A victory lost through treachery

On the onset of the Anglo-Zulu war in 1879, at the approach of Jan 13, the 30th anniversary of the Battle of Chillianwala, officers of the 24th Regiment drank a toast, to their peers who were at Chillianwala on January 13, 1849, when the regiment had fought a disastrous battle against the Sikh army of the Punjab Durbar in India.

Ordered to charge a Sikh artillery battery at bayonet point, they were shot to pieces, losing 500 officers and men. The colours - the focus of regimental pride and symbol of their allegiance to the Queen - were lost on the battlefield. "They drank to Chillianwala - that they may never again get into such a mess".

Ranjit Singh became the unquestioned secular ruler of Punjab from 1799 to 1839, his kingdom being the last bastion to hold out against the British - a symbol of their incomplete conquest of India. Displaying rare courage, his warrior nation extended its empire from the Sutlej to Kabul in Afghanistan and from Ladakh to Skardu and Tuklakote in Tibet.

Every invasion of India till then, starting with the Aryans in 2000 BC had been from West to East, across the Indus. For the first time in history, an Indian, Ranjit Singh, went westwards, crossed the Indus River in 1826, going right onto Kabul.

The splendour of the Punjab Durbar ended with Ranjit Singh's death in 1839. He left behind seven sons, none capable of ruling his kingdom. Intrigues, betrayals and assassinations attended his succession, the army becoming an uncontrollable and dissatisfied centre of power, eager for war.

This led to the first Sikh war comprising the battles at Mudki, Ferozeshahr, Aliwal and Sabraon, brought on by the British fishing in the troubled waters of Punjab, increasing their force from 17,000 to 40,000 with the intention of crossing the international boundary along the Sutlej. The Punjab Durbar reiterated its right of passage to its possessions across the river.

The Punjab Durbar army numbering five divisions of 50,000 men and 800 guns was assembled on the right bank of the Sutlej, in a brilliantly conceived plan to intercept the main British army with positioning of foot soldiers to provide accurate fire backed by guns and hemmed in by a cavalry charge.

However, in a sordid tale of treachery, two Sikh commanders, Lal Singh and Tej Singh, both Brahmin convertees, colluded with the British, giving away the complete detailed battle plans with sketches to Sir Henry Hardinge, the governor-general, and Lord Hugh Gough, the C-in-C. There could have been no worse treachery in history. Consequently, despite a strategy which had a touch of Ranjit Singh's French Generals and shades of Napoleon's battle plans, the British force under Gen Littler was deliberately allowed to slip away and join Gough and Hardinge.

At Ferozeshahr, the British suffered terrible casualties. Every single member of the governor-general's staff was either killed or wounded. That frosty night "The fate of British India trembled in the balance". Sir Hope Grant, one of the British general bloodied in the Anglo-Sikh wars recorded: "Truly the night was one of gloom and foreboding and perhaps never in the annals of warfare has a British army on so large a scale been nearer to a defeat which would have involved annihilation".

Lord Harding sent back his sword and instructions, that the situation being so desperate, if the morning attack failed the British planned to burn all papers and be ready for an unconditional surrender. However, in the morning, both Lal Singh and Tej Singh treacherously withdrew their forces, thereby betraying their soldiers.

Despite an overriding strength of 37,000 with 67 guns compared with the 15,000 of the British, Sabroan was a repeat of treachery with Tej Singh deserting the army and cutting the boat bridge linking his forces to the main Sikh forces on the opposite bank.

Describing the battle at Sabraon as the "Waterloo of India", Lord Gough paid great tribute to Sikh soldiers: "Policy precluded me from publicly recording my sentiments on the splendid gallantry of our fallen foe, or to record the acts of heroism displayed not only individually, but almost collectively, by the Sikh sirdars and the Punjab army: and I declare, were it not for deep conviction that my country's good required the sacrifice, I would have wept to have witnessed the fearfully slaughter of so devoted a body of men".

