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| Why instrument of accession for J&K was not signed before Aug 15,1947? | | | Nikhil Gupta
The land of Jammu and
Kashmir was ruled by
many peoples including the Royale Guptas, Utpalas, Loharas, Karkotas, Muslims and lastly Dogra and British combine. India became free in 1947 when British left for ever. I sincerely believe that there could be no Kashmir issue as it is today if the instrument of accession for J&K was signed before Aug 15,1947. There was no pakistan at that time and if instrument of accession for J&K was timely signed, then much of the POK (Pak occupied Kashmir) would be with India. The Britishers had made India as their colony in the nineteenth century and they took their last prized possession of the region of Panjab and Jammu and Kashmir by totally defeating the Sikh army. The British thus ended the nascent Sikh kingdom for ever and took direct control of the region of Panjab. In recognition of his services to the British they sold Jammu and Kashmir to Gulab Singh Ji for a sum of 75 lakh rupees which was a big amount at that time. Thus Punjab came under direct control of British and Jammu and Kashmir came under indirect control of British because British had a policy of having subordinate and subsidiary states under their indirect control. British controlled these subsidiary princely states by proxy by installing either a British Resident or an OSD (officer on special duty) who would poke his nose here and there in the general affairs of such states. In our Jammu and Kashmir also the British posted their agents and the Residency road in Jammu and another one in Kashmir are evidences to the powers of such British Residents . However , the first task of Gulab Singh ji after having obtained de- jure possession of Kashmir and its surrounding territories was to consolidate them . From the point of view of consolidation, Gilgit was the only area over which his grip was still not very firm. There took place a serious uprising in Gilgit in 1851 with the help of the forces of Yasin, Hunza and Nagar as a result of which the entire garrison there was cut to pieces. Only a woman swam across the Indus to tell the story of this disaster. It was a great blow to the prestige of Gulab Singh ji who was then in failing health. For the time being he had to accept the Indus as frontier with Gilgit proper and after his death his successor Ranbir Singh ji took over.
An eminent scholar and respectable lady Smt Krishna Mehta ji has mentioned about a major event of Ranbir Singh ji's time which could have changed the whole course of history of Kashmir. She tells that there was a collective approach of Kashmiri Muslims to Ranbir Singh ji for taking them back into the Hindu fold. They pleaded that they had been forcibly converted to Islam against their will and were longing to re-embrace their ancestral faith. Ranbir Singh ji sought the guidance of Swamy Dayanand Saraswati ji the founder of Arya Samaj, in the matter. Swami ji advised him that he could take them back in Hinduism after performing certain rites. The proposed return of Kashmiri Muslims to their original faith was not to the liking of short sighted Kashmiri Pandits who were having a hey day at that time . They tried to dissuade Ranbir Singh ji and when they found him adamant they took to a subterfuge. They filled some boats with stones and brought them midstream before his palace on the Jhelum. They threatened him that they would commit suicide by drowning along with the sinking boats as a protest against his decision to take back Muslims into Hindu fold. Ranbir Singh ji could not muster courage to face the crafty pandits who were out to misinterpret the Vedic "dharma" for their selfish ends. The plan of return of Kashmiri Muslims to Hinduism thus fell through. Later developments in Kashmir culminating in the en -masse forced migration of Kashmir pandits from the valley appears like the nemesis which has hit them for their myopic attitude at that crucial juncture of Kashmir's history. The respected readers can refer to respectable lady Smt Krishna Mehta ji for this episode. The writings of Bal Raj Madhok ji can also be referred for this episode.
Meanwhile the British felt very much chagrined and restless because they were not satisfied with their OSD in J&K and wanted full fledged British Resident posted in J&K . They took resort to other methods for achieving their objective. Taking advantage of mutual bickerings between Pratap Singh ji the eldest son of Ranbir Singh ji and his two younger brothers, Ram Singh ji and Amar Singh ji they made acceptance of a British Resident a pre-condition for giving recognition to Ranbir Singh ji's successor after his death in 1885. Thus having got a Resident appointed which eventually brought down Jammu and Kashmir to the level of other Indian States like Hyderabad and Gwalior, the British now made a determined bid to have a more direct control over the State. There was too much interference of the British Resident in the affairs of the state and sometime later Pratap Singh ji was charged with conspiring with Russia against the British and was forced to hand over all his powers to a five members State Council which ran the administration under the guidance of the British Resident for many years. In the meantime, the British interest in the Pamirs and the frontier states of Chitral, Hunza was aroused by the continued advance of Czarist Russia in Central Asia. As a result, the British decided to have a more effective control over the Mehtar of Chitral. The military campaign launched for the purpcse between 1889 and 1895 was conducted under the command of British officers. The British aim of controlling Gilgit was achieved during tenure of Hari Singh ji and the Gilgit region was ceded to the British on a sixty year lease in 1935. This brought the whole of Gilgit including the frontier States of Hunza and Nagar directly under the control of the British Political Agent stationed at Gilgit. The management of external security, foreign affairs etc for J&K were totally in the British hands. There were British officers posted in J&K who kept on poking their noses here and there in the administration of the state. Against this backdrop and due to the famous Indian revolutionaries like Martyrs Ananda Gupta, Deba Gupta, Surya Sen , Bhagat Singh etc and due to efforts of Gandhi ji and S C Bose ji, the British left India in August 1947. The princely states including J&K were given option to either join India or Pakistan and this was conveyed to all such states well in time. Most of the princely states either joined India or Pakistan. There were disputes for only three such states namely Junagarh, Hyderabad and J&K. The issues of Junagarh and Hyderabad were cleverly solved under the able guidance of respectable Vallabh Bhai Patel ji . In case of Jammu and Kashmir pandit Nehru ji took direct control of the situation and many people say that he could not properly handle the J&K issue. Pandit Nehru ji was perhaps against Hari Singh ji as he was detained, arrested and deported back to Delhi when he tried to trespass in J&K in 1946. Some people say that Britishers wanted to favour Pakistan and therefore they indirectly wanted J&K to join the dominion of Pakistan in 1947. Viceroy of British India and later Governor General of free India Mountbatten ji also visited J&K in June 1947 and offered to meet Hari Singh ji but no formal meeting could take place. The issue of J&K joining either India or Pakistan lingered on and no concrete action in this regard could be taken. Instead of instrument of accession, J&K offered standstill agreement with both India and Pakistan and Pakistan immediately signed it. At that time J&K was well connected with Pakistan by road and rail link and most essential commodities came to J&K via Pakistan and so Jinnah ji of Pakistan was very anxious to take J&K in his nation. Despite all this Hari Singh ji should have signed instrument of accession well in time. What stopped him from doing so? The option of remaining independent was dangerous because the state lacked resources to defend herself from external aggression because previously also the Britishers were looking after the defence from aggression . Later events proved this when Pakistan under garb of tribals sent regular army to J&K, the state's resources were meager and J&K had to immediately ask for help from India. Prime Minister of J&K respectable Justice M C Mahajan Ji rushed to Delhi and had some hard talk with incalcitrant Nehru ji and ultimately Indian forces landed in Kashmir and saved J&K at that time. Was it possible that if instrument of accession for J&K was timely signed, then much of the POK (Pak Occupied Kashmir) would be with India?
The contents have no bearing on any person or any organization and the author is guided by the motto "THE ROYALE GUPTA WARRIORS NEVER FIGHT FOR THEMSELVES BUT FIGHT FOR A BIGGER CAUSE " VANDE MATRAM and JAI HIND. |
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