Understanding the Kashmir Issue (Part-I)

There is hardly a piece of land (mostly inhospitable and cold) that has caused so much agony and frustration to such vast swathes of mankind as the land of Jammu and Kashmir to the people of India and Pakistan. Both claim it as their own. And neither has complete control over the entire land mass. Innumerable lives have been lost in the quest for mastery of this cold, mountainous and at places harsh territory. What is this fight about really? To understand this we need to travel back to the period when the British decided to relinquish control over India.

Contrary to common conception, India was actually not a single country during British Rule. Just before the British left (till late 1947), the subcontinent was an amalgamation of more than 500 kingdoms and territories ruled by different Maharajas, Princes and Nawabs. However the British extracted large taxes from these rulers in return for military and administrative support.

Just before Independence (June 1947), the State Department was set up, headed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and aided by VP Menon, to oversee the merger of these States with either India or Pakistan after the British left. The States were free to accede to either India or Pakistan, and technically, to remain Independent, if they so wished. The State wishing to merge was needed to sign an Instrument of Accession wherein it agreed to hand over defence, foreign and communication matters to the Central Govt. To convince the rulers they were offered variety of sops by both India and Pakistan and it was a literal wooing competition. Large privy purses and fancy titles were on offer. First of the major States to accede were Bikaner and Baroda (to India). This released a flood gate and States started acceding (mostly) to India and (some) to Pakistan. The three most important persons involved from the Indian side were Sardar Patel, Lord Mountbatten (the last viceroy to India) and last but not the least, VP Menon, a civil servant from the ICS, who toured the entire country and was relentless in his pursuit of convincing the royals to accede to India.

However all was not smooth sailing. Six States presented formidable challenges to this movement. 3 before Independence and 3 after. Understanding the ways in which these were attempted to be resolved holds the key to most of the issues plaguing Jammu and Kashmir today.

Before Independence (15th August 1947):

Travancore: The Dewan (prime minister) of the State, Sir CP Ramaswamy Aiyar wanted the State to stay independent. Sardar Patel and Menon tried hard to convince him to join India, but he steadfastly refused. This deadlock continued till he was stabbed by a man in army uniform and hospitalized. From the Hospital he gave a statement agreeing to accede to India.
Bhopal: With a pre dominantly Hindu population but a Muslim ruler. Initially the Nawab wanted to accede to Pakistan, but was convinced by Lord Mountbatten to join India as it was both geographically and by religion more suited for India.
Jodhpur: Although this was a State with a Hindu ruler as well as a predominantly Hindu population, the king surprisingly wanted to join Pakistan. Geographically this bordered Pakistan and was of strategic importance. Hence Sardar Patel himself intervened and convinced the Raja to stay on with India.

After Independence (15th August 1947): These three States are critical to our understanding of the bitterness over Kashmir.

Junagadh: Mostly Hindu population ruled by a Muslim Nawab – Mohabbat Khan. On 14th August 1947 Junagadh acceded to Pakistan. Junagadh is surrounded by India on three sides and has the ocean on the 4th side. On 13th September, Pakistan accepted the accession of Junagadh as a part of Pakistan. The Hindu population protested and the Nawab fled to Karachi. In the ensuing confusion, the Dewan of the State handed over accession power to India on 9th November-47. To add some legitimacy to this, India declared a plebiscite (vote among the public) and as expected, the predominantly Hindu population (82% of the total population was Hindu) voted for India.

Hyderabad: By far the richest State then. Marginally higher Hindu population ruled by a Muslim Nizam – Mir Usman Ali. The Nizam wanted to stay independent but threatened to join Pakistan if endangered. Jinnah supported this move by the Nizam. However Sardar Patel could not allow a independent State in the middle of the country separating the North and the South. The situation remained thus deadlocked for a year. On 11th September 1948, Mohd. Ali Jinnah died. Two days later, on 13th September 1948, Indian Army attacked Hyderabad and took over the State after killing thousands of the Nizam’s soldiers known as the Razakars.

Jammu and Kashmir: This continues to remain a sore on both Indian and Pakistani psyche. The State comprised of 4 separate regions –
(1) Jammu – low hills and plain land, predominantly Hindu
(2) Kashmir Valley – Predominantly Muslim population
(3) The Ladakh – predominantly Buddhist.
(4) Gilgit and Baltistan – northernmost border – predominantly muslim.

All these four separate regions were brought together in to a State between 1830-1850 by the Dogra Rajputs (Hindus). Hence here we had a situation where we had a Hindu King – Maharaja Hari Singh – ruling over a predominantly Muslim population. The State was bordered by both India and Pakistan. The leader of the common Muslim masses in the Kashmir Valley was Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah (the father of Farooq Abdullah and the grandfather of the current Chief Minister Omar Abdullah). He formed the National Conference in 1938 and it was his demand that the monarchy should be replaced with a democracy and the elected representatives of the people of Jammu and Kashmir would decide the fate of the State (to remain independent or to merge with either India or Pakistan). Abdullah had Nehru’s full backing and the two were close friends. However he was jailed by the Maharaja. On 15th August Kashmir declared independence and offered to sign a stand still agreement with both India and Pakistan. This meant free trade and communication between the States. Pakistan signed promptly. But India didn’t.

The Maharaj steadfastly refused to joing either India or Pakistan despite massive campaigning by both. On 12th October 1947, the Deputy Prime Minister of the State declared in Delhi that “We intend to keep friendly relations with both India and Pakistan and we have no intention of joining either. The only thing that will change our mind is if one side or the other uses force against us.”

Exactly two weeks after this, thousands of armed men entered Kashmir from Pakistan and started marching towards Srinagar in an effort to capture it. Pakistan Govt denied any knowledge of this and this invasion was named the Tribal invasion by Pathans of the Pakistani provinces adjacent to Kashmir. None of these Pathans were members of the Pakistani Army (although the Indian side alleged that they were armed and supported by the Pakistani Army). Why they attacked and by whom were they supported remain un answered till today and this remains the crux of the issue. This motley Pathan army took one city after another and came within 50 kms of Srinagar. They looted, plundered and raped both Hindu as well as Muslim households on their march towards the State Capital. Maximum damage was caused by these Pathans at Baramula.

Maharaja Hari Singh panicked and asked Indian Govt for help. VP Menon flew down and advised the Maharaja to leave Srinagar and shift immediately to Jammu - which was predominantly Hindu. Hari Singh traveled non stop to Jammu by road and after this tiring journey had gone to sleep. He was woken from his sleep by Menon and told that if he wanted India’s assistance then he would have to sign the Instrument of Accession as otherwise India could not send its troops to a foreign Country. The Maharaja Signed the treaty there itself. The very next day platoons of the Indian army were flown down to Srinagar where they first secured the city and then started the counter offensive of pushing back the invaders.

The story doesn’t end here. It more like begins here. I will narrate the rest (as I understand it) later. But think of all the incidents mentioned here. Think of all the whites and blacks (although it appears mostly gray to me). Who was right and who was wrong? The story takes dozens of interesting twists and turns from this point onwards and I would be, in my subsequent entries, dealing with all of those.

Till then good night and take care.