The Sepoy Mutiny and Modern Memory

In 1857, exactly 150 years ago, soldiers of the then Bengal Army rose in rebellion against the English rukers of India. Historians have been debating the outbreak of 1857 ever since. However on the occasion of the 150 anniversary of the Mutiny several tourists from England, particularly the great great grand son of General Havelock and other members of the familires of the descendents of the Engish officers who faught against the Indian troops, wanted to pay homage to their ancesors at their graves strewn all over the Northern part of the country, especilly near Lucknow, Azamhgar, Kanpur and Delhi. We can expect that after 150 years the embers from the past would not create a blinding flame of resentmernt.However the British tourists have been prevented from paying homage at the Mutiny graves on the ground that any floral tibute to the fallen British soldiers will be an insult to the Sepoys who faught and died in the Movement. I find this line of reasoning extremely disconcerting. The descendents of the fallen English soldiers have the right to connect with their past. And by honoring the memory of those who died in the 1857 War in not an insult to the Sepoys wh were killed.The reason why this divergence in perception is because India has not ever bothered to memoralise the Sepoys who were killed in 1857. What was done on the ocassion of the Centenary celebration in 1957 was merely the appropriation of memorials already constructed by the English by the placement of a plaque stating that Indians were also killed inm the event. By denying an appropriate "site of memory" for the Indians who faught and died in the Uprising of 1857,the country has not got a closure of the terrible events of 1857.For example, the march of General James Neill from Allahabad to Lucknow in June of 1857 was accompanied by the deliberate large scale killing of civillian on a scale that is still remembered with horror till this day. Contemporary observers stated that the British soldiers like Neill amd Havelock were early pioneers in the dubious art of "shock and awe". Entire villages were wiped out with grape shot and lunch mobs of English Indigo planteers ans Irish soldiers relentlessly killed innocent civillians in the name of counter insurgency. Such horrors need to be remembered and because India has neglected to memoralise such terrible deeds there is resort to the crude device of blocking access to the Mutiny era graves.One hopes that on the ocassion of the 150 anniversary the victims of 1857 will also be remembered.

The Illegality of Saddam Hussein's Execution

Few images are likely to be more compelling than the picture of a shackled, manacled Saddam Hussein dressed in a dark overcoat calmly walking to the gallows. He was always the defiant one as his name translates in Arabic and he lived up to his name. Not a sign of weakness, not even a nervous twitch as the hangman's noose was fixed round his neck. His lips moving in silent prayer and the dignified manner in which Saddam Hussein faced his death will live in the minds of the Iraqi people. Even his many many enemies have said privately that the grainy images of Saddam's last moments will be his most enduring legacy.Sadfdam Hussein was captured by the US miltary near Tikrit and was held as a "prisoner of war" by the Americans and as a POW was entitled to all the protection of the Geneva convention and also the recent Hamdan Judgement of the US Supreme Court though restricted in scope to the G"Bay detainees, clearly maintained that enemy combatants were entitled to the protection of both US domestic and International law. Just hours before his excecution Saddam was handed over by the Americans to the al Maliki regime. This act demonstrates the complicity of the US in the judicial murder of Saddam Hussein though for the purpose of public record the US maintains the the "independent" judiciary of the "sovereign" governemnt of Iraq carried out the sentence. It does not behove of an occupying power to send its prisoner to his death when the whole world knows that by any standard of jurisprudence Saddam did not get a free anfd fair trial. Had he been tried by an objective International Tribunal, Saddam Hussein may still have faced a death sentence but the stench of a victor's justice will not vitiate the whole process.The death sentence was carried out in haste moments before the dawn of ID. Moslems both Shiaa and Sunni find it haighly insulting that the holy month of Id was chosen to carry out the death sentence. Why were both the USA and the Quisling regime in the Green Zone so eager to get rid of Saddam Hussein. Afterall even the Supreme Court did not mandate the excecution till the 27th of January 2007. The two other co accused and awaiting excecution along with Saddam, the Chief Juctice Bander and Hussein's half brother have not been excecuted. Why then the indecent haste to push Saddam Hussein into his grave.The Prime Minister, al Maliki had declared weeks earlier that Saddam Hussein would be killed before the end of the year. By making such a declaration did not al Maliki usurp the functions and powers of the so called independent judiciary that operated in Iraq. In fact the PM did something terrible:He signed the death warrant of Saddam Hussein before the glare of the international media. In fact when the people of Iraq regain thir dignity they will not forget the act of al-Maliki.The violence in Iraq will now escalate beyond all sustainable levels. The Baathists so far have remained preipheral to the strife presently unfolding in Iraq. With their cross sectarian links, political training and military skills the regime of the US backed al Maliki will have more than a handful. What is appaling is that al Maliki wants the Baathists to join hands with him and his Dawaa Gang which planned the assasination of Saddam at Dujail in 1982 for which Saddam has now been killed.In a way George Bush is right: Iraq has crossed a "milestone". From mnow on the struggle will get more vicious and more bloody. The final statement of Saddam Hussein will not bring about an immediate reconciliation but the bais of a national reconciliation are there in that short statement."
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Saddam's Impending Excecution