Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Kashmir

By Mir Abdul Aziz

Mr Jinnah with Kashmiri alumni of Aligarh University in Srinagar, 1944

Quaid-i-Azam and Kashmir is a very vast subject. Much has been written on it but much remains to be written.

Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah was not the leader of Pakistan only. In fact he was the leader of the Muslim Ummah of the South Asian subcontinent, which was called India in pre-partition days. Then again, there was two Indias, namely British India and “Indian India” which was the name given to the native states, ruled by nawabs and rajas. These natives states were internally independent, but their defence and foreign affairs were with the British Indian Government. None of these states, including Hyderabad and Kashmir, could conclude any treaties with any foreign country, except through the British Indian Government. They could not issue passport, though there is evidence of the Jammu Kashmir Maharajah’s government having issued passports in certain circumstances but these also were subject to recertification by the British Indian authority in the subcontinent.¹


Scope of the activities of the All India Muslim League, which was formed in 1906, at the residence of a Kashmiri of Bengal, Sir Salimullah Khan of Dhaka, was limited to the British Indian province. In his book on Quaid-i-Azam, Dr. Riaz Ahmad has made it clear that there were days when the Quaid-i-Azam used to say that there were four powers in the sub continent and they were the British Government, the Hindu Congress, the Muslim League and the native states. This was the Quaid’s reply to the leaders of the Hindu Congress who used to claim that there were only two powers in the sub continent, the British and the Congress.²

The population of the native states was about one fourth of the entire population of the subcontinent.

This does not mean that the Muslim League or its leaders considered the native states as something untouchable. But as a constitutional and legal organization, the Muslim League did not directly interfere in the affairs of the states. There was, however, the All India States Muslim League, which looked after the affairs of the native states. Then there were political organizations in the states, which had the same creed as the Muslim League and were based on two-nation theory. They were receiving all out support and guidance from the Muslim League. It was Allama Iqbal, who, as Chairman of the India Committee, said in August 1934, in an appeal to the Muslims of the whole subcontinent, that they should observe 14th August 1934 as Kashmir Day. In a life-size poster he argued that the dream of the Muslim India would be incomplete without the freedom of the Islamic States of Kashmir.³


Mr. Jinnah visited Kashmir for the first time in 1926.⁴ There was absolutely no political awakening in the State at that time. Practical parties could not be formed nor could political meetings be held. In fact when some noted Kashmiris dared to submit a memorandum to the Viceroy of India (Governor General) requesting him to advise the government to redress the grievances of the Kashmiri Muslims in the educational and economic sphere, the signatories to the memorandum were victimized. Some of them were externed from the states, others were deprived of their jagirs and some were warned of drastic actions.⁵ But when soon after the meeting of the All India Muslim League Working Committee was held in Lahore, at the behest of Mr. Jinnah, a resolution was passed unanimously, drawing the attention of the Maharajah’s Government towards the educational and economic backwardness of the Muslims of Kashmir; it was demanded that Muslims be given a better deal by the administration. This was in 1926, when there was hardly any political awakening in Jammu and Kashmir. But the Muslim League, headed by Mr. Jinnah, even then tried to help the Muslims to Kashmir.⁶


Mr. Jinnah’s second visit to Kashmir took place in 1936.⁷ The Muslim Conference, with Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah and Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas as its leaders, had come into existence in October 1932, as a result of the upheaval of 1931. The party was just four years old at that time, but Abdullah had started coming under the influence of the Indian National Congress. Contact had been established by him and Prem Nath Bazaz with the leaders of the Congress and it was their wishful thinking that if the political party of Kashmir were “secularized” the Hindu Government would consider giving the right of freedom and responsible government to Kashmir on the recommendation of the Indian National Congress. This was a pious wish, never materialised. Thus when the address of welcome were presented to the Quaid-i-Azam in a reception in his honour at the Mujahid Manzil, the headquarter of the Muslim Conference, there was talk of Hindu-Muslim unity in it. Mr. Jinnah, in his reply, said that it was a good thing that minorities of Kashmir, being non-Muslims, were assured by the majority party of protection and consideration, but he noted that in British India, the minorities, including Muslims of India, could not get any such assurance from the majority part.⁸ The Muslims and its Quaid were not satisfied with the attitude of the Hindu Congress, which called itself Indian National Congress but was in fact a Hindu body, trying to further the interests of the upper classes of the Hindu at the cost of the rest of the population of India, particularly the Muslims of India.⁹


