Jallad: Death Squads and State Terror in South Asia

by Tasneem Khalil

Throughout South Asia, people live in fear of death squads, from the Rapid Action Battalion of Bangladesh to the “encounter specialists” of India, army units in Nepal, the Frontier Corps of Pakistan, and the “men in white vans” of Sri Lanka. Their tools are disappearance, torture, and summary execution, and their supporters, Tasneem Khalil shows in Jallad , are the governments of these nations—and their patrons, like the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and Israel.
 
An unsparing indictment of an international system of terror that is fully countenanced by the West, Jallad presents close-up, detailed accounts of incidents of state terror and targeted violence throughout South Asia. Khalil, a reporter who himself endured torture at the hands of agents in Bangladesh, and whose remarkable story was featured in the New York Times, draws on countless hours of on-the-ground reporting and a broad network of activists and human rights advocates to build an undeniable portrait of the domination and repression that lies at the very core of statecraft in South Asia. Shielded by their protectors in the developed world, the perpetrators of these abuses deploy them strategically to silence dissent and crush opposition.
 
A brave, essential work of reporting and investigation, Jallad brings these horrific acts to prominence in order to make it impossible for Western governments to continue turning a blind eye to the human rights violations of their erstwhile allies.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, India, Asia

176 pages, Hardcover

First published September 20, 2015

Reviews

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book which seeks to look at how governments use terror, kidnap, torture and state sanctioned extra-judicial killing in South Asia. It is an important book that explores a phenomenon common across the region.

Khalil is at his strongest when he is exploring how, so called, 'black laws', which create a state of exception, allow governments to terrorise citizens deemed undesirable. His connection of this phenomena to colonial legislation like the Rowlatt Act 0f 1919 is interesting. He also shows interesting connections between the human rights abuses of countries in South Asia and the countries of the Global North. Most shockingly for me the outsourcing of torture of British citizens to the government of Bangladesh.

While the book is readable interesting and makes good points it is little more than a primer for the topic. It does not go into great depth analysing the connections between international communities and torture in South Asia, or offer a particularly deep historical analysis of the development of legislation across the region and the intellectual paradigms that justified them. The book instead reads slightly like a series of case studies rather than a meticulous analysis of state terror in South Asia.

I would recommend this book to most people interested in South Asia.

[Katrina Bzalava · Rating 5 out of 5]

A necessary read for anyone seeking to contextualize political violence in South Asia. By providing not only case studies per geographic region, but examples of international systems that led to the birth of state-supported death squads, Khalil gives a voice to all those people whose bodies will never be discovered and whose names will stay omitted from records and statistics.

[Iff_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was truly mesmerized by how the writer built all the stories. What I loved most about this book was the way he structured each chapter, beginning with a bombshell moment and then unfolding the detailed past piece by piece. Additionally, it's such a thought-provoking book. It also made me realize how little I actually know about the vast ocean of the world!!

[Mahdi Hossain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative book on state sponsored terror campaigns around south asia. It gives concise descriptions of why and how these things are done. And the regional and international powers benefiting from them. Very interesting and thought provoking

[Bakhsh Rehman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best book to understand the extrajudicial executions carried out in South Asia. The role of intelligence agencies in Nepal, Sri lanka, India, Pakistan an Bangladesh is unveiled.