Recently there have been some ugly events and scenes involving Kashmir’s emerging young leadership. Unfortunately there is a clash between the veterans who have seen the events of 1947 first hand and those who were born much later. The events of 1947 when the erstwhile princely State of Jammu & Kashmir is supposed to have acceded to the Union of India, according to some foreign authors, seem to be shrouded in confusion and mystery. In fact, the entire sub-continent at that time was in total turmoil. There were communal riots all over the sub-continent. There were hordes of refugees going from one dominion to the other and some of these were getting butchered en route. The Jammu & Kashmir State escaped from this carnage except for Jammu where more than three hundred thousand Muslims were massacred in cold blood. Even though Kashmir Valley remained safe from these riots and Mahatma Gandhi saw a ray of light there, yet it had a different kind of upheaval. The tribesmen from the North West Frontier Province invaded Kashmir supposedly to assist the Muslim uprising against the Maharaja which was started in Poonch and spearheaded by Sardar Ibrahim. In the valley itself, the National Conference which was leading a struggle against the feudal Maharaja had started the “Quit Kashmir Movement” in 1946. Sheikh Abdullah who had spearheaded the movement was in Jail. In terms of the Partition Act, the British had given a choice to over 500 princely states to join either of the two dominions. There were three states which had Muslim/Hindu rulers but the majority of population in these states were not the followers of the religion of the rulers. The rulers of two states, Hyderabad and Junagarh, who were Muslims, opted for accession to Pakistan but India took over the states through military action as the majority of the population wanted to join the Indian Union. In case of Kashmir as the majority of the population was Muslim there was certainty that due to its proximity to Pakistan, the state would join Pakistan. The Maharaja being a Hindu was hesitant in making an immediate choice. A large chunk of his population was in revolt against him. This prompted military action from both the dominions, which made a mess of the whole situation. Kashmiris due to their misfortune got embroiled in a bloody conflict not of their own making. In this confused and uncertain situation the State is supposed to have acceded to the Union of India. Alastair Lamb in his book “Kashmir, a Disputed Legacy 1846-1990” says, “At the very heart of the matter is the decision made by the Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir in October 1947 to accede to India. From this all else has flowed; and its consequences are with us still.” The entire Indian claim of Kashmir being an integral part of the Union of India is based on a document known as the “Instrument of Accession” signed between the ruler of the erstwhile princely State of Jammu & Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh, and Lord Mountbatten, the Governor General of India. Doubts have been raised about the very existence of such a document and some people including Alastair Lamb question whether the Maharaja actually signed it? According to him in spite of the best efforts he was not able to see the original document anywhere. He even approached the National Archives in Delhi where the original copy is supposed to be preserved but was denied access to the original document. He could only get unsigned typed copies. The “Instrument of Accession” is said to have been got signed from the Maharaja by VPS Menon. Alastair Lamb considers it humanly impossible for VPS Menon to have shuttled between Delhi, Jammu, and Srinagar in a single day to obtain the signature of the Maharaja and then hand over the document to Lord Mountbatten. The accession document is supposed to have been signed on October 26 and the Indian Forces started landing at Srinagar Airport from October 27. Alastair Lamb mentions in his book that the first troops to reach Kashmir came much before the signing of the instrument of accession and were Patiala Sikhs sent by the Maharaja of Patiala to help Maharaja Hari Singh. This battalion of Sikh troops reached Srinagar on October 17 in a convoy of civilian trucks carrying supplies and went straight to Srinagar Airport to secure it for the already planned air lift of Indian Forces which was to follow soon. In fact, Maharaja of Patiala himself came to Jammu on October 27 to personally supervise the operations by his troops. According to Josef Korbel the airlifting of troops to Kashmir had been a well planned operation. Such operations need extensive preparations and drill. It could not have been undertaken on the spur of the moment within one day of the signing of the accession. Both the authors feel that the Indian leaders had already made up their mind to integrate the erstwhile princely State of Jammu & Kashmir into the Union of India. The Maharaja had been in two minds about the accession of his State to either dominion. Probably he would have preferred to remain independent. It was with this thought in his mind that he had offered a “Stand Still Agreement” to the Governments of both India and Pakistan. The Government of Pakistan had immediately accepted the request and signed a stand still agreement. However, the Government of India had sought some more time to consider it and eventually did not sign it at all. One of the reasons for the vacillation of the Maharaja was the advice rendered to him by his Prime Minister Ram Chand Kak, who too desired an independent Kashmir. Maharaja’s hand was forced by the invasion of tribesmen of North West Frontier Province. Had these tribesmen not come plundering everything in their path, the Maharaja might have resisted the pressure to sign the instrument of accession and may have opted for an Independent State of Kashmir. On advice from Delhi the Maharaja sacked Kak and appointed Mehar Chand Mahajan as his new Prime Minister. Mahajan did all the running around to facilitate the despatch of Indian troops to Kashmir. Korbel has also questioned the insistence of Lord Mountbatten for the signing of the accession in unusual circumstances as a prior condition for assistance. Immediately after the tribal invasion, the Maharaja had sent an urgent request to Government of India for assistance to save his state. However, Lord Mountbatten had expressed inability to assist him unless he acceded to India. Why was it necessary for the Maharaja to accede to India first in such an emergency before getting any assistance? Why could he not be assisted first and the accession concluded in a more peaceful and settled atmosphere subsequently? There are two other interesting aspects related to the accession. The Maharaja who is supposed to have signed the accession of his State to the Union of India immediately left the state after doing this and never came back. He passed rest of his life in exile in Mumbai where he ultimately died. As mentioned earlier, just prior to the accession Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah had started an open revolt against the Maharaja in 1946 under the banner of the famous “Quit Kashmir Movement”. He had been tried and sentenced for treason because of this and was in Jail. The Indian leadership was instrumental in getting him released and appointed as the Head of the Maharaja’s Emergency Administration so as to get his support for the accession. The accession was temporary and had to be confirmed by the free will of the people to be exercised through a referendum held under international auspices. Such an exercise has not taken place till date as both the countries accuse each other of not fulfilling the basic requirement of demilitarisation of the entire state as stipulated in the UN Resolutions on the subject.

Some of our leaders were intentionally or unintentionally a party to the unfortunate and tragic events of 1947. The circumstances of the accession are reminiscent of the earlier loss of sovereignty of independent Kashmir during the Mughal period. Even at that time, Delhi, which was the seat of the Mughal Empire, had annexed Kashmir through treachery and betrayal. It is a very tragic repetition of history. During the sixteenth century it was only one empire which was trying to annexe us. In 1947, there were two conflicting ideologies trying to merge us within their dominions. It was our misfortune that the tallest leader we had could not plead our case without being swayed by either dominion. Had he kept himself neutral and projected the voice of Kashmiris as a third party to the dispute, we may have gained our freedom long back! Even now we do not have a totally independent and forceful neutral voice but are again swayed by one or the other party. The generation of Kashmiris which was a witness to the events of 1947 is slowly passing away. Ultimately it will be the books of history which would be left as a reference for the future generations. Unless something is done now, we will have similar tragic upheavals, which we have been experiencing for past more than a decade and a half, with each new generation. There is only one way of getting rid of this baggage of history and a sense of guilt of 1947. The things must to be sorted out and cleared before the said generation completely passes away permanently into history.