
1. No prisoners were to be taken-every suspect must die
2. Maximum brutality to create awe and terror for
effective deterrence
3. Collective punishment to the family, community and
even villages suspected of harbouring any suspect/ill-
feeling towards the Company
4. Novelty and ingenuity in methods of punishment.

Adopting the old Indian style punishment for the rebels,

combatants on the Indian side as well as large numbers of
civilians perceived to be sympathetic to the rebel cause
were summarily executed. Method of execution depended
on the whim of the British officer in charge for these
summary trials. Some liked to kill the rebels and their
sympathisers by lashing them to the mouth of the cannon
and blowing them into pieces, probably the most humane
method adopted for those selected for this. The majority
were thoroughly tortured before being put to death,
normally hanging them in groups to witness their
comrades' painful death. Whole villages were wiped out
for apparent pro-rebel sympathies.
 Chapter 4: Causes of Failure
The movement could not succeed to achieve any of its
objectives due to the following reasons;

Lack of Vision, Strategy and Planning

Although the ground was ripe for such an eventuality, the
uprising itself was a spontaneous and hence unplanned
act. According to Malleson and Wilson, the
revolutionaries had planned to start the War throughout
the country on 31st May 1857. However, the cartridge
incident resulted in its premature outbreak. It was
doomed to fail right from the start because of this lack of
any vision, strategy and planning on the part of the rebel
forces.

Leadership Failures
Lack of strong political and capable military leadership
played the most crucial part in this fiasco. The rebellious
forces selected a dying old frail man as their political
leader who had no desire to play the role. He was neither
a brave general nor an astute leader of the people. The
same was the case with the military leadership of the
rebels which was no match to the brilliant British
leadership. On top of it was the nonexistence of any well-
managed centralised command and control system which
could provide the proper guidance and plan to the rebel
forces.

Technology and Techniques

The British proved to be formidable foes, largely due to
their superior weapons, training, and strategy which play
a decisive role in any military contest. The very Enfield
rifle which the rebels had refused to operate became
their nemeses for its accuracy. Similarly, the use of
wireless by the British played a key role in their success
as they were able to convey the news about the outbreak
of rebellion to their field commanders in all the areas
under their control. Once informed, the respective
governors took effective measures to arrest the spread of
the uprising.

As luck would have it, the main arsenal of the rebels in

Delhi was destroyed in a fire, accidentally or by the
traitors, leaving the defending forces with a limited
quantity of ammunition. Attempts of the rebels to collect
modern equipment from Russia failed as their one
member delegation (Rao Tularam) sent to Russia for this
purpose died on the way.

Internal Rifts
After the euphoria of initial revolt was over, inter-
communal, inter-racial and inter-regional rifts started
among the rebels. The battle cry of the Muslims to wage
Jihad became an anathema for the Hindus. Many Indians
supported the British, due to their dislike of the idea of
the return of the Mughal rule. Durbar intrigues and
personal rivalries precluded any common strategy of war.

The role played by the favourite wife of the Mughal King,

Zeenat Mahal was quite dubious. The same was the case
concerning the loyalty of several of his confidants,
particularly of Ahsanullah Khan. In Awadh, Sunni
Muslims, perceiving it to be a Shia rebellion, refused to
join it as they did not want to see a return to Shiite rule.
Instead, they declared Haji Imdadullah as their Ameer
who led the Sunni forces against the British in the famous
Battle of Shamli.

Desperate Fight
British were fighting with their back against the wall
because they knew there was no option for them. It was a
do or die situation for them. Once the British got a
foothold, they mustered all their resources and made a
big assault on Delhi with full force.
Lack of Response
Only three other big cities rebelled with the result that
the British didn't have to fight on different fronts. If the
rebels had been successful in getting similar revolts and
uprisings in a dozen cities across the country, the
situation would have been different. Most of southern
India remained passive with only sporadic and haphazard
outbreaks of violence. Most of the states did not take part
in the war as many parts of the region were ruled by the
Nizams or the Mysore royalty and were thus not directly
under British rule.

Local Support
Finally the moral, political, financial and physical support
extended by the feudal elite as well as the rulers of the
states played a decisive role in crushing the uprising of
the lower middle classes of Bengal. The Sikhs who
wanted to avenge the annexation of Punjab 8 years ago
by the British with the help of the Bengalis fought with a
vengeance. Similarly, Pathans from the North-West
Frontier Province and Potoharis from Northern Punjab
supported the British and helped in the capture of Delhi.
The Gurkhas of Nepal, who were known for their valour
and ferocity on the battlefield fought alongside the British
although Nepal remained an independent country
throughout the rebellion.

Unequal Fight
In the last analysis it was an unequal fight between a
decaying agricultural empire and a rising industrial
empire in which the die was cast before the battle
started. Although India used to produce 25% of world
GDP in the 1600s more than 80% of her income was
produced by the agricultural sector. Her growing
population ensured that there was enough supply of
labour force, obviating the necessity to use machines in
agricultural operations or its value addition.
Consequently, her industrialization process was
painstakingly slow, keeping her status as an agricultural
empire that did not produce enough surpluses to be
ploughed into R&D and technological advancements. An
agricultural empire is inherently weak when pitted
against the industrial one which has sufficient resources
and needs for technology.
Chapter 5: Significance and Consequences
The 1857 uprising is a pre-eminent milestone in the
modern history of political, social and economic trends
and movements in the South Asian Subcontinent. It is the
reference point for all subsequent historical narratives in
India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Thus, whether one
wants to know the origins of Muslim separatism in India
which ultimately led to the partition of the Subcontinent
and creation of Pakistan or the rise of Military in the
political economy of Pakistan, one has to start the
narrative from 1857.

