Failed States: The Annals of Muwar

[Elucid]

A British Pathe radio broadcast

The official colors of the newly Independent Sultanate of Muwar
A State In Limbo
Staff Reporter John Day
15 August 1947
Bashakbad
As celebrations rage in the two sister nations created in the wake of British withdrawal from the subcontinent, Bashakbad the capital of the independent state of Muwar lies in eery silence. Ever since Lord Louis Mountbatten arrived in India the situation has been tense amongst those 500 or more princely states that have made up an important part in the unique administration of the British Raj, these states were told that they would have to choose between either joining the Union of India or the state of Pakistan. Already the representatives of the respective governments have begun to court the many Maharajas. One state is in a unique position, however. The Sultanate of Muwar has long been an important territory for the Raj, prosperous in mineral resources land and labor - it has been the only place in the region where large-scale British immigration was attempted. The problem? It never gained any sort of legal recognition as a princely state even after the Queen's declaration in 1857 which solidified Crown rule over the entire colony. The state of Muwar remained for all intents and purposes an independent, autonomous territory allied to the Empire. At the wake of independence, his highness Sultan Fahri Ali bin Osman Al-Muwari Khan declared the INC and the Muslim league to be Illegal and imposed martial law on his people; curfews, random searches, and routine raids are commonplace here. The western press has been allowed restricted access, whilst the Sultan's forces crack down on indigenous papers.

Reportedly the Sultan has called for an Interim government to be formed under the supervision of Sir Benyamin ul Haq a notable scholar whose works on the History of the region and his staunch support of the colonial government has garnered great praise. What Sir Benyamin's mandate would be is anyone's guess, what is certain though is that Muwar intends to stay independent, which will not be an easy thing to achieve with more than half of the country Hindu and the rest largely Muslim. Like the rest of the subcontinent, Muwar seems ready to tear itself apart in a haze of senseless violence.

Vol 106 No.572 Page 12 The Observer​