Pakistan-sponsored raiders ruined the Jannat-e-Firdaus

Brigadier RK Bhatia (Retd)

‘Gar firdaus bar-rooh-e zameen ast,
Hami asto, hamin asto, hamin ast’

This couplet by celebrated mystic, Sufi poet Amir Khusro describes all that may be stated about the great thing about Kashmir ‘if there is a paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this’. But alas! this ‘paradise on earth’ continues to endure persevering with grief ever since Pakistan laid its evil eye on it and violated its pious land on 22 Oct 1947. 

Background of Invasion in Kashmir

As the British determined to exit India, Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir, aspiring to maintain the Jammu and Kashmir as an unbiased nation, didn’t accede to both of the newly shaped nations. Pakistan laid declare on Kashmir since it’s a Muslim majority area. It ignored the truth that the criterion of division alongside non secular majority utilized solely to the areas straight colonized by the British and to not princely states like J&Ok. 

The Indian troops on the opposite handset foot in Kashmir to counter the perpetrators of violence on Kashmir solely after the Maharaja signed the ‘Instrument of Accession’ on 26 Oct 1947.

Importance of Kashmir

Kashmir is a really robust image for each India and Pakistan, even when their views on the state battle ideologically. While India considers Kashmir important for its secular id, for Pakistan, its acquisition is important to finish the division of India on non secular foundation. For Pakistan, the merger of Kashmir stays an unfinished agenda of partition. Without together with Muslim majority J&Ok, in its core, Pakistan considers itself incomplete as a nation which can fail and even collapse. Apart from faith Pakistan additionally quotes ethnicity, geography, and legality for Kashmir to be its half. This lofty romanticism about Kashmir’s trigger and solidarity with their Muslim brethren of J&Ok is nothing however a smokescreen to seize Kashmir for financial and army causes. The Pakistani historian, Mr. Ishtiaq Ahmed has known as it a Hydro-Political downside of Pakistan.

Kashmir and Strategic (Pakistani) Punjab 

As is the case elsewhere, Pakistan views the merger of Kashmir via the slim prism of the prosperity of Western (Pakistani) Punjab. Pakistani writings have highlighted the necessity for having Kashmir, not a lot for honoring the desires and security of the Kashmiris however for getting strategic depth to Pakistani Punjab and likewise for making certain non-interference with river waters coming from Kashmir. Maj Gen Akbar Khan, who was a part of the Kashmir liberation Committee and the self-proclaimed Commander-in-chief in Kashmir in 1947-48, brings out the army and financial significance of Kashmir to Pakistan in his e-book ‘Raiders in Kashmir’; 

‘our own safety and welfare (read Western Punjab) demand that the state (Kashmir) should not go over to India.  If Indian troops came to be stationed along Kashmir’s western border (with Pakistani Punjab), she (India) might set up its forces inside a couple of miles of the 180-miles-long important highway and rail route between Lahore and Pindi (the complete stretch he speaks is in West Punjab). 

‘From an economic point of view, the position was equally clear. Our agricultural economy (again in Punjab) was dependent particularly upon the rivers coming out of Kashmir.’

Social Fabric of Kashmir

Prior to dwelling additional into the unscrupulous try of wresting Kashmir because it unfolded throughout Oct 1947, it will be price recalling the social material because it existed in Kashmir of these days. In her e-book ‘Between the Great divide’, Pakistani creator Anam Zakaria has given innumerable examples of historically secular and tolerant practices of Kashmiris, each Muslims and Hindus. ‘the degree of homogeneity was such that many Hindus and Muslims went to the extent of only consuming halal mutton instead of beef or pork to respect each other’s traditions and sensibilities. 

Such inter-communal concord can be documented within the e-book ‘Wounded Memories’, written by Muhammad Saeed Asad, an creator who hails from Mirpur in POK. He says that it was essential for the residents of Kashmir to be Kashmiri slightly than Muslim, Hindu or Sikh.  ‘The Sikhs and Hindus had been conversant in and capable of recite the verses of the Holy Quran simply as a lot as Muslims might learn Holy Granth.

The Grand Design

Within days of coming into being, Pakistan shaped a ‘Kashmir Liberation Committee’ led by Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan with Colonel (later Maj Gen) Akbar Khan because the army member. This committee determined to launch a tribal aggression into Kashmir to pressure a dithering and militarily weak maharaja into becoming a member of Pakistan. The goal of the doubtful plan was to arouse communal passions, assassinate essential leaders and seize energy in Kashmir. The prevalent impression from a couple of incidents in Jammu and Poonch is that Muslims of the state had risen towards the Government and wished to hitch Pakistan. Nothing could possibly be farther from the reality. 

There is sufficient proof to counsel that the Kashmir operation was not a spontaneous rebellion by the tribesmen however a clandestine operation intentionally designed by Pakistan for annexation of the state by pressure. Mr Prem Shanker Jha in his e-book ‘Kashmir, 1947, Rival Version of History’ states that the raiders had been to be the true spearhead of the Pakistan Government’s annexation plan. According to him ‘The instigation of insurrectionary activity and communal mayhem in Poonch and Jammu was a diversionary tactic designed to disperse and pin down the state forces and prevent them from regrouping at the mouth of Uri gorge which raiders had to pass before entering the Kashmir Valley.’

