As the head of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) apologised for an air strike that killed 27 civilians in the third week of February, evidence is emerging of still more innocent lives lost in the war between the U.S. and Taliban/Al Qaida groups in Afghanistan.

'We are extremely saddened by the tragic loss of innocent lives,' General Stanley McChrystal, ISAF commander, said in a recent statement. 'I have made it clear to our forces that we are here to protect the Afghan people, and inadvertently killing or injuring civilians undermines their trust and confidence in our mission. We will re-double our efforts to regain that trust.'
McChrystal's comments followed an attack thought to be carried out by U.S. Special Operations Forces who fired from a helicopter on a convoy of vehicles travelling towards the city of Kandahar.

This is the latest of a series of operations in which innocent Afghan civilians have been inadvertently targeted and killed. Last December, 10 school boys were killed when Nato forces attacked a remote village in Kunar province, close to the Pakistan border. At the time Nato officials claimed they were targeting a well known insurgent group responsible for all manner of attacks against ISAF. Since then Nato has admitted it made a mistake.

According to the Independent Human Rights Commission, some 63 civilians were killed in the first three weeks of February. Last September some 30-40 civilians were killed by an air strike in Kunduz province, along with more than 60 Taliban fighters. Last August the Afghan government said a U.S. air strike in Herat resulted in the deaths of 90, mostly women and children. Last May the Afghan authorities said 140 civilians died when U.S. air strikes were launched in Farah.

The continuing deaths of civilians have been repeatedly condemned by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his cabinet colleagues, although they find themselves powerless to prevent them. General McChrystal has also said he is determined to protect the civilian population. His repeated exhortations to keep civilian casualties to a minimum come amid signs that in some European countries, such as Holland, popular disaffection with the war is on the increase. 

According to the New York Times, ISAF casualties have been highest among Dutch forces stationed in dangerous Afghan provinces like Oruzgan.

Meanwhile, in a bid to limit the local Afghan backlash against civilian casualties, U.S. military officials have devised an informal compensation scheme for deaths, damage and injury. According to the Associated Press this amounts to U.S.$ 1500 to U.S.$ 2500 for the death of a child or an adult, $600 to $1500 for loss of limb and other injuries, $500 to $2500 for a damaged or destroyed vehicle and $50 to $250 for damage to a farmer's fields.

Selling old symbols

The name of a controversial British company that once dominated world trade, colonised India and enriched Britain is in the process of being revived, thanks to the efforts of 48 year old Indian businessman Sanjiv Mehta.

In its heyday the East India Company functioned like a state within a state. Its privately raised armies successfully fought Dutch, Portuguese and French competitors to gain control of India and profits from the Indian empire helped push Britain to the forefront of the industrial revolution.

Supporters of Britain's colonial heritage project an idealised view of the East India Company spreading enlightenment over the South Asian masses it once ruled. But the company's representatives are also associated with what are politely termed the 'excesses' of colonialism, including blatant racial discrimination and worse.

Agents of the company, who grabbed land for themselves and styled themselves nabobs (an anglicised version of the 'nawab' title given to Muslim aristocrats), returned home to affluent lifestyles in the UK supported by the 'ayahs' and 'bearers' they brought back with them.

Apart from its frequent and violent suppression of local Indian uprisings, the company is also associated with the wholesale destruction of India's once vibrant textile industry. The story of how Indian weavers had their hands cut off may be apocryphal, but it does offer an insight into how earlier generations of Indians viewed the company that once dominated their lives and destinies.

One of the strongest criticisms of the company was the way it sanctioned the growing of opium in Bengal, prior to it being smuggled into China in exchange for Chinese luxury goods. It was this opium trade, which Chinese rulers tried and failed to prevent, that created a nation of addicts among the Chinese.

Mehta, who says he fully understands the heritage of the company brand he hopes to revive and re-develop, is opening a chain of shops that will sell a range of exotic products, including fruit pickles, sushi, chocolates, tea, coffee, furniture and leather goods.

His first shop is due to open soon in a fashionable part of central London, followed by a second before the end of the year. Other outlets are planned for India, the Middle East, Japan, Russia and the U.S.

