Samlee
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This should have been your first clue. If someone like Sir Zafarullah Khan, whose legal acumen matched that of Jinnah, didn't touch upon these two 'questions', then these are probably not relevant. Indeed, these are inconsequential.
What you are trying to say is that since the Instrument was probably signed after the arrival of Indian troops, then (a) the entry of Indian troops into the sovereign territory of J & K is itself illegal and (b) the accession was acquired at gun point. Both are false.
Following the tribal invasion on 22 Oct, the Maharaja had formally asked for Military aide from India. The request was received on 24th Oct. Entry of Indian troops, on 27th Oct, can be legally validated by this request alone, even if you consider the Instrument to be invalid. Meher Chand Mahajan, the Prime Minisiter of the Maharaja, who was present in Delhi from 25th Oct, with full authority to negotiate accession, in his autobiography, 'Looking Back' writes,
"I was, however, adamant in my submission; the Prime Minister also was sticking to his own view. As a last resort I said, Give us the military force we need. Take the accession and give whatever power you desire to the popular party" [pg-151]
Point (a), therefore is legally not tenable.
Since you have quoted Victoria Schofield, let me quote her as well.
"Whether or not the Instrument of Accession was signed before or after Indian troops landed, the Maharaja had agreed to accession in principle upon the terms outlined by Mountbatten'' [pg-58, Kashmir in Conflict by Victoria Schofield]
As with the presence of Patiala Force, it was still a militia and was not yet absorbed into Indian Army. Their presence was of no consequence.
It is irrelevant if the accession was incomplete when the Indian airlift of soldiers began or when they landed. What is relevant is the question, if GoI had legally valid authority to do so, even without the Instrument. As you can see, argument can be made successfully that India was merely responding to the Maharaja's formal request for military help.
[...to be continued]
Thank You Toxic Sahib,Some Interesting Points Have Been Raised
Regarding Your First Point Yes Many Points Which Could Have Helped Pakistan Get Better Concessions From Were Ignored.One Good Reason Could Have Been That Quaid E Azam and and The Pakistani Government Were Not Aware Of The Detailed Information As To What Was Really Happening In Kashmir At That Point of Time and What The Indian Machinations Were.
Your Next Point:You Say
What you are trying to say is that since the Instrument was probably signed after the arrival of Indian troops, then (a) the entry of Indian troops into the sovereign territory of J & K is itself illegal and (b) the accession was acquired at gun point. Both are false.
Following the tribal invasion on 22 Oct, the Maharaja had formally asked for Military aide from India. The request was received on 24th Oct. Entry of Indian troops, on 27th Oct, can be legally validated by this request alone, even if you consider the Instrument to be invalid. Meher Chand Mahajan, the Prime Minisiter of the Maharaja, who was present in Delhi from 25th Oct, with full authority to negotiate accession, in his autobiography, 'Looking Back' writes,
"I was, however, adamant in my submission; the Prime Minister also was sticking to his own view. As a last resort I said, Give us the military force we need. Take the accession and give whatever power you desire to the popular party" [pg-151]
Point (a), therefore is legally not tenable.
Since you have quoted Victoria Schofield, let me quote her as well.
"Whether or not the Instrument of Accession was signed before or after Indian troops landed, the Maharaja had agreed to accession in principle upon the terms outlined by Mountbatten'' [pg-58, Kashmir in Conflict by Victoria Schofield]
1.When The Nawab Of Junagadh Acceded To Pakistan,The Indian Government and UN Was Informed.No Such SOP Was Followed By India In Case Of Kashmir.None Of This Was Done.The Indian Government Claimed That The Original Accession Agreement Was Lost rendering Their Claim To Be Even More Suspicious.
Indias False Claim on Kashmir On October 28th 1993, Robin Raphel stated that Washington did not recognise the Instrument of Accession to India as meaning that Kashmir is not forever more an integral part of India. She expressed the view that the whole of Kashmir is disputed territory, the future status of which must be determined in accordance with the wishes of the people of Kashmir.
2.I Will Not Comment Much On The Words of Prem Chand Mahajan.Considering The Fact That He Was A Party To The Conflict and Later Would Hold Prominent Positions In The Indian Administration.I Will Certainly Doubt His Neutrality.