The rebellion, in line with the Pakistani conspirators, can be handed off as an act undertaken by irregulars on their very own and that these lawless tribesmen couldn’t be managed by the newly established Pakistani state. However, there are sufficient items of proof to show that the irregulars had been extensively supported by Pakistan’s provincial and federal governments. 

Was it Holy War?

Pakistan has unfold a story that the tribesmen had been incited to a ‘holy war’ by the tales of atrocities which fleeing Muslims introduced with them to the market place of Peshawar. But waging a ‘holy war’ was by no means on the agenda of those primitive tribesmen. They had been lured with a promise of Zar(wealth), Sar(head) and Zan(girls) of the harmless Kashmiris no matter his faith, gender or place, they didn’t differentiate between Hindus, Muslims or Sikhs. Anyone, who stopped these savages from indulging in plunder or pursuing their carnal pleasures had been subjected to unseen and unheard-of violence. These tribal raids considerably altered the very material of the tolerant Valley. 

Evidence of Pakistan’s Official Support

Notwithstanding Pakistan’s steady denial of any involvement in tribesmen’s invasion into Kashmir, there are substantial items of evidences to show Pakistan’s entire hearted help. The particulars are as follows: 

(a) The main Maliks (leaders) of the tribes who participated within the raid had been secretly interviewed in Rawalpindi as early as 2nd October and tasked to prepare Lashkars. These Maliks had been rewarded handsomely.

(b) There was a severe scarcity of arms and ammunition as most of it nonetheless lay in India. As Director of Weapon and Equipment at GHQ, Colonel Akbar Khan knew that obtainable weapon meant for the Pakistan Army couldn’t be used with out the permission of the Commander-in-Chief General Messervy.  Akbar Khan, nevertheless, managed to find 4000 rifles which had been to be handed over to the Punjab Police. A big inventory of outdated ammunition was additionally found, which was to be transported to Karachi and disposed off at sea, because it had gone past its expiry date and subsequently was deemed too harmful for use. These arms and ammunition had been diverted to band of irregulars.

(c) Petrol, (which was a scarce commodity in these days), meals and camp administrative providers had been organized and provisioned by the Pak Army to the raiders.

(d) A secret “Kashmir Fund” was put aside by Nawab of Mamdot, the Chief Minister of West Punjab.

(e) The Chief Minister of the Frontier Province, Abdul Qayyum Khan, who hailed from Poonch in Kashmir, gave his blessings and unqualified help together with provisioning of 300-400 buses and lorries, with out which the operation may not have been potential.

(f) According to George Cunningham ‘Jinnah himself heard of it (the plan) but said ‘Don’t inform me something of it. My conscience should stay clear’’.

(g) VP Menon, who was the best hand of Sardar Patel stated in his e-book Integration of Indian States  that ‘the raiders had free transit through Pakistan. They were in possession of modern military equipment which could only have been obtained from Pakistani Army sources; mortars, artillery, and Mark V mines are not the kind of armament which tribesmen possess’

(h) A lot of Army officers had joined the tribesmen and arranged the assaults on the state and Indian Army. The professionalism displayed couldn’t be anticipated of any untrained personnel.

If Raids had not Happened

It is price pondering over the state of affairs in case the invasion by the raiders had not taken place. Possibility of Maharaja becoming a member of Pakistan existed. Indian Home Minister Sardar Patel had left the selection to the Maharaja. Lord Mountbatten too suggested the Maharaja to hitch one of many two dominions, as two greater nations in its neighbourhood wouldn’t let it stay unbiased. Mr VP Menon states:

“We had no territorial ambitions in Kashmir. If the invasion had not happened, I can say in the face of any contradiction that the Government of India would have left Kashmir alone’. Lord Mountbatten on his return to England publicly stated that he had, on the authority of the Government of India, informed the Maharaja that he was perfectly free to accede to Pakistan if he chooses to do so.”

The slaughter of harmless girls and youngsters belonging to all faiths by the invaders most likely misplaced Pakistan any faint communal co-operation they may have anticipated within the Valley of Kashmir.  

Conclusion

Pakistan was in a rush to seize Kashmir. Its leaders bought impatient and apprehensive that the Maharaja is probably not inclined to hitch them. In order to current a fait accompli to the Maharaja, Pakistan unleashed unruly and undisciplined tribesmen on harmless Kashmiris who had by no means heard or seen such savagery of their lives. Lord Cunningham, the Governor of NWFP famous ‘due to the excesses of the tribesmen, many Muslims of Kashmir would have adhered to India and to not Pakistan, if a plebiscite had been held.

About the Author:  (Brig RK Bhatia (Retd) has had an illustrious profession within the elite Intelligence Corps of the Indian Army for over three a long time. During his whole span of service, he undertook operations pertaining to intelligence acquisition, counter-intelligence, counter-insurgency, and intelligence investigations. He had the privilege of efficiently finishing 5 tenures every within the Northern and Eastern Sectors in numerous ranks.)