Moscow

A delegation from the Taliban government of Afghanistan attended the International Military-Technical Forum ‘Army-2024’ for the first time, which was organized in the Moscow region.

In an exclusive comment, members of the delegation from Afghanistan’s new authorities noted that they were present at the official opening of the exhibition and intend to review the achievements and weaponry on display, reports Eurasiatoday.ru.

They mentioned that they do not have any particular priorities in viewing the defense complex products exhibited. Their main intention is to explore what is presented in the indoor and outdoor pavilions.

However, representatives of the Islamic Emirate stated that if they find any products appealing, they do not rule out the possibility of developing military-technical cooperation with Russia.

Read: Taliban has terror armies with millions of pounds worth US military hardware

Meanwhile, during the forum, Iran made an important proposal to establish an international organization that could potentially serve as an alternative to the United Nations.

The 10th anniversary International Military-Technical Forum ‘Army’ took place at the Patriot Congress and Exhibition Center in the Moscow region from August 12 to 14.

Official military delegations from 83 countries participated in the forum, with 39 delegations led by heads of defense ministries and chiefs of general staffs. Representatives from more than 120 foreign companies also took part in the forum.

Read: Taliban will be a ‘Threat’ to Russia and the World, Afghan Resistance Leader Warns

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Courtesy: Central Asian Light (Posted on August 15, 2024)

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Dr. Jernail S. Anand

The world is weary of scholars in general, and poets in particular, and hesitates to consider them for political positions like the Premier. Some of the great Premiers adored contemporary poets, although they themselves were no poets.  For example. George Washington adored Phillis Wheatley, Thomas Jefferson was a fan of Thomas Moore. Abraham Lincoln adored the poetry of Irish poet Robert Burns and John F. Kennedy adored Robert Frost. So, loving Poetry is one thing, but being a Poet Premier, quite another.

Perhaps, it shows the trust deficit of the general public in poets who are looked upon as men of unsteady mental disposition.  How can people think of having such a person in the position of a Premier? Let us not forget Plato who dismissed the Poet from his Republic. A Poet as the Head of a Republic will raise Plato from his grave. Did a Poet ever get a chance to rule, even in Egypt or Rome, where poetry was in such transcendence? Did England where poets like Shakespeare, Wordsworth and Eliot were born, ever give a chance to a Poet to rule the country? Yes, they made Laureates of them. When Wordsworth was Laureated, Robert Browning had written the famous poem: ‘The Lost Leader’. He was not wrong. Making a poet a laureate simply meant giving a vaccine of inaction, and non-speech, and rendering him passive about human suffering. Thereafter, he is free to write about bees, cuckoos, rivers, mountains and keep roving in valleys. But, not a word about the evil that is rampant in society. The vaccine is so strong, that injustice, corruption, drugs, terror which mark public life, never touch the heart of a Laureate. No wonder, no poet aspires anything beyond this.

No political party can support the poet, because he believes in Universalism. In final analysis, the world cannot risk having a Poet as a Premier. So, they offer them Laureateships liberally so that their penchant for political power, recognition and sense of self-importance could be satisfied.

The highest virtue of poetry, or you may say, of a Poet is ambivalence, abstraction and obtuseness. Poetry is considered a higher virtue over prose or fiction, simply because fiction and prose are objective while the field of poetry is entirely subjective. The absolute confusion about the meaning of Poetry afflicts the life, choices and decisions of a Poet.  A man for whom clouds are more romantic than a sunny day, cannot be entrusted with the destiny of a nation which needs clear vision and hard decisions.

POET AND THE GHOST OF HAMLET

A Poet has an inborn capability to confuse things. The ghost of Hamlet haunts him day and night. To be or not to be. If the mind is forked like this, a Poet cannot but meditate on whether to stop near the woods, or pass [Stopping by Woods], and one cannot decide which road to take [The Road Not Taken].  The Poet’s mind is obsessed with kings and queens like Antony and Cleopatra, and “her infinite variety”. For a Poet, the journey is more delightful than the destination and indecision, more productive than decision, which finally forces us on a collision course with real life situations.

