Thread by @Jasonphilip8

THE CHESSBOARD

The Chess Players;
Maharajah Hari Singh

Jawaharlal Nehru

Muhammed Ali Jinnah

Sardar Patel

In July,1946, Field Marshall Wavell was a worried man as he opened the map of India. Britain had decided to grant India independence, since holding on to India was financially draining. Yet Lord Wavell"s forehead furrowed,as he saw the magnificence of India. (Contd)

This country had to be divided, if British interests were 2 be served. In fact, Britain had made this decision, long back. Wavell decided that leaving such a large country, cd provide a future threat to Britain. It had 2 be divided, a goal they had worked fr since 1858.(contd)

From 1858, Britain had assiduously pitted Hindus against Muslims, scaring each that the other party was a threat to its existence. The plan worked well. Lord Wavell, viceroy of India believed that partition of India cd leave 30,000 brown-skinned ppl dead. (Contd)

Acceptable. A Muslim Pakistan more than a Hindu India wd offer bases to Britain,vital to British Oil &General interests. The msg was conveyed to his successor, Mountbatten. On 15, August, 1947, India was granted independence. Not just the 2 states, but also 562 independent (con)

Princely States, that cd decide to accede to either India and Pakistan. India was able to annex Junagadh& most states settled fr one or d other. So that left only Hyderabad and Kashmir. Sardar Vallabhai Patel firmly believed that Kashmir belonged to Pakistan, & urged Nehru (con)

to concede so. A time bomb was trickling in the centre of India, in the form of Hyderabad. A Hindu majority province ruled by a Muslim Nizam, who was openly wooing Jinnah. Troops had to be devoted to this. Patel said Indian troops cd not be wasted on Kashmir when Hyderabad (con)

was a pressing problem. Nehru would hv nothing of this. Kashmir belonged to India, said the Kashmiri Pandit. The decision fr India was made easy by Pakistan, which sent Pashtun raiders from Waziristan into J&K on 22 October 1948. The motivation given by Pakistan was RAPE( con)

All women & girls enroute were raped. The most beautiful were sent in the same trucks to be sold in Peshawar nude markets fr as low as a Rupee/girl. ( This depravity is a particularly Pak trait to be repeated later in Bangladesh & now in Balochistan)( con)

JK was connected to rest of India by only the air route, the small Srinagar airstrip. And a very dirty unmotorable road from Pathankot to Jammu. The raiders wasted precious time in rape. The mass rape of voluntary nuns at Baramullah at a hospital was particularly poignant. (Con)

The raiders were so overjoyed by the beauty of the women, that they forgot something. Very few kms separated them from Srinagar. Capture of the Srinagar airstrip wd hv been checkmate. They wd hv secured J&K fr Pakistan forever.(contd)

An alarmed Hari Singh acceded to India on 26th October. On 27, Indian troops were airlifted to Srinagar. Simultaneously, Indian troops traversed the dirt track from Pathankot headed for Jammu. On 7th November, the Indians decisively defeated the enemy at Shalateng(con)

,just northwest of Srinagar. By 14 November, the Indians had driven back the raiders to the west of Uri, the Jhelum gateway to Srinagar. What is currently POK however, is an entirety different story. The area is mostly mountainous & the tribals and Pak army regulars(con)

had entrenched themselves deeply & very well there. Three important battles took place. The first at Shalateng,secured Srinagar. The battle of Jhangar paved way for the liberation of Rajouri, leading to the breakthrough at Poonch. The 3rd was the crucial. (Con)

The battle of Zojilla. It is to the eternal credit of the bravery of the Indian soldier that he broke through the enemy defences at impossible Himalayan heights,& heavy enemy deployment to permanently secure Ladakh fr India. (Con)

PAUSE.. The Geography-The entire state of J& K is hilly, except fr the valley of Kashmir, & the plains of Srinagar and Kathuah districts. Srinagar is at the North-East's centre. The only airport of the valley is at Damodar Karewa. To approach the valley by road (con)

from Domel & Jammu were through western Punjab, now Pakistan. A 102 km track however existed btw Jammu & Pathankot via Madhopur, Kathuah & Samba. Pak's case was different. Excellent metalled roads existed via Domel. To Mirpur in the center, via Jhelum & also from (con)

Sialkot to Jammu. Gilgit was connected to Leh by a mule track. From Leh, this track went to Kargil, then to Skardu-Gilgit & thence to Afghanistan. Baltistan comprises only mountain heights were the enemy was well entrenched. While 20,000 ft above sea level is common(con)

28,000 feet is not uncommon. The Indians covered themselves in glory by capturing Skardu, on 3rd December, 1947. Further reinforcements arrived in Feb 1948. Pak laid seige to Skardu on Feb 15th, after careful preparation. Rescue missions to Skardu were completely (con)

mauled up by Pak. By mid-August ,Skardu fell to Pakistan, almost all Indians killed. Nehru was not an emotional romantic as some say. He was a Kashmir hardliner. Only when he was briefed that further ingress into enemy occupied territories was humanly impossible (con)

did he take Kashmir on 1.1.1948. No Indian protested. Everyone understood. Even the Hindu hardliners. The UNSC passed a resolution on 21.4.48. Only on 1.1.1949 could the UN enforce the ceasefire line. This line was protested by Pakistan, not India. Below are some (con)

Maps to show the see-saw battle.

On December 31st, 1948, Pakistan held all cards. It's regular troops ,amply helped by both sides of British officers( who colluded to gift Gilgit to Pak), had a huge army of Pashtun tribals. Though named civilians, these were extremely muscular, very tough warriors (con)

fully acclimatized to high altitude survival. Infact better than the Pak regulars. And with winter setting, Indian troops faced a massacre by mother nature- the harshest winter on earth(think Siachen). A few more reinforcements on 31.12.47, on their excellent (con)

roads could hv given the entire state of J & K, without an iota of doubt, to Pakistan. This is what made Nehru rush to the UN. And, surprise,surprise- ONLY Pakistan protested the ceasefire line. India accepted it. ONLY JAWAHARLAL NEHRU SAVED KASHMIR FOR INDIA. Period.

Typo: 1947 & not 1948. Error regretted.

#Kashmir
#TheKashmirIssue
#JawaharlalNehru
#KashmirAtTheUN
#IndiaAndPakistan
#HistoryOfKashmir
#KashmirAndTheUN

Typo 2: 28,000 feet above sea level should read as 24,000 feet above sea level. Typo regretted.