How India gobbled Kashmir

By
Basharat Hussain Qizilbash
-
27
255

Nehru and his machinations to keep the valley

An American Professor Christine Fair in the School of Foreign Service at the Georgetown University has recently co-authored an article entitled, “A new approach for Kashmir” in the ‘National Interest’ magazine with an Indian Professor Sumit Ganguly based at Indiana University, Bloomington, arguing that US should recognise the Line of Control (LoC) dividing the disputed territory of the state of Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan as an “international border” so as to transform the bilateral nature of this dispute into a domestic Indian problem. Unfortunately, they have arrived at this “new solution” by an explanation of history which distorts the origins of this conflict.

Their first distortion of facts is that after partition of the subcontinent in 1947, Kashmir abutted both Pakistan and India. This statement is historically incorrect because without the award of the Muslim majority district of Gurdaspur to India, India could not have any direct link with Kashmir and hence no claim over it. So, conspiracy was hatched by Nehru, who exploited his “intimate relationship” with Vicereine Edwina Mountbatten to prevail upon Viceroy Mountbatten to secure Kashmir for India when the boundary lines were being drawn by Cyril Radcliffe, the Chairman of the Boundary Commissions in early August 1947. Now, we do know that every flight of Air India to London literally carried a ‘love letter’ from Nehru to Edwina but what we don’t know is that how many of them contained gratitude for the ‘gift’ of Kashmir as all of Edwina’s personal documents have not been made public for historical research as yet.

All this may have remained a ‘conspiracy theory’ or mere ‘Pakistani conjecturing’, had Radcliffe’s secretary, Christopher Beaumont, not spilled the beans in a startling statement in London in 1992 revealing the fact that under Mountbatten’s pressure Radcliffe did alter the boundary lines which included the award of the Muslim-majority district of Gurdaspur to India in order to provide her a direct land access to Kashmir.

If one digs deeper, one comes across historical evidence in the form of a note written for Viceroy Mountbatten by his Indian Constitutional Advisor V P Menon on 17 July, 1947, about three weeks before partition, which is included in Vol XII of ‘The Transfer of Power’ series of documents, maliciously stating, “It (Kashmir) does not lie in the bosom of Pakistan and it can claim an exit to India, especially if a portion of Gurdaspur district goes to (the Indian) East Punjab”. There you go. Kashmir did not abut India. Either the learned professors are ignorant of geography or have deliberately ignored this fact.

This duo of Indo-American professors then blames the tribesmen from north-western Pakistan for starting the militarisation of the Kashmir conflict stating that after the Maharaja of Kashmir had refused to accede to either Pakistan or India, the “Pakistani forces taking advantage of a tribal rebellion invaded the state”. What a fantastic fabrication of facts! To avoid a historical understanding of events as they actually unfolded, the authors have deliberately avoided the chronology of events as these happened i.e., who did what and when.

The Indian propaganda blaming the tribesmen from Pakistan for ‘invading’ Kashmir and thus starting the first Indo-Pak war in 1947 fooled the world for many years but truth never retires. Nehru’s tall claim that the Indian forces were airlifted to Kashmir on 27 October, 1947, after the tribal invasion was a blatant lie. Now, we know through two historical sources namely ‘Crisis in Kashmir’ by Alastair Lamb and ‘Heir Apparent’ by Karan Singh, the son of the last Maharaja of Kashmir that Nehru’s government under ‘Operation Rescue’ had dispatched four commando platoons of Indian army’s 50th Parachute Brigade and batteries of Patiala artillery camouflaged in civvies to Kashmir on 17 October, 1947, well before the tribal invasion. Thus, it was the ‘great’ Nehru who first sent armed forces into Kashmir even before the Maharaja was coerced to sign the accession. This vindicates Jinnah’s claim that the Indian accession of Kashmir was not bonafide as it rested on ‘fraud and violence’, and hence would never be accepted by Pakistan. At least, one doesn’t expect academicians to parrot the propagandist stance of the Indian governments.

Ms Fair and Mr Ganguly then make another outlandish claim by arguing that due to military incursion from Pakistan, the Kashmiri “Maharaja Hari Singh, now in a panic, sought India’s military assistance. India agreed to come to Kashmir’s defence only after he agreed to accede”. This is plain twisting of facts. The Indian version of Maharaja’s accession to India is that he wrote a letter on 26 October, 1947, to the first Indian Governor General Mountbatten seeking military help and in return agreed to sign the Instrument of Accession of Kashmir to India on the same date, thus India was justified in airlifting troops to Kashmir on the next day. Multiple historical sources prove this Indian claim to be untrue. For example, the British historian, Professor Lamb argues that the date of accession given by India is false because on 26 October, there was no contact between the Maharaja and the Indian government as he was travelling from Srinagar to Jammu for his safety. After analysing the archival material, the memoirs of the then Kashmiri Prime Minister Mehr Chand Mahajan and the correspondence of Jawaharlal Nehru, Professor Lamb has exposed the contradiction in the Indian claim by stating that on one hand V P Menon stated that he and Mahajan went to Jammu in the afternoon of the 26th October to obtain Maharaja’s signed Instrument of Accession whereas Mahajan has related that he and Menon flew to Jammu on 27th and not 26th October to obtain Maharaja’s signature. Even Sheikh Abdullah, who was staying at Nehru’s residence at that time, has admitted in his autobiography that the Maharaja had not signed the accession document on October 26.