General Sir Joseph Thackwell who witnessed the battle wrote, "Though defeated and broken, they never ran, but fought to the last and I witnessed several acts of great bravery in their Sirdars and men". Lord Hardinge, who saw the action, wrote: "Few escaped, none it may be said, surrendered. The Sikhs met their fate with the resignation which distinguishes their race". This was a major British victory against a people afflicted with internal treachery and treason and was the beginning of the end of the Great Punjab Durbar.

In an amazing coincidence, the Chillianwala Battle was fought in almost the same area where Porus, with his elephants, chariots and archers, had fought Alexander's cavalry 2,175 years earlier. Here, too, the local ruler of Hampi treacherously led Alexander through a ford known only to locals and brought Alexander's forces behind Porus.Sher Singh displayed exceptional skill by judiciously selecting his position which was protected on the left by a low ridge of hills intersected with ravines and the main stream of the Jhelum, the right being posted in different villages enclosed by a thick jungle.

On January 13, 1849, the British launched their attack. Their artillery advanced to an open space in front of Chillianwala and opened fire on the Sikh artillery. The Sikhs replied with a vigorous cannonade. As the fire ceased the British drew up in order of battle and charged at the enemy's centre in an attempt to force the Sikhs into the river. The assault was led by Brigadier Pennycuick. For the Sikhs, the conditions were made to order.

Scattering into the brushwood jungle, they began their hit and run tactics, their snipers taking a heavy toll of the British cavalry and infantry. Those that got through the brushwood and the ravines were easily repulsed in the hand-to-hand fighting with the main body of the Sikh troops.

Brig. Pennycuick leading the brigade in the front fell, as did his son. Four British guns and the colours of three British regiments fell to the Sikhs and the British registered nearly 3,000 dead or wounded in the area around Chillianwala. A testimony left by a British observer says: "The Sikhs fought like devils, fierce and untamed... Such a mass of men I never set eyes on and as plucky as lions: they ran right on the bayonets and struck their assailants when they were transfixed".

But, once again, as at Ferozeshahr, the Sikhs failed to drive their advantage. Having suffered considerable losses themselves, they were not aware of the magnitude of the punishment they had inflicted on the British. It then poured incessantly for three days - which kept the Sikhs separated from their quarry - and on the fourth day as the sun shone again, the British had pulled out and retreated across the Chaj to the banks of the Chenab. The Sikhs never realized this, having thought that they had lost.

Once more, fate and destiny had conspired against a victory for the Sikhs, bringing into mind Shah Mohamad's words: "We won the battle but we lost the fight".

From the ashes and dust rose a proud nation whose gallantry and steadfastness against fearful odds soon filled the ranks of the new Indian army. They have proved their loyalty and gallantry to the salt they swore, by being bestowed more gallantry awards than any other region and people.

A difficult people to understand - and not everyone understood them - led a seasoned British commanding officer of the Sikhs to write an introduction for newly commissioned British officers assigned to the Sikhs: "There cannot be a more horrendous people when honour is at stake. Yet, put your arms around the man and hug him like a brother and apologise. Before you have finished, he has melted like butter and is ready to take on the world for you".

Chillianwala has erroneously been referred to by the British as an Anglo-Sikh War. It was only partly so. This was in actual fact the heroic attempt of the Punjab Durbar's army built around the remnants of Sikh troops and leaders with Dogras, Gurkhas and elements of the Pathan soldiers of Col Sheikh Basawan, Ranjit Singh' Pathan commander. Then there were the Punjabi Muslims especially the Gakhars of Domeli and Jhelum and the Muslim Jats and Arrains of the Majha Region. As a result, the British for a long time did not recruit Muslim Gakhars as a punishment.

Some of their eminent descendents have been Sardar Sir Sher Mohd Khan, the modern-day Chief of the Domeli Ghakhars, and his son Admiral Tariq Kemal Khan, one-time Chief of Naval Staff of Pakistan. It is with this background and with these feelings that the Late Ch Mohd Iqbal of Chillianwala and one-time MNA has looked after the monument dedicated to those British and Punjabi soldiers who fell at Chillianwala.