Similarly, if we are discussing the causes of the

stronghold of the landed aristocracy in India's body
politic of Pakistan, we cannot escape the fact that the
policies adopted by the post-rebellion British
administrators of India had much to do with this present-
day phenomenon. Indeed history has a long shadow

Some of the consequences, immediate as well as long

term, of this momentous event are as follows

1. Change of Masters:
Along with the formal fall of the decaying Mughal Empire,
exited the victor also. The East India Company which had
represented the British Government in India on the one
hand and acted as an agent of the Mughals on the other,
died its death a year later when it was disbanded by the
British government. In August, by the Queen's
Proclamation of 1858, power was transferred to the
British Crown and a new British government department,
the India Office, was created to handle the governance of
India.

Its head, the Secretary of State for India, was entrusted

with formulating Indian policy which was implemented by
the Governor-General of India who gained a new title,
Viceroy of India. Bahadur Shah Zafar was tried for
treason by a military commission assembled at Delhi, and
exiled to Rangoon where he died in 1862, finally bringing
the Mughal dynasty's rule to an end. In 1877 Queen
Victoria took the title of Empress of India.

2. Imperial Expansion:
The establishment of the formal, direct rule by the Queen
resulted in new power relations between India and
Britain. India, from company colonialism, came under
British colonialism. East India Company had been running
the Subcontinent as its fief; the British Empire turned this
'Jewel in the Crown' into a staging post for the expansion
of its imperial designs. The real expansion of the British
Empire took a boost from this period onwards.

Besides extracting resources and selling manufactured

goods, it recruited hundreds and thousands of soldiers to
fight for the expansion and defence of the British Empire
in all corners of the world. Indian labour was extensively
used to lay infrastructure in their different colonies all
over the world for their imperial imperatives. The Indian
economy, driven primarily by its huge population working
in agriculture and manufacturing, was the second-largest
in the world.

Accounting for more than 5th of the total GDP of the

world in the 18th century, it exported many products
including cotton textiles, spices, and diamonds. However,
within one century, the East India Company and later on
the formal British imperialism drained out so much
wealth from India that it exited from the top ten richest
economies of the world. Naroji Dadbhoy maintains that
instead of outright plunder and carting away of goods,
Roman-style, the British drained the wealth away from
India with due process of law.
While exorbitant regressive taxation shifted the bulk of
revenue generated in India to Britain, it adversely
impacted the peasants and the poor more than the rich
Indians. Secondly, payment of generous salaries/pensions
to British officers, civil and military, who served in India,
also resulted in the transfer of wealth from India. Upon
retirement, they would spend the wealth they amassed
during their career, in Britain and not in India. Thirdly, it
was the systematic extraction of resources that ruined the
Indian economy.

The pace of extraction naturally increased dramatically

after the failed Indian War of Independence of 1857,
partly because of the advent of the Industrial Revolution
which had gained momentum in the second half of the
19th century. Loss of cheap cotton imports from
plantations in the United States of America in the wake of
the Civil War there forced the British entrepreneurs to
seek alternative places to grow that variety of cotton.
India suited them the most-hence the massive
infrastructural development in India. It benefitted them in
three ways.
 Firstly, the bulk of the material for the construction of
railways and allied services was imported from Britain
at inflated rates.
 Secondly, the cotton and other raw material could be
transported cost-effectively and easily now.
 Thirdly, this huge infrastructure expanded the market
for British manufactured goods which faced tough
competition in Europe and the USA because of heavy
protective walls erected by them.

All these measures slowed India's transition from cottage-

industry manufacturing to large-scale industrial
manufacturing as the Indian market was flooded with
British goods.

3. Social Reengineering of Indian Society

To punish the disloyal families, besides mass scale
executions of their male members, all their properties
were confiscated and they were made paupers. Out of
this marginalized underclass emerged the
fundamentalists in all the three major communities of
India. According to Dalrymple, this plague of
fundamentalism which we see in India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh today, owe a lot to this mass scale
persecution of the Indians in general.

On the other hand, those who remained loyal to the

British were generously rewarded and over some time,
these loyalists became the social and political elite of
India, openly sided with the British and perpetuated the
strength of the Empire for another 90 years. Muslim
faction of this elite initially joined Unionists and other
loyalist parties and jumped on the Muslim League
bandwagon at the last moment, reserving their seat as
the ruling elite of the independent state of Pakistan. Their
Hindu counterparts did the same on the other side of the
fence.

4. Start of Political Reforms:

Fear of another "mutiny", forced the new British Crown to
become more liberal and democratic while dealing with
the Indians and provided them with some safety valves
through which they could express their grievances and
channel frustration and a sense of exclusion. It resulted
first in the establishment of local government institutions
and the municipal boards/corporations of Bombay,
Calcutta, and Madras were created. This initial
experiment with democratic empowerment at a limited
scale ultimately led to the introduction of full-fledged
parliamentary democracy which was inherited by all the
post-colonial countries of the Subcontinent. Thus the
democratic structures, culture and processes we witness
in Pakistan and other countries owe it to the 1857
rebellion.
5. Birth of Indian Nationalism:
One of the biggest offshoots of the 1857 uprising was the
increased rift between the two major communities of
India-Hindus and Muslims, leading to the consciousness
of their being two separate nationalities. It started the
process of creating 'Indianness' among the Hindus, a
consciousness of being a separate identity that ultimately
culminated in the independence of India in 1947.

6. Birth of Muslim Separatism

On the other side, systematic persecution of Muslims led
to their subconscious development of being a separate
nation. An official report by Sir William W. Hunter (1840-
1900) on whether Muslims could be expected to give loyal
service to the Queen concluded that they could not be
expected to do so but were bound by their faith to rebel.
This impacted how Muslims were treated in British India.

This rift was successfully exploited by the British in

prolonging their hold on India but ended ultimately in the
partition of the Subcontinent 90 years later. Moderates
thought that the British were here to stay for a long
inning and their violent overthrow was impossible. They,
therefore, advocated the acquisition of modern western
knowledge and stressed cooperation with the British to
safeguard their rights. These were the people who were
at the forefront of the Indian Muslims' awakening and
initiated the Indian Muslims separatism, leading to the
establishment of Pakistan.

