First Kashmir War: background and causes, 1947-1948

¶ … Kashmir War 1947-1948

India and Pakistan have always been bitter historical rivals and conflicts have risen not only because of territorial disputes but religious / ideological differences as well. During the mid-20th, the Indo-Pakistani Wars ensued and the first amongst these occurred in from October 1947 to December 1948 and was commonly known as the First Kashmir War. The reference to Kashmir was apropos since the clash was due to territorial disputes between India and Pakistan regarding sovereignty of the state of Kashmir. There are three main reasons on why this region is being disputed by the two nations (Worthview 2009):

The territory of Kashmir was hotly contested even before India and Pakistan won their independence from Britain in August 1947.

Under the partition plan provided by the Indian Independence Act of 1947, Kashmir was free to accede to India or Pakistan.

The Maharaja, Hari Singh, wanted to stay independent but eventually decided to accede to India, signing over key powers to the Indian government -- in return for military aid and a promised referendum.

Generally, both sides believed that they each have legal and historical claims to Kashmir but the arguments prior to 1947 rested mostly on the political and diplomatic levels. The escalation into an armed hostility started when tribal and Pakistani forces entered the Kashmir region during the last quarter of 1947. Since this was considered an act of war by India, the nation retaliated in kind and tried stopping the attacks of the opposing forces. But prior to India mobilizing its forces, it was the Kashmiri government forces that bore the brunt of the initial onslaught. They were not as successful though because of the overwhelming force released by Pakistan. The Kashmiri government forces had no recourse nut to withdraw.

Although the tribal and Pakistani forces initially made headways especially because of the weak Kashmiri government forces, the Maharaja of Kashmir had to ask for India help provided he "acceded to India and that the Prime Minister of Kashmir agreed to the accession. Both the Maharaja and the Prime Minister agreed to these terms and on October 26 the Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession (GlobalSecurity.org 2009)." Indeed, the First Kashmir War had three major personalities / entities vying for control or maintenance thereof of the disputed region; the Indian and Pakistani governments and the Maharaja of Kashmir. Despite wanting to remain independent, the Maharaja could not do so because of the power that could be yielded on him by either Pakistan or India. With Pakistan initiating the hostilities, the Maharaja had no recourse but to ask for India's help albeit the high price of accession required by India.