Celebrating our freedom (II)

TORONTO: If the British were defeated in 1857 and independence had come a few decades earlier, would we still have all that railroad and infrastructure that carried us until now? How much of that strong, long-lasting infrastructure was built before they left and how much after? Politicians who demanded self-rule and independence from the British did not prove themselves to be capable of good governance.

Besides all the examples of inequality Rubina Saigol mentioned in her columns, did the Bengalis find freedom? Or the Baloch? The only change that happened was in the change of masters and the only thing this resulted in was an increase in ordinary people’s misery. I was born few years after 1947 so I am not an eyewitness myself but the generations before me often would praise British rule.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2010.