3.Victoria Schofield Is Right In Saying That In Return For Indian Military Aid,He Would Accede To India.A Promise To Accede Does Not Amount To Full Accession.Even When You Sell Land You Have To Follow Legal Procedures.You Have To Have A Sales Deed.You Cannot Just Sell Land By The Word Of The Mouth.
4.Miss Victoria's Quote Does Not Vindicate India's Stance In Anyway.She Did Not Say The Accession Document Had Indeed Been Signed Before The Airlift Of Indian Soldiers.
5.You Only Quoted A Portion Of My Reference and Arguements.I Wish You Had Answered One By One.I Will Quote Again and Reiterate my Point
'It is now absolutely clear that the two documents (a) the Instrument of Accession, and (c) the letter to Lord Mountbatten, could not possibly have been signed by the Maharajah of Jammu and Kashmir on 26 October 1947. The earliest possible time and date for their signature would have to be the afternoon of 27 October 1947. During 26 October 1947 the Maharajah of Jammu and Kashmir was travelling by road from Srinagar to Jammu. His Prime Minister, M.C. Mahajan, who was negotiating with the Government of India, and the senior Indian official concerned in State matters, V.P. Menon, were still in New Delhi where they remained overnight, and where their presence was noted by many observers. There was no communication of any sort between New Delhi and the traveling Maharajah. Menon and Mahajan set out by air from New Delhi to Jammu at about 10.00 a.m. on 27 October, and the Maharajah learned from them for the first time the result of his Prime Ministers negotiations in New Delhi in the early afternoon of that day. (Excerpts from 'The Myth of Indian Claim to JAMMU AND KASHMIR A REAPPRAISAL by Alistair Lamb)'
and Again In Another Place
The key point, of course, a has already been noted above, is that it is now obvious that these documents could only have been signed after the overt Indian intervention in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. When the Indian troops arrived at Srinagar air field, that State was still independent. Any agreements favourable to India signed after such intervention cannot escape the charge of having been produced under duress. It was, one presumes, to escape just such a charge that the false date 26 October 1947 was assigned to these two documents. The deliberately distorted account of that very senior Indian official, V.P. Menon, to which reference has already been made, was no doubt executed for the same end. Falsification of such a fundamental element as date of signature, however, once established, can only cast grave doubt over the validity of the document as a whole .( Excerpts from 'The Myth of Indian Claim to JAMMU AND KASHMIR A REAPPRAISAL by Alistair Lamb)'
Once The Troops Started Landing In Srinagar and The Maharaja Became Totally Dependent Upon The Sweet Will of The Indian Government,He Would Have Signed Anything,Even His Death Warrant.
6.Regarding The Airlift Of The Indian Troops Itself,A Man No Less Than Lord Mountbatten Stated
In all my extensive experience as Allied Commander in South-East Asia and Pacific during the Second World War, I have never seen an airlift of this magnitude with such slender resources and at such short notice
Three C47 Dakotas No 12 Sqn RIAF took off from Willingdon (Safdarjung) airfield at 0500h on 27 Oct 1947 with troops of the 1st Sikh Regiment ex-Gurgaon. The first aircraft touched down at 0830h, within hours of the signing of the aleged 'Instrument of Accession'.The Fact That Such A Large Airlift In Such A Short Time Must Have Been Planned Well In Advance.It Is Just Not Possible That Pundit Nehru Gave The Order and The Operation Started All Of A Sudden.This Also Puts Indian Intentions Under Suspicion.
I Thank You For Mentioning The so Called 'Tribal Invasion'.It Is Unfortunate To Know That Indians Have Only Been Told One Side Of The Story.They Have Not Been Told About The Large Scale Genocide Launched By Hari Singh and The Sikh and Hindu Militants From Punjab To Exterminate Muslims From Kashmir.This Holocaust of Innocent Muslims Was Not The Spur Of The Time Or The Religous Zeal Of The Hindu and Sikh Miltants But A Carefully Orchestrated Plan To Reduce The Muslims In Jammu and Kashmir To a Minority.