Conversion of the Muslim Conference of Kashmir into National Conference under the influence of the Indian National Congress, was a tragic development in his history of the Kashmiri Muslims. Had not the National Conference acted as an unofficial offshoot of the Congress, that would have made all the difference but in actual practice it was a branch of the Congress with a slightly different name.¹⁰The Muslims of Kashmir formed a Muslim League simultaneously when the resolution for a separate home for the Muslims was passed by the Muslim League in Lahore. Later on the Muslims Conference was revived in Kashmir as it had the same creed as the Muslim League of course in keeping with the local conditions and circumstances.¹¹


When the Muslim Conference was revived and it supported the Muslim League ideology, Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir started rallying round the banner of the Muslim Conference. This was a cause of concern for the Nationalists. Sheikh Abdullah tried his best to suppress the Muslim Conference by his gagsterism and other means. He aligned with the Kashmir Government, whose prime minister at that time was Gopal Swami Ayyanger of Madras. Thus the Kashmir Government of the Maharajah, the Hindu community and the National Conference formed a trio, an unholy alliance against the pro-League conference.¹² The Muslim Conference was alone in the field at that time. To stall the influence of the Muslim Conference, Abdullah tried to win the sympathy of Mr. Jinnah. He met Mr. Jinnah and invited him to Kashmir. The Muslim Conference leaders, whose leader was Jinnah, also invited the Quaid to Kashmir. Abdullah’s propose in inviting Jinnah to Kashmir was to impress upon him that there was no need of a separate organization of the Muslims, like Muslim Conference in Kashmir, because, the Muslims were a majority in Kashmir and a majority in the National Conference and the Muslims of Kashmir had thus no fear of being dominated by the minorties. Abdullah did not dispute existence of the League in India, but he tried to convince Mr. Jinnah that in a Muslim majority state like Kashmir, formation of the Muslim Conference against the National Conference was irrelevant and unnecessary. Little did the shortsighted Abdullah realise that a leader of the calibre and standing of Jinnah could not advocate two-nation theory in India and one nation theory in Kashmir. That would have weakened his case even in British India. Thus when an address of welcome was presented to him by the National Conference of Abdullah at Pratap Park, Srinagar, Mr. Jinnah debunked the whole effort by thanking Abdullah and colleagues for the royal welcome accorded to him. Mr. Jinnah, however, said that this was not an honour to him personally, but to the All India Muslim League, which he said, was representative organisation of the ten crore Indian Muslims and of which he was President.¹³ The wind was thus taken out of the National Conference. In the Muslim Conference reception, which followed at Daligate, Srinagar, on the same evening, Mr. Jinnah told the Kashmiris: “Oh ye Muslim! Our Allah is one, our Prophet is one, our Quran is one, therefore our Voice must also be one”. ¹⁴


And in the Muslim Conference session and the annual session of the Muslim Students Union, a month later, the Quaid-i-Azam was explicit. He said that he had been in Kashmir for more than a month and leaders of many groups had met him. He talked of Abdullah, who had told him that the National Conference was also a Muslim Conference because majority of its members were Muslims and there was no need of the Muslim Conference as a separate organisation of the Muslims at least in Kashmir. But, Mr. Jinnah said, it is like the policy of the Indian National Congress, which is an out and out Hiindu body, but poses to be the body of the Hindus, Muslims and others. He said that this was policy of deceit which Muslims did not like. He said that he was not against the right of the non-Muslims. Non-Muslims of Kashmir should have their own party¹⁵ and the Muslims their own party. The leaders of the two communities could join and decide what was good for the State. This exposure by Mr. Jinnah enraged Sheikh Abdullah, who used foul language against the great leader of the Muslims of the subcontinent in a corner-meeting at Chinaware, Srinagar. He threatened that he would show Jinnah the way out of Kashmir.¹⁶


But the great leader of Muslims remained for more than a month afterwards also in Kashmir, attending functions, meeting with leaders and workers, students, lawyers, common people and journalists. His stay in Kashmir being the last but the most important, had a great impact on the politics and future of Kashmir. The tables were turned against the banner-bearers of the Hindu Congress. Abdullah and company found ground slipping from under their feet. The elections of India subverted the Hindu Congress from the Muslim constituencies in the provincial assemblies and the Central opponent of the League ideology, that is the two-nation theory, from amongst the Muslims, became political orphans and they looked down upon as quislings of the Muslim nation. Abdullah was now as one of them. To regain his lost popularity, he started the quit Kashmir Movement on the advice of his Communist mentors.¹⁷ But Mr. Jinnah warned the Muslims of Kashmir not to fall into his trap. Majority of the Muslims remained aloof from this movement and the movement was a failure. Abdullah was arrested and sentenced to imprisonment after a lengthy trail.¹⁸

The subcontinent was going to be freed soon. The Congress realised that they had no other stooge in Kashmir except Abdullah. They started patronizing him monetarily and Nehru tried for his release. His release was obtained by the joint efforts of M.K. Gandhi and Nehru and he was released on the condition that he would strive for the accession of Kashmir to India.

