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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2019 (PAGE 3) Suman K Sharma o paraphrase a proverb, the event of Accession had cast a long shadow before it actually happened. On 15 August, T1947, the Indian Independence Act, 1947, caused the set- THOSE 70 DAYS OF ting up of the independent Dominions of India and Pakistan. On 26 October of that year, Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instru- ment of Accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India. The inter- vening 70 days tell a sordid tale of how Pakistan, a country PAK’S MACHINATIONS avowedly found for the Muslim cause, schemed to perpetrate unending bloodshed in this Muslim majority state of ours. After the winding up of the British Raj, Maharaja Hari Singh had, like all other ruling princes of the larger states, options before him either to join the Indian Union or merge with Pak- istan.He could have also perhaps thought of being a sovereign king of his domain. The 52-year old monarch, who had been rul- ing Jammu and Kashmir for the last 22 years, mulled over the problem for what seemed a long time during those turbulent days. Joining India would mean that the Muslim majority of his being led and carried out by non-State personnel. The entire force of domain won't be happy. If he acceded to Pakistan, Hindus and over 20,000 fighting men, armed and equipped by the army and pro- Sikh subjects would be insecure. Choosing to be independent did vided logistic support by civilian authorities of Pakistan, was com- not seem a pleasant prospective either. The Damocles' sword of manded by Major General Akbar Khan, codenamed 'Tariq', Tariq was his disgruntled neighbours' ire would be constantly hanging over to be assisted by Brig Sher Khan. his head. The king's prime ministers were of little help to coun- The Pashtun militia and Pakistan army regulars crossed the sel him. He changed three of them in quick succession - Ram State borders on 22 October. They entered Poonch, Sialkot and Chandra Kak (28 Jun, 1945 - 10 August 1947), Major General then Ramkot, where they killed, maimed and looted indiscrim- Janak Singh Katoch (10 August 1947-15 October 1947) and Jus- inately. Countless women were raped and carried away. In tice Mehr Chand Mahajan (15 October 1947 to 5 March, 1948). places like Mirpur and Rajouri, over 4 thousand women pre- In the meanwhile, the powers in Pakistan were perfecting their ferred to jump into wells or commit suicide by any other means own game of nihilism. ready at hand rather than fall into the hands of the hounding They began by hitting at the trade and commerce of J&K. In marauders. violation of the Standstill Agreement that the Maharaja had In the Valley, the Mahora power station was burnt down and signed with the country, Pakistan unilaterally suspended train the whole of Srinagar plunged into darkness. The State army services, stopped the trade and cut off essential supplies to the could hardly match the invaders who were armed by the Pak- State, such as salt, sugar and petrol. Around that period, Liaqat istan army with latest weapons. By 25 October, the tribals had Ali Khan, Pakistan's Prime Minister, took another discreditable reached the outskirts of Srinagar. The Maharaja made a hasty step, though it did not prove immediatly effective. He retreat to Jammu the same night. In New Delhi, the Joint Defence despatched Mian Iftikharuddin, a Punjabi partisan, to test the Committee got into actioneventually. Lord Mountbatten ruled out waters in the Valley for fomenting trouble. The Mian returned despatching military assistance unless the State had acceded to after spending a month in Kashmir, only to tell Liaquat Ali that India. Finally, it was decided to send V.P. Menon, the Governor Kashmiris won't be swayed by such gimmicks. Sheikh Abdullah General's political adviser, to apprise Hari Singh of the pre-condi- and his party, the National Con- tion for the help that he needed so ference (NC), saw the advantage badly. Menon has graphcallyre- of being a part of the India of counted the historic event in his diverse faiths and creeds, rather book: 'The Maharajah was asleep; than joining a country that open- he had left Srinagar the previous ly gave preference solely to Islam evening and had been driving all the over all other religions. night. I woke him up and told him But then another opportunity of what had taken place at the presented itself to Pakistan. It was Defence Committee meeting. He the Poonch rebellion. The Mus- was ready to accede at once. Just as lims of this south-western jagir in I was leaving, he told me that before the State had been agitating for he went to sleep, he had left instruc- quite