How deliberate Historical Fallacies have created myths about

Jammu-Kashmirs accession to India

Vivek Sinha
History, in India, is a strange subject and historians even stranger. The subject is
reviled by students who perceive it to be dull and boring. This encourages rote
learning of the subject, bereft of any meaningful discussionsso very essential to
acquire historical knowledge. And historians, especially the Eminent Leftist
Historians of India are well aware of this fact. Yet they have, by design, let historylearning remain that way in schools and colleges.
Strange as it may sound, but then this dull and boring history-teaching-andlearning devoid of any discussions and factual analysis suits the agenda of our
Eminent Historians. How? Well, boring it may be, yet history provides a sneak
preview of what has happened in our past, helps guide actions in the present and sets
the course for future road map.
A basic tenet of history writing is that it should be based on facts and empirical
evidence. This indeed is a tedious task and historians sift through volumes of
evidence to simplify the past and based on the facts uncovered, write history for
books and textbooks.
In schools, a vast majority of students take more interest in science, maths,
economics and finance or other such subjects and show only a cursory interest at
historical developments of the yesteryear. Almost always, students do not go beyond
the words of our Eminent Historians to cross-check facts or scrutinize the evidence

on which a dictum has been pronounced. Neither have efforts been made to change
this. Certain major events, thus, get etched in an individuals memory for a long-long
time.
Indias Eminent Leftist Historians are well aware of this and have hence unleashed
their devious agenda towards historical analysis and distorted all historical
discussions in the public sphere.
And nowhere does this manifest more than in the case of Jammu Kashmiran
erstwhile princely state during British rule in India.
Ask any well-educated person about the date of accession of Jammu Kashmir with
India, and the answer appears nowhere close to facts or to reality. In all likelihood
one would hear: Well, the State of Jammu Kashmir acceded to India some time
during 1950s!!! And mind you, these replies come from those armed with heavyduty college degrees, sitting pretty at powerful positions both in the public and
private sectors who form the crux of opinion makers. Also, after you pop the question
about Jammu Kashmirs accession to India the discourse will quickly veer towards
plebiscite, the ongoing disputes and how this became the Kashmir issue and so on.
Okay, so lets first have a hard look at the facts.
The state of Jammu Kashmir acceded to the Indian Union on October 26th, 1947. Yes
you read it right. There is no typo either on the dateOctober 26, or the year1947.
Hari Singh, the erstwhile Maharaja of Jammu Kashmir signed the Letter
of Accession on October 26th 1947 which was counter-signed by the then Governor
General Lord Mountbatten on October 27th 1947.
and whereas the Government of India Act, 1935, as so adapted by the Governor
General, provides that an Indian State may accede to the Dominion of India by an
Instrument of Accession executed by the Ruler thereof..now, therefore, I Shriman
Inder Mahinder Rajrajeswar Maharajadhiraj Shri Hari
Singhji, Jammu & Kashmir Naresh Tatha Tibbet adi Deshadhipati, Ruler
of Jammu & Kashmir State, in the exercise of my Sovereignty in and over my said
State do hereby execute this my Instrument of Accession and..I hereby declare that
I accede to the Dominion of India(and)I hereby declare that I execute this
Instrument on behalf of this State and that any reference in this Instrument to me or
to the Ruler of the State is to be construed as including a reference to my heirs and
successors. Given under my hand this 26th day of October, nineteen hundred and
forty seven. Hari Singh, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir State signed on this
Letter of Accession.
This happened on the night of October 26th, 1947 and on the wee hours of October
27, 1947 Mountbatten accepted this letter of accession.
I do hereby accept this Instrument of Accession. Dated this twenty seventh day of
October, nineteen hundred and forty seven, reads the letter of acceptance signed by
Lord Mountbatten, Governor General of India.