Unfortunately the directive to remain aloof from Quit-Kashmir Movement was not followed strictly by the Muslim Conference leaders. No doubt in May 1946 they exposed the movement of Abdullah as an opportunistic movement but, later on, launched a direct action movement by which the National Conference of Abdullah revived indirect support. Three or four leaders of the Muslim Conference landed themselves in jail and the movement ended in fiasco. Thus when the issue of accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir loomed on the horizon,, there was no leader in Kashmir to guide the people of the State.¹⁹ Pakistan had come into existence and it was due to the emergence of Pakistan as a free and independent Muslim country that the Kashmiris summed up courage to form a parallel government in the State and overthrow the Dogra regime, but absence of the senior leadership proved to be a great drawback for the Kashmiri’s struggle.

Everybody is aware of the circumstances which led to the invasion of Kashmir by the Indian army on 27th October 1947. It was on this day that the Quaid-i-Azam issued orders to the Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Army to dispatch troops to Jammu and Srinagar. But is the greatest tragedy of Kashmir’s history and of Pakistan’s that this order of the Government is not carried out. Major General Muhammad Akbar, who was associated with the Kashmiri struggle from the beginning, writes that he himself had suggested army be marched into Kashmir and that the Quaid had issued similar order on the same day. It is believed that while the British C-in-C avoided the compliance of the orders on one pretext, the cabinet also got cold feet and the troops were not dispatched. Many writers have forgotten the fact that, in a way, Kashmir had already had acceded to Pakistan, provisionally by offering the Standstill Agreement to Pakistan on 11th August, 1947.²⁰ The offer was made by the Kashmir Government to India also, but India did not respond to it as she warned to grab the state by force. Pakistan accepted the offer and the Standstill Agreement was signed between Pakistan and Kashmir. According to this Agreement, Pakistan was responsible for those affairs of Jammu and Kashmir which were the pigeon of the British Indian Government erstwhile. Thus Defence, Foreign Policy and Communication of Jammu and Kashmir, from the time of the signing of the Standstill Agreement, was the concern of Pakistan. Thus the Governor General of Pakistan empowered to order dispatch of the Pakistan army into Jammu and Kashmir. This was a historic decision and a revolutionary one. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine. Had regular army been sent to Kashmir, the situation would have been different. For Pakistan army it was very easy to take possession of the Damodar Airstrip of Budgam/Srinagar, which was the only place where Indian airforce planes could land. Had Pakistan occupied this airstrip there would have been no question of Indian troops landing in Kashmir. For more details, one had to go through the book Slender was the Thread written by L.P. Sen, retired Lt. General of the Indian army, who was at the airstrip of Srinagar in the first week of November 1947. For some reasons, the Mujahideen, who were in the vicinity of the airpstip,²¹ could not capture it and the Indian forces landed in between, delaying the freedom of Kashmir by half a century. If the British C-in-C had not agreed, some other method could have been adopted to sent the regularly army to Kashmir. That was not done and we lost Kashmir. Thus the knot, as they say in Kashmir, which could have been opened with hands, cannot be opened now even by use of the teeth. One is constrained to quote the verse of the poet of Shiraaz, Urfi:

Raftam ki khaar uz paa kasham mahmil nohan shud uz nazar
Yak lahza ghaafil gushtam-o-sud saalah raaham door shud


(I stayed to pull thorn out of my foot, but I lost sight of the palanquin, I was obvious for a second and my destination became as distant as a hundred years journey.)

Charles Lamb has compared Time to an old woman whose only tuft of hair is on the front side of her head. You can hold her hair at first opportunity, but if you do not catch her by the tuft of hair, you cannot catch her because when she passes before you, you find that the rest of her head is bald and you cannot catch her at all. This is what happened to Kashmir when the clear, constitutional and revolutionary orders of the Quaid-i-Azam were not carried out.²²


Yes, the tribesman came to help the people of Jammu and Kashmir who were in revolt. We do not want to disparage the services and sacrifices of the tribesmen and others who helped the people of Kashmir, but far better results could have been achieved if the orders of the Quaid had been carried out on 27^th October 1947.

