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By E Jayakrishnan, India Syndicate, 27/10/2010

Shattering some myths on Kashmir

Arundhati Roy says Kashmir was never a part of India. We look at why she is wrong & why India’s position is not as vulnerable as it is portrayed to be

Myth I

Kashmir has never been an integral part of India: Arundhati Roy
The Story

At the time of Indian independence, none of the princely states — Hyderabad, Gwalior, Mysore, Baroda and Kashmir, to name a few — were part of India. They were called princely states — quasi-sovereign states ruled by the Indian princes under the "suzerainty" of the British. There were as many as 568 states in India when the British decided to leave India.

In 1947, under the Mountbatten Plan, they were given two options — either affiliate with India or with Pakistan. Though most of the princely states thirsted for freedom, that option was closed at the insistence of the Congress party. Though the choice of which entity to join was left to the rulers of the princely states, it was largely understood that the religious denomination of the majority of the citizens and geographical contiguities of the states would be the preponderant determining criteria.

Kashmir fulfilled both these paramount criteria to join Pakistan — geographical contiguity with the newly-formed state and religious domination of the majority of its citizens.

However, there was a problem: The Hindu ruler of Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh wanted something which was not on the table — azaadi, or freedom from both India and Pakistan. He wanted Kashmir to remain independent. In spite of entreaties from various quarters including from the Governor General of India, Loius Mountbatten, the Maharaja continued to dither and remained non-committal. And the situation reached a stalemate.

Jinnah and Pakistan perceived this intransigence of the Maharaja to be a clever ploy by India and Mountbatten to pluck Kashmir surreptiously from Pakistan's grasp. So, in an operation that today can be seen as a precursor of the Kargil Operation, Pakistan launched a military invasion of Kashmir on October 22, 1947.

Pashtun tribals and irregulars, morally and logistically supported by the Pakistan army, were sent in to force the Maharaja to accede to Pakistan. The invaders reached the outskirts of Srinagar, the capital. And threatened to besiege the city.

A frightened and panick-stricken Maharaja radioed Delhi for military help. The Indian leadership argued that it would not be legally possible to send in the Indian Army unless Kashmir acceded to India formally. After another bout of resistance, the Maharaja finally yielded and Mountbatten's aide V P Menon was sent to Srinagar to secure his signature on the Instrument of Accession. Once signed (on 26 October 1947), the Indian Army was airlifted to Srinagar and the Pakistani invaders were beaten back, but not before they controlled about one-third of Kashmir.

The Reality:

As soon as the Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession, Kashmir's accession to India was complete in the legal and formal sense — the same Instrument of Accession that was signed by more than 500 other princely states. That is a fact of history, which cannot be disputed without stretching the truth. It's there is black and white. In fact, it can be argued that it was Pakistan's folly of invading Kashmir, overplaying its hand, which sowed the seeds of the Kashmir imbroglio.




File photo of Jawaharlal Nehru with Sheikh Abdullah. When the irregulars from Pakistan invaded India on October 22, 1947, Prime Minister Nehru went to the UN in good faith to call on the world body to intervene and ensure that Pakistan pull back its troops. Based on the Indian complaint and the counter-arguments of Pakistan, the UN Security Council called for not only an immediate ceasefire, but also a plebiscite to determine the wishes of the Kashmiris.

Myth II

India refuses to uphold the UN-mandated plebiscite that gives the right of self-determination to the Kashmiri people: Pakistan

The Story

When the irregulars from Pakistan invaded India on October 22, 1947, Prime Minister Nehru went to the UN in good faith to call on the world body to intervene and ensure that Pakistan pull back its troops. Based on the Indian complaint and the counter-arguments of Pakistan, the UN Security Council called for not only an immediate ceasefire, but also a plebiscite to determine the wishes of the Kashmiris.

Ignoring the advice of his Home Minister Sardar Patel and Indian Army commanders that India should not agree to a ceasefire before the area captured by the invaders was reclaimed, Nehru went ahead and not only ordered an immediate ceasefire but also agreed in principle to the plebiscite — a promise that has not been kept.

The Reality

This is the instance used to castigate India for not only breaking the spirit of the UN resolution but also ignoring the legitimate aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

But just look at what UN Resolution 38 of 17 January 1948 actually says about the run-up to the plebiscite —

"The Government of Pakistan should undertake to use its best endeavours: To secure the withdrawal from the State of Jammu and Kashmir of tribesmen and Pakistani nationals not normally resident therein who have entered the State for the purposes of fighting, and to prevent any intrusion into the State of such elements and any furnishing of material aid to those fighting in the State".

