• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

In the NEWS 27 February 2002 Ever perfidious Albion by T C A Srinivasaraghavan possible to project power by means of Pakistan’s importance grew out of this. It is never easy to write a riveting book long range aircraft. This reduced the role What happened thereafter is now on a subject that has been written about of sea-based power. The oil reserves of common knowledge. Basically, when as extensively as Kashmir has. And if you the Middle East then ensured that it is Pakistan decided to capture Kashmir by are a former civil servant or a diplomat that region that needed to be defended. force, the British, in spite of being fully not accustomed to the rigours of writing, India’s importance diminished. aufait with the realities of the situation, one must assume that it would be even Mr Dasgupta writes that as India’s played a pro-Pakistani game. Albion, even harder to do so. independence approached, the British in the dying days, proved as perfidious Chandrashekhar Dasgupta, a as ever. former diplomat, has managed However, there are two very the feat with admirable interesting aspects of the book that dexterity. He tells the story of deserve special mention. The first what happened in those crucial concerns the crisis in Junagarh, and months immediately after the second the role played by Lord Independence in a degree of Mountbatten. detail and simplicity of style that By a strange quirk of history, Indians ought to give any good historian have forgotten what really happened a run for his money. in Junagarh, thus allowing Pakistan The core of Mr Dasgupta’s to throw it on our faces whenever thesis is fairly well known Kashmir is discussed. The fact is and it has also been recently that Junagarh had a predominantly publicised in newspapers. It is Hindu population with a Muslim that almost immediately after ruler who opted for Pakistan. This is they granted India and Pakistan remembered. their independence, the British, What is not remembered, however, in pursuit of their oil interests in is that Jawaharlal Nehru offered to the Middle East, decided to side Pakistan that a plebiscite should be with Pakistan. held in Junagarh and if the people Not just this. As the former voted in favour for Pakistan, India colonial power that knew would not object to it becoming a everything that was worth part of Pakistan. It was Pakistan that knowing about the region, they refused a plebiscite. also deeply influenced American As for the role of Lord Mountbatten, policy towards India and Mr Dasgupta reminds us that while Pakistan. The effects of that are he may have been a friend of India, still being felt and perhaps only he was by no means an enemy or now being gradually reversed. a foe of Pakistan. His fondness of Mr Dasgupta makes an War & Diplomacy in Kashmir India was always subordinated to his interesting observation. He says By C Dasgupta pursuit of British strategic interests. that until the development of air SAGE Publications It was in the pursuit of these interests power and the discovery of large Price Rs 250 that he restrained India from taking amounts of oil in the Middle military action until India finally 240 Pages East, it was India that needed decided that such restraint would to be defended, therefore, prove far too costly. It was also he British strategic policy aimed at having started a process of redrawing their who ensured that India did not extend its military bases on land and at sea around strategic doctrine. Over time, India came operations into the Poonch and Mirpur it. India also straddled the sea routes to to be seen mainly as an important military districts. India lost more than half of the Far East. base. The British strategic planners also Kashmir as a result. But all this changed when it became considered it imperative to prevent India from coming under Russian influence. 2 June 2002 KAshmir: ThE rEAl picTurE Covering a crucial period in history, the book delves into the root of the Kashmir problem by O S Dawson other powers, in particular the United Kashmir became and remains an issue/ To be asked to review Mr C Dasgupta’s States, also contributed to influencing dispute because of Pakistani aggression. book War and Diplomacy in Kashmir developments. The British archives throw Kashmir is not the real problem nor is it 1947-48 is to experience a swift personal a fascinating light on the ways in which the central issue in Indo-Pak relations. It transition to events which took place while I the British generals and diplomats in India is the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, not an was serving as a young officer in the Royal and Pakistan co-ordinated their moves envisaged by Jinnah who saw Pakistan as Indian Navy. Through a sense of belonging to contain the war and ensure