Despite his complete engrossment with the affairs of Pakistan, which started facing tremendous hardships and difficulties from the day of its birth, Quaid-i-Azam tried his best to create circumstances which could stop the annexation of Kashmir to India. In this statements dated 17^th June and 12th July, 1947, he even offered the alternative of independence to Kashmir State. This was done to dissuade the Kashmir State from falling a prey to Indian imperialism. But all this advice fell flat on the²³ Maharajah, who had become a prisoner in the hands of his advisors and relations. The Maharajah was also pressurised by the Governor-General of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was favourably disposed towards Hindu India and was not happy with Jinnah and Pakistan. The odds were many and the enemies of Pakistan had joined hands to make the experiment of a free and independent Muslim state a failure. Quaid-i-Azam’s great achievement and miracle was the formation of Pakistan, which was opposed by the Hindu Congress and also by the anti-Muslim elements in the British hierarchy.

It was very unfortunate that Quaid-i-Azam passed away before the future of Kashmir could be decided by the people of Kashmir in a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations. The decision of the UN to allow the people of the State of decide their future according to the right of self-determination was taken during the lifetime of Mr. Jinnah. When the Quaid passed away, there was great gloom in Jammu and Kashmir. Those who had been incarcerated in the Central Jail of Srinagar by Abdullah regime, wept bitterly and said that Kashmiris had become orphans by the passing away of the great leader of the Muslims of subcontinent.²⁴


Quaid-i-Azam gave the slogan of unity, faith and discipline to the Muslims. Pakistan was achieved as a result of this policy and the Muslims of the subcontinent succeeded in their mission when they joined their hands and fought unitedly for the achievement of Pakistan. The Kashmiris also could reach their goal by sticking to the policy of unity, faith and discipline.

During the stormy days of 1947, Quaid-i-Azam tried his best to see Kashmir, the jugular vein of Pakistan, that it joined Pakistan. The first step in this direction was to dissuade the ruler of Kashmir from joining India.²⁵

But India wanted that Kashmir should come to her and not remain independent. It was in August 1947, that a Red Shirt leader from NWFP went to Srinagar and met the Maharajah, and urged him to make his state a part of Bharat, and in that event, NWFP could also get a physical link to join India.²⁶ Thus the enemies of Pakistan wanted to cut size from the very beginning and encircle it from all sides. They wanted that only part of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan should remain as Pakistan. But the people of NWFP under the leadership of Quaid-i-Azam, defeated the Congress and its agents, and as regards Kashmir, a large and strategic part of this State was freed from the Dogra rule, which was aided by the Indian imperialists. This smashed the intrigue of linking Bharat with “Pakhtunistan”.

Thus 33,000 square miles of the territory of Jammu and Kashmir, now called Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas, were freed from the enemy and the area is now under the aegis of Pakistan, while the people of the State are continuing their efforts for the freedom of the rest of the State. This was possible during the lifetime of the Father of the Nation, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The statements of Policy issued by the leader of the Nation, Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, from time to time about the future of Kashmir, continue to inspire the people of Jammu and Kashmir, who are engaged in a life and death struggle for their freedom from the Indian yoke. The Muslims of Kashmir have rejected the Congress brand of nationalism for good and also so-called secularism propounded by Indian rulers to harm Islam and propound the Hindu polity. The struggle of Kashmiris is based on two nation theory. This does not mean that the Kashmir Muslims have no regard and respect for the non-Muslim minorities of Kashmir. Throughout the last seven hundred years of Kashmir’s History, the pundits and other minorities have lived peacefully in Kashmir and have been holding high posts in the administration, despite being in a microscopic minority in the Valley. The APHC, which is leading the people of Kashmir, is guided by the principles and ideals of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It has also opened its doors for the assimilation of the non-Muslims of Kashmir in the political set up.²⁷


Pakistan was achieved in the exercise of the right of self determination, when elections to the Central and Provincial Assemblies were held in 1945-1946 under the imperial British Indian authority. Only the people of Kashmir have not exercised this right so far.²⁸


Elections were of course held during the Hari Singh regime in Jammu and Kashmir in January 1947, but 35 out of the 75 members of the Kashmir and Jammu legislative assembly were nominated by the Maharajah himself. And National Conference, which supported the accession of Kashmir to India did not have even one single seat in the legislative assembly. The majority of the members of the assembly were against accession of Kashmir to India.

Kashmiris want a reference to the people on the issues of the future of Kashmir and its accession to this or that country. That is what the Quaid-i-Azam wanted.