Official Records of the United Nations Security Council, Meeting No:234, 1948, pp.249-250:
Special Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph of London, Douglas Brown, in the issue of 12 January 1948:
"Yet another element in the situation is provided by Sikh refugees from the West Punjab who have seized Muslim lands in Jammu . They originated the massacres there last October, to clear for themselves new Sikh territory to comensate for their losses in Pakistan and to provide part of the nucleus of a future Sikhistan. "
Official Records of the United Nations Security Council, Meeting No:534, 6 March 1951, pp.3-4:
Shortly after the terrible slaughters in India, which accompanied partition, the Maharaja set upon a course of action whereby, in the words of the special correspondent of The Times of London published in its issue of 10 October 1948,"in the remaining Dogra area, 237,000 Muslims were systematically exterminated, unless they escaped to Pakistan along the border, by all the forces of the Dogra State headed by the Maharaja in person and aided by Hindus and Sikhs."
Official Records of the United Nations Security Council, Meeting No:226, 1948, pp.71-2:
Mr. G.K. Reddy, a Hindu editor of Kashmir Times, in a statement published in the Daily Gazette ,a Hindu paper of Karachi, in its issue of 28 October:
"The mad orgy of Dogra violence against unarmed Muslims should put any self-respecting human being to shame. I saw armed bands of ruffians and soldiers shooting down and hacking to pieces helpless Muslim refugees heading towards Pakistan I saw en route State officials freely distributing arms and ammunition among the Dogras From the hotel room where I was detained in Jammu, I counted as many as twenty-six villages burning one night and all through the night rattling fire of automatic weapons could be heard from the surrounding refugee camps."
Official Records of the United Nations Security Council, Meeting No:234, 1948, pp.252-3:
Telegram sent from Sialkot, dated 20 October, from the President of the District Muslim Conference, Jammu to the Minister at Karachi:
"Dogra military reinforced by numberless Indian Army plain-clothers, Sikh jathas, local and from abroad. Hindus and Rajputs, armed with modern weapons, launched wholesale massacre of Muslims of Ranbirsinghpura, Akhnur, Samba and Jammu Tehsils of Jammu District. Several thousand Muslims already ruthlessly butchered. Hundreds of women abducted. All moveable property looted and hundreds of Muslim villages burnt to ashes. Hostile forces, continuing killing suburban Muslims and burning Muslim villages from all sides, now converging on Jammu City and only one mile distant from it. Village Raipur, within Jammu Cantonment area, burnt. Muslims in City already hopeless minority and altogether unarmed. Fifteen thousand Muslims of Jammu City including women, children and cream of Muslim intelligentsia surrounded from all sides, helpless and in immediate danger of being ruthlessly killed. Muslim military disarmed and brigadier Khoda Bux, Jammu Cantonment relieved by Hindu Brigadier. If immediate help not made, all would be butchered. ."
Telegram sent from Sialkot, dated 22 October, from the City Muslim Conference, Jammu to the Governor-General at Karachi:
"Previous telegrams unheeded. Ten thousand Muslim refugees gathered Rosin factory Miransahib. All butchered by Dogra military, after assurance from Kashmir Premier for safety. Within fifteen miles radius of Jammu City, all Muslims including women, children, officials, killed. Number of killed ove 40,000. Organized killing continues. Attacks on Jammu City Muslims started. Over 350 mosques burned. Bonfires Holy Korans made. Muslim officials and officers being hunted and killed."
Alastair Lamb, Incomplete Partition, Roxford 1997, p.202
There was indeed a civil war raging in Poonch. In Jammu at that very moment the Maharaja was engaged in a series of massacres of Muslims which some observers have considered to have been the nastiest of all in the wave of atrocities which followed immediately upon the Transfer of Power: conservative estimates suggest over 200,000 deaths here between August and December 1947. These events, naturally enough, set hordes of refugees on the move into Pakistan.
Alastair Lamb, Incomplete Partition, Roxford 1997, p.128
There is evidence that from the outset regular troops and police in the State service joined informally and covertly, but enthusiastically, in these atrocities which, some have estimated, eventually resulted in the death of atleast 200,000 Muslims and drove twice as many into exile.
By the beginning of October the Jammu & Kashmir State authorities joined openly in this anti-Muslim policy by setting out to create along the State's border with Pakistan (in the region of Gujarat and Sialkot) a depopulated zone some three miles deep. Hindus here were evacuated. Muslims were either killed or driven across into Pakistan. On a number of occasions Jammu & Kashmir State Forces actually crossed over into Pakistan and destroyed villages there(well documented acts of Jammu & Kashmir State's "aggression" on its territory which Pakistan has signally failed to exploit in its arguments concerning the rights and wrongs of the Kashmir situation). Early in October British observers saw in one such village on the Pakistan side of the border no fewer than 1,700 corpses of slaughtered Muslim men, women and children. Before 22 October, a crucial date on the Kashmir story, the Pakistan authorities reported that at least 100,000 Muslim refugees from Jammu were being cared for in the neighbourhood of Sialkot. The Government in Karachi might talk about negotiations, but there was a growing body of opinion in Pakistan, particularly in the Punjab, which argued forcefully for more direct action to stop the killing.
