| Govt. of India 1839 |
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PROOF - GILGIT-BALTISTAN – LADDAKH, THE THIRD FRONTIER DISTRICTS / NORTHERN AREAS PROVINCE OF THE STATE OF J&K INDIA OFFICE RECORD P & S / 13 / 1839 GOVERNMENT OF INDIA (POL) FOREWORD The purpose of this White Paper is to present factual information, backed by the relevant documents, on the Jammu and Kashmir case. The Introduction gives a brief description of the territories involved. Then follow four parts containing material on (i) the events leading up to the accession of the Jammu and Kashmir State to India, (ii) the invasion of the State by raiders from Pakistan, (iii) Pakistan’s complicity in the invasion, and (iv) India’s objectives. In each part there is a brief narrative followed by the text of connected documents. INTRODUCTION The State of Jammu and Kashmir is situated in the extreme north of the Indian sub-continent covering an area of 84, 471 square miles, and is the largest of the Indian States. It consists of three Provinces – the Frontier Districts. Kashmir Province and Jammu Province which includes the Jammu Province which includes the Jagirs of Poonch and Chenani. To the north-east it is bordered by Tibet, to the north by Chinese Turkestan (Sinkiang) and to the north west by the Soviet Republic of Turkestan and Afghanistan. To the West it borders Pakistan and to the South, Pakistan and India. The country is almost entirely mountainous, and it may be geographically divided into three areas. Tibetan and semi-Tibetan tracts in the north containing the districts of Ladakh and Gilgit; the middle region of the “Happy Valley” of Kashmir; and the large level areas of Jammu in the South. These three regions are divided from each other by the snow bound outer Himalayan ranges. Srinagar is the summer and Jammu the winter capital of the State. The Jehlum Valley road connects Srinagar with Pakistan via Rawalpindi and Abbottabad. The Banihal Road provides a link between Srinagar and Jammu over the Banihal Pass. From Jammu one, road leads to Sialkot in the Pakistan Province of the West Punjab and another to Pathankot in the East Punjab (India). According to the census of 1941, the total population of the State was 4,021,616. This was made up of Muslims 77.11 per cent; Hindus 20.12 per cent; Sikhs, Buddhists and others 2.77 per cent. The majority of the Hindus are found in Jammu district, and Srinagar city also has a fairly large Hindu population. The present dynasty, represented by Maharaja Sir Hari Singh, has ruled the Jammu and Kashmir State, as at present constituted, for just over a hundred years by virtue of the Treaty of Amristar of 1846, concluded by Raja Gulab Singh with the British. At that time Gulab Singh held Jammu, Laddakh and Baltistan; while Kashmir and Gilgit were under the Sikh rulers of Lahore. With the defeat of the Sikhs in the Punjab by British forces, the Kashmir and Gilgit territories held by them were transferred to the present dynasty. According to the Imperial Gazetteer, “The general and practical result, therefore, of the Treaty of Amristar was to confirm Gulab Singh in what he already possessed and to transfer to him the Province of Kashmir with its newly acquired authority over Gilgit”.
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