Violence in the Vale
National Archives of India, New Delhi
If the prospect of militants from Pakistan’s Punjab province sneaking across the Line of Control to wage war in Jammu and Kashmir boggles the mind today, think what it was like 70 years ago when a full-scale tribal invasion from the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) was under way. This dramatic slice of history plays out in the heart of the capital in an unusual digital exhibition in the National Archives of India. The accession of Jammu and Kashmir and what it entailed is a bloody and oft-told tale but bears repetition because it triggered three of the four Indo-Pak wars.
On October 22, 1947, as Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Dogra ruler of the princely state, vacillated over joining the Indian Union, thousands of tribal raiders drawn from the NWFP and pushed in by the Pakistan army, sprinted across the border. The fast-approaching trail of loot and murder left the ruler with no option but to sign the instrument of accession and thereby invoking the Indian Army. The army halted the offensive leading to the entry of the Pakistani army, a ceasefire and the resultant sundering of the state between the two countries.
The National Archives has displayed copies of historical documents, including the Instrument of Accession, weapons captured from the tribesmen and rare photos and documents sourced from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Also, some inspirational tales of the state’s people fighting the raiders—Maqbool Sherwani, a National Conference youth, who bought the Indian army time by misleading the raiders; Brig. Rajinder Singh, chief of army staff of state forces who fought till the end. “We want to showcase the contribution of those who laid down their lives for the country and tell the youth that Kashmiris have always wanted to be part of India,” says Pritam Singh, Director General, National Archives. It is also a reminder of how the state’s past is intertwined with its present and future.
—Sandeep Unnithan
INDIA@70: THE JAMMU AND KASHMIR SAGA