Please read that again.

The much-bandied resolution, used to whip India with by the critics, clearly states that Pakistan will "withdraw" all "Pakistani nationals" and "tribesmen" who infiltrated on October 22, 1947 from the soil of the whole of Jammu and Kashmir as it existed then, without exception. This was the UN resolution's 'first condition' for the beginning of the process towards the plebiscite.

Has that condition been fulfilled by Pakistan? Has the land 'occupied' by the Pakistanis and the tribesmen in 1947 been vacated? Isn't the reality that Pakistan occupied and continues to occupy more than one-third of the territory of Kashmir?

As a way to fulfill the mandate and hold the plebiscite, will Pakistan be willing to vacate *** now, 63 years after the resolution? The answer is written on the wall.

For all intents and purposes the UN resolution on Kashmir is as good as dead.

No wonder then that the wily but pragmatic General Musharraf gave up the usual Pakistani harping on self-determination in Kashmir for a more practical and doable out-of-the-box solution, which unfortunately is being disowned by the present Pakistani government.




File photo of Pandit Nehru during his Kashmir visit in 1947. Ignoring the advise of his Home Minister, Sardar Patel, and Indian Army commanders that India should not agree to a ceasefire before the area captured by the invaders was reclaimed, Nehru went ahead and not only ordered an immediate ceasefire but also agreed in principle to the plebiscite, a promise that has not been kept.


Myth III

Pakistan has always stood by Kashmir, as against the brutality of the Indian security forces in the Indian side of Kashmir: Pakistan

Pakistan in Kashmir


a) Pakistan has carved out the Northern Areas (now called Gilgit-Baltistan, almost 72,971 Sq km) from Kashmir into a separate administrative and political unit. This area, which was part of the undivided Kashmir at the time of independence, has been 'annexed' by Pakistan, as it were, and separated from Kashmir.

b) In 1963, Pakistan illegally ceded 5,800 sq km in the Trans-Karakoram Tract to China. The Tract was part of the original state of Jammu and Kashmir.

c) Pakistan actively encourages "other people" to settle in *** and have even allowed the Chinese a huge presence in Gilgit-Baltistan, ostensibly for developing the infrastructure of the region.

In contrast:

a) Territorially, the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir is the same entity that existed in 1947, except for the portions gobbled-up by Pakistan/China.

b) The Freedom House Report, 2010, on the level of 'freedom' in *** characterised it as "not free', while the Indian side of Kashmir was defined as "partly free".

c) No non-Kashmiri can buy as much as an inch of land in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. There has been no attempt by India to change the demographics or the state's ethnic character. The only demographic change that has happened in the state has been the "ethnic cleansing" of the Kashmiri pundits from the Valley. A mass exodus which has largely been ignored by the media and the powers-that-be.

Therefore, there is nothing much really that India has to feel defensive about. Whatever Arundhati Roy or others may put out on the air.

Source: India Syndicate
Shattering some myths on Kashmir - *National News ? News ? MSN India
Technical this n that articles are just for those who want bust the reality fact that Indian position on Kashmir is totally morally bankrupt.

They are not excusing that the Maharaja was going against the population's wish to accede to India. Did Pakistan drop the ball by not playing nice or did it manage to secure a huge chunk of Kashmir + Gilgit Baltistan. If we were left to Indian and Maharaja's niceties, even AJK citizens would be under Indian tyranny.

The FACTs are even more twisted on the 2nd part when Indians are thinking their amnesia is a contagious disease that would somehow eliminate all other UN resolutions and allow India to pick and choose the ones it likes. The UN resolution 98 clearly identifies that:


4. Urges the Governments of India and Pakistan to enter into immediate negotiations under the
auspices of the United Nations Representative for India and Pakistan in order to reach agreement on
the specific number of forces to remain on each side of the cease-fire line at the end of the period of
demilitarisation, this number to be between 3,000 and 6,000 armed forces remaining on the Pakistan
side of the cease-fire line and between 12,000 and 18,000 armed forces remaining on the India side
of the cease-line, as suggested by the United Nations Representative in his proposals of 16 July
1952, such specific numbers to be arrived at bearing in mind the principles or criteria contained in
paragraph 7 of the United Nations Representative's proposal of 4 September 1952;

Thereby both India and Pakistan have to vacate Kashmir or at least minimize their troop presence down to the few thousands. Pakistan is ready to do this, India is not. Please don't give any more BS on this.

