Jammu & Kashmir State History
  1. Pakistan and India came into existence as independent states in August, 1947. The principle of partition was specified in the plan: The all Muslim majority areas were to constitute part of Pakistan and similarly the Hindu majority areas were to go to India. Besides, the 565 princely States at that time including the State of Jammu and Kashmir were given the option either to join Pakistan or India. Such joining to either State was to be determined by the geographical contiguity and communal composition of the population. The State of Jammu and Kashmir with a 77% Muslims majority (according to 1941 Census) should gave acceded to Pakistan.
  2. The Maharaja of Kashmir entered into a stand-still agreement with the Government of Pakistan on 15 th August, 1947 and decided to continue all the arrangements that had till than existed between the Jammu and Kashmir and the British Government. It was assumed that this was the prelude to the full accession of the State to Pakistan.
  3. However, the Maharaja of Kashmir took certain measures which betrayed his intention of not acceding to Pakistan . Particularly important was his order that Muslims in the State should surrender their arms, followed by the disarming of Muslims in the police and the State army. These measures resulted in an insurrection by the people of Kashmir against the Maharaja. The insurrection which started in August, 1947 gained momentum in September and on 24th of October the Azad Kashmir Government was formally proclaimed.
  4. The Maharaja of Kashmir, making this insurrection an excuse and accusing Pakistan for having organized the invasion by the Pathan tribesmen acceded the state to India on 26 th of October and asked it for military help. Indian troops were flown to Srinagar on 27 th Of October and launched an offensive against the Muslims who had refused to accept the State's accession.
    The so-called accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India has no legal and moral footings for the following reasons :-
    i) It was contrary to wishes of the people.
    ii) The existence of an earlier stand-still agreement created a legal bar to the ruler's capacity to alter the existing position unilaterally.
    iii) At the time he offered accession to India, the ruler himself had fled the State and a peoples government had taken the control over large portion of the territory of the state.


i)
It was contrary to wishes of the people.
ii)
The existence of an earlier stand-still agreement created a legal bar to the ruler's capacity to alter the existing position unilaterally.
iii)
At the time he offered accession to India, the ruler himself had fled the State and a peoples government had taken the control over large portion of the territory of the state.


The Indian acceptance of the accession of Jammu and Kashmir was conditional. The Governor-General of India while conveying acceptance of Maharaja's request wrote


In consistence with their policy that, in the case of any state where the issue of accession has been subject of dispute, the question of accession should be decided in accordance with the wishes of the people of the State, It is my government's wish that as soon as law and order have been restored in Kashmir and her soil cleared of the invaders, the question of State's should be settled by a reference to the people.


Similar assurance was given by the Indian Prime Minister to the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
In 1947, India and Pakistan went to war over Kashmir . During the war, India brought the issue before the Security Council on January 1, 1948. It pleaded that Pakistan was responsible for creating disturbance in Kashmir and wanted the Security Council to ask Pakistan to with draw the tribesmen who had entered the State. The Security Council did not endorse the Indian position and in its resolution of 17 th January, 1948 appealed to the parties to improve the atmosphere and to refrain from doing anything that might aggravate the situation.


Simultaneously the Indian Government intensified its military build up and operations in Kashmir and launched a full scale offensive in order to impose military solution in Kashmir.
The United Nations Commission on India and Pakistan (UNCIP) was established through Security Council resolution on 20 th January, 1948, which was reconstituted on 21 st April, 1948 through another resolution and instructed to proceed at once to the sub-continent. The resolution provided for a plebiscite by India and Pakistan , acting in cooperation with each other and with the Commission.