Since independence
South Asian history after 1947, including 1965 and 1971.
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A Historic Picture (and some reminiscences about 1971 BD War)
Dr Hamid Hussain explains a photograph of General Sam Manekshaw flying to Pakistan after the 1971 war with two Pakistani Air Force prisoners of war, gives the stories of the…
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Remembering the Birangonas; the female Freedom Fighters/Victims
A short post sharing a tweet and Facebook post remembering the Birangonas, women honoured as freedom fighters or victims of the 1971 war.
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Forbidden Fruit. Military in Politics in Pakistan
An article from 2003 by Dr Hamid Hussain on how soldiers become involved in politics, tracing the politicisation of Pakistan’s officer corps and how repeated military rule has militarised politics,…
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Major General Akbar Khan
Hamid Hussain profiles Major General Akbar Khan (1912-1994), a Pathan from Charsadda commissioned from Sandhurst in 1934, tracing his Frontier Force service and Second World War battalion before the Kashmir…
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Book Review: India’s Wars. A Military History 1947-1971
A review of Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam’s military history of India’s wars from 1947 to 1971. The reviewer finds it a pretty good summary, strong on the air force…
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Judicial Jitters in Pakistan. A look back..
Omar Ali reposts Hamid Hussain’s 2007 essay for context on Pakistan’s judicial controversies. Hussain argues that when politics is militarised and the judiciary and army brass politicised, the system stays…
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Forbidden Fruit: Military and Politics in Pakistan (and beyond)
Omar Ali reposts Hamid Hussain’s 2003 essay, written as General Musharraf completed his political engineering, arguing that where political institutions are weak and there is no consensus on succession, soldiers…
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Midnight’s Descendants: A History of South Asia since Partition
Razib Khan reviews John Keay’s journalist-written history of South Asia since Partition, saying he learned little but that it reinforced his view that ideologues citing extreme casualty figures do a…
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Kargil War
Omar Ali reposts his argument that Musharraf and a few cronies launched the Kargil operation without thinking it through, calling it a strategic and tactical disaster that cost hundreds of…