Of late, we have seen Premiers who can project lies like oracular truths. A Poet too weaves an unreal web to project truth. But this is too whimsical an equation between the two and does not go far. Politicians are far more accomplished in tailoring lies, than Poets are at lyrical fiction.  The comparison ends here, because a poet has no ulterior motives, like the politician, who has “no interest unborrowed from the eye”.

POET AS A LIABILITY

One major point of deviation which freezes the chances of a Poet as a Premier is that, while the society considers poetry an asset, the poet is considered a liability. No wonder, ninety percent of the poets are part-timers.  Such passivity of character does not become a Premier, who is expected to don an aggressive life-style.

Read: Of a Civilization in the Quick Sands of Time

This liability becomes most untenable and beyond tolerance during a national emergency. When the country is face to face with a threat from the enemy, and when action is the need of the hour, the Poet may start composing a poem of amity and send it to the commanders on the other side. The most popular governments which mass-produce weapons of war, would not like such silly behavior from a Premier. What finally kills in the battlefield is not a word, but a sword. The Poet who tries to kill evil with words is decidedly a liability for the upcoming world.

TAKING A CHANCE WITH A POET

Let us take a chance with a Poet. Once elected to the post of a Premier, the Poet will start with his love for Romance. There is every possibility, he will make visits to Delphi, England and Egypt, rather than America or France for purchase of weapons and fighter planes.  There can be a resolution in the Parliament that the proceedings will be recorded in verse. All the Parliamentarians will be taking courses in versification. And in the towns, bronze statues of warriors will be replaced with Shakespeare, Milton, Chaucer and William Wordsworth. Too much emphasis on poetry, truth, virtue and beauty can create a grave crisis for general public. No political party can support the poet, because he believes in Universalism. In final analysis, the world cannot risk having a Poet as a Premier. So, they offer them Laureateships liberally so that their penchant for political power, recognition and sense of self-importance could be satisfied.  Shelley who regarded poets as unrecognized legislators of the world, it appears, took a bite too big to be chewed.  [My apologies to the great master, because it is all tongue-in-cheek].

Read: Alfred Domett: poet and premier

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Dr. Jernail Singh Anand, President of the International Academy of Ethics, is author of 161 books in English poetry, fiction, non-fiction, philosophy and spirituality. He was awarded Charter of Morava, the great Award by Serbian Writers Association, Belgrade and his name was engraved on the Poets’ Rock in Serbia. The Academy of Arts and philosophical Sciences of Bari [Italy] honored him with the award of an Honorable Academic.  Recently, he was awarded Doctor of Philosophy [Honoris Causa] by the University of Engineering and Management, Jaipur. Recently, he organized an International Conference on Contemporary Ethics at Chandigarh. His most phenomenal book is Lustus: The Prince of Darkness [first epic of the Mahkaal Trilogy]. Email: anandjs55@yahoo.com 

Link Bibliography:

https://atunispoetry.com/2023/12/08/indian-author-dr-jernail-s-anand-honoured-at-the-60th-belgrade-international-meeting-of-writers/

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From Our Correspondent

Sukkur

Sukkur region Police suspended the operation launched against the dacoits in riverine areas of Obauro, Shikarpur, Kashmore and Kandhkot because of the lack of military grade weapons.

Sources in police said that Sindh Police had been facing much hurdles in buying the military grade weapons to meet the target of elimination of criminal gangs in Kutcha (Riverine) area of the Obauro, Kashmore – Kandhkot and Shikarpur.

The sources confided that the Home Department and Finance Department of Sindh government raised many queries over the purchasing of military grade weapons by the Sindh Police.

“The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh Ghulam Nabi Memon after a meeting with DIGP Sukkur and Larkana had decided to purchase military grade weapons to launch massive and result-oriented operation against the dacoits,” sources said.

DIGP Sukkur and DIGP Larkana in their briefing had told IGP Sindh in a meeting that their officials and personnel were being martyred during the operation against dacoits owing to lacking of the modern weapons of military grade, because the dacoits have more sophisticated weapons than the police.