Notes and References

1. That the sovereignty of the Dogra Maharajah was limited is clear from the text of the Treaty of Amritsar, which is attached herewith. It has been quoted from Vol. 1 of the book Kashmiris Fight for Freedom authored by the late Justice M.Y. Saraf, published by Feroze Sons Rawalpindi/Lahore.
2. See Dr. Riaz Ahmad’s Quaid-I-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah: Second Phase of His Freedom Struggle, 1924-34, reproducing the statement of the Quaid-I-Azam on page 131 in which he said that presently there were four principal parties in India, Mr. Jinnah said that if the problem is reason why satisfactory settlement should not be reached at the London Round Conference (of 1930-32).
3. Quoted by Muhammad Abdullah Qureshi, with reference to Munshi
   Muhammad Din Fauq, a colleague of Iqbal and eminent Kashmiri historian, poet and journalists in his article headed Iqbal Aur Kashmir in Monthly Adbi Dunya, Lahore’s Iqbal Number issued from Lahore, April-May 1967.
4. Mr. Sarraf’s book Kashmiris Fight for Freedom page… and a detailed article on Muslim League and Kashmir in the weekly Times of Kashmir, Rawalpindi dated… by Mir Abdul Aziz.
5. From Prem Nath Bazaz History of Struggle for Freedom in Kashmir, published by Kashmir Publications, Hauzi Khas, New Delhi and also reprinted by Pakistan Book Foundation, Islamabad, see page 138.
6. Article of Mir Abdul Aziz in the weekly Times of Kashmir and the daily Muslim Islamabad.
7. Kashmiri Musalmanoon ki siyasi Jido Juhad (Selected documents) by Shafiq Mirza, published by the National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research, P.O. Box 1230, Islamabad, pp. 397-404.
8. Professor Khawjah Abdussamad, Pak-Kashmir, Almukhtar, Gulistan Colony, Rawalpindi, pp. 160-161.
9. Professor Samad’s book as per note No. 8.
10. Refer to the autobiography entitled Kashmakash by the late Muzaffarabad/Rawalpindi, p. 161.
11. Prem Nath Bazaz in History of the struggle for Freedom In Kashmir, New Delhi, pp. 244.
12. Ibid., 209.
13. Pak Kashmir by Khawjah Abdussamad has already quoted,. Pp. 157.
14. Same as No. 13.
15. Prem Nath Bazaz’s Struggle for Freedom in Kashmir, pp. 211.
16. Resolutions of the meeting of the Working Committee of the Ali Jammu and Kashmir Conference passed on 8th and 9th June, 1946 under the Chairmanship of Mirwaize Kashmir Maulana Muhammad Yusuf Shah soon after the arrest of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah in the Quit-Kashmir Movement have been briefly reproduced by Prof. Muhammad Sarwar Abbasi in his book Kashmiri Musalmanoon ki Jido Juhad Azadi on pages 374 to 378, but he has missed the point that was put forth in one of the resolutions saying that the Communist friends of Sheikh Abdullah, wanted Kashmir to become a Springboard in the South-Asian sub-continent.
    There is lot of information in the book The Kashmir of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah written by Mrs. Bilqis Taseer, wife of the late Dr. Muhammad Din Taseer, who was the sister of Elys Faiz, wife of the late Faiz Ahmad Faiz, to indicate that the Movement of 1946 was not unfounded. Bilqis Taseer quotes the Jammu journalist and human right activist, Balraj Puri on page 149 of her book. The quotation in her book is as follows: “Justifying the idea of an independent Kashmir” the communist leader B.P.L. Bhedi told me as far back as 1948 that:
    “With the Soviet and People’s China at our back, we can turn Kashmir into an arsenal for revolutionary movements in India and Pakistan”.
    It would be interesting to know that B.P.L. Bhedi and his wife Freda Bedi were the author of the New Kashmir manifesto adopted by the National Conference of Abdullah in October 1944 at the Mujahid Manzil Srinagar Session of the Party. It was an exact replica of the Muslims of Kashmir, on 18th June 1946, two leaders of the Muslims Conference, Agha Shauket Ali and Kh. Ghulam Muhammad Jeweller called on Quaid-I-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Delhi and apprised him of the situation in Kashmir. Two days later, Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas Khan also met the Quaid and the Kashmir situation was discussed in the Muslim League Working Committee.
    In a statement to the press, the Quaid-I-Azam urged the people of Kashmir to remain aloof from the Quit-Kashmir Movement and exhorted them to rally round the banner of the Jammu Kashmir Muslim Conference.
17. Prem Nath Bazaz in Struggle for Freedom in Kashmir, pp. 211.
18. K.H. Khurshi a Private Secretary to Quaid-I-Azam, in his article ‘Why is not Kashmir in PakistanYet” in weekly Guardian, Lahore, March 2, 1950.
19. A.H. Suhrawardy in the Tragedy in Kashmir.
20. Lt. General L.P. Sen in Slender was the Thread.
