Prof. G.M.Athar Gulab Singh who served as an officer in the Sikh Army was made the Raja of Jammu Kingdom in 1820 by Maharaja Ranjit Singh the ruler of Sikh Empire. Raja Gulab Singh militarily incorporated the kingdoms of Kishtwar, Poonch, Baltistan, Ladakh and Gilgit in his Jammu Kingdom from 1820 to1842. After the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in1939 there was an internal conflict within the Lahore Durbar over the issue of the transfer of power. Since the brother and nephew of Raja Gulab Singh were killed in a conspiracy, Raja Gulab Singh who was a strong contender for the throne preferred to become the ruler of Jammu Kingdom, so he reached an understanding with the British East India Company during first Ango-Sikh War in 1845-46. Lahore Darbar especially Lal Singh who enjoyed the support of the widow of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and was an arch rival of Gulab Singh gave Jammu Kingdom ruled by the Dogra Raja as well as the Kashmir Suba controlled by Khalsa troops, as war indemnity to the British East India Company by the Treaty of Lahore between the Lahore Darbar and the British East India Company on 9th March 1846. Since Raja Gulab Singh agreed to pay a part of the war indemnity on behalf of the Lahore Darbar so the Sikhs were obliged to recognise him as the Maharaja of Jammu Kingdom by the Treaty of Lahore on the insistence of the British East India Company. Given the fact that Maharaja Gulab Singh had amassed a huge wealth from the treasury of Lahore Darbar, so he paid Rs.75 lakhs in Nanak Shahi currency to the East India Company to incorporate Kashmir with his Jammu Kingdom.Thus Kashmir was subordinated to Jammu Kingdom by the Treaty of Amritsar between Maharaja Gulab Singh and the British East India Company on 16th March 1846.The Dogra Kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir established by the Treaty of Amritsar became a British ally by the Treaty of 1st November 1858 between the British Crown and princely states of the Indian subcontinent. Since the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir was militarily carved out by Gulab Singh by forcibly bringing together diverse kingdoms under his control from 1820 to 1846, therefore it was no surprise that the Muslims of Kashmir, Poonch-Mirpur and the Gilgit-Baltistan demanded the abolition of Dogra autocracy from Jammu and Kashmir from 13th July 1931 onwards.The Kashmiri Muslims struggled hard from 1931 to 1947under the banner of All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference established in October 1932 and renamed as All Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on 11th June1939 led by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah to abolish the Dogra autocracy from the Muslim dominated state. After the announcement of Partition Plan of British India on 3rd June 1947 by Lord Mountbatten Governor General of India and the approval of the Indian Independence Act by the British Parliament on 18th July 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh wanted to stay independent to continue his autocratic rule in the Muslim dominated state. He submitted the Standstill Agreement through an identical telegram to both India and Pakistan on 12th August 1947. The Government of Pakistan accepted it in principle pending details on16th August 1947 and India suggested Hari Singh to depute some of his Cabinet Ministers to New Delhi to discuss the details of the Agreement. The British paramountcy in the Indian subcontinent lapsed on 15th August1947 with the result the Treaty of Lahore, the Treaty of Amritsar and the Treaty of 1858 became invalid as a consequence of which the Dogra kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir ceased to exist as a legal political entity and he lost his authority as Maharaja.Thus neither there was any legally valid Dogra kingdom nor any Maharaja to govern it. There was just a geographical territory of 2,22,236 square kilometres inhabited by a population of 2 lakh persons without a de jure head of the state. Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, who had launched his “Quit Kashmir” campaign against Maharaja Hari Singh on 5th May 1946 was put behind the bars by Hari Singh on 20th May 1946.The Congress leadership adopted a regional approach to depend on Hari Singh in the Jammu region and on Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in the Kashmir region to have a raprochma between the two. Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah wrote a letter of apology to Hari Singh on 27th September 1947 and the de facto Dogra ruler released him on 29th September 1947. Pakistan sponsored a tribal raid in Kashmir on 22nd October 1947 and the rebels from Poonch-Mirpur declared the establishment of the Azad Government of Jammu and Kashmir, under the leadership of Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan on 24th October 1947. The de facto ruler, Hari Singh of the non-existent Jammu and Kashmir State was compelled by the deterioration of the security situation in his non-existent kingdom to ask for military assistance from New Delhi on 24th October 1947. To save his life, Hari Singh left Srinagar for Jammu along with his family and movable property at midnight falling between 24th and 25th October 1947. According to Dr Karan Singh his father didn’t utter a single word till he reached Udhampur, where he said, “We have lost Kashmir”. The departure of Hari Singh from Kashmir to Jammu at midnight symbolised as the end of his defacto rule over Kashmir on 25th October 1947. However, soon after reaching his palace at Jammu, he signed the Instrument of Accession of Jammu and Kashmir State Indian Union with respect to defence, foreign affairs and communication on 27th October 1947. Since both Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had put the condition of