7. Origins of Muslim Bengali Separatism:

Bengal was punished for its alleged pioneering role in the
uprising. Not only was the economic development of this
region neglected, but Bengalis in general and Bengali
Muslims, in particular, were also systematically kept out
of the decision making processes in Colonial India after
the cataclysmic events of 1857. On the other hand,
regions and nationalities of northern India, which played
the decisive role in crushing the rebellion, got very
preferential treatment in terms of their increased
representation in institutions responsible for policy
formulation and implementation. Resultantly, East Bengal
remained a comparatively more underdeveloped region
and the Bengali Muslims had scant representation in
state organs like armed forces, law enforcement
agencies, civilian bureaucracy etc. during the colonial
period.

Pakistan inherited this vast disparity in terms of economic

development and political/administrative representation
between her two wings. It took too much time for
Pakistan to rectify this historical anomaly-one of the main
grievances leading to the separation of East Pakistan
from Pakistan and becoming an independent state of
Bangladesh in 1971.

8. Reorganisation of Armed Forces

Both, the native and the European armies of British India,
were reorganized to obviate the possibility of any such
occurrence in future. The old Bengal Army almost
completely vanished, replaced by new units recruited
from the so-called Martial Races such as Punjabi Muslims
and Sikhs from Punjab, Pathans from North-West Frontier
Province and the Gurkhas from Nepal. It had far-reaching
implications for one of the two successor states after the
dissolution of the British Indian Empire in 1947, namely
Pakistan.

Despite being the smaller of the two countries, Pakistan

got a lion's share in terms of manpower when the British
Indian Army was divided. It was a too developed,
organised and powerful institution for a small post-
colonial state as compared to other institutions.
Consequently, it played larger than life role in the
political economy of Pakistan for much of its post-
independence period. It ruled the country three times
directly and the rest of the time indirectly in 6 decades
and only recently has taken a back seat.

Secondly, the Pakistan army had a scant representation

of Bengali Muslims in its ranks and file due to the
deliberate policy of the British to restrict their entry in
the post-1857 British Indian Army. As Pakistani officers
inherited the prejudices of their former senior British
officers it took too much time for Pakistan to give East
Bengal adequate representation in her armed forces, one
of the errors of omission and commission which
ultimately led to the separation of East Pakistan from its
western wing 114 years later in 1971.

9. Administrative Reengineering:
East India Company had been ruling the areas under its
control through the same Mughal administration with
minor changes in nomenclature and redistribution of
powers (District Officer instead of Zilla Dar/Mansabdar).
After coming into direct British control, Indian
bureaucracy was reorganised and converted into one of
the most efficient and effective institutions known as "the
Steel Framework".

The best of the Indian minds were recruited at a very

young age through an extremely rigorous competitive
examination and given extensive training inside India and
in Britain's best university, Cambridge. Once in service,
they were the ears and eyes and arms of the rulers,
helping them in successfully running a vast country like
India. After the dissolution of their Empire, both the
successor states inherited this structure which helped
them in running the states.

10. East and West Divide Widens

Ideologically, the Rebellion dramatically increased racial
antagonisms between the Britons and the Indians. On the
British side, this was in large part because English
language accounts of the Rebellion framed it in terms of a
savage attack on British women and children, who were
allegedly being raped and murdered by fanatic soldiers in
alarming numbers.

Thus, public outrage over the violation of 'innocent'

Britons fuelled an emotive and vengeful response to the
Rebellion. On the Indian side, widespread British
atrocities against both revolting soldiers and Indian
civilians left little doubt that British notions of justice and
the due process did not always apply to colonial subjects.
Indeed, the violence of colonial rule in India was at its
most exposed during the Rebellion.

11. Rise of Agriculturist Lobby

As increased taxation which seriously affected the large
landholders had been a principal cause of participation of
the large landholders in the rebellion, for the sake of
preserving their colonial hold on India, the British
administrators adopted a policy of not taxing the feudal in
particular and the agricultural classes in general as
leniently as possible. This policy of appeasement towards
agriculturists made them an important force in the body
politic of United India and continued even after the exit of
their benefactors. Agriculturalists are still exempt from
payment of tax on the income they earn from agriculture
in India, Pakistan and other countries of the
Subcontinent.

12. Alienation of Urban Middle Classes

On the other side, to compensate for this loss on account
of preferential treatment and concessions to the farming
community, the British successively increased taxation
levied on the professional and trading classes in the
larger towns. This led to increased participation of the
urban classes in anti-British parties like Congress etc.
This explains why the professional and business classes
became more and more anti-British after 1858 and till
1947.

13. Origins of the Political Islam

Although the 1857 uprising was a common struggle of the
Indians with Hindus playing an equal, if not a more
powerful role than their Muslim compatriots, to topple
the government, the ultimate blame for this event was
laid on Muslim's shoulders. They were singled out,
individually and collectively, by the English for retribution
which ranged from personal persecution to outright
denial or limited access to economic opportunities, social
esteem and political participation for two decades after
the uprising.

This blatant discrimination against the Indian Muslims

inevitably resulted in creating Islamists, who ascribed the
fall of the Mughal Empire to the deviation of the Muslims
from their religion, advised aloofness from mainstream
social and political life for Muslims and tried to revive the
old Islamic spirit of jihad through religious education.
They can be called the forefathers of the present-day
fundamentalists and jihadists who sowed the seeds of
Muslim militancy and present-day political Islam and
terrorism.
Chapter 6: Conclusion
In India, tribal and religious revolts were not new in the
areas controlled by the East India Company. In this
connection, the Sanyasi Rebellion in North Bengal and
Chunar Rebellion in Bihar in the late eighteenth century
are worth mentioning. Similarly, there were some
peasants uprising in the first half of the nineteenth
century. The most important of which were those by the
Moplah peasants of the Malabar and the Faraizi
Movement by the Muslim peasants in Bengal. The first
half of the nineteenth century also witnessed several
tribal revolts. In this context, mention may be made of the
rebellions of the Bhils of Madhya Pradesh, the Santhals of
Bihar and the Gonds and Khonds of Orissa.