21. Major General Akbar Khan, in his book Raiders in Kashmir, has said that even he, in a meeting, suggested on 27th October, 1947, that now that India had landed her army in Kashmir. In this book, published by National Book Foundation Karachi/Islamabad (p.30) General Akbar says that he came to know later on Quaid-I-Azam had also given the same orders on that very day, which were disobeyed. This is corroborated also by the White Paper on Kashmir issued by Pakistan Foreign Office in 1977 p. 7, by Muhammad Sarwar Abbasi’s book published by Azad Kashmir University and Matai Zindagi, an autobiography of Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, President of Azad Kashmir, Muzaffarabad.
22. See two statements of Quaid-I-Azam in Pakistan Times, Lahore, dated June 18, 1947 and July 12, 1947, which are also included in the book Selected Speeches and Statements of Quaid-I-Azam, published by the Department of Pakistan, with a forward by the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Ms. Benazir Bhutto, Islamabad, pp. 16-17 and 23. (Text is given in the appendix).
23. Narrated personally to the writer by his friends like Ahmad Shamim, Abdul Ahad Mir and others who were in Srinagar Central Jail, Srinagar at that time.
24. Letter of Agha Shaukat Ali, then General Secretary All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference, from Riasti Jail, to K.H. Khurshid, Private Secretary to the Quaid-I-Azam, Jinnah Papers, published by the National Archives of Pakistan, p. 383.
25. See also two statements of Quaid-I-Azam, referred to earlier in Pakistan Times, Lahore Another utterance of the Quaid in Ashraf Ata’s book Quaid-I-Azam Kay Akhree Lamhat which he made during his last moments about Kashmir, describing it as the jugular vein of Pakistan (Urdu text).
26. Tahreek-e-Hurriyat Kashmir, by Rasheed Taseer, muhafiz Publications, Makhdoom Mondya, Srinagar Kashmir, pp. 222-223.
27. See statement of Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director of Kashmir American Council, in weekly Times of Kashmir, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, welcoming the widening of the scope of the All Parties Hurriet Conference and allowing non-Muslims of Kashmir also to become its members. Times of Kashmir, dated, March 11 1997.
28. In his latest book on Kashmir, Prof. Alastair Lamb, the celebrated British author and export on South Asian Affairs, has made, starling disclosures about the sordid role of Lord Mountbatten in creating the problem of Kashmir. Previously it was supposed that Lord Radcliff the arbitrator did everything at this own, but in the book Birth of a Tragedy in Kashmir 1947, published by Create Publishing Services, Ltd. Bath, Avon, it has been clearly established by the author and proved to the hilt that Lord Mountbatten’s interest and role in perpetrating injustice on Pakistan, was the greatest and that has been disclosed by none other than Secretary to the Chairman of the Boundary Commission (see pages 24 to 53 of Alastair Lamb’s book., wherein the writer says: “On the other hand, Mountbatten did have decided views (much influenced by his good friend Jawahar Lal Nehru) about a suitable future for the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and he was not averse to promoting them if an opportunity presented itself. The last Viceroy, moreover, was fully aware of the importance in this context of the Gurdaspur district, upon which he commented upon a number of occasions (for example his remarks to the Maharajah of Indore and the Nawab of Bhopal on 4th August (Transfer of Power in India, XII, No. 335 J) (page 39). Even Sheikh Abdullah , the self proclaimed chief architect of Kashmir’s accession to India, says in the Aatishe Chinar, in his autobiography, that soon after his appointment as Governor-General, Mountbatten went to Kashmir and tried his best to influence the Maharajah by telling him that if he wanted to accede to India and feared that the Muslims of Kashmir would revolt, he could send him a brigade or two from New Delhi to crush the Kashmiri Muslims. What more evidence, is therefore, needed about the partiality and anti-Pakistan bias of the last British-Governor General of the subcontinent?
    Role of Mountbatten has also been fully exposed by eminent Pakistan journalist and diplomat, Mr. Qutubuddin Aziz in his latest book Jinnah and the Battle for Pakistan published form Karachi this year, in chapter 10 and 11. Mountbatten betrayed the trust which the British Government had placed in his hand. Instead of dividing and quitting he subcontinent, he stooped so low and sowed the seeds of rifts and confrontation between the newly born two countries, Bharat and Pakistan, simultaneously with their birth. He did the greatest damage to Jammu and Kashmir, to Pakistan and certainly even to India because the problem of Kashmir has adversely affected the whole subcontinent of South Asia. National resources and wealth of the two countries have been wasted and 2/5 of the people live below the poverty line.
    Text of the Sale Deed of Amritsar 16th March, 1846, according to which Kashmir was sold by the British East India Company to Rajah Gulab Singh of Jammu.
    The Infamous treaty, rightly condemned as the “Sale-deed” of Kashmir, signed at Amritsar on 16th March, 1846, Mr. F. Currie and Brevet-Major Henry Montgomery Lawrence on behalf of Lord Hardinge and Gulab Singh in person is reproduced below.