India, District Census Handbook, Jammu & Kashmir, Jammu District, 1961, p.15, p.5:
Summarised below:
In Jammu District alone, which is a part of the larger Jammu Province, Muslims numbered 158,630 and comprised 37% of the total population of 428,719 in the year 1941. In the year 1961, Muslims numbered only 51,693 and comprised only 10% of the total population of 516,932. The decrease in the number of Muslims in Jammu district alone was over 100,000.
P.S.Verma, Jammu and Kashmir at the political crossroads, New Delhi 1994, p.34
The holocaust which raged through certain states like Bengal and Punjab in 1947 "failed to have any echo" in the Kashmir Valley which had as many as 93.7 per cent Muslim population. The Hindus in the Kashmir Valley remained safe and protected even in the wake of communal killings of Muslims in the Hindus dominated Jammu region. Credit for this mainly goes to Sheikh Abdullah and his colleagues in the party
Even Prem Shankar Jha Who Has Tried To Refute Lamb Had To Admit That
It is undeniable that later in October there was communal violence all along the Pakistan-Kashmir border, from Kathua to Bhimber to Mirpur, and beyond. It is also undeniable that Kashmir State forces did cross over the border into Pakistan proper on several occasions, and on one occasion penetrated six miles deep to virtually depopulate two [Muslim] villages near Sialkot. [Footnote:] This was not merely a Pakistan concoction, but attested to by a British officer who went to the site. The alleged body count of over 17,000 corpses may be what he was told-it is unlikely that he personally did the counting, but the fact of casualties in the thousands is beyond reasonable doubt, if the British officer's report to the UK Deputy High Commission in Lahore was accurate. Telegram from UK Dy. High Commissioner in Lahore, 6 Nov. 1947.(Kashmir, 1947 : rival versions of history, O.U.P. 1996, pp.120-1)
The Above Also Shows That Pakistan Was Not The Aggressor But The Victim Of Aggression
Also
Ian Stephens, Pakistan, New York 1963, p.200
But in the Jammu Province, things went very differently. There, unlike every other part of the State, Hindus and Sikhs slightly outnumbered Muslims; and within a period of eleven weeks starting in August, systematic savageries, similar to those already launched in East Punjab and in Patiala and Kapurthala, practically eliminated the entire Muslim element in the population, amounting to 500,000 people. About 200,000 just disappeared, remaining untraceable, having presumably been butchered, or died from epidemics or exposure. The rest fled destitute to West Punjab .This writer talked about it early in the following month with Mr. Gandhi, deducing that, even more than the carnage in and around Delhi itself, it explained the despairing mood of that great teacher of ahimsa during his last few weeks of life
Any Fair Minded Indian Who Says That The Tribal Invasion and The Subsequent Looting and Pillaging Was Wrong Should Also Admit That Bringing In Sikh and Hindu Militants From Neighbouring Punjab Was Also Wrong.There Have Also Been Allegations That The Maharaj Hari Singh Also Called In Patiala Sikh Infantry which landed Srinagar secretly by air on 19th July, 1947(Anil Athale's article in Sunday Observer, a weekly from Mumbai, dated 26 th October 1997 p. 2 , titled 'The Genesis of Border Dispute'), 17 th October 1947( Prof Alastair Lamb's & Stanley Wolpert's books separately & secret British records).This Also Puts Under Suspicion The Indian Intentions As Well.
The Maharajs Of Faridkot,Kapoorthala and Other Neighbouring States Were Also Helping Hari Singh Carry Out This Genocide
When You Say That You Were Responding To The Request For Help,Help For What,To Help In His Campaign Of Ethno-Religous Cleansing??????
