Jammu Kashmir is northern state of India. It has been victim of British Policy pre and post-independence. Today we are facing many problems in Kashmir valley which is smallest part of the State. In 2019, its very important to know the history of Jammu Kashmir with backdrop of British Diplomacy or we can say British conspiracy. After Independence, British India was divided and dominion of Pakistan came into existence. As far as Princely States were concerned, rulers of the State had to decide the fate of their states. Jammu Kashmir was one of the Princely States. Maharaja Harisingh was the last ruler of the State.

 

 

With regard to Jammu and Kashmir Britain had one more concern, that was ‘only if Pakistan becomes politically stable then it will be a good support system for the strategic intentions of Britain in Central East and South East Asia and this was possible only if Jammu and Kashmir became a buffer between India and the North Western Frontier Province. If Jammu and Kashmir become a part of India then the North Western province will become a safe haven for KhudaiKhidmatgars and in future they may demand and independent Pakhtunistan,’

 

 

It was the fear of Pakhtunistan which brought Pakistan and Britain closer to each other. In order to prevent creation of Pakhtunistan, it was very important to keep India away from the North Western Frontier Provinces of Pakistan and this was possible only if Jammu and Kashmir was not integrated in India. All the Big cities of Pakistan, such as Peshawar, Sialkot and Rawalpindi came with in a distance of 30 to 50 kilometers from the border of Jammu and Kashmir. For the stability of Pakistan the British diplomacy wanted to keep these cities away from the military attack of India. Similarly, the water supply in Pakistan was from the rivers originating from Jammu and Kashmir. From the perspective of irrigation in the Punjab region the Mangala dam in Mirpur was very important. Considering all these factors Britain anyhow wanted Kashmir to be integrated with Pakistan.

 

 

 

Mountbatten now wanted to make this British diplomacy successful and not only he had to make a strategy to integrate Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan but he had to successfully executed it as well. Had this region been in British India, it would not have been difficult to hand it over to Pakistan but unfortunately this was a princely state, about which only the ruler of the state could take a decision. Actually, in 1947 when the British declared that they will be leaving India and the country will be divided into two Dominions, due to the geographical positioning, the significance of Jammu and Kashmir increased multifold. The princely state bordered both Pakistan and India. India knew that for the integration of Jammu and Kashmir in India the role of people from the state will be very important. In any case Congress principally would have supported the people of the state in order to establish democratic system however at that time, in 1946 the representative of the people from Kashmir Sheikh Abdullah was in jail.

 

Hari Singh could also foresee the future trouble. From the beginning he wanted to accede to India. Even Nehru wanted that at the earliest Jammu and Kashmir should integrate with India because he could also sense possible dangers. On 27th September 1947 he wrote to Sardar Patel- the leaders from Muslim League are planning to intrude into Kashmir from the North Western Frontier in a large number. Pakistan has planned that they will intrude in to Kashmir from now and during the winter when Kashmir gets cut off from rest of India then they will execute some big plan. I don't think that Maharaja has any alternative other than releasing Sheikh Abdullah and other leaders of National Conference from the jail. Once Kashmir is acceded to India, then it will be difficult for Pakistan to attack Kashmir because that would mean a direct confrontation with India. I think Kashmir must accede to India at the earliest. Till the time Sheikh Abdullah and his friends are in the jail it is detrimental for the future,”

 

 

However Nehru was ready to accede Jammu and Kashmir in India only after Maharaja Hari Singh transferred power to Sheikh Abdullah before signing the instrument of accession. Thus, it was very clear that instead of national interest Nehru was giving priority to his personal friendship.

 

 

In this condition Pakistan attacked Jammu and Kashmir all this was done in the name of the tribals but the role of the Pakistani army was direct in this attack. According to Mehar Chand Mahajan “actually Pakistan had attacked Muzaffarabad on 22nd October itself. We came to know about it in the night of 24th October. As soon as we got to know about it, we sent the deputy Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir with a letter to Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India. I wrote a personal letter as well stating that in this time of crisis, on humanitarian ground you must help us. We had also written about acceding to India in this letter but there was no response from Delhi. Neither on the proposal to accede to India nor on sending military help,” (18). No response on accession, no response on military help, however, Shaikh Abdullah discreetly flew down from Srinagar to Delhi, (19). On the other hand, Jinnah declared that the Eid, which would be in the end of October, would be celebrated in Srinagar. Thousands of innocent people were massacred in Jammu and Kashmir, women were being raped but Delhi was quiet. It was not ready for accession nor was ready to send military help. What could be the reason? The reason was obvious, none of the letters sent to Delhi had any mention of transfer of power to Shaikh Abdullah!!

