Jammu and Kashmir are in the news again because Indian government has made Article 370 of its constitution ineffective with regards to this area disputed between India and Pakistan. This Article gave Jammu and Kashmir a special status that safeguarded the Muslim majority from being forcibly converted into a minority via resettlement.
At the heart of the problem lies the Instrument of Accession that made it possible for Jammu and Kashmir to accede to India in 1947. The question remains, after more than 70 years, whether the Instrument was legitimate or not. In light of the recent revoking of Article 370, you may be surprised to know that the Instrument may have become redundant. So it is important to understand how the Instrument came about.
The Dogra Raja
From 1846 to 1947, Jammu and Kashmir was a princely state under British suzerainty, ruled by a Hindu Maharaja. The state had a Muslim majority (with a sizeable Hindu minority) but suffered due to discrimination, forced labor without wages and high taxes [1]. Maharaja Hari Singh was the autocratic ruler in the crucial years of the Partition of India of 1947, while Ram Chandra Kak was “appointed” as Prime Minister by the Maharaja. [2]
In the 1941 Census 77% of the Kashmiri population was found to be Muslim and 20 % Hindu. The Hindus were concentrated in Jammu and being very pro-Maharaja. They were also affiliated with the Hindutva group RSS. [3]
Hindu-Sikh-Muslim riots in Punjab and Hazara region of modern-day Pakistan led to a few thousand Sikh and Hindus reaching Kashmir between November 1946 and January 1947. [4] The situation intensified in March 1947 and much larger violence was meted out to Jammu Muslims in September 1947 with the aid of RSS and the Maharaja’s Dogra army, with some even implicating the Maharaja personally. [5]
The Accession
It was in this context that the Maharaja had to take the decision to accede to either India or Pakistan or seek independence. Kak, the Prime Minister, despite being a Hindu was soft towards Muslim League [2] but not so soft so as to favor actual accession of Kashmir to Pakistan. [6]
The Maharaja however came under the influence of his Deputy Prime Minister R. L. Batra, a Hindu Swami and his brother-in-law Nachint Chand both of whom wanted Kashmir to accede to India. Under their influence, Kak found himself dismissed on 11th August 1947. [7] A few days later, India and Pakistan gained their own independence from the British.
By mid-September the Maharaja’s government faced a blockade of essential supplies from Pakistan which had reacted after a local uprising in Poonch, Jammu of Spring 1947. On 19th September, Maharaja Hari Singh sent Mehr Chand Mahajan, his next nominee PM (and later chief justice of India), to India for supplies. He also stated that the Maharaja wished to accede to India. Indian Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru placed the condition of the pro-Congress dissident Sheikh Abdullah to be released. Only then would India accept Kashmir. [8] [9] Abdullah was released on 29th September.
With involvement of Pakistani tribes and facing mutiny from Muslim troops in the Dogra Army, the Maharaja asked for Indian troops as his troops were outnumbered. Mountbatten, who was initially in favor of Kashmir acceding to Pakistan [10] now insisted to Nehru that Maharaja accede before troops could be sent. [11] [12]
The Instrument
Nehru sent V.P. Menon to assess the situation. He returned early on 26th October 1947 reported that the Maharaja “had gone to pieces completely” and could “come to no decision”. The PM, Mahajan, however, desperately wanted the military aid and threatened that he would go and negotiate terms with Jinnah, the Governor General of Pakistan, instead. [13] According to Mahajan, this angered Nehru, but at the persuasion of fellow leaders Vallabbhai Patel and Sheikh Abdullah, his attitude changed.
Mahajan reports that the next morning, the 27th of October 1947, the First Sikh Battalion was airlifted from New Delhi to Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. At 9 am, upon receiving news of the troops landing in Srinagar, he and V. P. Menon flew to Jammu to meet Hari Singh, who had arrived the previous night to his winter capital. There, on the 27th, the Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession. After the troops had been deployed.
This sequence of events is crucial. V. P. Menon claims that the Instrument was singed before any troops were sent. [14] Mahajan reports the reverse, emphatic that he planned to not return to Jammu and Kashmir at all until Indian troops had secured the airbase. If Mahajan’s version is taken to be correct, then the Indian troop deployment would be considered an invasion by a foreign army and the Maharaja’s agency questionable. The date on the Instrument is indeed 26th but one could write any date there and scholars have debated whether the actual date was 27th and not 26th. Wolpert seems to side with Mahajan [15], so does Raghavan [12], and Alastair Lamb [16] whereas Indian commentator Jha claims that the Instrument was signed on a third date, the 25th of October. [17]
Indian Troops
There is, however, one more crucial piece of evidence. When the Indian troops landed in Srinagar, they were surprised to find gunners from the state of Patiala already guarding the airfield. [18] Patiala was a princely state that acceded to India on 15th August 1947. The Sikh Maharaja of Patiala had provided Hari Singh with a battalion of infantry and a battery of mountain artillery in the first two weeks of October of 1947. These troops were under the Government of India and Alastair Lamb believes that Vallabbhai Patel and Baldev Singh, at least, knew that they were stationed in Srinagar. [18]
This lends credence to the argument that the Indian deployment of troops was before the signing of the Instrument and therefore is to be taken as an invasion. That the Maharaja was coerced into signing it also finds credibility among historians as we saw earlier in the video.
In the Instrument, clause 7 states that, “Nothing in this Instrument shall be deemed to commit me in any way to acceptance of any future constitution of India or to fetter my discretion to enter into arrangements with the Government of India under any such future constitution.”
Now, on 5th of August 2019, the Presidential Decree of the Indian President passed today, would force the Kashmiris to commit to accept the Indian constitution. I’ll leave the reader to decide whether the Instrument now holds and whether it was legitimate in the first place.
References
[1] John L. Esposito’s article “Kashmir” in The Islamic World: Past and Present Oxford Islamic Studies Online
[2] Rajesh Ankit, “Forgotten men of Kashmir”, Himal South Asian
[3] Balraj Puri, “The Question of Accession”, Epilogue, Vol 4, pp. 4–5
[4] Prem Shankar Jha, “The Origins of a Dispute: Kashmir 1947, p. 61
[5] Ilyas Chattha, “Partition and Locality: Violence, Migration and Development in Gujranwala and Sialkot 1947–1961”, pp. 179-180
[6] A. G. Noorani, “Myths & Reality”, Frontline Magazine, January 2010
[7] Rakesh Ankit, “Henry Scott: The forgotten soldier of Kashmir”. Epilogue Magazine, May 2010, p. 47
[8] Srinath Raghavan, “War and Peace in Modern India”, p. 105
[9] Prem Shankar Jha, “The Origins of a Dispute: Kashmir 1947, p. 47
[10] Rajesh Ankit, “Pandit Ramchandra Kak: The Forgotten Premier of Kashmir”, pp. 36–39
[11] ] Prem Shankar Jha, “The Origins of a Dispute: Kashmir 1947, p. 69
[12] Srinath Raghavan, “War and Peace in Modern India”, p. 108
[13] Mehr Chand Mahajan, “Looking Back”, (1963), pp. 151-54.
[14] V. P. Menon, “The Story of the Integration of the Indian States, (1956), pp. 399-400.
[15] Stanely Wolpert, “Jinnah of Pakistan”, (1984), p. 349.
[16] Alastair Lamb, “Kashmir: A Disputed Legacy, 1846–1990”, (1991), p. 136.
[17] Prem Shankar Jha, “The Origins of a Dispute: Kashmir 1947
[18] Alastair Lamb, “Kashmir: A Disputed Legacy, 1846–1990”, (1991), p. 131.
Pakistani Bibliophiles 