Pakistan Shows its Hand continues...

Thus ended my interview with Major Shah. I conveyed the purport of it to His Highness who was now of the view that Kashmir should not accede to Pakistan. He said that even if he had to build a road through Bhadarva and Kishtwar via Chamba and Dalhousie to connect the State with India he would do so rather than let it go to Pakistan. I asked him that if this was his idea why he did not take that decision before the I5th of August which might well have avoided all this trouble. His answer was that he had been differently advised by his former Prime Minister, and that he was all the time hoping that Kashmir State could retain an independent status without acceding to either Dominion.

When I assumed charge on 15th October, there was some communal trouble but not of a very serious character. In Poonch, however, trouble had been started by the local Muslims where they were in great majority. They looted the Hindu and Sikh houses, abducted their women and killed a number of people. The State forces which were then controlled by Major General Sir Henry Scott, Chief of Staff, took prompt action and stopped the trouble. According to one version, the State forces killed a larger number of people than was necessary to allay the trouble, and this caused resentment amongst the Muslim population. According to another version they only did what in those circumstances was necessary. The trouble, however, recurred again and the local Muslim population started a general campaign of killing Hindus and Sikhs, of abducting their women, burning their houses and looting their property. The troops were themselves besieged and confined themselves to the three areas of Bagh, Rawalkot and Poonch. The Hindu and Sikh residents of the localities who managed to escape also collected in these three places. It was obvious that the trouble in this area was started by Muslims against the non-Muslims and in spite of the best efforts of the State forces, it could not be fully controlled.

To be continued....