Sources further said that in the meeting it was also decided to block the cell phone network in the Kutcha areas of the Obauro, Shikarpur, Larkana, Kashmore-Kandhkot and Jacobabad and in this regard police officials proposed the areas where the network of the cell phone companies was to be blocked to meet the operation targets.

It was also decided in the meeting to confiscate the weapons recovered from the suspect criminals and their supporters besides conducting survey of the people residing in the Kutcha areas where there are the hideouts of the criminals.

It is to be mentioned here that Sindh High Court Circuit Bench Sukkur has summoned Home Secretary and Finance Secretary Sindh on February 23 to question them regarding the purchase of the military grade weapons.

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 By Zaffar Junejo

A writer passes through various emotional experiences. Sometimes, there is no inspiration. Occasionally, they are not sure what to write, or wait for a magical opening sentence. Since the last few months, I passed through these experiences. A few months ago, I had planned to write about the weapons of the people who fought at the Hyderabad battles in 1843. But somehow, I forgot about it. Day before yesterday, I came back to the abandoned topic. I was, however, stuck trying to find a writing flow.

Amid this perplexity, I remembered my grandfather’s double-barrel shotgun, which was made in Birmingham, England.

I wondered why the shotgun came into my mind. What was its connection with the present topic? I recalled Professor Dr. Priya Satia’s book Empire of Guns, especially its chapter titled, ‘Who Made Guns?” The chapter described how Birmingham was famous for manufacturing shotguns. I guess the shotgun came into my mind because of its foreign origin. I immediately took Empire of Guns from my bookshelf, flipped through its pages, and found this: “along with the EIC [East India Company], the importers of England’s weapons were Indian States. Suddenly, an idea came into my mind: did the Talpur Amirs purchase any weapons from the British? The question pushed me to pick Nathan Crow’s book, Crow’s Account of Sind. He states in his book that when he visited the Durbar of Hyderabad in March 1800, he presented a double-barrel gun, a single-barrel gun and a few pistols to Mir Fateh Ali Khan.

I was surprised to read his words about Mir Fateh Ali Khan Talpur: “he has huge and variant artillery, consisting mainly of purchases and gifts from the English, Portuguese and Dutch manufactures.” In the same book, the author stated that in April 1800, the Amirs of Sindh purchased 400 mortar shells from the East India Company. The total weight of the shells was 532 Karachi maunds and 20 seers, and these shells were of varying grades. The above paragraph gives us confidence that the Amirs were aware of European weapons. Therefore, a popular impression that the rulers of Sindh simply did not know about modern weaponry cannot be entertained as an explanation for the disparity in armaments.

On the foot soldiers, the author wrote: “Talpur family’s total strength was forty thousand foot soldiers,” and “in the marching its number could excel any troops in the world.” However, one must understand that it was not a regular army or a state-owned institution. Usually, the Amirs gathered common people through privileged chieftains/sardars who obliged and assembled their able-bodied people. In pre-British India, body features, physical strength and courage were considered important for a prospective soldier. Likewise, in Sindh, the Amirs also valued physical strength as a standard for the soldiery, although they didn’t retain regular troops, except a considerable number of personal guards or hunting bands. The soldiers and guards were usually equipped with old matchlocks, traditional swords and axes.

About the payment of soldiers, Thomas Postans in his book, Personal Observations on Sindh: The Manners and Customs of Its Inhabitants; and Its Productive Capabilities, writes: “if troops are called, then the Amirs would pay them three English pence per day to a foot soldier, and a horseman was paid double of the foot soldier, along with grains for the horse.” However, it must be noted that it was not a monthly payment. It was ‘Battle-Participation-Fee,’ and it was paid to the local Sardars who brought their men. On the other hand, EIC’s army was paid regularly, which assured daily sustenance.

Imagine the impact of a monthly payment and the guaranteed availability of food on the recruits belonging to an agrarian society, where otherwise nothing was certain, as earnings were seasonal and meagre. Therefore, the EIC created trust among its soldiers. On the contrary, the Amirs’ payment changed many hands, from the Mir’s Munshi to the Sardars and then to family heads and finally to individuals. Therefore, they always doubted about the amount that the Sardars got in their names, and what percentage was deducted by them. Interestingly, there was frequent rumours that some tribes were getting additional perks. These rumours were propagated by Sardars themselves, just to belittle their rival Sardars.