 

 

 

It was evening of 25th October. In the words of Mehar Chand Mahajan, “We decided that now if possible we will fly down to Delhi or else go to Pakistan and surrender. Then, someone suggested to go to Kabul, may be, they would help”, (20). But fortunately, V. P. Menon reached in the night. He suggested to the Maharaja to leave Srinagar immediately for Jammu and took me with him to Delhi, (). Took the letter of accession again to Delhi. This time Maharaja had fulfilled the condition put by Nehru, Shaikh Abdullah was made the Emergency Administrator.

 

 

Maharaja Hari Singh was requesting India to send arms from 1st October.The Government India also had decided to send arms to Jammu and Kashmir. On 7th of October Sardar Patel wrote to the then Defense Minister Baldev Singh- “I hope the arrangements to send arms and ammunition by train to Kashmir are on. If necessary, we may also send them by air” . However, there was no such arrangement on. In those days India and Pakistan had a common Commanding Officer, General Lockhart was the Commander in Chief. “The Commander in Chief General Lockhart along with Field Marshal Okanlak did not allow this decision to get executed. Lockhart was saying that arms are not available in Delhi. The Army Head Quarter should find out from the Main Headquarter about which weapons are available in which depot of of India. The Army Headquarter knew that by the time they collect this information it will be months. But the biggest hurdle was from the highest headquarter which said that if a princely state has not joined either of the Dominion then we cannot supply arms to them.” .On 25th October 1947 when in Delhi the difference committee mat the secret of not sending arms to Kashmir was revealed.

 

 

Buy now a lot had happened in Kishanganga. Maharaja Hari Singh had signed and executed the instrument of accession, Jammu and Kashmir was struggling against Pakistan. Even the British diplomacy could not prevent sending the weapons to Jammu and Kashmir.It has exhausted all its excuses. In this situation the British came up with a new policy, the plan was that before the Indian Army reaches Srinagar Pakistan should take over Jammu and Kashmir. By November and December, due to heavy snowfall, Kashmir will be isolated, the roads will be closed and Indian Army will not be able to reach there. In this entire development Mountbatten was very sad and he also expressed his unhappiness. “With great difficulty I have convinced Patel that if Jammu and Kashmir integrate with Pakistan you should not feel bad. But my entire plan failed, I felt very sad. All this happened because of that bloody fool Hari Singh,”

 

 

 

. However, conspiracies of Mountbatten continued even after this. Sheikh Abdullah, the president of the main political party National Conference from Kashmir was in favour of exceeding to India. Maharaja Hari Singh wanted to integrate legally and Sheikh wanted the democratic aspects. Even his enemies were not in a position to say that Shaikh does not represent the Muslims from the Kashmir Valley. The people from Jammu and Ladakh were most vocal about accession. Therefore, in October 1947 when the state acceded to India then the ruler and majority of the ruled were in favour of accession with India. What was the need of asking or seeking public opinion as suggested by Mountbatten? However, Mountbatten was strategizing the future and he was very sure that with this method Pakistan will get Kashmir. When this plan did not succeed he was very unhappy but how could Mountbatten leave this plan of acceding Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan midway? He was of the opinion that once peace is restored in Jammu and Kashmir he could again try to execute his plan, however, the forces of both the countries were face to face, fighting each other and in this condition, Mountbatten could not do anything.

 

 

On one hand the Indian Army was forcing the Pakistani army to retreat from the areas of Jammu and Kashmir, on the other hand the British conspirators were trying to take over as much area of Jammu and Kashmir possible and hand it over to Pakistan. In Gilgit, the Gilgit Scout Paramilitary Force was led by commanding officer Major William Brown. On 31st October in the night, under the leadership of Brown, this Scout surrounded the house of minister of GilgitGhansara Singh and arrested him. The forces of the Maharaja were fighting with the Gilgit Scouts, but the Muslim soldiers from Maharaja’s force joined hands with the enemy and the remaining supply of force was not sent. Thus, under the leadership of Major Brown the interim Government of Gilgit was formed. On 4th November Major William Brown pulled down the flag of Jammu and Kashmir state, hoisted the Pakistani flag in the region and declared that Gilgit now belongs to Pakistan. In the entire episode neither the ruler of the state nor the people were present. The British knew the strategic and diplomatic significance of this region and therefore they quickly handed it over to Pakistan. According to Ghansara Singh “the revolt in the army was instigated by the British because of which Gilgit fell and it went in the control of Pakistan the people of Gilgit were not a part of this revolt,”