hello and welcome to Breck speak I'm your host raakesh baa in the recently concluded dssc entr exam 20 Questions out of total 23 in the military history were dealt with in our podcast on Soo Vietnam War 1979 the total duration of our podcast was approximately 13 hours today we begin with the first Kashmir War which is the campaign during upcoming DSC entrance exam the key takeaways from today's episode would be the key moments in history of Kashmir the roads that were leading into Kashmir because these roads had a prominent role to play in the campaign was the war waged by Pak pistan for strategic reasons or was it only religious what was The Grand Design of Pakistan not withstanding Pakistan's continuous denial of involvement there are evidences to prove that Pakistan state had intervened what was the role of Pakistani leaders and more importantly Pakistan Army in instigating the raate by the tribals and in the end we will also touch upon what would have been the case if the invasion by the Raiders had not taken place was there a possibility of Maharaja joining Pakistan first of all a look at the map this was how the princely state of jamu and Kashmir looked like in 1947 to the north was the was area of gilg baltistan to the east is ladak in the middle is Kashmir and in the south is jum this is how it changed in 1948 to the West is the present day Pakistan occupied Kashmir and to the north is the gilgit paristan which is under illegal occupation of Pakistan let's have a look at a very short history of Kashmir Kashmir was purchased by Raja gulab Singh dogra for 7.5 million in 1856 after the sick Kingdom of Ranjit Singh had lost to the britishers during the second Anglo SEC War the total area is approximately 85,86 square miles with a Muslim population of 78% at the time of Independence there were 11 provinces which were under direct rule of the British Empire and 565 small and bigger States the states were given a choice to declare their independence but they were expected to join either India or Pakistan however wishes of the people were to be taken into consideration as far as Kashmir is concerned maharajah haris Singh who was the king had signed a standstill agreement with Pakistan because his food items and other essential supplies used to come from Pakistan similar offer was given to India but India did not respond while the roads coming into Kashmir from Pakistan were tarck and had easy access there was only a dirt road via patan courot which was coming into Kashmir Pakistan motivated few tribals and they invaded into Jammu and Kashmir declaring a war what were the Strategic conc considerations of Pakistan it is clear now that Pakistan had no religious reasons to enter into jnk but there were strategic consideration in his book Raiders in Kashmir called akar Khan says without Kashmir Pakistan is vulnerable to Indian attack if India placed its troops threatening Pakistan security between laar and raal pendy he also talks about that agricultural economy of West Pakistan depends on Rivers which originate from Kashmir the exact words are our own safety and Welfare demand that the state of Kashmir should not go over to India if Indian troops came to be stationed along kashmir's Western borders India could establish its forces within a few miles of the 180 miles long vital Road and rail route between laor and raal pendy from an economic point of view the position was equally clear our agricultural economy was dependent particularly upon the rivers coming out of Kashmir let's see this on a map as you see the important Railway and road from laor to raal pendi passes very close to the borders of the state of Jammu and Kashmir what you see in a solid purple line is the original border of Jammu and Kashmir whereas the dotted purple line is the existing line of control pay attention to fire Rivers which flow into Pakistan from Kash beginning North it is indas jum janab Ravi and satu as we are aware the economy of West Pakistan's Punjab depended on water from these Rivers this was one of the major reasons why Pakistan wanted to Annex Kashmir having seen the Strategic importance of the region let's Now quickly see which are the roads that existed prior to 1947 in the north of the road originating from W coming on to alabad through muzafarabad along jalum river it crosses muray comes to baramula and terminates at shagar another road just south of it originates from raal pendi comes to muzafarabad and thereafter along jalum reaches shagar in addition there were also roads which went into punch and from calot to jamu a very small stretch of Railway line also existed between calot and jamu there were two air strips one at jamu and another at shagar all these means of communications were important while understand and will help us to understand the 1947-48 India Pakistan War better what was The Grand Design there was a Kashmir Liberation committee which was led by prime minister of Pakistan lak Al Khan K Akbar Khan whom I have quoted was the military member of this committee the committee decided to launch a tribal aggression into Kashmir so as to force the Maharaja into joining Pakistan the plan was to raise communal passions assassinate important leaders and capture power in Kashmir there were some Impressions which were performed in Pakistan because of few incidents of communal rights between Hindus and Muslims in the provinces of jamu and punch Pakistani leaders felt that the Muslims of state had risen against the government of India and they wanted to join Pakistan Mr Prem Shankar ja in his book Kashmir rival version of History rights the instigation of violent activities and communal Mayhem in punch and jamu was a diversionary tactics designed to disperse and pin down the state forces and prevent them from regrouping at the mouth of UI which Raiders had to pass before entering Kashmir [Music] valley though Pakistan keeps denying that it had no involvement in the rate however there is there are enough evidences to prove Pakistan's assistance to the tribals the leading Maliks of the tribes were interviewed in Ral pendy on 2nd October and were tasked to organize lashkar at that time there was a severe shortage of arms and ammunition as most of them still lay in India girl Akbar Khan as director of weapon and Equipment managed to locate 4,000 rifles which were handed over to these tribals similarly large stock of old ammunition was also discovered petrol is case commodity food and Camp administrative Services were organized and provisioned by bami to the Ryder and secret fund called Kashmir fund was set aside by nawab of M who was the chief minister of West Punjab the chief minister of Frontier Province Abdul gum Khan gave 300 to 400 buses without which the operation may not have been possible Mr Jenna heard of the plan but said don't tell me anything of it my conscious must remain clear Mr VP Menan in his book writes the Raiders had free Transit through Pakistan they were in position of modern military equipment which could only have been obtained from Pakistani army sources that is Motas artillery mark five mines these are not the kind of armament which tribesmen possess a large number of army officers had joined the tribesmen and organize the attack on the state and the Indian army the professionalism displayed could not be expected of any untrained personal the question arises what if Pakistan was not in a hurry it is worth pondering over the scenario in case the invasion by the Raiders had not taken place possibility of Maharaja joining Pakistan existed Indian home minister Sardar wab pel had left the choice to the Maharaja Lord mount bton too advise the Maharaja to join one of the two dominions as two bigger nations in its neighborhood would not let him remain independent Mr Menan again States we had no territorial Ambitions in Kashmir if the invasion had not happened I can say in the face of any contradiction that the government of India would have left Kashmir alone Lord mount Bon on his return to England publicly stated that he had on the authority of government of India informed the Maharaja that he was perfectly free to exceed to Pakistan if he chooses to do so in conclusion I would say Pakistan was in a hurry to grab Kashmir its leader got impatient and appr apprehensive that the Maharaja may not be inclined to join them in order to present a fate accomp to Maharaja Pakistan Unleashed unruly undisciplined tribes men on innocent kashmiris who had never heard or seen such savagery Lord Cunningham the governor of Northwest Frontier provinces noted because of the excesses of the tribes F many Muslims of Kashmir would have aded to India and not to Pakistan if a pde had been held essential question which we will address next would be Pakistan accepted accession of junar where the head of the state was a Muslim but it was predominantly a Hindu State and Kashmir King was a Hindu but overall majority was of Muslim did India form up its resolved po poost junar this will be the question which we'll address in our next episode all the best keep working hard please like share and subscribe