Skip to main content

CHS is organising a lecture by Kirsten Sellars

CHS is organising a lecture by Kirsten Sellars

Event End Date
Event Title
CHS is organising a lecture by Kirsten Sellars
Event Details

 

Centre for Historical Studies
School fo Social Sciences

 

invites to a lecture on

 

Waging War Against the King
Hobbesian Themes at the Red Fort Trial

 

by
Kirsten Sellars
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

 

Room No. 326, Committee Room, CHS, SSS-III
23 August, 2017, 3pm

 

Abstract: Just after the end of the Asia-Pacific War, the British convened a series of courts-martial to try officers of the Indian National Army, which had fought alongside the Japanese. The first trial commenced on 5 November 1945 at the Red Fort, and dealt with three defendants who had been charged with ‘waging war against the King’ – the equivalent of treason, set out in the Indian Penal Code.

 

This at first appeared to be a straightforward case, but the chief defence counsel, Bhulabhai Desai, turned it on its head. Drawing on Hobbesian themes, he questioned the very premise of the charge of ‘waging war against the King’, arguing that during a war of liberation the justice of the challenger eclipsed the security of the challenged. Desai’s approach strongly influenced others, including Radhabinod Pal, who would mount similar arguments against the ‘crimes against peace’ chargesbrought at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, established in Tokyo shortly after.
There’s a final twist. A quarter of a century later, in the aftermath of Bangladesh’s secession from Pakistan in 1971, the new government set up special tribunals to try those who had collaborated with the old regime. Their operation was governed by the ‘Bangladesh Collaborators (Special Tribunal) Order, 1972’, which made explicit reference to several treasonable international crimes, including the crime of ‘waging war’ against Bangladesh. Old wine, new bottles.

 

About the Speaker: DR. KIRSTEN SELLARS is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She focuses on Asian perspectives on public international law, with a particular interest in the law of the sea, the law governing aggression and uses of force, and international criminal law. Her latest books, ‘Crimes Against Peace’ and International Law, and the edited volume, Trials for International Crimes in Asia, were both published by Cambridge University Press in 2015.

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.