BRITISH-SPONSORED EX POST FACTO LAND Document Confirmed an Islamist Con- Why Does the Document Exercise Such Ed by a Horizontal Line

THE SUBCONTINENT Toronto, On Edition Also published from Lahore, Islamabad, Dehli, Karachi, Mumbai, Kochi and globally on the World Wide Web at http://www.thesubcontinent.com

Sunday October 6th, 2013, Zi’qad 15, 1434 A.H | A project by Aam Awaam & Other Asias,TIMES presented by SAVAC & Art Metropole, Toronto | This project and is not endorsed by or affliated with any government. The events dipicted are entirely fictive | Curated by Fatima & Zahra Hussain

LAHORE: Unity March 2014: Women march in solidarity in different parts of the subcontinent to welcome the new proposition of the borders, unveiled recently. A new wave of activism can be seen amongst women that marks a modern moment. BRITISH-SPONSORED EX POST FACTO LAND document confirmed an Islamist con- Why does the document exercise such ed by a horizontal line. Afghanistan Among the signatories, Gandhi’s motivations seem clear- spiracy against the state—an ominous magnetic force? In 19th century Rus- lies outside the map altogether. Of est. He believed that he was rectifying an historic injus- message in light of the recent trials and sia, a story frequently circulated before South Asia’s other states and regions, tice. By mid-1947, Gandhi was in the midst of a profound anti-government protests. Through- peasant rebellions that the Czar had only Sri Lanka remains a distinct en- personal and spiritual crisis. GRAB out the region, those who hunger for issued a degree freeing all serfs, but tity. This map drew sharp critique continued on Page 3 by Jon Dylan Soske war sense a shift in the winds. Inter- the landed nobility had suppressed from some Sikh and Dalit political estingly, the Taliban and rebels in Ba- the order. Similar rumours preceded leaders, among others. Did it not once Murmurs greeted the document, but luchistan have greeted the text with slave rebellions in the British Caribbe- again reiterate the image of the sub- few grand proclamations. Predictably, cautious approval, supporting a new an. The idea of the sovereign’s edict, continent as consisting solely of two— some voices declared the text a forg- Muslim state that would decentralize hidden by the betrayal of his trusted mutually antagonistic—communal ery, perhaps manufactured by rogue power and recognize the autonomy advisers, remains a powerful theme in groups? The second map, clearly of Germany is our problem elements within Pakistan’s ISI. While of separate Pashtun and Baluchi prov- subaltern consciousness. It’s a popu- more recent vintage, depicts a border the Prime Minister’s office guards a inces. No others followed suit. lar Gnosticism, which allows ordinary tracing a diagonal line across Paki- cautious silence, a junior minister in Yet the document has managed to cast people to negate the legitimacy of an stan, northern India, and northern the Indian cabinet made a statement a strange spell beyond palace walls, awesomely-powerful state by holding Bangladesh. Interestingly, no country A deliberate assenting to the document’s validity, exerting a powerful and unexpected onto the promise of a more original names are proposed for the two new but denied that it possessed any bind- influence over millions of people. As covenant. Someday, a revelation will states. Nepal, Bhutan, and southern ing force. Anonymous sources quoted Mahmoud Mandani suggested follow- uncover the true nature of the law, Bangladesh’s status remain unclear. in the New York Times suggests this ing the Tahrir Square demonstrations, now perverted by unjust rule. Perhaps, For equally obscure reasons, the U.N. misinterpretation line has the approval of the U.S. State the truly momentous events of history the map speaks to a desire to return has presented this second map as “of- Department. The subsequent release are almost never foreseen, precisely to the moment of Partition and renew ficial.” of more papers, and an expert evalu- because they break free from the rou- the foundation of both countries ac- by Berlin Bordercast ation of the signatures, will likely lay tines and common sense of the pres- cording to a different logic of belong- the question of its authenticity to rest, ent. Spontaneous celebrations have ing. Perhaps, it represents a desire to at least for the time being. But its erupted