An event
News arrives from Srinagar that the Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir has abdicated the throne and and signed the instrument of accession with India.
The decision comes in the wake of rising social turmoil, mounting political pressure from the Republics of India and Pakistan both of which consider his domains as an integral part of their nation and a rouge Tribal invasion perpetrated by Islamic militants, Muslim tribes and other unofficial elements of the Pakistani military from across the border.
Ever since the defeat of the Sikhs and the purchase and accession of Maharajah Gulab Singh Dogra as the sovereign of Jammu and Kashmir, the nation has been somewhat artificial in composition and it did not develop a fully coherent identity, partly as a result of its disparate origins and partly as a result of the autocratic rule which it experienced on the fringes of Empire. It combined disparate regions, religions, and ethnicities from Muslims, Hindus to Buddhists and rich Sikhs to tribals.
The princely state was mostly run by a an elite minority class of Hindu Kashmiri Pandits who functioned as administrative heads, who owned most of the land and who also made up the merchant class. Despite being in a majority the Muslims were made to suffer severe oppression under Hindu rule in the form of high taxes, unpaid forced labor and discriminatory laws. Many Kashmiri Muslims migrated from the Valley to Punjab due to famine and policies of Dogra rulers. The Muslim peasantry was vast, impoverished and ruled by a Hindu elite. The Muslim peasants lacked education, awareness of rights and were chronically in debt to landlords and moneylenders.
Beginning in the 1930s, this rising inequality and discontent began to have political repercussions from protests to rebellions which were crushed only with bitter martial law and British help. Now, with the British withdrawal, this discontent boiled over in the form of open rebellion.
Following the Pakistani invasion of the Northwest of Kashmir all central authority has broken down and the Maharaja, who initially wanted to play off India and Pakistan and remain independent has requested Indian help to stabilize the situation.
The instrument of Accession effectively means to annex the whole princely state to India as a dominion under the rule of his heir Karan Singh and with popular Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah as Prime minister.
The Pakistani military wishes to annex the whole nation and reorganize it as a semi-independent Islamic state of Azad Kashmir.
It is time for change in the region.
Choices
1)The Indians will protect Kashmir(Effect:Side with India and later get annexed to India)
2)Azad Kashmir shall finally bring much needed social and political stability(Effect:Side with Pakistan)
3)I am Maharajah Karan Singh(Effect:Reject the agreement and try to fight with both republics to the bitter end)
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