The Tragedy of Kashmir

How anxiety about Russia, made the US dabble in J&K. An extract

Sandeep Bamzai

Once the Kashmir Assembly under Bakshi’s leadership voted for Kashmir’s accession to India on 15 February 1954, Nehru concluded that no plebiscite was needed, as the people’s representatives had spoken.

That decision of the J&K Constituent Assembly was extraordinarily bold, since it openly defied the then omnipotent UNSC. Some 61 months earlier, the UNSC had been manipulated by scheming Britain into passing a resolution whereby the accession of J&K to either India or Pakistan was to be decided only by a plebiscite, although the state had already legally and morally acceded to India through the Instrument of Accession in terms of Britain’s India Independence Act, 1947. It is noteworthy that India’s case in the UN was predicated on the removal of infiltrators from J&K and not about the legality of the accession. Sheikh Abdullah himself stated at the UNSC’s meeting number 241 held on 5 February 1948: ‘Whether Kashmir has lawfully acceded to India… is not the point at issue.’ He appealed that the UNSC ‘should not confuse the issue.’ He also reminded the council that when accepting J&K’s accession to India, its PM had given the assurance that once the country is free from the raiders, marauders and looters, this accession will be subject to ratification by the people.

That ratification by the people demanded that a constitution be drafted—not by a maharaja (as was done through the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution Act,