Paksitani Raiders and Accession
*Now "Governor"
(Ministry of Law Order C.O. 44, dated the 15th November, 1952.)
Sher-I-Kashmir on Raider & Accession
Invaders struck us like lightening. They scorched our land, ruined our homes, destroyed and devastated hundreds of villages and despoiled the honour of women. Busy towns like Muzaffarabad, Uri, Baramulla and Pattan centres of our trade on the highway to our Capital, are only heaps of smoking rubble with nothing left. They are traitors of Islam.
November 19,1947
Accession to the Indian Union would be advantageous to the State both for political and economic reasons. Economically Kashmir depends for its market much more on India than Pakistan. Politically India was a much more progressive State than Pakistan and Kashmir would have greater scope for free development according to its own genius if she was allied to India.
October 27, 1948
The raiders abducted women. They massacred children. They looted everything and everyone. They converted mosques into brothels and today every Kashmiri loathes the invading tribesmen and their arch inspirers, who have been responsible for such horrors in land, which is peopled with an overwhelming majority of Musalmans.
November 16, 1947
These raiders who had come to our land abducted thousands of our girls and looted our property. All of a sudden Pakistan comes to the Bar of the world as the champion of the liberty of the people of Kashmir. The world has got rid of Hitlers and Gobbles, but from what has happened and is happening in my country, I am convinced that their souls have transmigrated to Pakistan.
Security Council, February 6, 1948
We would prove before the Security Council that Kashmir and the people of Kashmir have lawfully and Constitutionally acceded to the Dominion of India and Pakistan has no right to question that accession.
February 5, 1948
We have decided to work with and die for India. We made our decision not in October last, but in 1944, when we resisted the advances of Mr Jinnah. Our refusal was categorical. Eversince, the National Conference had attempted to keep the State clear of the pernicious two-nation theory while fighting the worlds worst autocracy (Pakistan).
Press Conference in New Delhi, Statesman, March 7, 1948
Pakistan has no right to demand plebiscite in Kashmir after committing aggression on her. By her action Pakistan has permanently branded herself as the aggressor and we can have no truck with her. We have made our choice and linked our destiny with India and nothing can separate us now.
Public meeting, Srinagar (Hindustan Times) May 26, 1948
Kashmir will ever be with India, whatever sacrifices we shall have to make. We are all Indians and India is our Homeland.
May 29, 1948
We the people of Jammu and Kashmir have thrown our lot with the Indian people not in the heat of passion or a moment of despair, but by our deliberate choice. The union of our people has been fused by the community of ideals and common suffering in the cause of freedom. India is pledged to the principle of Secular Democracy and we are also in pursuit of the same objective.
Press Interview, National Herald, June 19,1948
We have burnt all our boats. There is no place in Kashmir for a theocratic State. Kashmir will never make a plaything of India’s honour.
Press Conference in New Delhi, September 29,1948
India and Pakistan represented two different and opposite ideologies. It was upto us to choose between the two. I and my colleagues in the Working Committee were convinced that Kashmir’s political, economical, material and cultural advancement depended upon close political link up with India and India alone. At special convention of the Representatives of J&K,
Hindu, Oct 14,1948
The pledge I gave to Mr Nehru last year that Kashmir will be a part of India, has now become an eternal bond. We can never forget the help rendered by Indian Army and the people of India at a time of great crisis in the history of our State. Indian troops have even provided the local people rations to save them from starvation. It was after fully knowing India’s attitude for over a year that the decision for permanent accession was taken- a decision which would affect the entire population of the State for generations to come. Our decision to accede to India is based on the fact that our programme and policy are akin to those followed by India.
Id gathering at Srinagar: October 16, 1948
Recently during the Srinagar convention Kashmir reiterated its faith in accession to India. Need the National Conference and the people of Kashmir give any further proof of their firmness for the deal they had chosen for themselves.
Press Conference at Srinagar, May 18,1949 Since Pakistan rejected our friendly offer to decide the question of accession of the State by the free will of the people, it has no right now to demand a plebiscite after we drive out the raiders.
