December 2 , 2006

No, this isn't a rant about the colonization of India (though understanding that subject is crucial to anybody who wants to make a sense of present India). This is instead about how they once ruled a large part of the world and made a fine mess of it, before they left. The nineteenth century was called the British century, and why not! The Union Jack flew triumphantly in several lands and the British military power was unmatched.

But like all "good things," the British domination of the world had to end, and at no time was this in more evidence than after the Second World War. Battered and bruised by six years of war that left them emaciated, the British were finding it difficult to maintain their colonies flung over all parts of the globe. And boy, did they make an unceremonious exit or what! Totally anti-character to the pride they displayed when they claimed, "The sun never set on the British Empire," the English literally fled with the tail between their legs.

As they ran for their dear lives, they left chaos behind everywhere they ruled. India was probably a little better, in the sense, there was a semblance of transfer of power. But other parts like the middle East fared worse. At places like Palestine, the British simply disappeared overnight, leaving the Jews and the Arabs to settle the question of Israel/Palestine. And they have been "settling" it for the last 56 years.

Of course, it wouldn't be very British if they only made that one blunder. They committed several others, the most notorious among them being the division of the countries they ruled, along arbitrary lines. The division of the Indian sub-continent was assigned to one Cyril Radcliffe who was barely aware of the country he was performing the vivisection on. In fact, he was so afraid he didn't do his job right, he left hurriedly to England, a few days after he submitted his award, to escape possible attempts on his life. The result is what we all can see: a festering wound in the form of Kashmir and several other minor disputed areas.

The Mcmahon line that draws a border between India and China is accepted by the Indians as an international boundary but not by the Chinese. I am not talking about the communist China either, which generally doesn't believe in silly things like border demarcations (their brutal occupation of Tibet comes to mind immediately). The Mcmahon line was made official through the publication of the "Survey of India" in 1937. That was well before the communists. And even before that, negotiations have been going on for decades without a successful closure. Till today, China lays claim on "South Tibet" what we know as Arunachal Pradesh.

Coming to Israel, the British first rejected the concept of Israel (in 1897), then accepted it vaguely (in 1917 at the Balfour declaration), then flip-flopped on their stand again during the second world war and finally washed their hands off by handing over the issue to the newly formed United Nations in 1947. The United Nations came up with a proposal that endorsed both Jewish and Palestinian states existing side by side and left it to the British to oversee the transfer. (Actually, the British never let the UN Palestine commission to enter Palestine.)

As I already mentioned, the British oversaw the whole thing by promptly disappearing at mid-night on May 14, 1948, leaving behind the Jews and the Arabs to sort it out. But, most importantly, even before this, the British had already performed the first partition of Palestine by gifting away a portion of it, to Mr. Abdullah, what we know today as Jordan. That the present day Palestinians never lay claim to Jordan being theirs is a different story altogether.

Iraq never existed in its current form before the twentieth century. After the British and the French brought down the Ottoman Empire, they carved up the three provinces that comprised it among themselves. The area comprising the present day Iraq, Jordan and Israel/Palestine went to Britain, and the area what makes up today's Lebanon and Syria went to France. Iraq's composition is especially messy: 25% Sunnis, 20% Kurds, 55% Shias. Talk about a non-homogeneous bunch! The United States today is fighting not just the insurgents today, but also history itself. What happens in the next few years is any-one's guess.

Finally, as an icing on the cake, the Durand line was drawn in 1893 separating the then British India and Afghanistan, following a treaty between Sir Henry Mortimer Durand and the king of Afghanistan. Today, it serves as the boundary between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Afghans say the above said treaty is valid only for 100 years and a portion of Pakistan should be returned to them now. Pakistan is against this. Today, Pakhtun tribes straddle both sides of the border, making it one of the most porous boundaries. Again, the British could have resolved this before they left in 1947, but didn't feel the need for it.

Take a moment to sink in the four major goof-ups (some of them deliberate) made by the British: Kashmir, Israel, Iraq and Afghanistan - four of the worlds' biggest flash points and you will begin to fathom the legacy they left behind.

Despite such legacy, England, even today, butts into every possible international wrangle. Worse, there are people who want England to mediate on their behalf after all this. May the sky fall upon their heads and knock some sense into them...

-Murali Chari
[email protected]

Other articles by Murari Chari:
• Now it's Bangladesh's turn
• Is India a Super Power?
• Chiranjeevi - seeing is believing
• Open letter to Pawan Kalyan