Memorandum, Note on Kashmir

Note on Kashmir With the transfer of power by the British to India and Pakistan, the Princely States, of which Kashmir was one, became free to accede to either of the new States. Accession, broadly speaking, meant that the acceding State transferred responsibility for defence and external affairs, inter alia, to the State to which it acceded. Pending accession, standstill arrangements could be made between a Princely State on the one hand, and India and/or Pakistan on the other to continue existing administrative arrangements, e.g. postal. 2. In mid-August of 1947, the State of Jammu and Kashmir offered to make standstill agreements with both India and Pakistan. The mere fact that the offer was made to both Governments disposes of the contention of Pakistan, made during the last few months, that a standstill agreement meant the same thing as accession. Pakistan accepted the standstill agreement offered by the State of Jammu and Kashmir. India asked the State to send an emissary to discuss details. This was not done. In passing it may be observed that, had India desired to secure the accession of Jammu and Kashmir by conspiracy or stealth, she should have accepted the standstill agreement, offered by the State as a preliminary to accession, or if the Pakistan argument equating a standstill agreement to accession be sound, to secure accession itself. 3. On or about the 17th October, 1947, the State of Jammu and Kashmir was invaded by tribesmen from the Frontier and Pakistan nationals. The raiders very nearly captured Srinagar, the capital of the State. They came through Pakistan territory on trucks and other military vehicles which could only have been acquired in if not supplied, by Pakistan. India's information was that some Pakistan regular forces in disguise and certainly officers of the Pakistan army, took part in the invasion. The raid was accompanied by looting and all kinds of atrocities. A Convent at Baramulla was attacked and burned, and some of the inmates killed. To defend itself effectively against invasion the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, headed by the Maharaja, as also the Nationalist Conference, of which Sheikh Abdullah, now Prime Minister of Kashmir, is the head, sought immediate accession to India. This the Government of India agreed to, primarily in order to give legality to the despatch of troops for the defence of the State. In accepting accession, the Government of India made it clear that, once the raiders had withdrawn, and law and order had been restored, the people of the State would decide whether the State should continue accession to India or accede to Pakistan. 4. /