Moreover, the Government of India Act 1947 clearly mentions that once this Letter of
Accession was signed by the ruler of the princely state it stood as a final settlement
that could not be challenged either by the Indian or Pakistani governments or even
by the British Parliament. All princely states acceded to India or to Pakistan on this
same letter format.
Importantly, these are all public documents (the letter of accession by Maharaja Hari
Singh and its subsequent acceptance by Mountbatten) that are available for scrutiny
by anybody.
This is just a glimpse of the level of orchestrated distortion in the present historical
discourse in India wherein the public perception about the date
of accession of Jammu Kashmir has been successfully distorted by Leftist historians
so much so that a vast majority of Indians have been deliberately confused about
exact date of states accession.
Let us also analyse the facts through which this confusion has been created. Along
with the acceptance of accession letter Mountbatten also sent a separate letter to
Maharaja Hari Singh.
In his letter, Mountbatten said, it is my governments wish that, as soon as law
and order have been restored in Kashmir and her soil cleared of the invader the
wishes of the people be ascertained.
Both Leftist Historians and Kashmiri Separatists have been taking refuge in this
letter citing it as evidence that people of Kashmir should have a right for selfdetermination. Yet again facts have been blatantly ignored all these years.
Yes, Mountbatten did write a letter but then did it have any legal status? The Leftist
historians do mention about Mountbattens letter to Maharaja Hari Singh and its talk
about ascertaining peoples wishes but choose to remain comfortably silent over
whether it has any legal basis. The letter merely talks about Mountbattens wish to
ascertain peoples view in Jammu Kashmir. It had and has absolutely no legal basis.
Also, did Mountbatten write similar letters to other princely states about his wish?
The answer is No. Then why did Mountbatten write a letter only to Maharaja Hari
Singh?
And look at its after effects. Any discussion about Jammu Kashmir quickly veers
towards plebiscite and here too talks centre on Indian governments commitment to
give the people of Kashmir the right to self-determination. It is conveniently
brushed aside that Jammu, Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan, Mirpur, Muzaffarabad have
historically and culturally remained under the princely state of Jammu Kashmir for
several centuries and on October 26, 1947 when Maharaja Hari Singh signed the
letter of accession then the whole of Jammu Kashmir became a part of India
including the Pakistan-occupied regions such as Gilgit-Baltistan, Mirpur,
Muzaffarabad etc. So, rather than discussions and debates over how to take back
those areas from illegal Pakistani occupation what we discuss is the legal status
of Jammu Kashmirs accession to India.

In fact, these Eminent Historians have further demonized Hari Singh for all of
Jammu Kashmirs ills simply because the Maharaja delayed States accession to
India. And the reason given for this delay is that Hari Singhs plan was to remain
independent of either of the two dominions India and Pakistan.
Yet again, this is devoid of any empirical evidence. Nowhere its brought out that it
was Maharaja Hari Singh who foiled the devious designs of Mountbatten to
make Jammu Kashmir accede to Pakistan. Or, why was Indias then Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru being adamant over his demand that Maharaja pass
over Jammu Kashmir to National Conference leader Sheikh Abdullah (father of
Farooq Abdullah and grandfather of Omar Abdullah, former Chief Ministers
of Jammu Kashmir and now the leaders of National Conference) before signing on
the Instrument of Accession.
Maharaja Hari Singh knew that Sheikh Abdullah was a rank opportunist who
enjoyed support only among the Sunni Muslims of Kashmir valley and was
leveraging his friendship with Nehru to usurp power in Kashmir. There was huge
bitterness towards Sheikh Abdullah in large swathes of regions that included GilgitBaltistan, Muzaffarabad, Jammu and Ladakh. Even in Kashmir valley the Gujjar and
Shia Muslims did not consider Sheikh Abdullah as their leader.
In fact, all evidence clearly points out that Maharaja, on one hand, was trying to fend
off the cunning manoeuvres of Mountbatten while on the other he was reasoning out
with Nehru that Sheikh Abdullah was not the representative of the people
of Jammu Kashmir. Nehru, on his part, was least bothered about
states accession rather was overly keen to prove his secular credentials before the
world. Amidst all this machinations Maharaja could not sign the treaty
of accession with India before August 15, 1947.
Yet, Maharaja did enter into a Standstill Agreement with Pakistan on August 12,
1947. it is suggested that existing arrangements should continue pending
settlement of details, Hari Singh wrote in his telegram to Pakistan.
The Pakistans government accepted this Standstill Agreement by sending a telegram
on August 15, 1947.
Your telegram of the 12th. The Government of Pakistan agree to have a Standstill
Agreement with the Government of Jammu and Kashmir for the continuance of the
existing arrangements pending settlement of details and formal execution. This was
the text of reply from Government of Pakistan sent on August 15, 1947.
This Standstill Agreement meant that status quo was to be maintained
between Jammu Kashmir and Pakistan. Despite this Pakistan chose to
invade Jammu Kashmir and let loose its Army on the hapless Kashmiri people to kill,
rape and plunder.

All these facts have been conveniently brushed aside, thanks to the cosy relationship
between our Leftist Historians and Congressmen who have over the last several
decades created a smoke screen and beneath it the bogey of Kashmir issue.
None of the Leftist historians have ever conducted a detailed study as to why did
Jawaharlal Nehru insist on having Mountbatten, a British as the Governor General
even after India won independence. A detailed study and analysis could throw some
light on Mountbatten-Nehru nexus.
All this must change sooner rather than later. And the first step is to know and
remember that the State of Jammu Kashmir acceded to India on October 26th, 1947.
(Vivek Sinha is a New Delhi-based Journalist who has been writing News Commentaries
for more than a decade. Over the last several years he has written news reports for leading
publications of India such as Hindustan Times, The Times of India, Deccan Chronicle and
Asian Age. Apart from being a Journalist he also makes Films and Documentaries. He can
be reached at sinhavivek28@gmail.com. His Twitter handle is @viveksinha28)