Although serious and, in some cases, long drawn out, all

these disturbances were localized and did not pose any
serious threat to the existence of the British Empire.
However, the 1857 War of Independence was the first
serious threat to the rising British Empire in India. It
proved to be a turning point in Indian history signifying a
formal end of one empire and consolidation of another.

It has become a reference point for discussion regarding

the start of many trends in the Subcontinent. Whether
one wants to know the origins of Muslim separatism in
India which ultimately led to the partition of the
Subcontinent and creation of Pakistan or the rise of
Military in the political economy of Pakistan, one has to
start the narrative from 1857.

Similarly, if we are discussing the causes of the

stronghold of the landed aristocracy in India's body
politic or Pakistan, we cannot escape the fact that the
policies adopted by the post-rebellion British
administrators of India had much to do with this present-
day phenomenon. Indeed history has a long shadow
Bibliography

 Wikipedia
 William Dalrymple, The Last Mughal: The Fall of Delhi,
1857 Paperback – 7 Sep 2009
 J. W. Kaye, A history of Sepoy war in India, 1870
Heather Streets, The Rebellion of 1857: Origins,
Consequences, and Themes-article in Teaching South
Asia, An internet journal of Pedagogy
 Anderson, Clare (2007), Indian Uprising of 1857–8:
Prisons, Prisoners and Rebellion, New York: Anthem
Press, Bose, Sugata; Jalal, Ayesha (2004), Modern
South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy (2nd
ed.), London
 Palmer, Julian A.B. (1966), The Mutiny Outbreak at
Meerut in 1857, Cambridge University Press, Ray,
Rajat Kanta (2002), The Felt Community: Commonality
and Mentality before the Emergence of Indian
Nationalism, Oxford University Press,
 Robb, Peter (2002), A History of India, Basingstoke:
Palgrave
 Roy, Tapti (1994), The politics of a popular uprising:
Bundelkhand 1857, Delhi: Oxford University Press.
 Spear, Percival (1990), A History of India, Volume 2,
New Delhi and London: Penguin Books,
 Stanley, Peter (1998), White Mutiny: British Military
Culture in India, 1825–1875, London:
 Wolpert, Stanley (2004), A New History of India (7th
ed.), Oxford University Press.
 David, Saul (2003), The Indian Mutiny: 1857, London:
Penguin Books, Anderson, and Clare. The Indian
Uprising of 1857-8: Prisons, Prisoners, and Rebellion.
London, 2007.
 Campbell, Sir Colin. Narrative of the Indian Revolt.
London: George Vickers, 1858.
 Khan, Syed Ahmed (1859), Asbab-e Baghawat-e Hind,
Translated as The Causes of the Indian Revolt,
Allahabad, 1873
 Malleson, Colonel G.B. The Indian Mutiny of 1857.
New York: Scribner & Sons, 1891.
 Marx, Karl & Friederich Engels. The First Indian War
of Independence 1857–1859. Moscow: Foreign
Languages Publishing House, 1959.
Request

Thank you for reading the book. I hope you enjoyed it

If you liked it, kindly do write a short review about it here

Please do follow me at my Goodreads Author profile

which is
https://www.goodreads.com/ShahidHussainRaja

I hope you will enjoy reading my following other books

described briefly in the next few pages
1. International Relations: Basic Concepts & Global
Issues https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QZSRWT1
2. 10 Essential Skills for Public Servants: A Handbook
(2nd Edition)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0723GMMT1
3. Political Economy of a Post-Colonial State: Pakistan
Economy : A Case Study
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0844ZMKNW
4. Political Economy of Pakistan: 1947-2020: A Short
History https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0844ZJ8ZL
5. Accelerating Economic Growth of Pakistan: Plan of
Action https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0844PG64R
6. Finance for Non-finance Managers- A Handbook
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TTNNTC8
7. Corruption in Developing Countries: Challenges &
Response https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BX6B8B9
8. Agricultural Sector of Pakistan: Challenges &
Response https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010TMK28S
9. Public Policy Formulation and Analysis
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01672SU10
10. Why State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Fail or
Underperform?: Pakistan Railways: Challenges and
Response https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DWHROBA
11. Pakistan Studies: Volume 1 20 Essays
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MSF3UMR
12. Pakistan Studies Volume 2: 20 Essays
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JQ92JGY
13. The Syrian Crises: Past, Present and Future
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0105VN8TS
14. Privatisation in Pakistan: Challenges and Response
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XK27SBN
15. 1857 Indian War of Independence: 1857 Indian
Sepoys' Mutiny
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZUYMILK
 International Relations: Basic Concepts & Global
Issues
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QZSRWT1

This is a collection of 30 long form essays on diverse

global issues written for those who are keen to know
what the big issues and ideas are shaping the global
politics but do not have the time to search the for their
comprehensive understanding.

Ranging from Globalisation and Syrian crises on the one

hand and Clash of Civilisation and End of History on the
other, these essays cover topics about which almost
everyone has rudimentary knowledge but is unable to
explain it. For example, terrorism, privatisation,
corruption, agrarian reforms etc are few of the topics
which everyone talks about but will not be able to discuss
them systematically. We have tried to provide enough
material in these essays for him/her to do that