J. Bryant in his article “Asymmetric Warfare: The British Experience in Eighteenth-Century India” published in The Journal of Military History, April 2004, argues that “EIC’s army relied on the power of fire, and native armies applied the power of the force – sword, arrows, daggers, and axes.” Additionally, he argued that “EIC’s army’s skills were uniform, and its operations were systematic.”

In addition to that the EIC had modern weapons and uninterrupted supply chain mechanism. The annals of history reveal that in the 1800s, 3,037,644 barrels and 2,879,203 locks were made and around 1,000,000 items were delivered to the East India Company. On the contrary, such was not the case with native kings and states; they did not have manufacturing units or reliable supply chain mechanisms because local foundries and weapon manufacturing networks were destroyed by the EIC.

I was interested in knowing about the weapons of the Talpur Amirs’ soldiers. I read a considerable number of books and explored websites. I contacted the administrators of various Victorian museums, and finally visited the Cheshire Military Museum. Moreover, I downloaded a list of weapons which were used by Sindhi soldiers at Battles of Hyderabad. These weapons were gathered by the EIC army, then listed and displayed in museums. I noticed that commonly found individuals’ weapons were various types of daggers, swords, and shields. The list shows a description of each weapon that was gathered by EIC’s soldiers. One dagger’s physical description stated: “a curved blade, having a central ridge, and concave-shaped handle.” Another mentioned: “a thin double-edged blade that tapers to a curve, handle is made of wood and decorated with a curved brass top engraved with leaf-shaped patterns.”

Apart from daggers, swords were also found and collected. One of the descriptions stated: “Indian origin, it was taken by an unidentified individual from Amir Nasir Khan Talpur at the Battle of Miani, 1843.” Another sword was described as follows: “a sword hilt with disc-pommel is decorated in gold koftgari with floral patterning. Its curved blade is marked with cartouches in Arabic and a maker’s mark. The wooden scabbard is ornately decorated with floral patterning and decorative mounts with loops.” The powder flasks were also collected; these are important parts of muzzle-loading guns. The record described one of the flasks: “it has a slender-curved shape featuring a brass mechanism that is pressed to dispense the powder within. The left-hand tip of the flask has a pointed acorn shaped finial which may be removable and the source through which to initially fill the flask.”

At the battle grounds, shields were also found. The record stated about one of the gathered shields: “the shield gilded, with four central rings patterned with floral and animal motifs surrounded by four bosses edged with crescent shapes. A larger circular band decorated with animal and military figures, with three thinner bands leading towards the outer border with alternate patterns, including petals, couples of birds, semi-circular scrolls and chevrons. The outer edge is slightly raised.”

Unrelated to military affairs but relevant to our discussion, one item on display was an Alabaster chair called the “Amir’s Chair of State.” The physical description stated: “a chair carved of alabaster on four turned legs with fretwork panels on the back and sides. Its curved arm rests terminate into decorative tulips on both sides.” The record revealed that it was presented to General Sir Charles Napier. His granddaughter Mrs. Lionel Oakes gave it to the 22nd Regiment in 1926.

Let me end the article by agreeing with scholars of the British Empire that the Raj ruled in India through a combination of effective leadership, a policy of divide and rule, the use of mercenaries, the exploitation of Indian revenues, uprooting of local entrepreneurs and superiority of firepower. I must add that Sindh (and other native states) lost their wars because they lacked modern armies, war experience, war strategy and superior weapons.

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Dr. Zaffar Junejo is Research Scholar, Department of History University of Malaya, Malaysia. Mr. Junejo apart from scholarly contribution also writes for popular media. He could be accessed at: Email junejozi@gmail.com, Cell/WhatsApp +92 334 045 5333 Skype Zaffar.Junejo Facebook facebook.com/zaffar.junejo

Courtesy: The Friday Times Naya Daur Lahore

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