News Chronicle, May 26, 1949
The Pakistani Mujahid’s treatment of unarmed people of Kashmir, is an indelible blot on the fair name of Islam. It is condemnable for the atrocities were perpetrated and carried out in the name of Islam and for its glory.
November 5, 1949
We want to link the destiny of Kashmir with India not because Pt. Nehru is my personal friend, but because we feel that India and Kashmir is one and the same. While every attempt in India is being made to eschew communalism (the very foundation of Pakistan was communalism) there can, therefore, be no question of Kashmir even thinking of having any relationship with Pakistan.
Speech at GM College, Srinagar, Tribune, December 4, 1949
Pakistan’s clamour for a free and impartial plebiscite, while her troops continue to occupy almost half the territory of the State, was characteristically Hitlerite tactics.
Madras meeting, February 12, 1950
In view of what I have said before, it is absurd to say that Kashmir still thinks any other alternative so far as the question of accession is concerned. What we want is peace and prosperity for our people. Independence may be and is a charming idea. But as I have said before, is it practical too? Has it got necessary sanctions and guarantees and can a small country like Kashmir with its limited resources maintain it ? Or are the countries concerned in a proper political temper at the present moment, to give their willing assent to it.
By only a formal declaration of independence shall we not be making Kashmir a victim of some unscrupulous and powerful country? That will be a gruesome betrayal of the cause we have stood for all these years and therefore, these and similar other considerations, make the alternative of Independence- not only theoretical and academic but also meaningless. In that sense and spirit I have number of times before discussed the question with several journalists. It is in this context that these views should be read and understood.
By only a formal declaration of independence shall we not be making Kashmir a victim of some unscrupulous and powerful country? That will be a gruesome betrayal of the cause we have stood for all these years and therefore, these and similar other considerations, make the alternative of Independence- not only theoretical and academic but also meaningless. In that sense and spirit I have number of times before discussed the question with several journalists. It is in this context that these views should be read and understood.
Press statement, May 1950
If the Muslims of Kashmir could resist aggression from Pakistan, when they had no friends, why should anybody in India expect a change in the minds of Kashmiri people when India has helped them against this aggression for these two years with men, money and moral support and when hundreds of comrades from all parts of India have given their all-out help to us and given their lives on the soil of Kashmir and cemented the bonds between Kashmir and India. Nobody should think that human beings are so ungrateful. We shall always be with India and never with Pakistan.
Speech on IInd anniversary of Radio Kashmir, May 2, 1950
The ties binding Kashmir to India were not only legalistic, but were born out of the free will of the Kashmiris who found India true image of their ideals and aspirations. This bond of unity between India and Kashmir, this kinship of heart and soul... between the two great people, can never be broken. Speech at Teetwal, May 24, 1950
People of Kashmir had made a decision of their own choice to throw in their lot with the people of India in furtherance of their common ideals. This abiding kinship could not subsist merely on territorial links or commercial considerations, but on unswerving faith in the ideal for which we here and the millions of people in India have struggled for over three decades. Our relationship is not that of a master and a slave, but it is a free and voluntary association of partners in the joint stock, which bestows common and equal advantages on both.
Martyrs day Srinagar, Hindustan Standard, 15 July 1952
No plebiscite is possible without the sovereignty of the legally constituted Government of Jammu and Kashmir being collectively extended over the entire territory of the State, disbandonment of the so called Azad Kashmir Forces, and withdrawal of Pakistan troops and nationals.
We would not have achieved so much in Kashmir if assistance from the people of India had not come so freely and ungrudgingly. We were tremendously fortified in a just stand by the spontaneous help in men and material given to us by the Government of India. I cannot imagine what would have happened if the Indian Army had not arrived in time. The people of Kashmir and the gallant Indian Army fought against the savage hordes not for territorial gain, but for the preservation of the way of life for which the great Father of Nation made the supreme sacrifice.
source: Wardha Press Conference, May 4, 1964
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