that an a democratic Muslim Majority State, that is to that period, it provides an opportunity to Indian advance stopped well short of the the cause of Indo-Pak problems. Kashmir reflect upon some of the issues that have Pakistan border. General Bucher, India’s is not the cause but its pretext. become so closely woven into the fabric Commander-in-chief, kept his colleagues in The book covers a crucial period 1947- of our lives. Pakistan informed about his military plans, 48 and brings out a factual account of giving them an assurance that he would not events which have become so inextricably The author has carried out extensive advance beyond specified positions. research, shifted the focus on facts and entrenched in Indo-Pak relations. World carefully outlined the history of the region In his concluding chapter the author very opinion in favour of India can never be from the documents he has had access to. clearly brings out the role played by General expected because they have never grasped He has examined a range of issues that Cariappa, Air Vice Marshal Mukerjee and the reality of the Kashmir issue but have took place in the run up to independence, the events leading to the end of the first wrongly kept projecting the problem, as if the deceit of the British in the major politico- Indo-Pakistan war. there is some struggle against oppression military issues, with special emphasis on What is its relevance to the future? When going on. the trauma of the post strategic-divide of persons like General Musharraf harps on This book would dispel any doubts in the India that epicentered on 15 August 1947, the centrality of the Kashmir issue and minds of those unfavourably disposed the creation of Pakistan, the invasion when recently, Pakistani’s Interior Minister and hostile towards India. It indeed is a and illegal occupation of territory in the Lt General Moinuddin Haider equates valuable book of reference to policy makers, Sovereign State of Kashmir, resulting in Palestine with Kashmir it is obvious the researchers and the armed forces, besides war, which continues to emit shockwaves two have not grasped the reality of the also to those concerned in the USA, UK, to this day and beyond. Kashmir issue. other G7 countries, Pakistan and the UN. The war was unique only to the extent to What is the “reality” of Kashmir? which the two new states were vulnerable to May 1947: Lord Ismay in dialogue with British influence on account of the presence Mountbatten suggesting an attempt of British officers at the senior most levels to batkanise and break up India into of their armed forces. While India and several sovereign states. Pakistan should have been rejoicing their 23 Oct 1974: 5000 armed Pathan new found freedom from colonial rule, they tribesmen cross the Kashmir borders. became pawns in the quest of imperial The British Military and Civil officers machination. Britain was keen that both remained mute spectators. India and Pakistan should remain with a commonwealth link, with British officers 26 October 1947: But for the timely in the armed forces. By August 1947, the intervention by India at the behest British authorities had determined that of sovereign ruler Maharaja Sir Hari their strategic interests in the subcontinent Singh, the entire state would have lay primarily in Pakistan. The command been overrun and Srinagar annexed over Arabian Gulf and the Northern Indian through an act of aggression and Ocean routes for uninterrupted flow of vitally illegal occupation by Pak-sponsored important oil supplies was uppermost in tribesmen. their mind. 13 August 1948 – UN Resolution In the run up to Independence, it is evident calling for a cease-fire in Kashmir that British intrigue and Imperialism which became effective on 1 Jan conditioned many of the decisions taken 1949. by India, which were not bold or conclusive. The presence of Pakistani troops This is particularly evident during the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir constituted over Kashmir. The Defence Committee a material change in the situation. chaired by Governor General Mountbatten, The security Council decided that whose affection for India never interfered Pakistan should withdrawn all its War & Diplomacy in Kashmir with his pursuit of British interest, ensured troops and nationals from the state. By C Dasgupta that the full Indian cabinet was kept in the However, India was permitted to retain dark. Upto the end of 1947, Britain was some forces, which gave credence SAGE Publications the only overseas power with a significant conceding the legality of the state’s Price Rs 250 involvement in the Kashmir conflict. But accession to India. 240 Pages 9 April 2005 perfidious Albion and the first Kashmir war by Sreeram Chaulia Commonwealth Relations, Noel Baker.

Load more

  16

Copy Link