Introduction

Abstract

Coming out on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Revolt of 1857, this special issue of Pakistan Perspectives is dedicated to the analysis of that historic event which, though, resulted in the subjection of India to the colonial rule yet also demonstrated it’s people’s resolve to resist to the best of their ability the foreign yoke. 1857 also marked the culmination of the East India Company’s policy of the gradual annexation of India, which had started one hundred years ago, in 1757, when the battle of Plassey was fought and was lost by the Indians. It was quite unusual in the annals of history that a country was colonised through a venture of a trading organisation, the East India Company, which, quite curiously established its own army on the pretext of securing trade routes and ensuring uninterrupted flow of trade. Once it completed its territorial occupation, the subcontinent was handed over to the British.