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Abstracts of Articles
Chapter 2: International Relations-Scope & Subject
Matter
Chapter 3: Nation-state System: Evolution and
Challenge
Chapter 4: Foreign Policy: Features, Success Factors &
Challenges
Chapter 5: Determinants of Foreign Policy
Chapter 6: Foreign Policy-Tools & Implements.
Chapter 7: National Interest-Concept & Components
Chapter 8: War or Peace; which is a default function?
World Shaping Ideas
Chapter 9: Sources of Soviet Conduct by G. F. Kennan-A
Critique
Chapter 10: End of History by Francis Fukuyama-A
Critique
Chapter 11: Clash of Civilisations by Huntington-A
Critique
 Chapter 12: The Coming Anarchy by Robert Kaplan-A
Critique
Chapter 13: Globalization-Compressing Time & Space
Chapter 14: Global Terrorism-Challenges & Response
Chapter 15: War on Terror-Causes & Consequences
Chapter 16: Fall of Soviet Union: Causes &
Consequences
Chapter 17: Arab Spring; Causes and Lessons Learned
Chapter 18: Islamophobia-Challenges & Response
Chapter 19: Vietnam War- Causes and Consequences
Chapter 20: Nine Drivers of Sino-American Cold War
Chapter 21: IMF Programmes- Do they help Developing
Countries
Chapter 22: American Interests in Afghanistan
Chapter 23: Reasons for Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
Chapter 24: Global Food Security-Challenges &
Response
Chapter 25: Middle East Crisis-Genesis & Dimensions
Chapter 26: China-Iran Relations in 21st Century
Chapter 27: Six Fault lines of Afghanistan
Chapter 28: Great Powers’ Interests in Syria
Chapter 29: Afghanistan- A Tale of three Wars
Chapter 30: America's Afghan War: What Went Wrong
and Why.
Chapter 31: How Bashar ul Assad Survived?
 10 Essential Skills for Public Servants: A Handbook
(2nd Edition)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0723GMMT1

Being a public servant, faithful discharge of your duties

demands you being very effective in service delivery,
efficient in execution and honest in your public dealing.
This short handbook is an attempt to list down the skills
which can help you to transform yourself into that mould.
Fortunately, all these skills which you will need while
performing your duties can be learnt and are not
inherited. It only demands wholehearted commitment and
dedicated efforts to learn them.

Although the book has been written primarily for the

guidance of the civil servants, rather senior public
servants, yet it is extremely helpful for all those who are
involved in any type of management- governmental or
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and private
sector management. corporate. Additionally, it can be
used by the students of management-public
administration or business administration as well by a
general reader who wants to improve his leadership and
management skills.

Table of Contents
Chapter one: Introduction
Chapter Two: The Changing Work Environment
Chapter Three: Challenges for a Public Servant:
Chapter Four: Leadership and Management
Chapter Five: Ethical Behaviour and Morality
Chapter Six: Emotional Intelligence
Chapter Seven: Change Management
Chapter Eight: Computer literacy/Information
Technology
Chapter Nine: Public Policy Formulation and Analysis
Chapter Ten: Interpersonal Relations and
Communications Skills
 Chapter Eleven: File Noting and Report Writing/Analysis
Chapter Twelve: Resource Management and
Development
Chapter Thirteen: Logical Analysis/Strategic Planning/
Pragmatic Decision Making
 Political Economy of a Post-Colonial State
Economic Development of Pakistan
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018XZEUEU

This book attempts to explain the development

experience of a post-colonial state in the backdrop of
ever-shifting ideas about growth and then presents a plan
of action to accelerate its rate of economic growth.
Divided into thirteen chapters, it starts with recounting
the initial conditions at the time of her independence-
acute shortages of physical, financial and economic
resources at its disposal, the administrative handicaps,
the abysmal state of infrastructure, etc. It then examines
in a bit detail, the efforts made during the seven decades
of her existence as an independent nation-state to
transform its political economy from an underdeveloped
stage to the one it is now.

During these seven decades, Pakistan initiated formal

planning process in the 1950s and strengthened its
industrial sector in the 1960s, toyed with the idea of a
socialist transformation of the country in the 1970s for a
short period and then adopted economic liberalisation
and global integration as cornerstones of its economic
management and growth policy.

Part 2 of the book suggests a plan of action for

accelerating the rate of economic growth of Pakistan. It
starts with the stock-taking of the political economy of
Pakistan by carrying out its SWOT Analysis and list the
six main challenges it is facing. Rest of the book would
then deal with recommending policies and strategies to
respond to these challenges

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: The Inheritance- Pakistan at Independence
 Chapter 3: 1950s/Democratic Pakistan 1
Chapter 4: 1958-1968/ Military Pakistan1-Gen. Ayyub
Chapter 5: 1972-1977/ Democratic Pakistan 2-Zulfiqar
Bhutto
Chapter 6: 1978-1988/ Military Pakistan 2-Gen Zia
Chapter 7: 1988-1999/ Democratic Pakistan 3-Benazir &
Nawaz Sharif
Chapter 8: 2000-2008/ Military Pakistan 3-Gen
Musharraf
Chapter 9: 2008-2013/ Democratic Pakistan 4/1-PPP
Chapter 10: 2013-2018/Democratic Pakistan 4/2-PML
Chapter 11: 2018-2020/Democratic Pakistan 4/3-Tehrik
Insaaf
Chapter 12: Main Features of Pakistan Economy
Chapter 13:Conclusion Part 1
Chapter 14: Introduction Part 2
Chapter 15: SWOT Analysis of Pakistan Economy &
Challenges
Chapter 16: Responding to Challenges- General
Framework
Chapter 17: Governance Reforms & Institutional
Strengthening
Chapter 18: Macroeconomic Management
Chapter 19: Human Development
Chapter 20: Industrialisation& Exports Promotion
Chapter 21: Revitalisation of Agricultural Sector
Chapter 22: Urbanisation & Infrastructural Development
Chapter 23: Attracting Foreign Direct Investment
Chapter 24: Conclusion
 Political Economy of Pakistan: 1947-2020
A Short History
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0844ZJ8ZL

This book attempts to explain the development

experience of a post-colonial state namely Pakistan in the
backdrop of ever-shifting ideas about growth.

Pakistan was a typical underdeveloped state when it

started its journey as an independent nation-state on the
14th of August 1947, as a result of the dissolution of the
British Indian Empire. It was facing almost the same
myriad challenges every post-colonial state was grappling
in those days. Boldly accepting these challenges, the new
state started its journey literally from a scratch.

Despite all these ups and downs, Pakistan is now the 26th
largest economy in the world in terms of Purchasing
Power Parity (PPP), (44th largest in terms of nominal
GDP). Pakistan is one of the Next Eleven, the eleven
countries that, along with the BRICs, have the potential
to become one of the world's large economies in the 21st
century.