Chillianwala is a tribute to the last and valiant attempt of the Punjabis to contain British expansionism. The Chillianwala monument on a hillock looks down on what was even then a predominantly Punjabi Muslim area far away from the hardcore Sikh areas of Lahore and Amritsar. It is here that Sher Singh's Sikh soldiery put their shoulders to the shoulders of Punjabi Muslims, Dogras and Gurkhas to bring the British to their knees and this time not affected by British instigated treachery through the likes of convertees like Tej Singh and Lal Singh.

Ranjit Singh is no more but the spirit of the Punjabis continues to live, not only in the battlefields of valour but in the ability of these people to reach the highest levels of excellence in every sphere, all over the world.

The writer, a retired lieut-general, has been researching the Anglo-Sikh wars. He is the only former Indian Army officer who has been twice to Chillianwala and feted by the people of Chillianwala who now maintain this historic monument.

Expanding EU debates tough issues

It's already proving to be a tough New Year for the soon-to-be 25 nation European Union. Having returned to work only a week or so ago after the Christmas break, EU leaders have lost no time in resuming last year's fierce battles over power, prestige and influence in the new Europe.

Top of the EU agenda: clinching a key constitutional deal allowing for more efficient decision-making in an expanded union. But only days into 2004, the bloc has also become embroiled in a bitter dispute over the future of the eurozone stability pact and the state of the bloc's battered finances.

Meanwhile, a spate of booby-trapped letters sent to the European Commission and several members of the European Parliament at the start of the year has added to the sense of confusion at the EU's headquarters in Brussels.

EU leaders kick-started the New Year just like they ended the old one: still at odds over power-sharing in an enlarged union which as of May 1 this year will include an additional 10, mostly ex-communist, member states.

Efforts to forge a new EU treaty collapsed mid-December amid a row over voting rights in the enlarged bloc. Spain and Poland refused to surrender the generous voting concessions secured at a summit in Nice three years ago but EU giants Germany and France warned they would veto the new constitution unless Madrid and Warsaw accepted a downgrading of their voting status.

Having failed to meet their self-imposed end-2003 deadline to finalize the new treaty, EU leaders are now hoping to secure agreement by the end of this year.

But with no new guiding charter, life in an expanded union looks set to be very confusing. Officials warn of a decision- making gridlock, more feuding among small and big states and the splintering of the EU into so-called "core groups."

The emergence of a two-speed Europe is "almost inevitable", European Commission President Romano Prodi has warned. Multi-track Europe is also favoured by French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder who have long talked of "pioneer groups" of countries, forging ahead in different policy areas without waiting for laggards to join them.

But many other countries, fearing being left in Europe's slow lane, are firmly against the idea. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern - whose country took over the EU presidency from Italy on January 1 - has warned that he will continue to oppose a two-tier EU. Smaller countries, like Ireland would be left behind under such a development and experience "only disadvantages," Ahern cautioned.

Securing agreement on a new constitution, however, is not the only cloud on the EU's horizon. The European Commission has rubbed salt into another festering EU wound by warning of legal action against the bloc's finance ministers for allowing France and Germany to flout eurozone financial rules.

"The possibility to go to the Court of Justice would be a useful option," European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pedro Solbes has threatened, adding that in a "community of law, procedures have to be respected."

Officials say a commission decision on whether or not to launch a lawsuit against EU governments is expected on Tuesday (Jan 13), after the EU executive carefully examines the complicated legal and political repercussions of the move.

Many in the commission fear a frontal confrontation with heavyweights Germany and France, saying this is definitely a battle that the EU executive cannot win. But EU lawyers have warned that the commission will lose all credibility if it fails to act as effective guardian of the bloc's rules.

