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Alan Campbell Johnson, in his famous book, “Mission with Mountbatten” writes – while trying to explain why Kashmir, amongst the princely states, represented a special problem that “there was a Hindu ruler with a state geographically contiguous to both dominions and the majority of his subjects (were) Moslem.”
Campbell Johnson may have never created this logic of “geographically contiguous” he was merely repeating what everyone generally believed – and perhaps still believes. And it was true; on a map, Jammu & Kashmir appeared perched between India and Pakistan.
Yet in reality, for all practical purposes Maharaja Hari Singh’s princely state – surrounded by the ferocious Himalayas from three directions – till 16th August 1947, had no real physical links or lines of communication with the territories that were about to constitute India. In literally every respect Jammu and Kashmir was wholly and solely dependent for all its logistic needs on the territories that were about to form Pakistan.
Geography: Map versus reality?
State of Jammu and Kashmir came into existence in the middle of 19th century – it was a patchwork that was stitched by Gulab Singh mostly after the 2nd Anglo-Sikh war and the Sikh defeat of 1846 when cash strapped East India Company sold him Kashmir for the infamous Rs. 75 lacs.
Kashmir valley, from past several hundred years, had only two main reliable physical links with the outside world: One through the Jhelum Valley Road (also called Pindi-Srinagar or Muzaffarabad-Srinagar Road); second through the Old Mughal Road that entered Jammu via Sialkot corridor (Bhimber, Jammu, Rajouri route and entering Kashmir at Shopian).
Read full article...
Kashmir, Gurdaspur & Mountbatten?
Alan Campbell Johnson, in his famous book, “Mission with Mountbatten” writes – while trying to explain why Kashmir, amongst the princely states, represented a special problem that “there was a Hindu ruler with a state geographically contiguous to both dominions and the majority of his subjects (were) Moslem.”
Campbell Johnson may have never created this logic of “geographically contiguous” he was merely repeating what everyone generally believed – and perhaps still believes. And it was true; on a map, Jammu & Kashmir appeared perched between India and Pakistan.
Yet in reality, for all practical purposes Maharaja Hari Singh’s princely state – surrounded by the ferocious Himalayas from three directions – till 16th August 1947, had no real physical links or lines of communication with the territories that were about to constitute India. In literally every respect Jammu and Kashmir was wholly and solely dependent for all its logistic needs on the territories that were about to form Pakistan.
Geography: Map versus reality?
State of Jammu and Kashmir came into existence in the middle of 19th century – it was a patchwork that was stitched by Gulab Singh mostly after the 2nd Anglo-Sikh war and the Sikh defeat of 1846 when cash strapped East India Company sold him Kashmir for the infamous Rs. 75 lacs.
Kashmir valley, from past several hundred years, had only two main reliable physical links with the outside world: One through the Jhelum Valley Road (also called Pindi-Srinagar or Muzaffarabad-Srinagar Road); second through the Old Mughal Road that entered Jammu via Sialkot corridor (Bhimber, Jammu, Rajouri route and entering Kashmir at Shopian).
Read full article...
Kashmir, Gurdaspur & Mountbatten?