The Sale Deed

“Treaty between the British Government on the one part and Maharajah Gulab Singh of Jammu on the other, concluded on the part of the British Government by Fredrick Currie, Esquire and Brevet-Major Henry Montgomery Lawrence, acting under the orders of the Right Honourable Sir Henry Herdinge, G.C.B., one of her Britannic Majesty’s most honourable Privy Council, Governor General of the possessions of the East India Company to direct and control all their affairs in the East Indies and the Majarajah Gulab Singh in person.”

Article 1

The British Government transfers and makes over for ever in independent possession to Maharajah Gulab Singh and the heirs male of his body all the hilly or mountainous country with its dependencies situated to the eastward of the River Ravi including Chamba and excluding Lahul, being part of the territories ceded to the British Government by the Lahore State according to the provision of Article IV of the Treaty of Lahore, dated 9th March, 1846.

Article 2

The eastern boundary of the tract transferred by the forgoing article to Maharajah Gulab Singh shall be laid down by the Commissioners appointed by the British Government and Maharajah Gulab Singh respectively for the purpose and shall be defined in a separate agreement after survey.

Article 3

In consideration of the transfer made to him and his heirs by the provisions of the foregoing article, Maharajh Gulab Singh will pay to the British Government the sum of seventy-five lakhs of rupees (Nanukshahee), fifty lakhs to be paid on ratification of this Treaty and twenty-five lakhs on or before the 1st of October of the current year, A.D. 1846.

Article 4

The limits of the territories of Maharajah Gulab Singh shall not be at any time changed without concurrence of the British Government.

Article 5

Maharajah Gulab Singh will refer to the arbitration of the British Government any disputes or question that may rise between himself and the Government of Lahore or any other neighbouring State, and will abide by the decisions of the British Government.

Article 6

Majarajah Gulab Singh engages for himself and heirs to join, with the whole of his Military forces, the British troops when employed within the hills or in the territories adjoining his possessions.

Article 7

Maharajah Gulab Singh engages never to take or retain in his service any British nor the subject of any European or American State without the consent of the British Government.

Article 8

Maharajah Gulab Singh engages to respect in regard to the territory transferred to him, the provisions of article V, VI and VII of the separate Engagement between the British Government and the Lahore Darbar, dated 11th March, 1846.

Referring to Jagirdars, arrears of revenue and property in the forts that are to be transferred.

Article 9

The British Government will give its aid to Maharajah Gulab Singh in protecting his territories from external enemies.

Article 10

Maharajah Gulab Singh acknowledges the supremacy of the British Government and will in token of such supremacy, present annually to the British Government one horse, twelve (shawl) goats of approved breed (six male and six female) and three pairs of Cashmere shawls.

This Treaty of ten articles has been this day settled by Frederick Currie, Esquire, and Brevet-Major Henry Montgomery Lawrence, acting under directions of the Right Honourable Sir Henry Hardinge, G.C.P., Government-General, on the part of the British Government and by Maharajah Gulab Singh in person, and the said Treaty has been this day ratified by the seal of the Right Honourable Sir Henry Hardinge, G.C.B., Governor-General.

This Treaty of ten articles has been this day settled by Frederick Currie, Esquire, and Brevet-Major Henry Montgomery Lawrence, acting under directions of the Right Honourable Sir Henry Hardinge, G.C.P., Government-General, on the part of the British Government and by Maharajah Gulab Singh in person, and the said Treaty has been this day ratified by the seal of the Right Honourable Sir Henry Hardinge, G.C.B., Governor-General.

Signed H. Hardinge (SEAL)

Signed F. Currie
Signed H. M. Lawrence

By order of the Right Honourable the Governor-General of India.
Signed F. Currie

Secretary to the Government of India, with the Governor-General of India.

J.D. Cunningham records:
“On this occasion, ‘Maharaja’ Gulab Singh stood up and with joined hands, expressed his gratitude to the British Viceroy,….adding however, without any ironical meaning, that he was indeed his ‘zurkhureed’ or gold-boughten, slave.”