Pakistan's formation of GB is administrative and when and if India comes to the table on the UN resolutions everything else would come onto the table as well. There is no carving out - Kashmir is not a turkey and Indians need to change their mentality about it.
 
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who cares?????indians are always one step ahead.....they have govt. of free tibet in exile in dharamshala. :)
 
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Can someone explain why there was no freedom fight for 40 odd years after independence
 
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Mwahahahaha a Slap that too of a back hand on india's fugly face.

Shows how China responds to blackmailing threats from a blackmailing nation.
 
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Srinagar, October 27 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, pro-freedom parties including Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League, Muslim Khawateen Markaz Jammu and Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front-R, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League and Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Political Movement have described October 27 as the blackest day in the history of Jammu and Kashmir, saying that it was on October 27 in 1947 when Indian troops invaded Kashmir in clear violation of the partition plan of the Sub-continent and against the Kashmiris’ aspirations.

The Acting President of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League, Mukhtar Ahmad Waza in a statement issued in Srinagar said that India could not suppress the ongoing indigenous liberation movement through use of brute force. He said that the people of the occupied territory had rendered unprecedented sacrifices for securing right to self-determination and they would continue their struggle till complete success.

On the other hand, the Chairperson of Muslim Khawateen Markaz Jammu and Kashmir, Yasmeen Raja in a statement said that India had forcibly occupied Jammu and Kashmir against the will of Kashmiri people, adding that the people of Kashmir would never accept to live under the bondage of India. She urged India to give up its rigid stance on Kashmir and give Kashmiris their birthright to self-determination.

The JKLF-R Chairman, Farooq Ahmad Dar and Senior Vice Chairman, Javed Ahmad Mir in their joint statements issued in Srinagar said that India had invaded Jammu and Kashmir on October 27, 1947 snatching right to self-determination from Kashmiris. They said that since then India had killed hundreds of thousands Kashmiris and deprived them of their basic rights.

The JKPFL Chairman, Muhammad Farooq Rehmani in a statement said that the then Indian Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru had himself taken the Kashmir dispute to the United Nations and announced that Kashmiris themselves would decide their future through an impartial referendum but the commitment yet to be fulfilled.

The spokesman of Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Political Movement in a statement said that India couldn’t prevent the people of Kashmir from their just struggle. He also called upon the people to follow the protest programme of the forum patronised by veteran Kashmiris Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani. »
 
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Technical this n that articles are just for those who want bust the reality fact that Indian position on Kashmir is totally morally bankrupt.

They are not excusing that the Maharaja was going against the population's wish to accede to India. Did Pakistan drop the ball by not playing nice or did it manage to secure a huge chunk of Kashmir + Gilgit Baltistan. If we were left to Indian and Maharaja's niceties, even AJK citizens would be under Indian tyranny.

The FACTs are even more twisted on the 2nd part when Indians are thinking their amnesia is a contagious disease that would somehow eliminate all other UN resolutions and allow India to pick and choose the ones it likes. The UN resolution 98 clearly identifies that:




Thereby both India and Pakistan have to vacate Kashmir or at least minimize their troop presence down to the few thousands. Pakistan is ready to do this, India is not. Please don't give any more BS on this.

Pakistan's formation of GB is administrative and when and if India comes to the table on the UN resolutions everything else would come onto the table as well. There is no carving out - Kashmir is not a turkey and Indians need to change their mentality about it.

Both sides have violated the UN resolutions in every which way possible. Moreover, the UN has officially washed it's hand of this mess.

Moreover, as you said, J&K is no turkey. There are Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims in J&K who will opt for independence/alignment with Pakistan only when hell freezes over. So if you say the state is indivisible, you are advocating Partition-3 based on the two-nation theory YET again.

India is getting stronger financially, culturally and diplomatically. It's going to get harder and harder and harder each day to avenge 1971.

Yeh sab Kashmir Washmir chodiye, PDF ke General sahib, aur apne watan ko sambhaliye.:cheers:
 
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SRINAGAR (IHK): Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control and all across the world will observe today, Wednesday - the 27th October - as Black Day to convey to the international community that despite Indian state terrorism they reject its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir, reports KMS.

It was on October 27 in 1947 when Indian troops invaded Kashmir in total disregard to the partition plan of the Sub-continent and against the Kashmiris’ aspirations.

