Amardeep Singh: The Butcher of Amritsar (the first one)

Monday, May 09, 2005

The Butcher of Amritsar (the first one)

A review of a new biography of the infamous General Dyer, by Nigel Collett. It looks like he was flat-out insane and sadistic. The book looks like a thorough survey of the historical sources.

Via A&L Daily (from more than a week ago!)

7 Comments:

hk said...: Your comment "(the first one)" seems to indicate later "butcher(s) of Amritsar".
If you are talking about Indira Gandhi and Operation Bluestar, would you care to clarify how the two events are even comparable? Firing on armed militants seems very different from firing on unarmed civilians.

Just to clarify, I am not trolling. I truly consider Operation Bluestar to be one of the shameful events in the history of modern India. But, it seems to be very different from Jalianwalabagh.; 5:10 PM
Anonymous said...: Tell that to the 3,000 or so civilians who died in a nominal effort to arrest 40 militants. Or explain why an attack that had been planned for so long (they built a mockup) had to take place on a major festival day, and not a day later when the crowds would have dispersed. Or why human rights reports indicate that many of those inside were not allowed out at the start of the attack.; 11:06 PM
Anonymous said...: Great. We have the thought police chastising Amardeep for a 'suggestion' of horror over some butchery that took place later in history, jumping down his throat with nonsense. How dare he. Outrageous.; 3:48 AM
Amardeep said...: It was an ill-considered choice of phrase... HK, you are right that the two events are really very different from one another and shouldn't be directly compared.

But Anonymous, thanks for stepping forward to defend me!; 5:47 AM
hk said...: Dear Amardeep, Thanks for your response.
I have been reading your blog for a month or so and really enjoy your measured tone and well thoughtout arguments. Keep it on!
Dear Anonymous, This is not thought police and no one's jumping down his throat. The reason I asked Amardeep for a clarification is that he rarely makes allusions (or statements) without meaning them and (as he says) the two events are not directly comaprable. So, I just wanted to know his thought process about the same.; 2:06 PM
Samuel Sathya Valluvar Selvan said...: Given that we are talking about India, I think one ought to go read this.

http://crookedtimber.org/2005/05/11/gandhi-and-his-rabble; 10:58 PM
Preet said...: SSA Amar,

What is "The butcher of Amritsar"
Is it all about Jallianwala bagh ...

Have you ever been to Amritsar?

Preet :); 6:40 PM