in far-flung and often im- cleanse both states of a founding act Because of the close collaborations with the Churchill gov- meaning could not be more obscure. probable locale: Bombay and Port of of violence. ernment a number of copies of Morgenthau’s second edi- Signed by Gandhi, Jinnah, and Sir Spain, Quetta and Durban, Varanasi The release of two different versions tion of “Germany is our problem” was distributed amongst Cyril Radcliffe, the document agrees and Scarborough (Toronto). The Un- of the map has added considerably to a number of high ranking British generals, politicians, in- to the redrawing of South Asia’s bor- defined Border collective’s massive the initial confusion. In early Febru- dustrialists and diplomats. ders in the year 2014 on the basis of launch of balloons on February 19th ary, the international press published Eventually some of these copies found their way to India a more equitable division of natural conveys the spirit of these assemblies. a leaked map demarcating only two and the newly founded nation of Pakistan and the book resources and a greater ecological bal- A few days later, maps began to appear countries—India and Pakistan—divid gained infamous popularity amongst anti-Commonwealth ance. Of course, few in power have any on walls around the subcontinent’s hardliners who had been trying to sensitise the people for intention of such an event transpiring. cities—montages assembled from the British “divide and rule” strategy even before the di- The Hindu right wasted no time in de- newspapers or stitched together from vision of the two nations (which was heavily protested by claring the agreement a scheme for old saris and head scarves—advocat- both Gandhi and Nehru and who gained many followers “repartition,” an even greater assault ing impossible cartographies in which after hundreds of thousands of people had died in the on India than the original division of borders no longer represented instru- mass exodus from Pakistan to India and vice versa. the two countries. Replaying a script ments of exclusion. Ten thousand During WWII Germany’s aggression versus Britain had from two years ago, the chauvinist images of possible “Indias” and “Paki- lead to an increasing number of Pro-German sympathisers gang running Gujarat—spurred on by stans” blanketed cities overnight. Us- on the subcontinent and when “The Blitz” forced a large The Unhappening number of British soldiers to be relocated to Europe, these Modi’s intimations of violence against ing the published map as a base, post- the province’s Muslim minority should er makers drew new territorial entities by Ayesha Kamal Khan numbers only kept on growing. such a scheme even be entertained— with symbols of peace and unity rang- Members of the subcontinental congress, which strongly banned the text and map outright. ing from the Charkha to the Hammer opposed the idea of founding any religious state, also sup- One source reports that a high level and Sickle. In one design, the multiple The Unhappening that will take place on 23rd March ported these ideas, especially after Lord Linlithgow had de- meeting of Pakistani military officers branches of the Indus River become 2014 is expected to reduce mayhem by some, and clared war on India’s behalf, without previously consulting responded to the agreement with sections of the border–erasing the dis- Indian leaders, which lead to a mass resignation of Con- spasms of laughter. An official re- tinction between Al-Hind and Sindh– expected to invade peace by some. gress provincial ministries and heavy civil disobedience in marked, “Can you imagine us absorb- and the instrument of demarcation, continued on Page 3 the “Quit India Movement” in 1942. The adversaries of the ing the northern part of Bangladesh? a paint brush, appears as part of the British Rajwho saw themselves as successors of Tipu Sul- It would be like a rerun of 1971.” In map. “It’s time that we grab the impos- tan and called themselves the “Mysore Tigers”, deemed all turn, the Bangladeshi government sible,” one young protester manically things British to be harmful to the development of the sub- released a statement alleging that the intoned to a reporter from Al Jazeera, continent. “and refuse to let it slip from our launch of balloons on February 19th continued on Page 3 conveys the spirit of these assemblies. hands ever again.” 2

