> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ramnik Shah [SMTP:Ramnik at preuveneers.co.uk]
> Sent: 16 May 2002 13:01
> To: edit at lrb.co.uk
> Cc: RKD Shah (E-mail)
> Subject: "The War on Terrorism" Debate
>
> This was a stimulating debate. Thank you for organizing it. I wish
> however
> to set the record straight with regard to what one can only describe as
> the
> standing altercation that took place between Christopher Hitchens and
> myself
> from the floor. I shall be grateful therefore if you would forward this
> to
> him (and to the other panellists, or better still print it as an item in
> your letters columns!).
>
> In the course of answering my question, Hitchens made an assumption that I
> was, am, from the (Indian) sub-continent, and reasserted it despite my
> protestations. This was a an unnecessary distraction, based simply on my
> appearance. To deal with the factual matter first, I am not `from` the
> sub-continent, if `from` is supposed to denote the place of one`s birth or
> origin. Yes, I am an ethnic Indian, and my parents were born there (in
> the
> late 19th century, as it happens), but not me. I am however a British
> citizen and have always been British in terms of nationality.
>
> For a writer and columnist of his standing, to reduce the complex factors
> which underpin our multi-cultural society to such a personal level is,
> was,
> quite extraordinary. The implication of his assertion was that my
> loyalties
> may lie elsewhere, that somehow in public discussions of issues such as
> terrorism, imperialism, America or Palestine, one is not an expressing an
> individual opinion but acting as a representative of some foreign entity.
> It is because of this, which may fairly be described as a racist tendency,
> that I have taken (in this context since 9/11) wherever possible to
> declaring myself as British, secular and more particularly (becaue of my
> name) as a non-Muslim! I did not wish to get involved in making
> clarifications of this kind last night (and why should one have to?), but
> feel that Christopher Hitchens needs to be made aware of the true
> position.
> He did, I think, signal to me at the end to come over, but I was rushed
> for
> time.
>
> RAMNIK SHAH
> Ramnik at Preuveneers.co.uk
in an e-mail to Shah:
Dear Mr Shah,
Thank you for writing and, if it matters, for confirming that your provenance is indeed sub-continental. You may recall that your rather windy question had gone unanswered, with the subject switching away to religion, until I decided that you deserved some sort of reply. I thought I should identify which previous question and questioner I was addressing. Nobody objected to that, as why should they? Your decision to repudiate the identification won you a round of applause, and if I were you I would be content with that.
Your lame attempt to construe any more from this trivial exchange is - rather like the pains you take to deny being a Muslim - ill-intentioned and self-important.
Yours, Christopher Hitchens