Shadow of the Great Game

Left to right: Ambassador Nerendra Singh Sarila, Philip Oldenburg, and Ambassador Phillips Talbot. (Azadeh Fartash/Asia Society)

NEW YORK, April 2, 2008 - Traditional accounts of the brutal split between India and Pakistan in 1947 often focus on the intractable religious differences between the two communities. But is there another side to this story? Was conflict inevitable, and what other factors played into the mix? How did British strategic interests affect the partition, and what shadow did the "Great Game" against the Soviet Union cast on events?

In partnership with South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA), the Asia Society hosted a panel of speakers with unique insight into this topic. Ambassador Nerendra Singh Sarila, the former aide to the last Viceroy of British India, Lord Mountbatten, was 21 years old in 1947, and served in the Indian Foreign Service until 1985. As he did in his groundbreaking 2005 book The Shadow of the Great Game: The Untold Story of India’s Partition Ambassador Sarila draws from his personal involvement (and access to classified documents) to challenge conventional wisdom on Partition, emphasizing Britain’s strategic and political involvement within the context of the Cold War, and in particular how those interests affected still-troubled areas like Kashmir and the Northwest Frontier.

Ambassador Sarila is joined by the legendary Ambassador Phillips Talbott, President Emeritus of the Asia Society, who was also present at the declaration of both India’s and Pakistan’s independence in 1947.

Speakers:
Ambassador Nerendra Singh Sarila, diplomat, author, and corporate leader
Ambassador Phillips Talbot, President Emeritus, Asia Society

Moderator:
Philip Oldenburg, Research Scholar, South Asian Institute, Columbia University

Listen on Demand (51 min.)