In a recent interview with the British media, Mehta said, 'I have not created this brand, history has created it. I am just the curator of it, a custodian, if you like, and the fiduciary responsibility is very great.' He added, 'This company has huge potential. What makes this more special is that I am Indian, so there is a huge feeling of redemption for me, it is buying back a company that owned India.'

IAEA's Iran report cooked?

A significantly harder hitting attitude towards Iran emerges from the latest report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which contrasts sharply with its earlier assessments.

Critics say the latest approach is the result of U.S. pressure on the agency's new Secretary General, Yukiya Amano, who took over from Mohamed ElBaradei last December.

At his first press conference Amano said there was no evidence of Iran's moves towards nuclear weaponisation, but the latest agency report says, 'Iran has not provided the necessary cooperation to permit the agency to confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.'

It goes on to say there are concerns 'about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile.'

Responding to the IAEA report, Iran's Fars news agency quoted senior Iranian legislator Esmae'il Kowsari as saying that parts of the report were politically motivated and 'unreal'. He added, 'Unfortunately, Amano's report is two-sided and some unreal issues have been intermingled with real issues.'

Israel and the U.S. are currently at the forefront of efforts to forge an international consensus that will pressure Iran to back down or even abandon its nuclear programme.

But, whereas Israel has made it clear that it will not hesitate from military action against Iran's nuclear research facilities, the U.S. has concentrated instead on diplomatic efforts that include winning support for sterner action against Iran from all permanent members of the UN Security Council. China, and to a lesser extent Russia, continue to resist attempts to impose political and economic sanctions against Tehran.

Indian portraits over 3 centuries

Two pages from the Padshahnama made for Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan, a huge cloth painting of the Emperor Jehangir and a pair of images of the Mughal courtier 'Inayat Khan close to death' are among the exhibits from an exhibition devoted to Indian portraits that will be on show at London's National Portrait Gallery between March and June this year.

Other striking portraits, including those of Amar Singh II of Mewar taking his ease, and the Maratha general Ram Rao Phalke, call for a re-examination of portraiture in India.

They all tell the story of the Indian portrait over three centuries and bring together some 60 works from international public and private collections. The Indian Portrait 1560-1860, which celebrates the beauty, power and humanity of these works of art, sets out to show that Indian portraiture — an area of artistic achievement overlooked in Britain — should be seen alongside other outstanding portraits from around the world.
Works in the exhibition range from magnificent formal portraits of the Mughal emperors to penetrating studies of courtiers and holy men, as well as candid depictions by Indian artists of Europeans living in India. These paintings are a record of a rich and complex history, embracing influences from Iran and Europe as well as local Hindu and Muslim traditions. They not only show a growing self-awareness of how Indians saw themselves, but also how they wished to be seen.

Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London, commented, 'These beautiful paintings offer glimpses into the cultures that have flourished in the Indian subcontinent, as well as authoritative images of captivating individuals living through the 300-year span of the exhibition. These exquisite depictions are wrought with dazzling skill and technical brilliance — as vivid likenesses of people, their surroundings and often radiant costumes. However formal the pose or setting, here are people brought to life with utter conviction.'
Developing from its origins at the Mughal court under Emperor Akbar in the sixteenth century, portraiture spread to the Islamic sultanates of the Deccan and to the small Hindu kingdoms in Rajasthan and the Punjab Hills. In all of these regions, distinctively local styles were overlaid on essentially Mughal prototypes until European influence returned during the so-called Company period, when Western concepts of realism were applied by Indian artists to local subjects.

Exhibits have been assembled from several private collections as well as public institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Arts, New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the San Diego Museum of Art, the V&A, Musée Guimet, the David Collection, Copenhagen, the British Library, the British Museum and the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
The Indian Portrait 1560-1860 is curated by Rosemary Crill and Kapil Jariwala. Crill is a senior curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Her publications include Chintz: Indian Textiles for the West and Marwar Painting. Jariwala is an independent curator whose recent publications include Cultural Ties and Film Fantastic: Indian Movie Poster Art.

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