This book is all about these attempts and U-turns, failures

and achievements and so on. This book will be followed
by another book namely “Accelerating Economic Growth
of Pakistan: A Handbook” which will be stock-taking of
the political economy of Pakistan by carrying out its
SWOT Analysis and list the six main challenges it is
facing. Rest of the book would then deal with
recommending policies and strategies to respond to these
challenges

Table of Contents
Chapter One: Introduction
 Chapter Two: The Inheritance- Pakistan at
Independence
Chapter Three: 1950s/Democratic Pakistan 1
Chapter Four: 1958-1968/ Military Pakistan1-Gen.
Ayyub
Chapter Five: 1972-1977/ Democratic Pakistan 2-
Zulfiqar Bhutto
Chapter Six: 1978-1988/ Military Pakistan 2-Gen Zia
Chapter Seven: 1988-1999/ Democratic Pakistan 3-
Benazir & Nawaz Sharif
Chapter Eight: 2000-2008/ Military Pakistan 3-Gen
Musharraf
Chapter Nine: 2008-2013/ Democratic Pakistan 4/1-PPP
Chapter Ten: 2013-2018/Democratic Pakistan 4/2-PML
Chapter Eleven: 2018-2020/Democratic Pakistan 4/3-
Tehrik Insaaf
Chapter Eleven: Where we stand now?
Chapter Twelve: Main Features of Pakistan Economy
Chapter Thirteen:Conclusion
 Accelerating Economic Growth of Pakistan
Plan of Action
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0844PG64R

Although the political economy of Pakistan is facing

multiple challenges, the country is also ripe to undergo a
significant social and economic transformation. Pakistan
now stands in a very comfortable position to meet the
challenges it is facing, thanks to the inherent strengths of
her economy and some fortuitous external circumstances
which are strong enough to overcome her weaknesses
and convert the threats posed by the external
environment into opportunities.

This book, part two of the series, is all about these

challenges and the suggested plan of action to respond to
these challenges. It has 13 chapters and 07 annexures
dealing with different sectors and issues of the political
economy of Pakistan.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: SWOT Analysis of Pakistan Economy &
Challenges
Chapter 3: Responding to Challenges- General
Framework
Chapter 4: Governance Reforms & Institutional
Strengthening
Chapter 5: Macroeconomic Management
Chapter 6: Human Development
Chapter 7: Industrialisation& Exports Promotion
Chapter 8: Revitalisation of Agricultural Sector
Chapter 9: Urbanisation & Infrastructural Development
Chapter 10: Attracting Foreign Direct Investment
Chapter 11: Conclusion
 Finance for Non-finance Managers
A Handbook
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TTNNTC8

Although written primarily for the middle management of

a business firm, this book is equally useful for the senior
executives belonging to the public or private sector or
even Not for Profit Non-Governmental Organisations
(NGOs). It is also meant for those who have read
economics in their academic career but have forgotten
the financial concepts and terms after they joined the
service. As the business knowledge and experience are
size neutral, those owning or working in SMEs will find it
equally suitable and useful.

After thoroughly reading this book, you should be able to

understand and if needed, can explain the meaning of
finance, its importance for the stability and growth of a
firm, the fundamental business finance concepts and the
jargon used in financial analysis and decision making.
Additionally, you will learn the three key financial
statements and how to interpret and use the information
to measure the historical performance of your company to
chart the future course of action.

Last but not least, it will help you in understanding the

importance of budgeting process and the role of business
finance in formulating and implementing the competitive
strategy as well as the fundamental nature of costs, gross
margin and break-even and how common pricing methods
affect gross margin and profit

Table of Contents
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Financial Accounting Basics
Chapter Three: Financial Accounting- Uses & Branches
 Chapter Four: Financial Accounting- Practices &
Conventions
Chapter Five: Balance Sheet Statement
Chapter Six: Profit & Loss/Income Statement
Chapter Seven: Cash Flow Statement
Chapter Eight: What is Management Accounting
Chapter Nine: What is Cost and Costing?
Chapter Ten: Budget Preparation and Execution
Chapter Eleven: What is Financial Analysis
Chapter Twelve: Resource Management and
Development
Chapter Thirteen: Conclusion and Take Away
 Corruption in Developing Countries
Challenges & Response
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BX6B8B9

Corruption, simply defined as the abuse of entrusted

power for private gain, is an important global and
historical problem imposing political, economic, and
environmental costs on societies around the world. It is
also a complex issue having many dimensions and
multiple layers.Besides its universality, corruption is not a
new phenomenon. It is as old as human beings started
living together and established some form of state to run
their affairs

Notwithstanding the above, we must admit that

corruption is far more pervasive in developing countries
than it is in the developed world. his E-Book is an attempt
to gauge the pervasiveness of corruption and corrupt
practices in the developing countries, find out its causes
and lay down a framework for its minimization, if not total
eradication. For this, I have suggested a set of
recommendations in the last three chapters before the
conclusion, i.e., chapters seven to nine, of the book.
Chapter 2 deals with perspectives on corruption including
the issue of arriving at a precise definition of corruption
as well as its various facets. Chapter 3 is about the causes
& conditions conducive for Corruption

Chapter 4 of the book explains the way corruption is

measured in a country for categorising countries as the
most corrupt or the least. It also highlights the limitations
of these methods for having a proper perspective. and
global comparison.while Chapter 5 enumerates the costs-
social, economic and political, of widespread corruption
in the country. It debunks the idea that corruption serves
as speed money in a developing country for accelerating
the modernisation process. Total nonsense.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Perspectives on Corruption
Chapter 3: Causes & Conditions Conducive for
Corruption
Chapter 4: How Corruption is Measured
Chapter 5: Costs of Corruption
Chapter 6: Anti-corruption Plan of Action
Chapter 7: Anti-Corruption Strategies-1. Levels of
Operation
Chapter 8: Anti-corruption Strategies-2. Areas of
Operation
Chapter 9: Conclusion
 Agricultural Sector of Pakistan
Challenges and Response
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B010TMK28S

Although Pakistan is no more a predominantly

agricultural country, thanks to rapid strides it has made
in her quest for industrial transformation, agriculture still
occupies a prominent place in Pakistan's overall economic
structure. Its performance still dictates all our macro
indicators – growth rates of the economy, poverty profile,
foreign exchange reserves, inflationary pressures, etc.

