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| Maharaja Hari Singh's forces in Gilgit | | Plot against them was laid at Peshawar: Gen. Sinha | |
B L KAK
NEW DELHI, NOV. 11: Lt. Gen. SK Sinha, currently Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, seems to be a reservoir of untold stories. And one of these is: The whole plot for an uprisng against Maharaja Hari Singh's forces in Gilgit Agency had been laid at Peshawar in Pakistan. And Pakistan cleverly subverted the loyalty of a section of the Maharaja's forces.
Lt. Gen. (Retd.) SK Sinha's book titled 'Operation Rescue: Military Operations in Jammu & Kashmir 1947-49' has brought to the fore a few more sensational revelations. First, disloyal elements of Kashmir State Forces initially demanded higher rates of pay and better conditions of service, and when Pakistani raiders started their advance towards Srinagar in October 1947, about 100 of them mutinied.
Second, the Maharaja's representative in Gilgit, Brigadier Ghansara Singh, who was then Governor, was given ultimatum to surender within 15 minutes after the disloyal forces surrounded his residence. And after he was told that in the event of his refusal to act promptly all non-Muslims in Gilgit would be killed, he had not option but to accept these terms.
Third, the non-Muslim elements of the Frontier Scouts and 6 Jammu and Kashmir Infantry were largely liquidated. A few survivors, however, escaped and tok refuge with another garrison of State troops at Skardu under Colonel Thapa of the State Forces. With Gilgit in Pakistan's hands and a regular sir service from Peshawar to Gilgit, the 'enemy' (Pakistan) thought of making inroads into Ladakh in the south-east.
Lt. Gen. Sinha, who was closely connected with the 1947-49 operations in J&K recalled that once the situation in Srinagar had been saved and "we had moved more troops into the State, we could turn our attention to the other two sectors". These two sectors were the remote areas of Gilgit Agency in the north and nearer the Punjab plains, the Jammu province. "The story in Jammu province was very different", Lt. Gen. Sinha says.
The invasion in Jammu province, he recalled, had followed the pattern of the enemy's intrusion in the Kashmir Valley. Lt. Gen. Sinha, theman in the field he was then, has placed on record: "The raiders had poured across the border from Pakistan wioth 'shoot,burn,kidnap and destroy' as their war cry. Helples women came in for their special atention and they abducted them in large numbers". Earlier, the raiders had run amuck in Baramulla in the Valley. They burnt half the town, sacked houses and shops, abducted and raped women. They shot Lt. Col. Dykes, a former Britsh officer of the Indian Army, and molested his wife, whose naked body was later found in a well. Their savagery, Lt. Gen. Sinha remarked, was "unbelievable".
More adverse than this comment: "Even the crosses covering the graves in the cemetery and the Holy images in the chapel were not spared their vandalism. Such were their methods of conducting a holy war for the liberation of Muslims in which the local Muslims suffered as much as non-Muslims at the hands of their self-proclaimed liberators from Pakistan".
Lt. Gen. Sinha's narrative has been blended with personal reminiscences and covers the entire military campaign in J&K from 1947 to 1949. The 169-page book has yet another untold story: Indian Army comander Russell's recommendation for an immediate advance to Muzaffarabad had not been accepted. Orders issued called for sending a relief column to Poonch where a State Force garrison was besieged.
"I have reasons to believe that the decison to go to the relief of Punch (Poonch) was taken at the highest Government level at Delhi, prompted by primarily humanitarian considerations to sucour the besieged refugees. Our leaders perhaps allowed themselves to be over influenced by the alarming reports fed to them by the State Force garison and the State Government", Lt. Gen. Sinha said and added: "It was of course not the first time in history when politcal considerations overweighed military requirements". |
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