[Reader-list] Kashmir Dispute, The Myth - Part II

[Pawan Durani]

*Kashmir** Dispute The Myth-II*

By Dr. M.K. Teng**



Of the many distortions of the history of the transfer of power in India,
which form a part of the Kashmir dispute, the most conspicuous is the
distortion of the historical facts of the boundary demarcation between the
Dominion of India and Pakistan in the province of the Punjab. After the
announcement of the partition plan on 3 June, 1947, a Boundary Commission
was constituted by the British to demarcate the boundary between the Muslim
majority zones and the Hindu-Sikh majority zones in the two provinces of
Bengal and the Punjab. The Boundary Commission for the demarcation of the
Muslim majority zone in the Punjab was constituted of four Boundary
Commissioners, two of them representing the Muslims and two representing
Hindus and the Sikhs. Justice Din Mohammad and Justice Mohammad Munir
represented the Muslims and Justice Mehar Chand Mahajan and Justice Teja
Singh represented the Hindus and the Sikhs respectively. A British lawyer of
great repute, Sir Cyril Radcliff was appointed the Chairman of the
Commission. Sir Radcliff presided over the Boundary Commission appointed for
the demarcation of the boundary in the province of Bengal as well.

The Boundary Commission was charged with the responsibility of demarcating
the Muslim majority region of the Punjab from the Hindu-Sikh majority region
of the province on the basis of the population and other factors, which were
considered to be relevant to the division of the province. Justice Mohammad
Munir and Justice Din Mohammad refused to agree upon the criteria to
specifically identify the factors other than population ratios. The Muslim
Commissioners insisted upon strict adherence to the population proportions
as the basis of the division of the province.

Mehar Chand Mahajan and Teja Singh pleaded for a balanced interpretation of
the terms of reference of the Boundary Commission and emphasised the need to
bring about harmonization between population proportions and the "other
factors", specified in the terms of reference. They felt that the division
of the province of the Punjab was bound to affect the lives of millions of
people, belonging to various communities living in the province as well as
the future of the two Dominions, India and Pakistan. The Commissioners
pointed out to the Commission that the population of the Hindus and Sikhs
was unevenly distributed over the province of the Punjab. They pointed out
that larger sections of the Hindu and Sikh population were concentrated in
relatively smaller region of the East Punjab  and the imbalance would be
reflected in demarcation of Hindu and Sikh majority regions from the Muslim
majority regions of the West Punjab. They expressed the fears that the
territorial division of the Punjab on the basis of population would earmark
a smaller part of the East Punjab, to the Hindu and Sikh Community which
would not commenserate with their population in the province. The Hindus and
the Sikhs, Mahajan and Teja Singh pointed out to the Commission formed 45
percent of the population of the province and the territorial division of
the province on the basis of the population ratios would leave them with
less than 30 percent of the territory of the Punjab.

Mahajan and Teja Singh pointed out to the commission that fair distribution
of river waters, irrigation headworks and canal system and cultural and
religious centres could not be left out of its consideration in the
delimitation of the Muslim majority and the Hindu and Sikh majority regions
of the province. They emphasized the necessity of keeping in view the
geographical contiguity of the demarcated regions, the communications and
the viability of the borders  of the two Dominions of India and Pakistan.
They told the Commission that in the demarcation of the borders
between the West
Punjab and the East Punjab balance would have to be achieved to ensure a
fair and equitable division of the territories of the province between the
Muslim community and the Hindu and the Sikh communities.

The most controversial and bitterly contested part of the demarcation for
the borders was the division of the Doab, comprising the districts of the
Lahore Division. Of the four districts of Lahore Division, the District of
Amritsar was a Hindu-Sikh majority district and the district of Gurdaspur
was a Muslim majority district with the Muslims having a nominal majority of
0.8 percent. Both Din Mohammad and Mohammad Munir insisted upon the
inclusion of the entire Lahore Division in the West Punjab. The Muslim
Commissioners were men of great ability and legal acumen and had the
advantage of representing the majority community of the Punjab. They knew
that the inclusion of the Lahore Division in the West Punjab would be of
crucial importance to the future of Pakistan. The inclusion of the Lahore
Division in the West Pakistan would ensure the Muslim homeland a larger
share of water resources, irrigation headworks and the canal system of the
Punjab. It would also close the only communication line; the Jammu-Madhopur
fair weather road, which ran between the Jammu and Kashmir State and the
Dominion of India. The Muslim League leaders were keen to isolate Jammu and
Kashmir and build pressure on the ruler of the State to compel him to come
to terms with Pakistan. Jammu and Kashmir was not wholly isolated from
Indiaand had a contiguous frontier with Kangra and the
Punjab Hill States, which had acceded to India. The State Government could
construct an alternative communication route to connect the State with India.
The construction of an alternative road between the State and the Dominion
of India would, however, be an arduous task and take a long time, thus
exposing the State to more hardship. Logistically also the construction of
an alternative road would pose many problems. The borders between the State
and the Indian Union running east of the Pathankot tehsil in Gurdaspur
district, through which the Jammu-Madhopur road run, were mountainous and
rugged and largely snowbound. The closure of the Jammu-Sialkot road and
railway line and the Jhelum Valley road, which linked Srinagar with
Rawalpindi had been closed by Pakistan and there was little prospect of
their being thrown open for transport after the State joined India. By the
time, the Boundary Commission begun its work, Pakistan was left with little
doubt about the disinclination for the ruler of the State Maharaja Hari
Singh to accede to that country.