Call for the observance of the Black Day has been given by the All Parties Hurriyet Conference ChairmanMirwaiz Umar Farooq and veteran Kashmiri Hurriyet leader Syed Ali Gilani.

The day will be marked with total shutdown in occupied Kashmir and a march towards the United Nations Observers’ Office in Srinagar to remind the World Body that it had failed to implement its resolutions on Kashmir. Rallies in support of Kashmiris’ liberation struggle will be held in Muzaffarabad and in world capitals.

In a bid to prevent the march, today, the occupation authorities have placed Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Gilani under house arrest. Indian police have started a crackdown against the APHC activists arresting several of them. The police raided the Mirwaiz Manzil at Rajouri Kadal and took into custody Professor Habibullah Jeelani, the Special Secretary to the Mirwaiz.

The puppet administration imposed curfew and other restrictions in Srinagar, today, to prevent people from conducting a march towards Martyrs’ Graveyard at Eidgah, call for which was given by Syed Ali Gilani as part of the Quit Kashmir Movement.

A report from occupied Jammu says; the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement (JKPM), a constituent of the All Parties Hurriyet Conference, has urged the Kashmiri people to observe tomorrow, October 27, as Black Day.

APHC leader and the JKPM Chairman, Ghulam Ahmed Mir in a statement issued in Jammu said that October 27 was the blackest day in the history of Jammu and Kashmir when India landed its forces there in 1947 and the illegal occupation continued till date.

“Kashmiris have now entered into the do or die battle and they will make every sacrifice to take the ongoing movement to its logical conclusion,” he said. The JKPM Chairman asked the people to hoist black flags on private and public buildings to protest against the illegal Indian occupation of the territory.

APHC leader and Acting Chairman of Jammu Kashmir Peoples League, Mukhtar Ahmad Waza has said that the people of Kashmir will observe October 27 as black day as the Indian troops invaded Jammu and Kashmir on the day in 1947.

Addressing a public gathering at Anchidura in Islamabad he asked the people to march towards the UN Office at Sonawar on the day. He appealed to the international community to impress upon India to settle the Kashmir dispute according to the Kashmiris’ aspirations.

On the other hand, speakers at a seminar in Srinagar, organized by the High Court Bar Association of the occupied territory, called for an early resolution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the Kashmiris’ aspirations.

On the occasion, prominent human rights activist of India, Gautam Navlakha, termed the exercise of the right of self-determination as the only way to resolve the vexed dispute. Other speakers included Zaffar Ahmed Shah, Goutam Modi and Professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain.

Prominent Indian author, Arundhati Roy in a statement in Srinagar while reacting to the reports about her possible arrest by Indian authorities on her assertions on Kashmir reiterated that she would continue to speak for justice to the people of Kashmir, who were living under one of most brutal military occupations of the world.

Crackdown against APHC

In a bid to prevent a march towards the United Nations Observers’ Office in Srinagar on Wednesday, Indian police have started a crackdown against the workers of the All Parties Hurriyet Conference arresting several of them.

The arrests were made by the police during raids in different areas of Srinagar. The police conducted a raid on Mirwaiz Manzil at Rajouri Kadal and took into custody Professor Habibullah Jeelani, the Special Secretary to the APHC Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

The APHC spokesman in a statement strongly condemned the police action. “Many of the APHC workers have been arrested so far. Police have seized a vehicle of the APHC and have arrested its driver also,” he added.

Pertinently, the APHC has called for a march towards the UN Observers’ Office at Sonawar on Wednesday (October 27) to convey to the world that India continues to deny the Kashmiris their inalienable right to self-determination. It has also asked the people to observe the day as Black Day to protest against the landing of Indian troops in Jammu and Kashmir in 1947.
 
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Both sides have violated the UN resolutions in every which way possible. Moreover, the UN has officially washed it's hand of this mess.

Moreover, as you said, J&K is no turkey. There are Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims in J&K who will opt for independence/alignment with Pakistan only when hell freezes over. So if you say the state is indivisible, you are advocating Partition-3 based on the two-nation theory YET again.

India is getting stronger financially, culturally and diplomatically. It's going to get harder and harder and harder each day to avenge 1971.

Yeh sab Kashmir Washmir chodiye, PDF ke General sahib, aur apne watan ko sambhaliye.:cheers:
I say everyone will opt for either Pakistan or Independence - none for India.

Have a plebiscite and find out!
 