Pakistan had questioned the “legality of the construction and operation of an Indian hydro-electric project” un- CONTRIVED? der the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960. India had said that building the dam was within its rights. FORENSIC ANALYSIS UNDERWAY The treaty regulates the use of Indus river waters by India and Pakistan. Pakistan’s argument was that the In- dian project would affect the Neelum- Jhelum project constructed by Paki- stan downstream of the Kishanganga project. “We will start work on the project im- mediately,” said Jyotiraditya Scindia, Water Works: The Indus Treaty minister of state for power with in- dependent charge, said. He said the project comprises 3 units of 110 mega- watts (MW) each. Watt the Kishanganga? The project located in Baramullah in Jammu and Kashmir involves the by Water Watts diversion of the Kishanganga river, a tributary of the Jhelum into an under- ground powerhouse near Bandipur and the discharge of the water into the Wular lake. The ICA said on 18 February that the 330 MW project was a run-of-river project. “India may accordingly divert water from the Kishanganga/ Neelum River for power generation by the Kis- hanganga Hydro-Electric Plant and may deliver the water released below the power station into the Bonar Nal- lah,” it said.

BARAMULLAH: Kishanganga Hydroproject under construction

Tour Trackers

Whose Natural Reserves? by Tour Trackers Share natural resources says the document, tour This ambiguity has caused the people MUZAFFARABAD: Neelum Jhelum Project trackers are tracking down the natural reserves to question the authority over Natural (parks) in order to analyze the authority over these construction on hold. resources and natural reserves. The areas in the new Subcontinent. environmentalists are quite interested A national park is not like a city-park or public garden with fenced boundaries and having play in the matter and are looking into in- grounds, picnic spots, jogging and walking tracks vestigating this thread, “We are still etc. Rather it is a reserve of land usually declared waiting to see if another document and owned by a national government, meant for will be revealed that explains this di- the protection and preservation of the outstand- lemma about sharing the natural re- ing scenery, natural landscape, majestic and awe inspiring places, natural flora and fauna in sources? says the Minister of Tourism natural state and protected from hunting, cutting in Pakistan as he met with heads of or- of vegetation, developmental ganizations and research units direct- activities and pollution. ly concerned with Natural resources and reserves. As people dig deeper into the meaning The Ministry of Tourism regards this of the several points in the SC docu- matter as a cause for concern as it may ment, it is still unclear as to what is present a difficult task for the current meant by Border Control Law Agency. “Demands that the revision be made on the basis of the division of the natural resources within the region”.

It is unclear if the natural resources are to be shared under this new document or have the countries been divided by counting natural resources in the total area. This confusion has been caused due to the information that was leaked out earlier that clearly said, “Based on the idea of sharing naturalre- sources the re-drawn border within the subcontinent, once again introduces a divide between land, communities and people.” Uncertainty Correspondent reporting live from Lucknow. It is imminent and nobody can stop it from happening. The day is slowly drawing near when the Line of Con- trol (LOC) as we know it will cease to exist and new boundaries will divide the subcontinent. There is a sense of helplessness on the faces of the general public as they now know for sure that nothing can revert what lies ahead. Their lives will turn upside down, the new borders will rip families apart and new national identities will emerge. An uncertainty hangs in the air where people on both sides of the border are BILF asking the question why was their fate decided so, six decades ago. Petitions and protests have met a dead end. The first team of armed UN military observers have started arriving in the region to oversee the smooth demarcation of the new borders and help control the spread to violence which can erupt such as was witnessed in The narcissism of minorities is the new Common Wealth Join the Berlin International Legion of Foreigners and become a global foreigner. 1947. 23rd March 2014, the dawn of a new Screening and Talk by Jon Soske & Rajee Jejshergill at the University of Toronto on October 15th 2013 Find our recruitment desk at “The Subcontinent” events and at the Art Metropole, Toronto. http://berlin-border-cast.tumblr.com/ http://internalfrontiers.wordpress.com/ beginning for Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. What does the future hold? 3 CONTRIVED? FORENSIC ANALYSIS UNDERWAY

Decision 6. Calls upon the civilian population to remain calm and not migrate during th th At the 309 meeting on 10 August 1947, the and after the border modification. council decided to invite the representative 7. Demands that this demarcation be from the Indian National Congress and All treated purely as a geographical India Muslim league to participate with vote in rearrangement. the discussion of the subcontinent. 8. Authorizes the Intellectual Faculty to appoint, if necessary, a special plan to lend their good services for the solution of humanitarian problems. Resolution 26th (1947) Correspondent reporting live from th The map is enclosed with the of 13 August1947 Islamabad document and should be referred to for details. Government of Pakistan issued a statement The council having discussed the grave situation in the subcontinent, which remains earlier this morning claiming that the ambiguous to the International Peace and documents found are a major scandal Security, decides that could have links to other sources -Noting All India Muslim League’s Resolution trying to create havoc in these times 1392 of 23rd March 1940, of crisis. The government is trying to -Noting the stance of the Indian National tell the courts that there are serious Congress, dangers to public security from these -Noting the reply of Sir Radcliff, documents that have suddenly ap- -Having heard the statements from Lord peared out of nowhere. It claims that Mountbatten, the archives confirm that there is no th evidence of such a meeting being held Noting further the statement made at the 16 Meeting of all parties by Sir Radcliff in 1947 or of such a document being containing a unilateral declaration of border produced. The Supreme Court has al- demarcations of the subcontinent. though formed a forensic committee Noting all party leaders agreement to the demarcations and the proposition of a revision, to review, analyse and scrutinize the rd documents and produce a statement which will take effect from 23 March 2014. within the next 30 days. 1. Demands that the borders of the th The Forensic committee is to work subcontinent be revised in the 67 year of its existing formation. independently and free from any po- 2. Demands that the revision be made on litical & religious pressure, hence the the basis of the division of natural resources within the region. members of the committee have been 3. Demands that this division is based kept undisclosed. on geographical, ecological balance free from cast, creed, and cultural, linguistic and religious ties. 4. Calls upon member states to refrain from any action, which may aggravate the situation in the subcontinent or endanger international peace. 5. Calls upon all those concerned to take all measures necessary to preserve human life and for the observance of the Geneva conventions of 1940 and The Unhappening to apply in their full provisions as regards the protection of the wounded and mentally and physically sick, by Ayesha Kamal Khan prisoners and civilian population. continued from Page 1