Mahajan and Teja Singh pleaded for the inclusion of the Division of Lahore
in the East Punjab. The two Commissioners raised fundamental issues with
unparalleled eloquence in respect of their claim, which Sir Cyril Radcliffe
could not overlook altogether. The issues they raised, included:

i) the distribution of water resources between the East and West Punjab, the
location of the irrigation headworks and the canal system;

ii) the continuation of the communication lines in the East Punjab of which
the Lahore Division formed Centre;

iii) the demarcation of a viable and defensible border of the India in the
Punjab;

iv) the interests of the Sikh Community which had its largest assets
in the West
Punjab and its main religious and cultural centres in the Division of
Lahore;

v) the Indian interest in the road-link between Jammu and Madhopur, arising
out of its proximity to Jammu and Kashmir State for the security of that
state as well as its future relations with the Indian Dominion.

Both Mahajan and Teja Singh avoided the heavily value-laden discourse of the
Congress leaders, in their presentation to the Commission. They marshalled
up concrete facts relevant to the demarcation of boundary in the Punjab and
elucidated in detail the consequences - geographic, economic, political and
strategic, the division of the province was bound to lead to and their
impact on the future of the Hindus and Sikhs in the Punjab. Sir Radcliffe
was a man of independent outlook, sent down from his country to draw the
boundaries of the new Muslim State of Pakistan, which the British had
actively connvived in creating. Sir Radcliffe knew little of the cultural
configuration of the Punjab, its economic organisation and its history. Not
only the Punjab, Sir Radcliffe knew much less of the history and culture and
economic and political organisation of Bengal, the other Indian province he
was commissioned to divide between the two communities, Hindus and Muslims,
on the basis of population proportions.

Mahajan and Teja Singh were genuinely fearful of the future of their
communities in the Punjab. The history of the Punjab had been shaped by
Hindus and the Sikhs. The Sikhs established a powerful Kingdom in the Punjab,
the borders of which extended from Afghanistan to the eastern fringes of
Tibet. The Sikh state integrated the Himalayas into the northern frontier of
India. The Himalayas, Sanskritised by the Hindus of Kashmir, formed the
civilisational frontier of India. The establishment of the Sikh power put an
end to the long history of the invasion of India from the north. The
division of Punjab was bound to have serious effect on the future of the
Sikh community. The Punjab was considered by the Sikhs to be their homeland.
The Sikh places of pilgrimage were located in the eastern part of the Punjab,
mainly the Division of Lahore. The responsibility of apprising the Boundary
Commission of the sociology of the Sikh religion and its moorings in the
Hindu civilisation of India, fell upon the Hindu and Sikh Commissioners.
Teja Singh, ravaged by the anti-Hindu riots in the Punjab, exhibited great
courage and forbearance, in defending the cause of his community.

The Muslim League carried on a strident campaign to build pressure on the
Commission to demarcate the boundary between the east and the West Punjab on
the basis of the population proportions. The British Governors of the
Punjaband the North-East Frontier province along with the British
officials posted
in the two provinces acted in tandem to influence the Commission.

The Boundary Commission was entrusted with the historic task, of the
demarcation of the Indian frontier in the north. Jammu and Kashmir formed
the central spur of the warm Himalayan uplands and the new configuration of
power created by the emergence of the Muslim state of Pakistan, was bound to
effect the security of the Himalayas. There is no evidence to show that the
Indian leaders realised the importance of the crucial changes, the emergence
of Pakistan, would bring about in the structure of power-relations along
northern frontier of India.

The Hindu and Sikh leaders of the Punjab evinced serious interest in the
boundary demarcation. Both Mahajan and Teja Singh kept themselves in close
touch with the Hindu and Sikh leaders of the Punjab. Among them were Sir
Shadi Lal and Bakshi Tek Chand. Both Sir Shadi Lal and Tek Chand were in the
confidence of Maharaja Hari Singh. The Indian leaders had warbled notions
about the northern frontier of India. They were carried away by the
fraternal regard, the Asian conference held in Delhi in 1946, symbolised.
The Indian leaders viewed the solidarity of the Asian people and the
emergence of the Asian nation from colonial dominance as basis for
coexistence and cooperation among the Asian people. Gandhi disclaimed
national frontiers. He claimed commitment to vaguely conceived concept of
anarchism which formed a part of the intellectual tradition of the early
twentieth century.

They had accepted partition of India, but they refused to recognise its
political implications. They were unable to comprehend the significance of
the demarcation of the boundary between India and Pakistan in the Punjab.
Their inability to link the boundary demarcation in the Punjab with the
security of the Northern Frontier of India exposed Jammu and Kashmir and the
entire Indian frontier, stretching to its east, to foreign aggression.

--(To be continued)

Note: The essays in this series are based on documentary sources and records
in the Archives of India and the Archives of Jammu and Kashmir State;
Records of the Boundary Commission; States Peoples Conference Papers in
Nehru Memorial Museum, New Delhi; contemporary Newspaper Files and
Interviews. *(The author was Head of the Political Science Department,
University of Kashmir. His book 'Article 370 and its Significance' is
considered to be a classic on the subject.)
Source: Kashmir Sentinel, Panun Kashmir


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