Despite favourable conditions of soil, irrigation water,

and climate, it suffers from under-utilizing of its potential
resources, resulting in low yields per hectare and unit of
inputs used.

The book under review tries to answer this question by

discussing the issues relating to Pakistan's agriculture
sector from different perspectives, highlighting the
challenges it is facing and how to respond to them.

Table of Contents
Chapter-1: Introduction
Chapter-2: Profile of Pakistan’s Agricultural Sector
Chapter-3: Evolution of Pakistan’s Agricultural Sector
Chapter 4: SWOT Analysis of Pakistan’s Agricultural
Sector
Chapter-5: Challenges and Response
Chapter-6: Horizontal Expansion
Chapter-7: Vertical Expansion
Chapter-8: Structural Transformation
Chapter-9: Cross-cutting Issues
Chapter-10: Conclusion
 Public Policy Formulation and Analysis
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01672SU10

During the last few years, public policy studies have been
receiving a lot of attention in academic circles all over the
world for diverse reasons. Besides the increasing
awareness about the role and importance of public policy
formulation and implementation in tackling the
multifaceted challenges being faced by every country, the
main reason for this interest in public policy issues has
been the increasingly assertive role of civil society
organizations and the media. They want to know the way
public policies affecting a common man are formulated
and the way the governance apparatus works to enable
them to make informed judgements and take appropriate
actions.

As the faithful implementation of a policy duly approved

by a competent authority is the foremost duty of a civil
servant, his performance will be invariably judged by the
way he implements the policy for effective service
delivery and consumer satisfaction. That is why, in the
contemporary world, the need for effective, informed and
neutral policymakers and public servants is ever
increasing as the issues about the government are
becoming more complex in nature.

In this short handbook, the author has discussed what

public policy is and why it is formulated. He then explains
the way public policies are formulated, implemented and
monitored, the steps involved and the activities to be
performed in the various steps. He also lists the criteria
to judge the efficacy of policy and ends with the major
weaknesses of policy formulation in a typical developing
country like Pakistan.

Table of Contents
 Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: What is Public Policy
Chapter 3: Public Policy Formulation Process
Chapter 4: Policy Analysis
Chapter 5: Public Policy Formulation-Case study of
Pakistan
Chapter 6: Conclusion
 Why State Enterprises Under perform or Fail?
Case of Pakistan Railways

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DWHROBA

There are numerous complaints about State Owned

Enterprises(SOEs) in almost every country with a
variation of the severity of complaints from country to
country and from entity to entity. These range from
operational inefficiency, recurring huge losses, poor
customer services, corruption, and mismanagement.
Unfortunately, while condemning these state-owned and
managed organisations for the above-mentioned
weaknesses, we normally do not have a clear perspective
to judge why do these SOEs from the alleged malaise.

We must keep in view the context in terms of ownership,

objectives and working environment which determine the
profitability or otherwise of a state enterprise. You cannot
just compare them with private sector enterprises and
start blaming them for incurring huge losses. A private-
sector enterprise has certain privileges which public
sector enterprise cannot even think of.

Despite all the above handicaps, SOEs are big assets of

any government. If so, what can be done to have a
turnaround of a state-owned enterprise? This is the
essence of this book which attempts to answer some of
the questions routinely asked about one such SOE namely
Pakistan Railways i.e. what went wrong and why? Is there
any hope of a turnaround? What measures can be taken
to arrest its further decay and put it back on track?

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Why Revitalize Pakistan Railways
Chapter 3: Historical Evolution of Pakistan Railways
Chapter 4: Pakistan Railways-Profile
Chapter 5: What ails Pakistan Railways
Chapter 6: Causes of Decay
Chapter 7: Pakistan Railways vs Indian Railways
Chapter 8: The Way Forward
Chapter 9: Plan of Action to revitalize Pakistan Railways
Chapter 10: Conclusion
 Pakistan Studies: Volume 1
20 Essays
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MSF3UMR

This short book deals with the following 20 pressing

issues of Pakistan
 Geological History of Pakistan: its Relevance for Today
 Causes of 1857 Indian War of Independence",
 Causes of Failure of the 1857 Indian War of
Independence"
 Consequences of the 1857 Indian War of
Independence
 Two Nation's Theory: Myths and Reality
 Pakistan Ideology: Myths and Contents
 Pakistan's Difficulties at Independence
 What is the National Interest of Pakistan
 Why Armed Forces Have Dominated Pakistan
 Political Economy of Pakistan under General Ayyub"
 Political Economy of Pakistan under Z.A. Bhutto
 Challenge of Democratic Development in Pakistan
 Political Economy of Pakistan under General Zia
 Why do Countries Break? Separation of East Pakistan
and Lessons Learnt.
 Evolution of Political Economy of Pakistan
 Pakistan's Economic Potential and Prospects
 Pakistan's Export Sector: Challenges and Response
 Pakistan Railways: Why and How of its Turnaround
 Privatisation in Pakistan: Challenges and Response
 Governance Reforms in Pakistan: Need and Contents

Although written for the general reader, the book will be

especially helpful for those who are preparing for
provincial or federal competitive examinations in
Pakistan. It will be followed by Volume 2 containing
another 20 articles about different socioeconomic and
political issues of Pakistan.
 Pakistan Studies: 20 Essays
Volume 2
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JQ92JGY

