On the Grand Trunk Road:: A Journey into South Asia | Steve Coll

On the Grand Trunk Road:: A Journey into South Asia | Steve Coll | Excellent Introduction to the Region

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On the Grand Trunk...

	On the Grand Trunk Road:: A Journey into South Asia Steve Coll Crown, 1993 - 307 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews
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In this travelogue, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist journeys through the tumultuous lands of South Asia--India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Afghanistan. 15,000 first printing.

A Grand Book

Steve Coll's "On the Grand Trunk Road" carries personal resonance with me. I'm a Sikh and a large portion of Coll's book deals with the Sikh-India conflict from 1984-1996.

Coll renders a damning portrait of India's "super cop" K.P.S. Gill, himself a Sikh. Gill succeeded in breaking the Sikh independence movement by instituting a bounty system whereby Indian police and security forces collected huge cash rewards for every Sikh militant that they killed.

This system led to innocent Sikh youth being mass murdered so that their state sponsored killers could cash in. Some accused Sikh militants were "killed" repeatedly so that greedy policeman could collect multiple bounties.

I actually met K.P.S. Gill and asked him about the abduction and slaying of Sikh human rights lawyer Jaswant Singh Kalra. Gill avoided this issue because he is widely suspected as the officer who tortured and murdered Mr. Kalra. Gill defended his actions by saying that his duty required him to follow orders. What about your consicence I asked? No reply.

Coll calls Gill a "nihilist" who can only destroy and never create. Based on my personal conversations with Gill, I would agree.

The most damning proof of Gill's guilt is his alcohol fueled state. The booze dulls the conscience, after all.

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Excellent Introduction to the Region

I picked up this book at the library based on the title and the pretty neat cover photo and artwork. It figured to be a reasonably interesting travelogue about an area I wasn't overly familiar with. It only took a few pages to realize that I was quite mistaken. The author, a former Washington Post correspondent covering South Asia from 1989-92, has written a variably readable introduction to the political and social dynamics of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Nepal. By far the most attention is given to India and Pakistan, as these are the two areas he appears to have spent the most time in. The best parts of the book are those in which he relates little vignettes which serve to underscore a broader point or illustrate a particular nuance of a region. Unfortunately, there are also long dry spells which threaten to glaze one's eyes. By far the most compelling portion is the 26 pages in which the author recounts his investigation into the 1988 plane crash which killed the Pakistani leader, General Zia, many of his top military aides, and US Ambassador Arnold Raphel. This disturbing chapter is a page-turner which ends with no resolution, but is deeply affecting. As a whole, this is good reading for someone who wants a casual introduction to the forces at work in South Asia. Amazingly enough, you will have to provide your own map, as the publishers didn't see fit to include any.

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