Appendix paper of Mir Abdul on the topic Quaid-i-Azam and Kashmir.

Photostat of page No. 58, of the Urdu book; Quaid-i-Azam kay Aakhri Lamhat (Last moments of Quaid-i-Azam, by Ashraf Ata, General Publishing House, Ashhat Manzil, Bull Road, Lahore. (published in 1950).

Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah on Kashmir states can choose to be independent Option not limited to Hindustan or Pakistan.

Paramountcy will terminate but cannot be transferred.

Jinnah clarifies Muslim League viewpoint, New Delhi June 17. With the termination of Paramountcy, Indian states would be free either to join Hindustan Constituent Assembly or to remain independent, declared Mr. M.A. Jinnah, President of the All India Muslim League in a statement today.

The Quaid-i-Azam further said: “There is a great deal of controversy going on with regard to the Indian states and I am, therefore obliged to state the position of the All India Muslim League so that there should be no misunderstanding as to what the Muslim League stands for and what our policy is with regard to the Indian states.

“Constitutionally and legally, the Indian States will be independent sovereign states on the termination of Paramountcy and they will be free to decide for themselves to adopt any course they like. It is open to them to join the Hindustan Constituent Assembly, the Pakistan Constituent Assembly, or decide to remain independent. In the last case, they enter into such arrangements or relationship with Hindustan or Pakistan as they may choose.

League Policy. ‘The policy of the Muslim League has been clear from the very beginning. We do not wish to interfere with the internal affairs of any state, for that is a matter primarily to be resolved between the rulers and the people of the States. Such States as wish to enter the Pakistan Constituent Assembly of their free will and desire to discuss and negotiate with us, shall find us willing and ready to do so. If they wish to remain independent and wish to negotiate or adjust any political or any other relationship such as commercial or economic relations with Pakistan, we shall be glad to discuss with them and come to a settlement which will be in the interest of both.

I am clearly of the opinion that the Cabinet Mission’s memorandum of May 12 defining the policy of His Majesty’s Government towards the Indian States does not in any way limit them as is often wrongly repeated, that they have no opinion except to join one or the other Constituent Assembly. In my opinion they are free to remain independent if they so desire. Neither the British Government not the British Parliament compel them to do anything contrary to their free will and accord nor have they any power or sanction or any kind to do so.

The British Government have made it clear that Paramountcy will not be transferred to any Government or Governments or authority that may be set up in British India and that itself shows that the Paramountcy cannot be transferred, but is going to terminate. On its termination, the full sovereign status of the Indian states emerges. “Pakistan Times Lahore June 18, 1947 Jinnah demands release of Kashmir détentes. Muslim Conference leaders meet Quaid-i-Azam.

New Delhi July 11. “I see no justification of the continued detention of the Kashmir Muslim Conference leaders, who have been in jail now for the last nine months without trail” says Mr. M. A. Jinnah in a press statement after an hour’s interview with the Kashmir Muslim leaders here today. Mr. Jinnah expressed the hope that the Maharaja and the Prime Minister would releaze this fast changing circumstances and said that wisdom demanded that the feelings and the sentiments of the Muslims who form 80% of the population should not be ignored, much less hurt.

Chaudhry Hamidullah Khan, acting President of the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference and Mr. Ishaque Qureshi, a member of the Working Committee of the Conference, had an hour’s interview with Mr. M.A. Jinnah this morning regarding the present political situation in Kashmir. Mr. Jinnah, in his statement said: “The Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference leaders, Chaudhry Hamidullah Khan and Mr. Ishaque Qureshi had an interview with me today and they informed me of the situation there which is making the people restive. They placed before me the situation of the detention of the Muslim Conference leaders who have been in jail now for nine months without trial. Their only offence was that they held the Muslim Conference session inspite of prohibitory orders of the Government. But they soon dispersed and did not proceed with their business. Only six leaders were arrested to which no resistance was offered and everything went on peacefully. For such a technical offence they have suffered already nine months and I see no justification for their continued detention.

I hope the Maharaja and the Prime Minister of Kashmir will realise that fast changing circumstances and wisdom demands that the feelings and the sentiments of the Muslims who form 80 per cent of the population should not be ignored, much less hurt.

The second question that is engaging the attention of the Muslim of Kashmir is whether Kashmir is going to join the Constituent Assembly of Hindustan or the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. I have already made it clear more than once that Indian states are free to join either the Pakistan Constituent Assembly, or the Hindustan Constituent Assembly or remain independent. I have no doubt that the Maharajah and the Kashmir Government will give their closest attention. Pakistan Times, Lahore 12 July 1947.