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Hari Singh was a Hindu ruler of the state of J&K which had Hindus , Muslims & Buddhists.

And muslims were the ones who were in majority in the state.

The same way that the Nizam of Hyderabad was a Muslim ruler of a Hindu-majority state ;)

And Hyderabad is the part of India but it didn't apply to IOK.

:lol:
 
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Jammu celebrates Accession Day

j&k.ht16.jpg

A sweet-maker decorates a 64-kg ladoo with dry fruits. Tribune photo: Anand Sharma

Jammu stressed its integration with India by celebrating the 63rd anniversary of the Instrument of Accession Day with much pomp and show today. But, notably, the Congress stayed away from the celebrations with no function organised by it today. The National Flag was hoisted at about 40 places by political, religious, social and apolitical organisations. They also organised seminars, debates and functions to underline the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India this day in 1947.

The day began with a massive rally by schoolchildren which began from Mubarak Mandi, passed through Pucca Danga, Panj tirthi, Shalamar Garden and various bazaars of the old city before culminating back there. Children carried placards and banners hailing the day as ‘Vijay Diwas’ or ‘Accession Day’.

A senior Congress leader, wishing not to be identified, said there was no need to celebrate the day as there was no requirement to insist on the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India. “It is a fact and there was no need to insist on it,” he said and added the party leadership took decisions in such matters.

Notable in the functions and processions was the active participation of women, who despite a fast on the occasion of Karva Chauth today, showed solidarity with the nation. Shakuntala, a woman activist of an organisation, said when soldiers could fight the enemy in extreme circumstances, they could at least walk a few kilometres on an empty stomach in ‘service of the motherland’.

Dineshwar Jamwal of the Duggar Vikas Manch, which made the 64-kg ladoo and later in the evening illuminated Mubarak Mandi with candles and torchlights, said they would make a 650-kg ladoo on the occasion next year.

“The celebration idea began after anti-India speeches and statements coming from Srinagar directly questioned the state’s integrity with India. This is a reply from Jammu that we are an integral part of India,” said Jamwal.

The 64-kg ladoo made by the Pehalwaan di Hatti was decorated with dry fruits, making a figure of 64. It was transported in an open auto-rickshaw.

Sat Abrol, owner of the Pehalwaan di Hatti, said five persons made the material for the ladoo. It was assembled and decorated in the auto-rickshaw only, where it was carefully placed on a silver foil.

The BJP had put banners in several parts of the old city, besides on chowks in the new city. The banners proclaimed celebrations of Accession Day. The Tricolour was hoisted at several places, as also at Shahidi Chowk. It organised the main function at RS Pura where all MLAs and senior leaders participated. State party president Shamsher Singh Manhas said the accession of the state was legal and final and the BJP would never let a further division of the country.

The Panun Kashmir hoisted the National Flag at the Dogra Chowk. Speakers, including Ajay Chrungoo, Chairman of the Panun Kashmir, said the accession restored the continuity of the state with the civilisation of India.

Another Panun Kashmir organisation led by Dr Agnishekhar organised a seminar today which coincided with the 335th Prayaan Divas of Pandit Kripa Ram Dutt. A seminar “Conspiracy to Distort the Truth of Accession” was addressed by Dr KK Pangotra, Dr Jeetinder Singh, BS Salathia, a former president of the Bar Association, Jammu.

The Panthers Party organised rallies and functions not only in Jammu but also in Leh, Poonch, Rajouri, Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Udhampur and Kathua.

Prof Bhim Singh, Chairman of the party, demanded the release of all political prisoners arrested under the Public Safety Act unconditionally on Accession Day. Maintaining that the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India was “full and final”, the Jammu Bar Association celebrated the day on the court premises.
 
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October 27, each year, is remembered as the Black Day across the length and breadth of Pakistan and the entire State of Jammu and Kashmir for the reason that on this inauspicious day the Indian occupational forces landed in Srinagar that started a chain reaction of events, which has continued to haunt the subcontinent to this very day.

On this day, in 1947, the festering tragedy of Kashmir was born; an act of aggression that has consigned the prospects of normalising the Indo-Pak relations to the realm of perpetual animosity, which has already led to two wars, in addition to the Kargil skirmishes of 1999.