Germany and France escaped eurozone sanctions against their budget deficits on Nov 25, 2003, after the bloc's finance ministers refused to follow commission demands for punitive action against both countries.

Eurozone rules call for commission action - including the imposition of fines - against countries which run up excessive budget deficits of more than 3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP)) for three successive years. This is the case for both France and Germany.

The commission is also geared up to battle Berlin and Paris - as well as Britain, Sweden, Austria and the Netherlands, over the bloc's multi-billion euro spending plans.

Richer EU nations, which pay more into the common union budget than they get back, startled many of their partners last year by insisting that the bloc's finances must be frozen at current levels despite expansion.

The commission has warned that a larger EU budget is needed to forge stronger policies in areas such as common defence and immigration. But Germany is adamant that the union's budget should be subject to the same "painful consolidation" as individual European countries.

Prodi and the commission are not in a strong position to do battle with EU governments, however. With the current EU executive set to be replaced by a new set of commissioners early next year, most of the focus mid-year will switch to speculation over the new men and women who will be taking the decisions in Brussels.

A long wait

About two weeks ago the city of lights danced merrily under the vigilant eye of the unprecedented mass of 'nafri' let loose in Karachi. In covert venues that night, the privileged boogied to It's my life and clamoured for Murder on the dance floor while the condemned tossed and turned on hard floors chasing away the demons of poverty haunting their sleep for yet another night.

Ironically, the foggy morning greeted the same partying Karachiites with the headline, '143 committed suicide in Karachi in 2003' (due to joblessness), but the page was lazily flipped to the Business Section.

In Karachi alone, many millions were spent on charity balls to welcome the new date as digits changed from '03 to '04, even as somewhere in anguish a mother was trying to lull an infant to sleep desperately crying out for sustenance of some kind.

Justice is strange. Most of these institutions for the underprivileged are now receiving more money than they need and their funds are running in surplus, whereas many of the underprivileged are continuing to struggle for one proper meal a day.

More than a month ago, Prime Minister Jamali constituted a task force responsible for poverty alleviation and employment generation in Pakistan. The force is headed by the Minister for Privatization, Abdul Hafeez Sheikh. The force was 'directed' to submit its report to the PM within a month. The month is up and no miraculous solution is forthcoming.

When the reins of power were rearranged in October 1999, the first of this regime's task force came into existence, which was responsible for preparing-long term and short-term economic revival strategies. It is supposed that the strategies were to include poverty alleviation. A year after, the various options on the economic agenda were still being mulled over.

Since then, there have been many task forces to 'look into' one thing or the other while the damned continued to resort to brutal ends. For them, hanging from the ceiling fan or torching themselves along with their tiny innocents, is a much 'surer' option of ending the state of poverty rather than waiting for 'a Force' to act in their favour.

The below-the-poverty line population figure had reached 38.1 per cent and unemployment has risen to 40 per cent from 29 in Nawaz Sharif's time. The figures refer to those, who barely get a single meal a day.

A year ago, when the worthy head of this present task force - Mr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh - held the portfolio of Sindh minister for finance, planning and development, he, in one of the many addresses in a workshop, said: "There is need for undertaking concerted efforts to eradicate poverty." He had pointed out that the income of one-third of the population was less than a dollar a day and the situation in the province of Sindh was the worst. Some vows of changing it all soon were also included in between these statistics.

That was over a year ago. Now, four years after the Provisional Order and the economic agenda and a few task forces later, we are still awaiting yet another task force's suggestion. There already is a ministry for finance and economic affairs, isn't there? Should it to be understood that poverty alleviation is beyond the scope of its work/intellect? And why, pray, another force? Should we presume that the earlier forces and those comprising it were inadequate in their professional capacities? Are the newer ones more dynamic? Interestingly, even before the first meeting, the new task force members were already divided on the validity of the poverty related statistics regarding the different provinces forwarded by the ministry.