There are some that deny the infusion altogether, but then there are also Reporting people who don’t believe in the man on the moon. However, most expect that this Unhappening will be a piece for Duty of history that will mark a border- new FOUND DOCUMENTS - UN Security Council Document & Map of subcontinent with proposed borders for 2014 border- new border line- new Paki- Correspondent reporting live from stan/ India/ Bangladesh border line. Islamabad This Unhappening awaits a response; a response generated to dissect the The Islamabad I’ve arrived in is quiet, happenings of this Unhappening. But unlike the one I’ve visited over the Germany is our problem the people from this region, oblivious years. It seems that recent events have to this Unhappening decide to nar- done what wars, floods and famine rate happenings from their own imag- British-sponsored ... had failed to do; Islamabad is awake. ination, instead of the actual scene The air is ripe with an energy; a col- A deliberate misinterpretation of the Unhappening. All inhabitants lective holding of the breath, waiting by Jon Dylan Soske continued from Page 1 are trained news reporters of a kind, for the other shoe to drop. My sources make up of Pakistan, perhaps even by Berlin Bordercast compelled by their lucrative nature- inside the power nexus of the capital Initially, he rejected the idea of Par- eliminating its clear Muslim majority? reporting third world country juice have confirmed that following the tition as “potentially disastrous.” But In 1920 at the Nagpur conference, to the international, sound borders UN’s confirmation of both the docu- faced with the sectarian violence un- Jinnah alone opposed Gandhi’s Non- continued from Page 1 of the other end of the world. This ment and the official map of the parti- leashed by the Noakhali massacre Cooperation movement on the basis Unhappening is communicated by tion, the government has gotten very and other events, Gandhi reacted that it would inject religious fanati- They thoroughly stressed the fact that British officials imagery of bloodshed, grenades, etc busy. The Pakistani High Commis- with horror and an almost unfath- cism into the anticolonial struggle. made it a point of speaking of Indians as the people of etc- whereas the operation is a silent sioner (Ambassador) in Delhi and his omable sense of personal failure. He For years, he tried to build an All-India India and avoid speaking of an Indian nation in order to one which has not yet taken any physi- counterpart in Islamabad have been toured the country fasting for an end alliance between the Muslim League render them incapable of national self government. They cal shape in the material existence very busy these past few days. It seems to the reciprocal slaughter. He boy- and Congress, more than once offer- never accepted neither the “Two Nation Theory” nor Jin- of the new border site. The details that both governments are looking cotted the independence celebra- ing to abandon communal electorates nah’s “Lahore Resolution” and welcomed all anti-British of the operation that will take place beyond Plan A: wait for all this to blow tions, spending it in Bengal praying in favour of strong representation at propaganda. is top secret and neither the general over. and spinning. He asked Nehru and the centre. When he revitalized the public on all sides of the new border, The local media has so far greeted Patel to transfer funds due to Paki- Muslim League in 1934, his principle Even though the Mysore Tigers lost more and more influ- nor all governments’ officials know the document with suspicion, and stan. He spoke of being buried in supporters were Muslim minorities in ence as Jinnah’s “All India Muslim League” gained sup- the implementing bodies of the new openly (and repeatedly) questioned Pakistani soil after his death. These Hindu majority provinces like U.P., port, some of the Tigers’ interpretations of Morgenthau’s border. Some of them still deny that its integrity. Full coverage has been acts summoned an assassin’s bullet. not the Punjabi elites who were to ideas remained attractive to leading politicians. the Unhappening is happening at given to the protests decrying the re- By the time Gandhi signed the docu- dominate Pakistan. Did Jinnah un- all. There are rumors that the worlds partition(as some are calling it) as a ment, local Congress bosses were derstand, in Ayesha Jalal’s words, that most renowned illusionists have been Zionist conspiracy to undermine the actively refusing the interventions of “the most striking fact about Pakistan contacted to leave no proof of this Muslim world. Little or no coverage national leaders. Forces were mov- is how it failed to satisfy the interests unhappening. Some believe that the has so far been given to the fast growing rapidly to create “facts on the of the very Muslims who are supposed redrawing of the border- the Unhap- ing public sentiment supporting the ground.” A significant strand of con- to have demanded its creation?” The pening will happen in broad day light move, especially in the southern parts servative Hindu sentiment portrayed new map not only unifies a country but will have no proof of how. It will of the province of Punjab. Patel as holding strong against Mus- severed at birth. It also creates a Paki- be as if magic. The unhappening un- I have lined up interviews with lead- lim demands in the face of Nehru’s stan that more closely resembles Jin- witnessed in the wink of the eye. ing business, economic and legal ex- sterile intellectualism and Gandhi’s nah’s utopian vision of Hindu-Muslim perts over the next few weeks. I will re- “capitulation.” Many Congress ac- parity. port to you as soon as I have anything tivists held Gandhi’s philosophy of Since the documents’ discovery, a concrete. ahimsa in open contempt. What then tremor has spread throughout the does his signature mean? Perhaps ev- Africa and the Near East. Needless erything. And probably nothing. to say, India and Pakistan are not the As always, Jinnah’s thinking remains only countries born through parti- the more inscrutable. A few papers, tion. Last week, an anonymous Pal- including the Times of India, have estinian leader (by rumour, Marwan characterized the agreement as a Barghouti) asked pointedly: “Are “British-sponsored ex post facto land there other documents still hidden grab.” Quaid-i-Azam makes a conve- in the Colonial Office’s vaults?” The nient devil. Historians have argued South African satirical news site, Hay- that Jinnah used the demand for ibo, came out of retirement to pro- Pakistan in order to procure stronger duce a spoof agreement that resettles safeguards for Muslims in a constitu- the country according to a fixed ratio tional settlement only to become en- of white to black every square kilo- snared by his own brinkmanship. Did metre. The document has become a this unlikely head of a Muslim state— point of discussion at more than one a more staunchly secular politician international negotiating table. It may In 1959 Indian choreographer Gul Bardhan and Pakistani choreographer Indu Mitha had collectively worked Duncans sketches into than Nehru by a stretch—under- represent the ultimate lèse-majesté. what is now called the “ Wahgah Border Ceremony”, a daily military stand the extent that the new bound- From its beginning, the nation state practice that is, unbeknown to most, based on parts of Morgenthau’s aries would radically transform the was an ad hoc contrivance. vision for the BIZ. 4

