Page 9 - seniors today August issue

was given before the Maharaja of Jammu & Maharaja. In Jammu the Maharaja gave a letter
Kashmir had formally signed on the Instrument
of Accession and acceded to the Union of India.
The chiefs of the Indian Army (General R.M.M
Lockhart), Navy (Rear Adm J T S Hall) and Air
Force (Air Marshall T W Elmhirst, all British
officers) were given directions “to examine and
prepare plans for sending troops to Kashmir
by air and road in case it became necessary to
stop the incursion”. Around the same time V
P Menon of the State Ministry was flown to
Srinagar to take an on-the-spot assessment,
meet the Prime Minster and the Maharaja of
the state, and return the same evening to New
Delhi to report on the situation. On Mr Menon’s
advice the Maharaja and his family left Srinagar
for Jammu that same night – 25 October ’47. Mr
Menon and Mr Mahajan flew to New Delhi at
dawn on 26 October ’47 and went straight to the
Defence Committee meeting where he reported
the critical ground situation.
Apparently, Mr Mahajan met the PM Mr
Nehru and Sardar Patel immediately upon
arrival. Mr Mahajan requested immediate
assistance on any terms as the town of Srinagar
had to be saved at any cost. Seeing Mr Nehru’s
hesitation (ostensibly needing time to arrange
for the army’s airlift) Mr Mahajan offered
to get the Instrument of Accession signed
immediately, however on condition that the
airlift of troops must begin that day itself. Upon
instructions from the Maharaja himself it was
conveyed to Mr Nehru that Mr Mahajan was
to decide on the spot depending on whether
Mr Nehru was willing or not to do the needful.
In case Mr Nehru refused, Mr Mahajan was
to go straight to Pakistan and to Mr Jinnah to
negotiate. Sardar Patel and Sheik Saheb (who
was in the next room) prevailed and the die
was seemingly cast. Sardar Baldev Singh, the
then Indian defence minister, informed Mr
Mahajan that a decision had been taken to send
two companies of Indian troops to Srinagar
immediately.
Later that evening Mr Menon and Mr Mahajan
were asked to fly back to Jammu immediately
to get the Instrument of Accession and some
supplementary documents signed from the
9
to Mr Menon addressed to Governor General
Lord Mountbatten asking for urgent armed
assistance from the Indian Government. This
letter along with the Instrument of Accession
was brought back immediately to Delhi by Mr
Menon where it was presented to the Defence
Committee by Sardar Patel. On 27 October,
the actual airlift of the Indian troops began
for the defence of Kashmir. The decision of the
Maharaja to accede to India and for New Delhi
to send in troops for the defence of Kashmir had
the full support of Sheikh Abdullah, the leader
of the largest political party of the state.
No Plebiscite Condition
Pakistan and some others have been alleging
that the Accession was conditional on
holding of a plebiscite. They also said that the
Maharaja’s accession was a violation of the
standstill agreement with Pakistan and that it
was secured under force and by fraud. On 30
October ’47 Pakistan issued a statement that
the state’s accession was “based on fraud and
violence and as such cannot be recognised”. The
facts are as follows:
The standstill agreement (under the India
Independence Act of 1947) was an interim
arrangement which put no curbs on the legal
and constitutional rights of the Maharaja. Thus
there was no question of barring the Maharaja
from signing the Instrument of Accession, as it
automatically revoked the standstill agreement.
In any case, Pakistan had failed to abide and
discharge her obligations of the standstill
agreement and thus lost the moral authority.
Thus, under the Government of India Act 1935,
the Memorandum of the Cabinet Mission of
12 May 1946 and the Indian Independence
Act 1947, the Instrument of Accession once
signed by the competent authority (the ruler
of the state), and accepted by the designated
authority, completed the accession. Conditional
accession was not even envisaged anywhere.
The signing of the Instrument of Accession
is neither revocable nor can it be annulled.
There was nothing in the Instrument itself to
force the Indian Government to a plebiscite on
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