The Indian police action in the Princely State of Hyderabad commenced on 13 September 1948 and ended within five days with the resignation of the government of the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Sir Osman Ali Khan and the surrender of the State. Readers may not be aware the State of Hyderabad under the leadership of its 7th Nizam was the largest and most prosperous of all the Princely States in India. With annual revenues of over Rs. 9 crore, it covered 82,698 square miles (214,190 km) of fairly homogeneous territory and comprised a population of roughly 16.34 million people (as per the 1941 census) of which a majority (85 per cent) was Hindu.

The State had its own army, airline, telecommunication system, railway network, postal system, currency and radio broadcasting service. Hyderabad was a multi-lingual state consisting of people speaking Telugu (48.2 per cent), Marathi (26.4 per cent), Kannada (12.3 per cent) and Urdu (10.3 per cent). Despite the overwhelming Hindu majority, Hindus were severely under-represented in government, police and the military. Of 1,765 officers in the State Army, 1,268 were Muslims, 421 were Hindus, and 121 others were Christians, Parsis and Sikhs. Of the officials drawing a salary between Rs 600 and 1200 per month, 59 were Muslims, 5 were Hindus and 38 were of other religions. The Nizam and his nobles, who were mostly Muslims, owned 40 per cent of the total land in the state.

This account of the Indian police action in Hyderabad is that of a British officer, reporting from the listening post of Rawalpindi; a version based on inputs he received from the Pakistan army headquarters. The reportage manifests the British mindset, of the colonials still serving in India and Pakistan. The name of this particular officer was A.H. Reed. His dispatches had been widely circulated and quoted in government circles – in Karachi, Delhi, as also in London. To Reed, the Indian action had come as the climax to a week of disappointment and sorrow. The British had hoped that if push came to shove, either the “Indian governor general or some other clear-thinking statesman would intervene to prevent the unleashing of forces which may advance the chaos of Burma to the frontiers of Afghanistan.”

Reed judged the Indian action to be morally wrong, asserting that........

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