December 25, 2016 This summer on a visit to the grave of Patras Bokhari, I spent some quite time at his grave. I reflected about the lives of two Bokhari brothers and an amazing character of his times Lionell Fielden. This piece was the outcome of that exercise. Good time to pay tribute on the … Continue reading The Bokhari Brothers and Lionell Fielden
(Triggered by this article about “Global Democracy in Danger“) Back in 1992, Fukuyama wrote his (much maligned, frequently misunderstood) book about the End of History and had this to say: What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of postwar history, but … Continue reading Is Islam the rock on which the liberal order broke?
Postscript: There is another Bannon profile in (of all places) The Hollywood Reporter that is worth a look. The man is serious. And he thinks he is Thomas Cromwell. Which is interesting, because some of you may remember that Cromwell was beheaded. By Henry the VIIIth, the king he so loyally served. Buzzfeed has an … Continue reading Stephen Bannon Speaks..
Israeli scholar Martin Kramer has written an interesting essay about the decline (and attempted rise) of the Sunni Islamic position and aspirations in the middle east (excerpts at the end of this post). The first (and longer) section of the essay is well worth reading because it (to quote comrade Hamid Dabashi) “jolts our historical … Continue reading The Decline (and Attempted Rise) of the Sunnis in the Middle East
Mangal Panday – Film, Fiction & Facts Hamid Hussain Mangal Panday – The Rising is a big budget Indian film and good research has been done about the history of this incident. Generally, a lot of cinematic license is used in most historical films but Mangal Panday has kept core historical facts intact. As … Continue reading Mangal Pandey. Truth and Fiction
From Dr Hamid Hussain July 10, 2016 A query from someone whose great grand-father served in 54th Foot as private and spent a long time in India sent me on another journey of military archeology. There is not much known about life of British Other Ranks (BORs) in India and I tried to shed some … Continue reading British “other ranks” in the Indian army
From our regular contributor, Dr Hamid Hussain. (btw, maybe the gentlemanly conduct of both sides would be better described as chivalry?) Book Review – The Monsoon War Hamid Hussain Lieutenant General Tajindar Shergill and Captain Amarinder Singh’s book The Monsoon war is an encyclopedic work on 1965 India-Pakistan war. It is a detailed account of … Continue reading Book Review: Monsoon War (the war of 1965)
This excellent article was written in 2002 by the redoubtable Dr Hamid Hussain. Still relevant. Demons of December — Road from East Pakistan to Bangladesh Columnist Hamid Hussain makes an excellent analysis of events leading to 1971. Introduction Great blunders are often made, like large ropes, of a multitude of fibres. Victor Hugo’s Les Miserable … Continue reading 1971: From East Pakistan to Bangladesh
An op-ed from Brigadier Samson Sharaf published in “The Nation”, with some comments from regular contributor Dr Hamid Hussain. Well worth a read (The comments in red italics are from Dr Hussain. Samson Sharaf’s op-ed is Pakstudies-lite/Jinnah-Institutish, so it is mostly of interest if you are curious about how a Pakistani army officer who is … Continue reading East Pakistan to Bangladesh, some comments
A History of the Pakistan Army: Wars and Insurrections by Brian Cloughley Dear All, Some questions came my way about Brian Cloughley’s good book about Pakistan army. I put them in an unconventional book review. Regards, Hamid. Book Review by Hamid Hussain A History of Pakistan Army: Wars and Insurrections by Brian Cloughley, Fourth Edition. … Continue reading Hamid Hussain Reviews Cloughley’s Book about the Pakistan Army