some time to be part of the tions with his ADC that, if I came British province of Punjab. The back from Delhi, he was not to be heavy taxation imposed by theS- disturbed as it would mean that General Rob Lockhart tate government spiralled up their Government of India had decided Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck grouse. Hari Singh's orders for to come to his rescue and he should disarming of some sixty thousand therefore be allowed to sleep in Poonchi soldiers who had fought peace, but that if I failed to return, for Britain during the World War it meant that everything was lost II further heightened their anger. and, in that case, his ADC was to The agitating militia gathered in shoot him in his sleep.' Nowshera and Islamabad area Maharaja Hari Singh signed and attacked the State troops. On the Instrument of Accession (IoA) 20 August, 1947, the State army on 26 October, 1947, which was fired on them. Sardar accepted by the Governor Gener- Mohammed Ibrahim Khan, a 32- al the following day. For all its his- year old lawyer and Muslim Con- torical significance, the IoA looks ference member of the Maharaja's Lord Mountbatten, who acted as the Head of the State of India. India and General Frank Messervy by Pakistan) had the overall like any other paper from an old PrajaSabha, succeeded in blowing sarkari file - with cuttings and cor- General Frank Messervy (Pakistan had turned down his offer of services and Mohammed control of the respective Forces;yet the operational control was Sardar-Muhammad the matter out of proportions. Even Ali Jinnah had appropriatedthe position for himself. 'When I am retained by the Joint Defence Committee. rections to boot. It had to be. The Ibrahim-Khan so, the road blocks were cleared and order restored in the area in Governor General', he told Mountbatten, 'the Prime Minister will The shared management of Defence Forces, as it turned out, was 7-clause, 2-page pro-forma was less than a month. HS Stephenson, Britain's Assistant High Com- do what I tell him to'.)JawaharLal Nehru was the Head of the a mixed blessing. On 20 August,the plan for Operation Gulmerg to drafted in the month of August that missioner to Pakistan, an unbiased witness, observed that the Indian Government, with Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel as his deputy overrun Srinagar was laid bare when the Brigade Major (BM) of the year for each one of the acceding princes of over 550 states to 'Poonch affair' was 'greatly exaggerated'. Sardar Ibrahim played and 14 other Ministers of the Cabinet. Nothing out of the ordi- Bannu Brigade, Maj OS Kalkat, providentially opened a letter sign. There is nothing special in it for J&K, except the name of a significant role in waging a war against the Maharaja. It was he nary, one would say, as the regimes of the newly formed coun- addressed by Pakistan's Commander-in-Chief, General Messervy, to the State, the name and honorifics of Hari Singh and the dates who eventually founded 'Azad' Kashmir in 1948 and became a four- tries go. the officer's boss, Brig CP Murray.Yet little seems to have been done it has been by the Maharaja and the Governor General. Hari time 'President' of the Pak-occupied territory. Yet, there was something amiss about the dispensation. The to protect Kashmir. According to the plan, 20 lashkars (tribal mili- Singh has signed in black and Mountbatten in green. Be that as it may, Sardar Ibrahim could have achieved little two Dominions, which were showing acrimony, if not open hos- tias), each consisting of 1000 Pashtun tribesmen from Khyber On 27 October itself, Indian troops and equipment were air- in his ambition but for the active support of government of Pak- tility towards each other, had a Joint Defence Committee to over- Pakhtunkhwa, were to be recruited from among various Pashtun lifted to Srinagar under the command of Lt Col DewanRanjit Ray. istan and its army. To have an idea of how they could manage see their defence and security. The icing on the cake was that tribes; to be assisted and led by 40 commissioned officers of the rank Srinagar was saved and the State was with India irrevocably. to wrest away a sizeable chunk of 13,297 sq. km (5134 sq. miles) the Armed Forces of India and Pakistan had the same Supreme of Major and Captain and 200 Junior Commissioner Officers (JCOs) Albeit,one of the longest cycles of violence and retribution in the from the State, a look at the system prevailing during those fate- Commander, Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck. The Services of Pakistan army. These army personnel were to dress up and con- world,that does not seem to end even after the passage of seven- ful days of the dawn of independence would be in order.