KASHMIR’S ACCESSION TO INDIA begins…..

IN THE EARLY hours of the morning of the 27th, I could hear the noise of the planes flying over Sardar Baldev Singh’s house and carrying the military personnel to Srinagar. At about 9 A. M. I got a message from the aerodrome officer of Srinagar that troops had landed there and had gone into action. On receipt of this message, I flew to Jammu with Mr. V. P. Menon. As we landed at Jammu, the Brigadier of the State forces met me. He felt con- siderably relieved by the arrival of the Indian army in Srinagar. He told me that the troops on landing in Srinagar had gone into battle with the tribesmen. Mr. Menon and myself met His High- ness at the palace. His Highness had seen Indian planes carrying the troops flying over the palace and the town. This had created some confidence in his mind. After some discussion, formal docu- ments were signed which Mr. Menon took back to New Delhi, while I stayed at Jammu. This was a narrow shave. After the failure of the Pak attempt to capture both the Maharaja and myself at Bhimber, Mr. Jinnah had got impatient. He ordered his British Commander-in-Chief to move two brigades of the Pak army into Kashmir on 27 October, one from Rawalpindi and an- other from Sialkot. The Sialkot army was to march to Jammu, take the city and make the Maharaja a prisoner. The Rawalpindi column was to advance to Srinagar and capture the city, all this on the excuse that the State should be saved the anarchy that the tribesmen’s raid had produced.

To be Continued………..