inducting Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the popular leader of Kashmiri nation in his government, therefore he appointed him as the Chief Emergency Administrator of Jammu and Kashmir on 29th October 1947 and later made him as the Prime Minister on 5th March 1948. In fact, when Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession of Jammu and Kashmir State with Indian Union at his Jammu palace on 27th of October 1947, he was having neither a de facto nor a de jure control over Kashmir Province, because the Treaty of Lahore and the Treaty of Amritsar had already ceased to exist on the 15th August 1947. As a result of which there was no legally valid Jammu and Kashmir State nor its any legal head of the state. Therefore, the decision of Hari Singh to have accession of Jammu and Kashmir State with Indian Union with respect to defence, foreign affairs and communication was totally baseless and invalid. Since, it was a win-win situation for Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and Hari Singh, so none other than the Government of Pakistan raised a finger on the Instrument of Accession of former Dogra kingdom with the Indian Union. Since Hari Singh was having the support of his Jammu based Dogra community, therefore it was a hard nut to crack for Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah to overthrow Hari Singh. Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah partially succeeded in his efforts when Hari Singh was motivated to abdicate his authority as the head of the state in favour of his son Karan Singh on 20th June 1949. Once the provisions of the Delhi Agreement between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah on 24th July 1952 were implemented Karan Singh became the elected Sadr-e-Riyast of Jammu and Kashmir State on 17th November1952. Although Karan Singh was the elected Sadr-e-Riyast of Jammu and Kashmir State, yet he was feeling insecure about his political career because there was no guarantee for him to hold the elected constitutional position for ever. In order to remove the roadblock for the Dogra dynasty, Karan Singh also began to poison the ears of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru against Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, in addition to Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad, D.P.Dhar and B.N. Mullick, Director, Information Bureau in Jammu and Kashmir State. Finally, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was removed from the post of Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir State by Karan Singh to install Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad as the Prime Minister of the state on 8th August 1953. Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was arrested at Gulmarg Rest House on 9th August 1953 to put him behind the bars at Udhampur, in Jammu Division. Given the fact that the full integration of Jammu and Kashmir State with the Indian Union has been the concerted effort of the Congress Government at New Delhi led by Pandit Jawaharlal, Gulzari Lal Nanda, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Mrs Indira Gandhi from 1947 to 1984. Soon after the Delhi Agreement on 24th July 1952 the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir State was opposed by the Hindu nationalists of India under the banner of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sang (RSS) led by Dr Shama Prasad Mukherjee as well as by the Jammu Praja Parishad led by Prem Nath Dogra. During the Prime Ministership of Lal Bahadur Shastri the Congress leadership planned to abolish the nomenclatures of Sadr-e-Riyast and Wazir-e-azam the symbols of the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir. Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir resisted the move, so he was asked to resign under the so-called Kamraj Plan applicable actually to the Congress leadership whereas Bakhshi belonged to the National Conference. Following the Prime Ministership of Khawja Shamsuddin for a very brief period, Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq became the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir State on 29th February 1964. Most probably the Congress Agenda of the integration of Jammu and Kashmir State with the Indian Union was discussed with him before making him the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir State. Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq was also interested in the abolition of the unnecessary role of the Jammu based Jamwal Dogra dynasty represented by Dr Karan Singh, the Sadr-e-Riyast of the state. So Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq agreed to have the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir State by the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislature to abolish the nomenclatures of elected Sadr-e-Riyast and Wazir-e-azam of Jammu and Kashmir State. Dr Karan Singh became the first Governor of Jammu and Kashmir and Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq became the first Chief Minister of the state on 30th March 1965. Two years later Justice J.N. Wazir, Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court replaced Karan Singh as the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir State on 15th March 1967 to end the monopoly of the Jamwal Dogra dynasty on the governance of Jammu and Kashmir State. Finally, on 15th May 1967 Shri Bagwan Sahay, former Governor of Kerala and a permanent resident of Muradabad in Uttar Pradesh, became the first outside person to be the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir State. Thereafter every Governor of Jammu and Kashmir was brought from outside the state till the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir was abolished on the ground on 31st October 2019.
The author can be reached at ghathar@yahoo.co.in
