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| A Look through the Mist | | J&K has been and is the victim of personal ambitions of some | | Daya Sagar | 10/24/2011 11:14:35 PM |
| In an interview to Doordarshan on 5-04-2005 Srinagar Lt.(Retd) S. K. Sinha , the then , Governor of J&K , describing the then proposed opening of Uri Muzaffarabad road as an event of great personal significance to him as he was among the few who witnessed its closure on 14 November 1947, had also referred to the days when the advancing Indian Army got orders from New Delhi for moving to Poonch and Rajouri for undertaking relief operations that otherwise had deprived them of the opportunity to reach Kohalla and Domel.
It was on 1-1-1948 that India approached UN Security Council with complaint against Pakistan and it was exactly after one year on 1-1-1949 that India declared ceasefire with the intruders from across the borders of J&K with Pakistan. Was not there enough time for India to secure the territories of J&K State that acceded to India on 26 October 1947? And if not why so? May be this question still agitated the minds of a soldier in Lt General (Rtd) S.K. Most of the area of Jammu Province of Maharaja's days fell to Pakistan after ( 26 October 1947) the State acceded to India and areas from Kashmir Province except Muzaffarabad had been cleared of the Pakistani raiders by 10th November 1947. True the Indian troops had hard time against well equipped raiders who had also been supported by some deserters from local troops but indian troops were much superior in moral and objectivity. General had not opened the chapter a new, many had been all these years blaming the then Government at Delhi for loss to life, property and territory that the people of J&K suffered in 1947 and the GOI having left the recovery loss ( of territories) half way. The Displaced Persons from ( Pakistan Occupied Kashmir -POK ) are hopefully ( hopelessly) hoping even in 2011 that one day they will go back to their ancestral homes in POK area.Their property claims have not been registered till date for compensation simply to keep the claims of GOI technically safe as on POK geographical areas of the Indian State of J&K .
To add to this there are some so called mainstream leaders who have started using the expression Pakistan Administered Kashmir in place of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and those at New Delhi power seats don not appear finding any thing wrong in this. Lust for the power seat appears over ridden the national interests for some. Claims appear weakening in the eyes of international community due to careless / wrong handling of J&K affairs for last 64 years decades at the level of New Delhi to the extent that it has provided enough time and opportunity to Pakistan ( and supporters of Pakistan) to exploit even the religious sentiments/ affiliations of some innocent poor/ backward / simple Kashmiri masses in favour of two nation theory/ against India. Where as General S. K Sinha had also recollected that in Oct 1947 Kashmir had stood against the Raiders challenging " Hamlawar khabardar, hum kashmiri hain tayyaar". The Maharaja of J&K signed an unconditional Instrument of Accession on 26 Oct 1947 and also wrote a letter to Lord Mountbatten, Governor General of India informing GOI of the circumstances/ conditions prevailing in the State and of his intention to set up an interim Government and to ask Sheikh Abdullah (Maharaja submitted to "pre condition" of GOI, rather to Mr. Jawahar Lal Nehru) to carry the responsibilities of Emergency Administration along with Mehar Chand Mahajan , the Prime Minister ( Dewan) of Maharaja. But the circumstantial evidences indicate that Nehru and Mountbatten were still hesitant. It is also said by some elders that Mehar Chand Mahajan even threatened to proceed to Karachi and offer Kashmir to Jinah to secure ( safety of ) his people.
Mountbatten made the accession look like conditional by mentioning ( outside the instrument of accession) for a plebiscite to be held in the State when law and order situation allowed ( lands cleared of the invadors) . Mehar Chand Mahajan was an irritant for Nehru from day one of his appointment/ selection as Prime Minister of J&K by Maharaja Hari Singh in October 1947 where as the opinion of Vallab Bhai Patel ( Minister for Home and States Ministry) was otherwise. It appeared that Nehru still feared that Sheikh may not be removed by Maharaja later and for Nehru Sheikhs interest was more important than any thing else. Irritants were hence still kept particularly in Kashmir Valley ( J&K in general) that could deepen the confusions and "ambitions" floated since 1946 in the policy that Sheikh Abdullah announced even without discussing with leadership of Congress as well as All India States Peoples Congress and even the National Conference. Fears existed in the minds of Sheikh Abdullah too regarding there being some possibilities ( may be remote) of democratic power going in the hands of some other leader / political group of J&K since Sheikh's National Conference had Muslim Conference opposing it in Kashmir Valley, in Jammu Province the National Conference did not have much base and the Muslim leaders of Jammu, Poonch, Rajouri and other non Kashmiri speaking areas of J&K ( even in Kashmir Province) were also not unanimously in favour Sheikh's National Conference. It was on 30th October 1946 that A.N. Vaid General secretary State Congress Committee wrote from Jammu to Sardar Vallab Bhai Patel ( as President Parliamentary Committee All India Congress Committee) that a joint meeting of NC/ Congress / Progressive Hindus was held and it was concluded that January 1947 elections to State Assembly in Jammu Province should be fought on Congress ticket sinceNational Conference held little influence in Jammu Province and there were misgivings about NC as turncoat of Muslim Conference and NC has done very less ground work in Jammu and hence in case elections are fought on Congress ticket on a joint manifesto four Hindu seats out of 7 and one Mohamaden seat out of two will be won by Congress , otherwise all will be lost. Some Muslims of Jammu and Mirpur/ Poonch refused to follow Sheikh in 1939 and held back the banner of Muslim Conference predominantly in Jammu, Mirpur, Poonch and Muzaffarabad. NC did not find much acceptance in Jammu. The main leadership of Muslim Conference after 11-06-1939 passed in the hands of Punjabi speaking Muslims like Chaudhary Gulanm Abbas and Sardar Mohamad Ibrahim.
