Zahoor Hussain Bhat
SRINAGAR: On this day, 66 years ago the Indian troops arrived in Srinagar . The Indian government says the troops were sent on the request of the then Maharaja of the state, Hari Singh.
However M J Akbar, the author of Nehru’s biography, has expressed doubts about Hari Singh formally requesting assistance. He writes, “Nehru and Patel were both determined to send the army into Kashmir whether Hari Singh asked for them or not”. Many a historian have said that the Maharja signed the instrument of accession under duress after the Indian troops had arrived in the state. They say the accession is back dated.
Under the accession, the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir ceded sovereignty of the state to the India union only in respect of three subjects viz defence, external affairs and communication. While accepting the accession, India’s then governor general, Lord Mountbatten put forth the condition that it (Accession) was subject to ratification by people of the state which they would do as soon as peace was restored in the state.
The accession happened, as per the date borne on the instrument, on October 26. Four days later, (October 26 ) the Maharaja appointed Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah as “Head of the Administration with power to deal with the emergency.”
He also appointed a twenty-three member Emergency Council “pending the formation of the Interim Government”. By a proclamation issued on March 5, 1948 the Maharaja decided “to replace the Emergency Administration by a popular interim Government and to provide for its powers, duties and functions, pending the formation of a fully democratic Constitution”.
The State of Jammu and Kashmir was then governed by the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution Act, 1939. Former chief justice of India, Justice Adarsh Sen Anand says the the Jammu and Kashmir Government did accept the Indian constitution as constitution for the state.
“Despite the accession, the State was still to be governed by the old Constitution Act, 1939. This was because the Government of India had given an undertaking that the people of Kashmir could frame their own Constitution.”
In his book ‘The Development of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir’, he writes: “Despite the accession, the State was still to be governed by the old Constitution Act, 1939. This was because the Government of India had given an undertaking that the people of Kashmir could frame their own Constitution.”
He further says “The Government of India could not force the State to accept the constitution (of India ), for that would violate the agreed terms of the association of Kashmir with India . The State had voluntarily surrendered three matters only (Defence, External Affairs and Communication) and the Government of India could not enlarge the sphere of its jurisdiction at its own discretion”.
Speaking on the All India Radio on November 2, 1947, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said, “Destiny of Kashmir is ultimately to be decided by the people who live in it.” He said “We have given this promise not only to People of Kashmir, but to the world. We will not and cannot back out of it”.
On November 25, 1947 Nehru told the Indian Parliament that “We have suggested that when people of Kashmir are given a chance to decide their future, this should be done under the supervision of an impartial court such as the United Nations Organisation”.
Nehru, in a famous speech at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, promised the people of Kashmir that their wishes regarding the Accession be ascertained through a plebiscite or referendum. He repeated this promise in various speeches from 1947-1951. A 1948 Indian White Paper clearly mentions that the accession of Kashmir to India is provisional until such time as the will of the people of the State could be ascertained by a plebiscite.
On November 1, 1947 Mountbatten held a meeting at Lahore with Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan. Nehru stayed away from the meeting, on the pretext of illness.
India and Pakistan have, in the past 66 years, fought three wars over Kashmir besides the limited war in Kargil sector. Within the state, an armed conflict broke out between armed militants and the Indian security forces more than two decades ago and is still going on. But a solution to the problem is still evading the stake-holders.
It’s pertinent to mention that it was Nehru who took the dispute of Kashmir to the United Nations. In its complaint to the U N, India pledged that once the soil of the State had been cleared of the invaders and normal conditions restored , its people would be free to decide their future by the democratic method of plebiscite or referendum which in order to ensure complete impartiality might be held under international auspices.
Indian Constituent Assembly in 1949 adopted Article 370 of the Constitution, ensuring a special status and internal autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir with Indian jurisdiction in Kashmir limited to the three areas: defence, foreign affairs and communications. This was confirmed by Abdullah in 1952 Delhi Agreement and the State was allowed to have its own flag alongside the tricolor. The Article 370 was envisioned as a temporary measure until self determination. But the Article itself has been seriously eroded over the years, with the collusion of local ministers installed through rigged elections.
Various Articles of the Indian constitution have been extended to the state, notables 356 and 357 , by virtue of which the Centre can assume the government of the State and exercise its legislative powers.
India and Pakistan have, in the past 66 years, fought three wars over Kashmir besides the limited war in Kargil sector. Within the state, an armed conflict broke out between armed militants and the Indian security forces more than two decades ago and is still going on. But a solution to the problem is still evading the stake-holders.
Peace and stability in South Asia can be guaranteed only when the issue of Jammu and Kashmir is resolved in accordance with the wishes aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
(Author is freelance writer, Views are his own and can be reached at [email protected] . For your contributions write to [email protected])