In 1947, Muslims were in a 61 per cent majority in the Jammu province. Horace Alexander wrote in the Spectator (January 16, 1948) that the killings had the tacit consent of State authority and put the figure at 200,000. On August 10, 1948, The Times (London) published a report by A Special Correspondent, an Indian Civil Service official who had served in the State. He wrote: 2,37,000 Muslims were systematically exterminated unless they escaped to Pakistan along the border by all the forces of the Dogra State, headed by the Maharaja in person and aided by Hindus and Sikhs. This happened in October 1947, five days before the first Pathan invasion and nine days before the Maharajas accession to India. India was, therefore, not responsible one bit. Hari Singh was, personally. Between 1941 and 1961, the Muslim population of Jammu fell from 61 per cent to 38 per cent. Sheikh Abdullah wrote: There was enacted in every village and town through which he [Hari Singh] passed an orgy of arson and loot and murder of Muslims. In Jammu the killing of Muslims all over the province continued unabated for weeks under his very nose. In an article entitled Being Muslim in Jammu, Zafar Chaudhary writes: There was hardly any family in the region which escaped it. Those events permanently changed the way the Muslims of Jammu would live or think (Economic & Political Weekly; August 23, 2008).
Secondly,Indians Intervened In East Pakistan On The Pretext Of Large Influx Of Bengali Refugees From There .Similar Case Can Be Made On Behalf Of Pakistan.If It Is Accepted That Pakistan Was an 'Aggressor'.
It Was Against This That An Uprising Started In The Poonch Region.This Uprising Was Started By Former Immobilised Muslims Soldiers Of The State Army.Here They Proclaimed The Azad State of Jammu and Kashmir on 24th October 1947.They Were Led By Sardar Abdul Qayum Khan and Sardar Ibrahim Khan.Politically They Were Supported By Muslim Conference.These Freedom Fighters Had Called The Pashtun Tribesmen.These Tribesmen Did Not Come Of Their Own Account But Were Called In By Freedom Fighters In Poonch
Was Pakistan The Aggressor?????????
I Will Refer To Jammu and Kashmir war, 1947-1948: political and military perspective by Kuldip Singh Bajwa Ch. Kashmir Valley Saved Page 117-118.Jinnah Was Informed Of The Indian Miltary Action,He Bacme Furious.He Ordered Gen. Gracey To Send Regular Troops To Kashmir But Was Dissuaded From Doing So.
Was Jinnah Aware Of The Trbemen's Activities??????? I Will Quote The Following
Jinnahs role in the Kashmir War Yasser Latif Hamdani
The issue of whether Jinnah knew about it is a contentious one, primarily because there is no evidence, let alone overwhelming one, of Jinnahs knowledge of the tribal invasion. On the contrary, the evidence as well as consensus amongst the majority of the students of the Kashmir dispute is that, sitting in Karachi in the first two months of Pakistans creation, Jinnah was entirely ignorant of the tribal invasion till at least October 10, 1947, when it was officially underway in the north.
Here it is pertinent to quote Alastair Lamb, the author of Incomplete Partition, who says on page 137 of this book: What part had the government of Pakistan to play in this venture into the military venture into the state of Jammu and Kashmir?...The Governor General, M A Jinnah was kept ignorant of all the details, though naturally he was aware that there was trouble of some sort brewing in Kashmir, and the Pakistan cabinet did not take a minuted stance.
Fatima Jinnah confirms this as well. Sorraya Khurshid, the wife of K H Khurshid and sister to Khalid Hasan, writes in her book Memories of Fatima Jinnah on page 87 that Fatima Jinnah told her that Jinnah had no clue about the tribal invasion. She is quoted as saying, In fact, he did not know anything about it [Kashmir attack by tribals] at all and was very sorry that a thoughtless step had been taken in such a crude and unorganised manner.
George Cunningham also seconds the view that Jinnah was unaware of the tribal invasion till very late. He is quoted in the book Sir George Cunningham: A Memoir (Blackwood, 1968), on page 140 as saying: On October 25, Colonel Iskandar Mirza arrived from Lahore. He told me all the underground history of the present campaign against Kashmir, and brought apologies from Liaquat Ali for not letting me know anything about it sooner. Liaquat had meant to come here last week and tell me about it personally but was prevented by his illness...Apparently Jinnah himself first heard of what was going on about 15 days ago, but said, Dont tell me anything about it. My conscience must be clear...It was decided apparently about a month ago that the Poonchis should revolt and should be helped. Abdul Qayyum was in it from the beginning.
I Will Say No More Than The Above