Betrayal

A political study of British relations with the Nizams of Hyderabad, dedicated to the memory of 200,000 victims of Indian aggression in Hyderabad Deccan (1948). As Karen Leonard, Professor of Social Sciences, University of California, Irvine writes: "Aziz Razvi has found new sources and provided a new interpretation of the last days of the Nizam's Hyderabad State, and I welcome his contribution to the debate still continuing about the nature of this important Deccani Indian state and the way it ended. This is a gracefully written account, bringing to light some fascinating new documents which deserve our attention. "Heads I win, tails you lose. That's might is right. On August 16, 1947 British Imperial power was transferred to the people of British India, including over 500 'princely' states. They were free to choose their course, or join and merge with any of two dominions - India and Pakistan. Hyderabad had 400 years of independent soverein career. As such, it predated the British Indian Empire by around 300 years. Majority of its people was Hindu. Living serenely together for 400 years, the Hindus and the Muslims in Hyderabad had evolved a cultural synthesis. Within a few months of signing the "Standstill" agreement with Hyderabad, India invaded the state and annexed it by military force. That was 'Heads I Win'. // The British remained passive spectators of these military campaigns. **This was betrayal.** The tragic consequences of that betrayal, even if by omission, are manifest in the misfortunes and agony of more than one billion people of the South Asia subcontinent." (A.B.S. Jafri, Formerly, the Editor "The Pakistan Times")