Accession in duress That is how it all happened FACTS SPEAK ABDUL QUYOOM KHAN “ sometimes people lose their right to remain silent when pressured to remain silent ” (Christopher J. Gilbert) It was on 26th of Oct 1947 the jubilant Shri V P Menon, a civil servant and the Sardar Patel’s envoy returned to Delhi with Kashmir Accession in his pocket, the document, that decided the fate of the then four million people of Kashmir. To click the deal in favour of India, circumstances were created for Maharaja and tribal raid was engineered. Interestingly Army Chief of both the countries of Pakistan and India were British officers, close confidantes of Lord Mountbatten. There seems to have been some understanding between two chiefs. As mentioned by Devi Dass in his book “Kashmir in search of future”, the Indian army Chief knew three days in advance about tribal raid. A clandestine plot was hatched in the Frontier Province of Pakistan by one Khurshid Anwar a retired Major of Indian Army with the consent of Chief Minister NWFO, Khan Abdul Qayoom Khan. On 20th October the tribal war Lords of Frontier Province began to march for Kashmir. The Governor of NWFP was ignorant and on receiving the information he Immediately informed Liaqat Ali Khan who was taken by a surprise and is said to have stated that Pakistan had no intention to indulge into such an adventure. On 22nd October, tribal forces comprising 2000 troops entered into Kashmir. Maharaja Hari Singh ordered his Army Chief R.S. Jamwal to fight back the raiders to the last men and last bullet. Dogra army could not resist them. On 26th October they captured Baramulla. Maharaja had already sent his Prime Minister Mehar Chand Mahajan to Delhi with a request to Government of India for military help. On 25th October,1947 a meeting of Defence Committee was held under chairmanship of Lord Mountbatten. There was a hot debate on the question of request of Maharaja Hari Singh. Lord Mountbatten held that sending troops to a neutral State would be a great folly in the eyes of international community. Mehar Chand told Nehru that “ he had orders to go to Pakistan in case the immediate aid was not given ”.On this Nehru lost his temper and shouted at him, “to get out”. As mentioned by Tarif Naaz in his book “Sheikh Abdullah, A victim of betrayal”, Sheikh Abdullah was also present and was listening all the debate from the adjacent room. He sent a note to Nehru and requested him to agree to the request of Maharaja for sending military troops to Kashmir, so that raiders could be pushed back. Nehru cooled down and a decision was taken to send three men to Srinagar, V P Menon, Col. Manikshaw and an Air force officer to assess the ground situation and also to know whether Hari Singh is interested in acceding to India. Menon reported to Nehru from Srinagar that Maharaja is nervous because of tribal war and he was eager to escape from Srinagar. Nehru captured the moment and asked V P Menon to urge Maharaja to sign the accession, a document which was already prepared by him in consultation with Sheikh Abdullah. Menon succeeded in his mission and got the document of accession signed by Maharaja on 26th October, 1947. Same day V P Menon returned Delhi with a letter of Maharaja and instrument of accession addressed to Lord Mountbatten. Lord Mountbatten wrote a letter back to Maharaja Hari Singh stating that the question of State’s accession is provisional and shall be finally settled by reference to the people. As promised to Sheikh Abdullah, Nehru had got the instrument of accession drafted with care so as to respect his dream of autonomy for his State. This is how Jammu & Kashmir is now being claimed to be the integral part of India.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 08:59:24 +0000
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