This book is a continuation of a series of books I intend to

write about the various socio-economic issues of Pakistan.
Its first Volume containing 20 essays got tremendous
response from the public in general and the students in
particular. This volume contains the following 20 essays
 Pakistan- True Inheritor of Indus Valley Civilization
 Terrorism in Pakistan- Causes and Response
 Is Pakistan a Failed State?
 Education System in Pakistan: Challenges & Response
 Improving Pakistan's Global Image
 Why Military Regimes in Pakistan Show Impressive
Economic Growth Rates?
 How to Revitalise Agricultural Sector of Pakistan
 E-governance-Digitisation of Public Services in
Pakistan
 Indus Basin Water Treaty-Challenges and Response
 Comparing Pakistan Railways and Indian Railways?
 Political Economy of Pakistan during1990s
 Political Economy of Pakistan during early 2000s
 Political Economy of Pakistan during Zardari Regime
 China Pakistan Economic Corridor-Challenges
 Pakistan-China Relations; Past, Present, and Future
 Pakistan USA Relations Past, Present, and Future
 Pakistan International Airlines-Challenges & Response
 Why Pakistan can't act against the Taliban?
 Attracting Foreign Investment for Pakistan
 What is an Ideal Energy Mix for Pakistan?

Although written for the general reader, the book will be

especially helpful for those who are preparing for
provincial or federal competitive examinations in
Pakistan.
 Privatisation in Pakistan
Challenges and Response
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XK27SBN

This short EBook is an expanded version of my article

"Privatisation in Pakistan" which I wrote in 2012. It
attracted a lot of attention prompting me to write a full-
fledged book on the history of privatisation in Pakistan
and other related issues including its prospects and the
challenges it is going to face in the short to medium term.

This book is based on the experience of my association

with privatisation in two federal ministries of Pakistan
namely Railways and Privatisation respectively. Devoid of
technical terms and written in an easy to read the
language, this short book is for the general readership,
particularly for those who need to know what is
happening to Pakistan privatisation efforts after coming
into power a business-friendly regime of Pakistan Muslim
League in 2013.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: What is Privatisation
Chapter 3: Privatisation-The Great Debate
Chapter 4: Global Experience of Privatisation
Chapter 5: Privatisation in the UK
Chapter 6: Privatisation Experience of Pakistan
Chapter 6: Post Privatisation Experience in Pakistan
Chapter 7: Legal & Constitutional Framework of
Privatisation
Chapter 8: Future Privatisation-Prospects & Challenges
Chapter 9: Response
 1857 Indian War of Independence
(Indian Sepoys' Mutiny)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZUYMILK

Several names have been given to the 1857 Indian War of

Independence, depending upon from which perspective
one looks at it. To the British public, state and scholars it
was just a mishandled case of Mutiny of few soldiers in a
regiment of the Bengal Army of the East India Company.
To the nationalist Indians, it was the first war of
independence launched by the subjugated people of India
to get rid of their European colonial masters. To
outsiders, it looks more like the Civil Rights movement by
public against the bad governance of a private firm
running an Empire.

Whatever name one gives, it is an important milestone of

the history of India's independence and of Indian
Muslims' struggle for a separate homeland. William
Dalrymple, an authority on the British Raj in India, has
aptly described it as the Uprising in his masterpiece
account of the last days of the Mughal Empire- the Last
Mughal.

The book under review is on this very important event of

the history of the Subcontinent. Written primarily for the
students and the general public, it enumerates the
various causes of the general frustration which led to this
uprising. It is followed by an account of the course of
events and the measures taken by the British to crush the
rebellion. The last chapter explains in detail the short-
term effects and long term impact of this momentous
event, maintaining that long shadows of history are still
affecting the course and content of everyday life in all the
countries of
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Causes of the Indian war of Independence
Chapter 3: Course of the Events of the War
Chapter 4: Causes of the Failure of The War
Chapter 5: Consequences of War
Chapter 6: Conclusion
 The Syrian Crisis
Past, Present and Future
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0105VN8TS

What is happening in Syria is a snapshot of what is

happening in the Middle East which due to certain
historical legacies, its geostrategic location, abundant
resources, and regional/global power politics has seen
crises after crises for a century or so.

These crises have been aggravated by the onslaught of

Arab Spring, Iranian ambitions for nuclear parity with
Israel and resource scramble. In the wider backdrop of
rapidly shifting regional alignments, several conflicts and
wars are going on in the Middle East with deep-rooted
causes having serious implications for regional stability
and global security. What is happening in Syria should be
seen in this context.

After discussing the background of the overall crises

engulfing the Middle East, its historical roots, various
dimensions and the types of conflicts and wars going on
in the region, the book explains the brief socio-economic
and political profile of Syria without understanding which
we cannot appreciate the ground realities and historical
context of the present Syrian crises. It then traces the
origins of the present crises and enumerates the
respective interests of the three global powers namely
the United States of America, China, and Russia in the
region in general and in these crises, in particular.

Similarly, the book has a detailed discussion about the

respective interests of the regional powers namely Saudi
Arabia, Iran, Turkey, and Israel as well as those of the
non-state actors. After describing the present situation
obtaining on the ground, it tries to build three scenarios,
their likelihood and ends with a set of suggestions to
ensure a long-lasting peace in the region.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Middle East-Historical Legacies, Current
Fault Lines
Chapter 3: Conflicts, Crises, and Wars in Middle East
Chapter 4: Syria- the Country Profile
Chapter 5: Background of Present Syrian Crises
Chapter 6: Course of the Syrian rises
Chapter 7: Interests of the Take holders
Chapter 8: Interests of the Syrian State
Chapter 9: American Interests in Syria
Chapter 10: Russian Interests in Syria
Chapter 11: Chinese Interests in Syria
Chapter 12: Israelis Interests in Syria
Chapter 13: Turkish Interests in Syria
Chapter 14: Saudi Arabia’s Interests in Syria
Chapter 15: Iranian Interests in Syria
Chapter 16: Interests of Non-state Actors
Chapter 17: Impact and Consequences of Syrian Crisis
Chapter 18: How and Why Assad Survived
Chapter 19: Likely Scenarios, Possible Solutions
Chapter 20: Conclusion