Finally, the combat and conflicts, incessantly prevailing for the last Twelve hundred years, were about to end but the independence was going to cost dearly!!! The persistent Islamic (Arab) invasions, from the first half of the Eighth century, (712 to 740 CE), were marked by Arab attacks on North West Frontier, (now Pakistan) and continued with the European annexation of Bharat.
After a frightful long struggle for freedom, the foreign rule was going to end with the partition of the nation. Bharat Mata, as the true patriotic Bharatiya considered the Motherland, was to be divided on the basis of religion. The newly carved nation Pakistan was taking birth, out of our very own Motherland. The twelve hundred years’ journey witnessed several generations and their scuffles to preserve the eminence and honour of our great nation.
Ironically, the ceaseless clamber of centuries was handed down to the Indian National Congress and their leadership decided to agree to the adoption of of ‘two nation theory that led to the formation of the Muslim nation, Pakistan. Afghanistan was the first victim of the “divide and rule” policy of the British Government.
Afghanistan, the nation that was part of Bharatvarsh in the mediaeval period was separated from the then Bharat (now, Pakistan) by the Durand line, the international border established on 12th November 1893 by Mortimer Durand, the British diplomat in the Indian Civil Service and Abdur Rehman Khan, the Afghan Emir. The 2670 km long Durand Line, fixed their limited areas of influence. Post defeat in the Anglo-Afghan war, the British considered Afghanistan as a separate nation, though they controlled its foreign affairs and diplomatic trade.
The Second world war may have been won by the Western allies but it had turned out to be extremely costly on the economic and social fronts. Britain known as ‘The Great Britain, was on the verge on break down and unable to maintain the nations it had invaded. The new power centre, the United States of America, was also emerging on the global platform. Hence, Lord Mountbatten, once the hero of the war at Burma during the Second world war, was assigned the herculean task of imparting independence to Bharat.
On the 3rd of June 1947, Lord Mountbatten made the announcement at a press conference about the date of independence. Along with it, he declared the division of British India into dominions of Bharat and Pakistan, which came to be known as the “Mountbatten plan”. The consultative committee of the Boundary Commission was appointed in July 1947 to outline the partition of the Bengal and Punjab regions. Sir Cyril Redcliffe, a Lawyer and a Civil servant in British India was appointed as the head of the Boundary Commission. It constituted four members each of the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League.
On the 17th of August 1947, a few days after independence and the formation of two dominions, Sir Cyril Redcliffe presented the plan, demarcating the areas, between Bharat and Pakistan. The border created by Redcliff is known as the Redcliffe line and it spreads from Rann of Kutch (Sir Creek) in Gujarat to the international border in Jammu & Kashmir.
Similarly, the border demarcated by dividing East and West Bengal became the Redcliffe line. In 1971, with the formation of Bangladesh, it became the border between Bharat and Bangladesh.
The four states of newly demarcated Bharat shared its border with Pakistan. The longest border shared by a Bharatiya state, was Jammu & Kashmir, at 1222 km. The Indian Independence Act received royal consent in the British Parliament, on the 18th of July 1947.
On the 14th of August 1947 the Viceroy declared a ruling, under the regulation of Indian Independence Act 1947 – amendment 8(2), notifying the Bharatiya Interim Constitutional regulation 1947. As per this order, the Government of Bharat, augmenting the amendment of 1935, declared the interim constitution of Bharatiya dominion. According to section 6 of the interim constitution, when the ruler of the princely state would issue a signed document, notifying the Governor General, favouring the annexation, it would be considered valid. The Instrument of Annexation, once signed can not be revoked.
This clause made it evident that the right to sign the instrument of annexation, lay solely with the ruler of the princely state. The Governor General had no other role to play, other than notifying it. It was extremely significant to note that neither in Government of India Act 1935 nor Bharat Independence Regulation 1947 has any provision for any conditional Accession clause. The Governor General does not have the right to notify the accession on a temporary basis nor can take back the acknowledgement as null and void in future. Similarly, the king of the princely state is bound by the once signed Instrument of Annexation.
The cabinet mission led by Stafford Cripps visited Bharat in 1946, with the intention and plan to grant independence to Bharat. Taking the initiative forward, newly appointed Viceroy Lord Mountbatten addressed a meeting with the Chamber of Princes (Narendra Mandal) and conveyed that “once the transfer of power would form the independent government in Bharat, the paramountcy of British crown over the princely states would cease to exist.”
Post the end of the dominance of the British crown, the princely states would have few options, to select from. The options were either to join and merge in Bharat or Pakistan or remain independent. But, the option of remaining independent, would not really be impactful as some of the departments such as foreign relations and defence would remain with one or the other government.
Hence, they genuinely had only one option and that was to select one or the other dominion. During British rule, the department dedicated to Princely State had been set up. A similar, new department was established for the Princely state and on the prescribed norms, its outline was drafted and forwarded to the Princely state, rulers.
As per the canon, it was obligatory for the princely states to hand over the responsibility of Foreign relations, Communication and Defence related matters to the federal government. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was heading the department (Ministry) for the Princely States and his astute efforts had resulted in most of the Princely States joining and amalgamating with Bharatiya dominion, by 15th August 1947. Bhavnagar state was the first to merge with Bharat.
Few of the states had not signed in the Instrument of Annexation by independence day, 15th August and Jammu & Kashmir was one of them along with Junagadh and Hyderabad. Maharaja Harisinh too was in dilemma in this crucible moment. Though geographically, Kashmir shared borders with Pakistan, a very large section of the state belonged to the Hindu and Buddhist faith. Unfortunately, We have been taught to think of Kashmir, as having a complete population of Muslims, overlooking the population residing in areas other than Valley in Jammu and Ladakh. Moreover, Kashmir had been the elite cultural centre of Bharat and an educational hub. Annexation with Pakistan would entirely destroy the centuries-old heritage and the mesmerizing legacy of temples and Math.
This foresight and affinity with Bharat led him to deny every proposal and temptation put forward by Jinnah. Then the immediate question would arise in our minds, pointing towards his resistance. The truth was his enormous differences with Pandit Nehru, especially Pandit Nehru’s inconceivable leaning towards Shaikh Abdullah. In such circumstances, where he could not see eye to eye, with Pandit Nehru, Maharaja Harisinh’s irresoluteness disallowed him to take a final call of merging with Bharat.
Additionally, at that time, there was a single route connecting Jammu-Kashmir with Bharat, that was via Pathankot. The rest of the routes were through Pakistan, mainly passing from Rawalpindi and Sialkot. Extremely woefully, the history written in the Nehruvian era has purposefully hidden these facts and painted Maharaja HariSinh as a villain.
Sources of Information :
हमारी भूलोका स्मारक : धर्मांतरित कश्मीर
नरेन्द्र सहगल
कश्मीर : दहकते अंगारे
जगमोहन जी
जम्मू कश्मीर की अनकही कहानियां
कुलदीप चंद अग्निहोत्री
Kashmir : Behind The Vale
M J Akbar
My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir
Jagmohan ji
Madhvi Bhuta is the National Executive of BJP Mahila Morcha and a Columnist on various Forums.