Money easily flows when it is needed and where it is needed. From iftar parties to state banquets, there is enough to go around for official use when need be. In the last year, the salary of over 170 senators and other government servants was increased (presumably squeezed out from some other budget and aided by us taxpayers!] while the poverty line became more dismal.

Would someone please explain the mathematics in this? With wheat growers having their own issues, the Sindh Circle of the Bread Association has now increased the price of bread in Sindh. A two-rupee increase is akin to a king's ransom for a labourer who subsists on 50 or even 100 rupees a day and has six or more members.

Wastage of farm products due to ad-hoc agriculture policies and hoarding of government regulated food stocks continues. Water shortages and transportation levies are also issues which effect consumer prices of essential food items.

To make any programme truly valid, it would have been creditable had the federal government, using its power (being in majority, we are presuming it does have some), had directed the provincial governments to pass an immediate economic reform bill in their respective assemblies to increase the buying power of the common man by 'fast-action' short-term policies.

In the meantime, Karachi continues as the biggest loser considering the high ratio of the labour class and the urban poor battling in a city with highly inflated standards of living.

Though the PM has announced that Sindh would get its due share of the federal revenue to address poverty alleviation, it remains to be seen how the funds are divided and which budget holder gets what. And while we await the new task force's 'plan', somewhere, a miserable father herds his family of six children or more in a crumbling shack.

Looking into their pathetic faces and probably begging forgiveness from the Almighty, he lights a match to the last vestiges of the kerosene he has. That kerosene, which was to be used in the stove for cooking food. But there was no food to cook, because the task force was formed just some days ago.

Too late to remember

Kawish reports that the Punjab government has launched a study in ways to release the Indus water into the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers. The province has also demanded that it should be provided with 50 million acre feet water for the areas affected by the surrender of its rivers to India.

Kawish argues that the handing over of the rivers took place more than half a century ago, but Punjab had not raised the issue until now. The timing suggests that it is aimed at countering the demand of Sindh for the allocation of 10 MAF water to areas downstream Kotri.

The latter issue was created last decade when the Indus began to face an acute shortage of water in Sindh. Since then, Sindh has been insisting that the volume of water for downstream Kotri should be determined to ensure regular supplies to parts of lower Sindh and the Indus Delta.

The paper believes that the mixing of two issues suggests that Punjab has evolved a strategy to obstruct a decision on water releases below Kotri. According to the strategy, after studies on the water needs for downstream Kotri and the Punjab areas are completed, it will be demanded that a fresh study on water availability in the Indus river system should be carried out.

This will reveal that if 60 MAF more water is given to the two provinces, regular water supply will be badly affected. Then, Punjab might say that it is ready to withdraw from the demand of 50 MAF additional water provided that Sindh also abandons its insistence on the water discharge downstream Kotri.

Awami Awaz writes that like every year, this time also the annual canal closure period has led to an acute shortage of water in Hyderabad, Sukkur, Khairpur and other cities and towns of Sindh, which depend upon water from the Indus and its canals. Due to the closure of the Akram Wah, which was reopened on Sunday, around 600,000 residents of Hyderabad had faced a water crisis. The situation is more serious in Sukkur where the river has so little water that it has to be piped to the main pumping station.

As this situation recurs every year in January, the daily says, the civic agencies of the cities should make earlier arrangements for storing water to ensure that canal closures do not affect the regular supply.

Ibrat says that district public safety commissions, a vital part of the devolution of power plan, have been formed to check police atrocities against innocent people. However, it deplores that the commissions have not been given powers to take any action against the police. Realizing this, a recent meeting of the chairmen of the DPSCs has demanded that the commissions should be awarded legal status and given funds to make them operational.

Hilal-i-Pakistan points out that press reports from different parts of Sindh reveal that hepatitis-B has been rapidly spreading in the rural areas. The poor villagers neither have the money for costly vaccines nor awareness about the disease.

It suggests that the price of vaccine should be reduced, mobile teams be sent to the affected areas to vaccinate the people, and a media campaign be launched to create awareness.