The more one reads, the more one finds Nehru acting as the villain in the Kashmir tragedy. Kashmir being his ancestral home, he was quite sentimental in retaining it by hook or crook in independent India. The intensity of obsession can be imagined from a confidential remark he made to a British officer: “In the same way as Calais was written on Mary’s heart. Kashmir is written on mine.” What he felt privately, he could not express it publicly. The Indian soldiers could not be told to shed blood just because their premier was romancing with Kashmir. Instead, he preferred the garb of nationalism to justify the blatant Indian aggression in 1947. Mark his words to the warring soldiers in Srinagar: “The Kashmir operation is a fight for the freedom of India.”

The evidence of his desperation to capture Kashmir at all cost is actually strewn all over the pages of history provided one doesn’t shut eyes to the facts. As the first prime minister and despite being a barrister, quite well-versed in law, he was ready to dump all legalities and diplomatic niceties when the issue was Kashmir. Just imagine his fixation. About a month after partition and exactly a month before India sent her army to occupy Kashmir, he shot an anxious letter to his Home Minister Sardar Patel on September 27, 1947, stating that “Things must be done in a way so as to bring about the accession of Kashmir to the Indian Union as rapidly as possible with the cooperation of Sheikh Abdullah.”

So, much before the tribal invasion, Nehru had plans to gobble Kashmir. Now we know that deep down in his heart only he knew perfectly well that he would not hold any plebiscite while he made a pledge to the contrary before the world community. It was this passion for Kashmir that didn’t allow any rational thinking on his part. This unreasonable attitude was noted by several leaders who tried to talk sense to him. For example, US President Truman termed Nehru’s stance on Kashmir “silly” and “disagreeable” whereas President J F Kennedy found his sense of superiority “offensive”. Kennedy’s ambassador to India John Kenneth Galbraith lamented that he “had no luck” in convincing Nehru to hold the promised plebiscite. How weak was India’s stance from the very beginning can be understood from the advice given by their first High Commissioner to Pakistan, Sri Prakasha to Lord Mountbatten that “for the sake of peace all around”, the “wisest thing” India could do was to hand over Kashmir to Pakistan—an advice flatly rejected by Premier Nehru and never heeded by subsequent Indian prime ministers.

The writer is an academic and journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]

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27 COMMENTS

  3. Cont
    Even if I buy your self serving argument based on Lamb's revelation that Instrument of accession was signed on 27th October and India had prepared for sending troops to Kashmir before Tribal invasion took place, can you deny the fact that tribals backed by Pakistan leadership did invade Kashmir to capture it ???? And you did not withdraw them as a precondition to hold plebicite ? can you deny giving Aksai Chin to China as if you own the erstwhile princely state ? So forget about plebicite.
    It is funny that you blame Nehru's personal attachment to Kashmir and raising the bogey of nationalism to mobilise support for Kashmir while you do not want to discuss Jinnah's ambition to have an "Islamic Kingdom" of his own even at the cost of million lives and displacement of tens of millions while his own family stayed back in India ! And how he died and what is condition of what he created. So you can ride a tiger or the some professor Lamb, you have no case on Kashmir. And yes I disagree with making LoC and International border as you have to return PoK to India.

  4. It is a nice FARTicle that is delusional on facts. It was in paper, it would serve as a toilet tissue. Case closed.

  6. Honestly I think secretly Pakistani politicians, terrorists, people, journalists and tv channels dont want the rest of Kashmir. The real crisis will start if India actually gives them Kashmir (will never happen but lets assume). Politicians cant raise Kashmir issue, so they'll have fight elections on real issues..what! Half of the Journalists will be laid off since they cant write about Kashmir so half off the news in Pakistan is gone. People will finally start watching indian movies and tv serials non stop shown by Pakistani TV channels who will have to cancel half of their talk shows complaining about India and start showing even more indian stuff. With nothing better to do the terrorists will start destroying other parts of Pakistan and Afganistan.. wait a sec..

  7. Thanks for putting together the facts about the Kashmir dispute and how perfidious the role of Indian leadership and the British Viceroy was. The version of events as paddled by Chritine Fair is the standard narrative that is paddled by the Indian government and their sympathetic friends in the western media and the academia. Unfortunately this narrative is now used by many even in Pakistan as the reality, in order to justify why Pakistan should forget the Kashmir issue and the Kashmiris, make friends with India at all cost and hopefully live happily there after. The truth is that the peace in the subcontinent will never be achieved till the injustice done to the people of Kashmir is undone and India realizes that this is the only way to move forward in the 21st century on the path of prosperity and progress. The Kashmir issue CANNOT and WILL NOT be swept under the rug, no matter how hard Indians and their sympathizers in the west try.

