There were 565 princely states in British India.
These princely states were directly ruled by the princes.
Those states were not ruled by the British Empire.
On June 3, 1947, the British government finally decided to divide the Indian subcontinent into two separate states.
Mr Lord Mountbatten Architectured the subcontinent division map.
According to the plan, Muslim majority regions shall join Pakistan, and Hindu predominant regions shall join India.
As a result of that, in August 1947, two new nations, India and Pakistan, emerged on the map of the world. Out of 565, only 13 princely states joined Pakistan.
Even though 80% population of Jammu and Kashmir was Muslim, the state was provided with the options either to join Pakistan, India, or remain an independent state.
Maharaja Hari Singh was a Non-Muslim prince of Jammu and Kashmir; therefore, he had a soft corner for India.
Being a Hindu ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh wanted the predominantly Muslim state of Kashmir to be a part of India.
Finally, he managed to do that after signing the Instrument of Accession agreement with the Indian government on 26 October 1947 and confiscated all legal weaponry from the Kashmiri Muslims, once provided for self-defense.
In the agreement, only three powers were transferred to the Indian parliament: defense, external affairs, and communication.
If Maharaja had signed a merger agreement with India, the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir would have lost their total individual identity.
However, it was too late for him because he had lost a large chunk of a princely state to Muslims in the Poonch Jagir region of J & K in October 1947.
In the armed struggle, oppressed Muslims freed 13,297 km² of land from Maharaja Hari Singh's forces and declared Azad Kashmir a sovereign state.
During the uprising, more than 20,000 Muslims were massacred, and thousands of others were plundered by the Maharaja Hari Singh forces and Hindu extremists.
On the other side, a war between Pakistan and the Indian military continued from October 22, 1947, to January 1, 1948, over the princely state of Kashmir, came to an end after UN intervention.
On 17th January 1948, the United Nations passed the resolution for Plebiscite or right to self-determination, in which Kashmiris were given a carte blanche to decide their fate through the ballot, either join Pakistan, India, or remain as a sovereign independent state.
UN resolution further says India and Pakistan must withdraw their troops from Jammu and Kashmir to ensure justice and peaceful elections.
Pakistan pulled out all its troops after the UN resolution, but India betrayed the UN by deploying about one million troops in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The people of Kashmir have never been allowed to decide their future through a ballot by the Indian government; therefore, a United Nations Plebiscite or the right to self-determination resolution could not be materialized.
Article 35-A of the Indian Constitution
Article 35-A of the Indian Constitution empowers the Jammu & Kashmir legislature to define the state's 'permanent residents' and their special rights and privileges.
It was added to the Constitution through a presidential order of 1954.
In other words, 35-A simply says that the Jammu & Kashmir legislature has full discretionary power to decide who are 'permanent residents' of the state and confer on them special rights in the public sector jobs, acquisition of property in the state, scholarships, and other public aid and welfare.
The main thing about Article 35-A is that it cannot be declared invalid even if it violates any Indian law.
Article 35-A of the Indian Constitution was drafted in light of the Instrument of Accession Agreement.
That was why the government of India was not allowed to intervene in the land and property affairs of the Jammu & Kashmir state. Unfortunately, on August 5,2019, the Government of India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir by scrapping Articles 370, 35A.
by Shujaat Hussain Abbasi
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