Even when the partition of India and Pakistan had been formalised and announced on August 14, the princely State of Jammu and Kashmir - ruled by Maharaja Hari Singh - remained in a state of limbo. It was one of the 584 princely states, which - with the lapse of paramountcy of the British Crown in August - had to make the choice of acceding either to India or Pakistan. Kashmir’s predominantly Muslim population, their contiguity to Pakistan and the layout of major communication infrastructure made its accession to Pakistan a natural corollary of the unfolding events. However, given Nehru’s pathological fixation over Kashmir, strengthened by Lord Mountbatten’s machinations, this was not to be.

The invasion of Kashmir was on the cards, even as the boundary between India and Pakistan was being carved out through an award by Sir Cyril Radcliffe.

When the Boundary Award was announced its most controversial decision dealt with the awarding of the Gurdaspur district to India, despite its Muslim majority and contiguity to the Pakistani territory. It is now certain that Nehru by manipulating his intimate contacts with Lord Mountbatten contrived through the Boundary Award to provide a land route to India for its ultimate occupation of Kashmir. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph on February 1992, Radcliffe’s Secretary, Christopher Beaumont, confirmed that the Boundary Award was manipulated by Mountbatten at the behest of Nehru. Developing the Gurdaspur access enabled India to effectively link up with the Kashmir Valley through a land route and be able to support large-scale operations in the State of Jammu and Kashmir.


Nehru now sought two politico-military objectives: First, to force the Maharaja to sign an instrument of accession and secondly to wrest Kashmir by force.

The plan envisaged that if the situation threatened to spiral out of control, legal niceties could be set aside and troop landing could proceed regardless of other factors. As it was, the landing of the Indian forces in Srinagar on October 27, 1947, took place without the signing of any instrument of accession. On that fateful day, the State of Jammu and Kashmir existed in the same constitutional limbo of insecure independence that it had enjoyed since the partition of India, following the lapse of the British paramountcy.

As October progressed, the public unrest and communal strife paralysed the Maharaja’s administration. There was a rebellion in the state forces, which revolted against Hari Singh’s authority. More so, they were also joined by some pathan tribesmen voluntarily. The Indians started a propaganda campaign to un-nerve the Maharaja by projecting this local threat as a systematic invasion by the tribesmen from Pakistan along the Jhelum Valley Road.

As the situation in Jammu and Kashmir deteriorated, Lord Mountbatten, as Governor General of India, called a meeting of the Defence Committee to assess the situation on October 25. The committee, under his chairmanship decided to immediately send V. P. Menon, along with senior army and air force commanders to land in Srinagar the same day, reconnoitre the ground situation and advise the Maharaja to abandon Srinagar for the safety of Jammu across the Banihal pass.

Mountbatten also ordered the British Commander of the Indian forces to assemble a fleet of 10 transport aircraft for an airlift operation after 48 hours for landing troops in Srinagar. Menon’s visit of October 25 so unnerved the Maharaja that he packed all his valuables and left for Jammu by road in the morning of October 26, without signing any instrument of accession. Mountbatten chaired another meeting of the Defence Committee on October 26 and ordered the landing of the first battalion of the Sikh regiment in Srinagar on October 27, even though no evidence exists of any instrument of accession having been secured thus far. On the same day, at about 0900 hours, the Sikh regiment was airlifted from Gurgaon and landed at the deserted Srinagar Airport.

The State of Pakistan, struggling to find its feet in its infancy, was stunned by the Indian aggression. So on October 27, Quaid-i-Azam asked General Douglas Gracey, acting Commander in Chief, to send the Pakistani troops to Kashmir. But the General refused, saying that he would need the approval of Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck, who held supreme command over the Indian and Pakistani forces.

Auchinleck flew to Lahore on October 28 with the line that sending the Pakistan army into Kashmir would amount to a formal declaration of war and that if Pakistan went to war he would withdraw all the British officers serving in the Pak Army. It was many months after that Pakistan was able to respond militarily in Kashmir, and when the ceasefire occurred on January 1, 1949, the Kashmir issue stood internationalised, by no one other than Nehru, who himself sought to take the matter to the United Nations for resolution and promised to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir.

Thus, in the context of the Indo Pak relations, October 27 truly stands out as a ‘Black Day’, constituting the tragic benchmark that sealed all prospects of peace and prosperity in the subcontinent. Such a monumental crime, however, has extracted from India its price in flesh and blood. Sixty-three years might have passed since the aggression, yet the Indian Held Kashmir has known no peace and the demand for Azadi - loud and strong - is making it impossible for the Indian leadership and its puppets in Kashmir to know any peace.
 
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