    ظلم پھر ظلم ہے،بڑھتا ہے تو مٹ جاتا ہے
    خون پھر خون ہے،ٹپکے گا تو جم جائے گ

  8. This entire article is figment of imagination. It is so full of lies and refers to sections in books which never. Exist (Heir apparent). Pakistan which has cut and distributed parts of Kashmir to China has no right to talk about KAshmir. With you we surely are not safe

  9. i cant understand why pakistan want kashmir
    To make it a mess as of rest of pakistan
    To hand over it to saudiarabia,as in the case of aksai chin to china
    To spread sectarian violence and to kill shias
    To distroy natural beauty and make it another balochistan
    To hand it over to US so that they can bomb it with drones
    To make srinagar as of dangerous karache.
    My paki brothers plz reply me

    • My endian brother because we don't want to make it gujrat or asam and we don't want rss bjb and thakrey group in kasmir. srinagar is already dangerous under the 700 thousand indian troops. because we don't want another maqbool but and afzal garu to be burried in tehar jair just to satisfy hindus according to indian court of law.

  10. “Now, we do know that every flight of Air India to London literally carried a ‘love letter’ from Nehru to Edwina….”

    Pray tell how you do.

    • Please go through Mr Kuldip Nayar’s recently published autobiography “Beyond the Lines: An Autobiography” by Kuldip Nayar, Publisher: Roli Books (2012). The excerpts of the book were published by the Indian magazine “Outlook”. Here is the text : Jawaharlal Nehru-Edwina Mountbatten

      ‘Theirs was spiritual love’

      “My interest in finding out about Lady Mountbatten’s influence on Nehru did not slacken with time. I picked up the thread when I was India’s high commissioner in London in 1990. I learnt that Air India flights would carry Nehru’s daily letter, which the high commission dutifully delivered to Lady Mountbatten and daily collected her reply and forwarded it to Nehru. Nehru took officials to task whenever her letter was delayed.”

      And here is the link of the “Outlook” : http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?281456
      Kind regards

      Basharat Hussain Qizilbash

  11. Look at what is happening in the acceded parts of J&K to Pakistan like Baltistan and Gilgit.It is now taken over by the Taliban and its fraternity.The same fate awaits the Kashmir and it is a matter of time beofre shia -sunni conflicts erupt.

  12. but no one listens to the kashmiris.we dont want INDIA as wel as PAKISTAN we the kashmiris want FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOM from INDIA and PAKISTAN also?

    • .
      There is an idealistic path and, then, there is a realistic path …
      .
      There is one that is never to be …
      .
      So what do you do ???
      .

  13. "….So, conspiracy was hatched by Nehru, who exploited his “intimate relationship” with Vicereine Edwina Mountbatten to prevail upon Viceroy Mountbatten to secure Kashmir for India.."
    LOL!!! Only a pakistani can come with this retar ted conspiracy!!

  14. @ajay..for ur kind information
    Wat ever happend in gujrat 11 years is not relavent now,at present gujrat is the economical power house of the nation..wat happend to cristians in karache is not different
    In assam it was clash due to illegal migration bt not a sunni-shia conflict as of paky mess
    Bjp is already havng presence in kashmir as its main opposition party in india.it is not taliban,which is implementing sharia laws in ur begger nation
    Rss is not a banned outfit as of LJ ,which is freely operation in ur punjab province and killing innocent peoples
    And indian army is there to protect kashmiris from terrorists funded and traind by ISI.and it shown its superiority on ur army during wars of 1947 1965 1971 1999
    I think u have a brain similar to that of auther
    But i cant understand how come an entire population become fools like this

    • Iqbal Your minster shindey already told us what is rss and bjp. India is only country in the world where a terrorist party was in govt nationally and still in govt provincially. who will vote in such terroriust governments, Terrorists. Chuk hagel just few days ago admitted that who is financing terrorism in Pakistan. Indians living in the fools paradise by thinking that whole world is blind and don't know who is doing what.

  15. "This statement is historically incorrect because without the award of the Muslim majority district of Gurdaspur to India, India could not have any direct link with Kashmir and hence no claim over it." – This comments shows how thick the writer is. India did not have any claim over it because we would not have any direct link but Pakistan still had claim over East Pakistan (Bangladesh) which was 1500 miles away.

  16. Dear, Indian mythological friends,
    If pakistan is making self-assumed case on Kashmir, then is U.N.0 also making self-created perceptions on Kashmir, by passing several resolutions for the right of self-detemination for the people of Kashmir & If you Indians think that Kashmire belongs to you, then let the people of Kashmir decide it & not the collective conscious of mythological Indians.

    • .
      UN resolution …
      .
      Read and learn to understand and know …
      .
      Know before talking …
      .
      Do you do your own reading ???
      .

  18. It seems all the Indians commenting here are not interested in the truth. All religions talk about being just and doing justice. What happened with Kashmir is extreme injustice. By the way even Nehru said that India will allow a plebiscite in Kashmir, unfortunately that was a statement only to gain time.

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