Bhimber town a Tehsil of Mirpur District 2 miles inside State border was shelled by Pak raiders .It was around 27 October that Pak raiders shelled the town with armoured cars / guns and the town was first to fall to Pak raiders and fell on 10th November, Sheikh Abdullah also did not care for this area and sent all troops Indian to Kashmir Valley . KOTLI that lied on Jehlum Mirpur Poonch road was abandoned by Indian Army voluntarily. Link of Mirpur to Jammu was cut after the fall of Bhimber and Rajouri people from Jammu pleaded to Jawahar Lal in middle of November 1947 when he visited Jammu to send some troops to Poonch but Nehru asked them to approach Sheikh Abdullah who was to take decision regarding deputing Indian Troops , but instead 40 lorries carrying troops towards Mirpur were diverted to Srinagar where the need was not that urgent after Baramulla was recaptured on 8 November 1947 and after a few days Uri was also recaptured . Though from Uri a column was sent to Poonch but the same could not reach in time since State troops on that side had earlier damaged the bridge fearing that raiders would advance from Uri to Poonch. Mirpur fell on 25 November 1947. The only town that resisted locally and did not fall was POONCH and though some Indian Troops also managed to reach here from Uri side and the enemy was kept away for one year but the town was finally relieved by the forces that advanced from Rajouri side. The Chib Rajputs of Deva Baytala villages of Bhimber Tehsil fought the enemy with crude weapons for two months , enemy used heavy weapons, theyrequest Bakshi Gulam Mohmed Chief Emergency Officer of Jammu Province for ammunition and arms but were not attended to . By the end of Dec 1947 thousands of people left their villages and enemy reached outskirts of Chamb.
By middle of November 1947 whole Kashmir valley was cleared. Only Baramulla, Sopore and western fringe of Valley along Gulmerg sector of Pir Panjal range were under the control of Pakistan / raiders for a few days. An attempt was later made by Pak troops to enter valley via Mughal Road through Shupian and to also cut Banihal road. But Indian forces after hard fighting near NANDI MARGA (10000 ft MSL) pushed them back.
Mehrchand Mahajan, The Prime Minister of J&K/ Dewan of Maharaja of J&K had written on 18th November 1947 to S. Baldev Singh , Defence Minister in Nehru's Cabinet, that situation In J&K required personal attention of Defence Minister adding that he had discussed in person also with Major General Kulwant Singh as well as GOC Western Command General Carriappa when he visited Jammu . He conveyed to S. Baldev Singh the rxisting emergency due to collection of very large number of Pathans across border on Sialkot side, an further attack on Jammu city as was engineered for Srinagar appeared evident, for defence of Jammu there was not even one full battaliaon of troops available, road from Jammu to Kathua was within 3 to 4 miles from border and GOI had only two companies on this border,border from Jammu to Bhimber as well Mirpur was completely unprotected and no army whatsoever was available. He impressed extreme necessity for more troops in Jammu ,otherwise GOI would require very large number of troops to retrieve the situation if delayed. Rajouri would have been saved and thousands of people would have been kept alive if what he ( Mehrchand) had told the authorities a week earlier ( before) would have been realized adding that the trouble about Mirpur would have been much less had the military moved earlier towards that side, for internal security and to stop internal killing of Hindus by Muslims . Adding that he had no troops whatsoever, Gilgit had already been lost, province of Ladakh was not by then protected and needed only three companies at that time and could be lost otherwise, Kargil was a crucial point, Iskardu the winter capital of Ladakh Province had only two platoons and Chitralis and Swati may infilterate into Iskardu via Rondu side, so atleast a company or two be sent more to Kargil to strengthen Iskardu garrison and the like .. It was on 30 November 1947 that Mehrchand Mahajan wrote to Pandit Jawahar Lal that on reaching Jammu from Delhi he had come to know that Indian Troops had abandoned Kotli, where as Mirpur was abandoned earlier and had been destroyed by enemy, border from Bhimber to Rajouri had been occupied by enemy , that enemy was pushing towards Akhnoor; Poonch area except the Poonch town ,district of Mirpur , Muzaffarabad and a part Jammu district were in their ( enemy) possession, state of affairs was very unsatisfactory and it was only by a directive from him ( Nehru, Prime Minister of India) that the positions could be regained. But the directives never came at the needed time.
The Punjabi speaking areas of Mirpur, Poonch, Bhimber and Rajouri of Jammu Province were though muslim majority areas , muslims were poor. In 1947 times some people did come under the Pakistani influence inview of adjoining areas of Rawalpindi, Jehlum, and Gujarat though. But most of the Muslim Chiefs/ Jagirdars were Rajput converts who had some loyalty to Maharaja Hari Singh. And Muzaffarabad too could not be termed as Kashmiri Speaking area, lot of Punjabi population too was there. India approaches UN to stop Pakistan from aiding the raiders in Kashmir on 1-1-1948 and India ordered ceasefireon 1-1-1949. Then why did the forces not advance ? Why did Sheikh Abdullah not pressurize GOI for getting the other areas ( mostly Punjabi Speaking areas and those from Jammu Province ) cleared of Pakistani troops or invaders when he was so dear to Jawahar Lal Nehru who had made all efforts to place the crown of J&K on Sheikh's head ? It could be alleged that under the changed circumstances/ ideologies/ ambitions and the confusion that prevailed in J&K from 1946 June till October 1947 Sheikh Abdullah might have felt his future more secure and sure in the majority support of non Punjabi Muslims/ areas of J&K (Kashmir Valley in particular ) hence it could be a justifying argument of some people who say that Indian troops did not advance to the liking of Sheikh Abdullah who was so favourite of Jawahar Lal Nehru. Wish it was not a fact. |
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