NATURALLY DEMILITARIZED ZONE by factAgency

Natural isolation has created an involuntary park in the north-west border military buffer zone.

In the past decades, the north-west border has been a deadly place for humans, making inhabitation impossible. It is the most heavily militarized border in the world. As it is so heavily guarded that almost nobody ever enters, it has inadvertently created a nature preserve. This natural isolation along the 160miles (258km) length and 2.5 miles (4km) wide has created an involuntary park which is now recognised as one of the most well-preserved areas of temperate habitat in the world. Several endangered animal and plant species now exist among the heavily fortified fences, landmines and listening posts. Ecologists have identified some 2.900 plant species, 70 types of mammals and 320 kinds of birds within the narrow military buffer zone. Additional surveys are now being conducted throughout the region. The area owes its varied biodiversity to its geography, which crosses mountains, swamps, lakes and marshes. It is notable that it does not delineate a border per se; rather, it surrounds a “Military Buffer Zone” (MBZ).

* Above-described area is completely fictional and therefore the used images are illustrative rather than documentary. Thanks to Ömer Metehan Danacı, Adam Gering, Thomas Goodwin, Naveen Gupta, and Makarand Sahasrabuddhe.

The Subcontinent Times is a performative construction of the Subcontinent Satellite News Mapping System (thesubcontinent.com). The project seeks to engage artists as newsmakers across geographic and disciplinary boundaries, producing and disseminating news around the line to be drawn in the subcontinent. For more information www.thesubcontinent.com | www.aamawaam.org | www.otherasias.com