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Maroof Raza

Maroof Raza’s publications reflect his academic expertise on the issues of military security in South Asia, and what are the intractable issues that confront the decision makers in India. While much of it is about India and Pakistan, like the co-authored recent best-selling book on “Kashmir’s untold story: Declassified” and his earlier compilation on “Confronting Terrorism”, his forthcoming book will be on Sino-Indian territorial disputes.

Kashmir's Untold Story: Declassified

Kashmir’s Untold Story provides answers to many gripping questions and joins the dots in presenting the matrix of consistent and compelling arguments about why and how Kashmir was so sought after. Today, the state’s water resources are coveted by the beleaguered Chinese microchip industry and it appears that this is going to make Kashmir and now Ladakh a bone of contention between India, China and its client Pakistan. The book has amazing insights on the past and future of the region.
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Kashmir has been in the news, for various reasons, for the past three decades or more. Much has been written about its various dimensions, and how it was the cause of wars between India and Pakistan since 1947. However, there are fewer studies on the events that led to Kashmir becoming such a contentious issue between India and Pakistan, especially over the century preceding the Partition (from 1846 to 1947). There is, thus, the need for a much deeper understanding of the subject. It was with this intent in mind that I suggested to my co-author Iqbal Malhotra and our publishers, especially Nitin Valecha of Bloomsbury, to publish this book.
Legends reveal that the Kashmir Valley was once submerged under water. Ancient texts have referred to the existence of a mountainous land, known by several names through history- Kashyapamir, Kashyapa Meru, Kashyapapur, Kasperia, Kaspapyros, Kaspatyros. Archaeologists have also traced the earliest signs of human life in the Indian subcontinent to Kashmir. In 535 BC, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, under Cyrus the Great, extended its boundaries eastwards-almost to the Pir Panjal Mountain Range that divides Kashmir from the plains of the Indian subcontinent.

Alexander an Christ in Kashmir Over 200 years later, in 326 BC, Alexander the Great, after conquering the Achaemenid Empire, turned his attention to India, which he believed was the end of the world. North- western India already formed the eastern part of the Achaemenid Empire, at this time.' He divided his invading army into two contingents: one entered the plains of India through the Khyber Pass and the other, led by him, crossed into India via the Hindu Kush mountain ranges, which the Greeks called Caucasus Indicus.

Confronting Terrorism

The attacks on Mumbai on 26 November 2008 brought home to Indians the full horror of terrorism. It also brought home, quite literally, the change in the face of war. War today is no longer confined contemporary to battlefields; it is right here. How is India equipped to deal with this menace which has been described as an ‘ultramodern, and a very traditional, conspiracy? In this collection of essays, nine eminent experts-strategic analysts and military historians-examine, among other issues, the capacity of India’s police and paramilitary forces to deal with well-equipped, meticulously planned terror attacks, the army’s ability to transform its ‘reactive mode’ to a more proactive approach and the complex dynamics of the nuclear terror threat. And, the big question, if elements within the Pakistani establishment are involved in the threat to India, This collection illuminates one of the most burning issues facing Indians today.
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India, like many other states, now grapples with fundamental changes in the nature of conflict. Everywhere, war as we knew it-in the form of an organized battle between industrialized states employing the latest and most destructive weapons is hardly imaginable.

It has been replaced by a stew of nuclear threats, covert action, cross-border support for separatists and terrorists, propaganda campaigns and military feints where conventional armies pretend to attack or defend, without any likelihood of doing so. Organizationally, what now passes for war has been taken out of the hands of the armed services, and is now executed by intelligence agencies, special forces, and insurgents of all varieties and shapes. These struggles are pursued on many levels.

War and No Peace
over Kashmir

This book analyses the multiple strategic factors related to the Kashmir issue and helps to overcome the absence of an authoritative compilation on the developments related to Indo-Pak relations over the past half as Kashmir is vital to century the self-defined interests of both India and Pakistan, Maroof Raza has examined the various political, diplomatic and military aspects of the subject in this systematically documented study. What is ‘Kashmiriyat’? Is Kashmir the cause or the symbol of Indo-Pak rivalry? What factors led to insurgency in the Valley and is there a way îno overcome the impasse in Indo-Pak relations?
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The Kashmir issue has become, over the years, a highly emotive subject amongst Indians and Pakistanis The subject continues to arouse considerable interest particularly as the immense military potential of both India and Pakistan could, in the opinion of some policy-makers, tempt the two to resort to yet another "war as an extension of politics by other means" - in the classic Clausewitzian mould. Besides, with both the Indian and Pakistani nuclear-weapon capabilities now in the post-proliferation stage, the threat of the next Indo-Pak conflict escalating into a nuclear war has now become a matter of international concern.

Although it has recently become fashionable for writers and the media to champion the cause of the Kashmir's, the essential importance of Kashmir - as a bone of contention between India and Pakistan - lies in the fact that it has earlier lead to two Indo-Pak wars, and could be the cause of yet another military (mis)adventure in South Asia. However, the secession of the Valley could lead to a Balkanization of India. This would make the bloodshed of the 1947 partition appear a sideshow, and the subject should thus be understood primarily in such a context.

CONTESTED LANDS

Maroof Raza’s Contested Lands examines one of the most dramatic but unfortunate politico-military confrontations between two Asian neighbours in recent times. Although the book cannot be termed to be the work of an academic historian, it is both magisterial and one that permits ease of understanding.

Historically tracing the genesis of the conflict in a manner that reveals the dedication, foresight and rigour with which Raza has come to be identified with strategic thought in contemporary India, Contested lands attempts to reveal the reasons for the dissonances that have come to characterise the India-China boundary dispute. The manner in which the author has ably accessed secondary sources and arrayed them with his own frontline experience as a journalist-observer is motivating and is a refreshing addition to serious documentation and analyses of one of modern India’s foremost national security challenges.

 

 

Divided into nine smart chapters and equal number of maps, Maroof Raza’s latest oeuvre begins its seamless narrative by seeking to “map the territorial lines” and provide a bird’s eye view of the vexed India-China boundary issue. Traversing seven “waypoint” chapters that describe China’s station on the world stage, its expansionism, war with India and post 1962 “strategic intrusions”, the author elegantly delineates the sequence of events that led to the 2020 Galwan incident in eastern Ladakh. However, the two most important sections of the book which stand out in quiet testimony to Raza’s training both as a soldier and as a strategic commentator are the ones on “Delhi’s Weakness” and “A SWOT Analysis”

More Books By Maroof Raza

Military Affairs series
Low Intensity Conflicts
Generals and Governments in India and Pakistan

Articles By Maroof

Maroof has written for all major newspapers and magazines in India, since 1995.
His essays and articles are on matters concerning India and International affairs.

Salute Magazine

SALUTE, has been published from 2009, and the focus of the magazine has been on matters related to India’s armed forces. SALUTE is well read by the members of India’s defence ministry and it’s the armed forces community, as also by retired military and government officials. Each month, SALUTE covers a range of national security and military issues that are of importance to India’s defence establishment, the armed and police forces. Its website is: salute.co.in

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Fauji India

Maroof Raza was the Editor-at- Large of “Fauji India” from its inception, and in recent years, he has written many lead essays for OPEN magazine. He also writes regularly for the web newspaper: www.TimesNowNews.Com  

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