KASHMIR: THE REAL STORY
ASIA--PACIFIC, 26 Mar 2010
All of Kashmir as it existed under Maharajah (King) Hari Singh as a “Princely State” prior to the partition of India (see pre-partition maps of India: one, two) became an integral part of the (secular democratic) Republic of India (ROI) when the King signed an instrument of accession, just as did 567 other princely states in joining either India or Pakistan.
When Hari Singh was in the process of making his decision on which course to take for his princely state (i.e. whether to merge it with India, or Pakistan, or become an independent nation, which were the three options that every princely state ruler was given per the protocol set up and agreed upon for the partition of India) post-partition, Pakistan broke the conditions of the “standstill agreement” it signed with him and invaded Kashmir using militias in an attempt to try and steal Kashmir by force from the King. That precipitated and created the Kashmir mess, but the fact remains that all of Kashmir, including the two portions currently being illegally occupied by China (Aksai Chin) and Pakistan (PoK), is legally part of ROI by the virtue of the instrument of accession that Hari Singh signed.
Background information and links:
1. Kashmir Timeline: link
2. Letter from Maharaja Hari Singh to Lord Mountbatten on the eve of Pakistan’s invasion of his princely state in 1947, link
3. Instrument of Accession executed by Maharajah Hari Singh on October 26/27 of 1947, link
4. Kashmir legal documents collection: link
5. Kashmiri groups condemn Pakistan’s 1947 invasion, 22 October 2009, article , Video
6. Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK): link
7. China-Occupied Kashmir (Aksai Chin): link
8. The persecution and ethnic-cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus/Pandits by Islamic terrorists: around 1988/1989, Pakistan infiltrated the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir with about 20,000 Mujahadeen and other brands of Islamic terrorists (diverted from the then-concluding Afghan-Soviet war) who then killed and ethnic-cleansed Hindus from the valley. There apparently used to be about a million Hindu Pandits in the Kashmir valley (their ancient homeland of 5000+ years, pre-dating by around 4000 years the violent arrival and spread of Islam in the valley from c. 1000 AD) before that spate of terrorist violence, but now only a few hundred of them are found living there. Approximately half a million of the Pandits that were driven out of the valley have since been living under horrible conditions in the refugee camps that are being run by the Government of India in Jammu and Delhi, with their livelihoods stolen and an entire generation or two of their children being deprived of a good future. Islamic Terrorism and Genocide of Kashmiri Pandits , Videos: (1), (2). See also The Kashmiri Pandit Plight.
9. The terrorist infiltrators wreaked havoc all around, making the lives of Muslims also miserable. Muslim Kashmiri Indians don’t want the Jihadi terrorists around either, as evidenced in this heroic story of Rukhsana Kausar:
– Rukhsana Kausar honoured by M S Bitta in Jammu, Merinews.
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