Educate People on Kashmir‏

27-Oct-2010

Dear PM,

 

I think we should educate people of India about issues in Kashmir so that people like Arundhuti Roy cannot misled the country. There is a wonderful short article published in msn.com (http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4504093). I summarized it as below. 

• At the time of Indian independence, none of the princely states were part of India
• In 1947, under the Mountbatten Plan, they were given two options — either affiliate with India or with Pakistan
• The Hindu ruler of Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh wanted something which was not on the table — azaadi
• Pakistan launched a military invasion of Kashmir on October 22, 1947
• Pashtun tribal and irregulars, morally and logistically supported by the Pakistan army, were sent in to force the Maharaja to accede to Pakistan
• A frightened and panic-stricken Maharaja radioed Delhi for military help
• The Indian leadership argued that it would not be legally possible to send in the Indian Army unless Kashmir acceded to India formally
• The Maharaja finally yielded and Mountbatten's aide V P Menon was sent to Srinagar to secure his signature on the Instrument of Accession.
• Once signed (on 26 October 1947), the Indian Army was airlifted to Srinagar and the Pakistani invaders were beaten back, but not before they controlled about one-third of Kashmir.
• Government of India should publish that letter.
• As soon as the Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession, Kashmir's accession to India was complete in the legal and formal sense — the same Instrument of Accession that was signed by more than 500 other princely states
• Prime Minister Nehru went to the UN in good faith to call on the world body to intervene
• The UN Security Council called for not only an immediate ceasefire, but also a plebiscite to determine the wishes of the Kashmiris
• Ignoring the advice of his Home Minister Sardar Patel and Indian Army commanders that India should not agree to a ceasefire before the area captured by the invaders was reclaimed, Nehru went ahead and not only ordered an immediate ceasefire but also agreed in principle to the plebiscite
• UN Resolution 38 of 17 January 1948 reads "The Government of Pakistan should undertake to use its best endeavours: To secure the withdrawal from the State of Jammu and Kashmir of tribesmen and Pakistani nationals not normally resident therein who have entered the State for the purposes of fighting, and to prevent any intrusion into the State of such elements and any furnishing of material aid to those fighting in the State"
• Pakistan never fulfilled the above clause