19th of July is being celebrated all over the world including Pakistan today.
19 July is a historical day for the people of kashmir, as on this very day in 1947, majority of people of the Indian-held Kashmir passed a peaceful resolution, and decided Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan.
The historical resolution not only reflected the aspirations of majority of Kashmiris, but became a milestone in their struggle of independence.
The people of Kashmir took this decision of joining Pakistan to protect their political religious, social, cultural and economic rights, as they were well aware of their fate under Hindus who had deep seated animosity for Muslims in Jammu & Kashmir.
During the partition of the Sub-continent, like other princely states, the people of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which comprised an overwhelming Muslim majority decided to join Pakistan according to the British-led formula.
But, Dogra Raja, Sir Hari Singh, a Hindu who was ruling over the J&K in connivance with the Indian Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Lord Mountbatten, the then Governor General of India joined India.
The design to forcibly wrest Kashmir began to unfold on August 16, 1947, with the announcement of the Radcliffe Boundary Award.
When the Award was announced, it did a great injustice by awarding the Gurdaspur District a majority Muslim area to India so as to provide a land route to the Indian armed forces to move into Kashmir.
There was a rebellion in the state forces, which revolted against the Maharaja and were joined by Pathan tribesmen who voluntarily joined the rebels.
Lord Mountbatten decided to immediately send senior army and air force commanders to land in Srinagar.
When Pakistan responded militarily against the Indian aggression, on December 31, 1947, India made an appeal to the UN Security Council to intervene and a ceasefire ultimately came into effect on January 01, 1949, following UN resolutions calling for a plebiscite in Kashmir.
It is mentionable that the Security Council adopted resolution 47 (1948) of 21 April 1948 which promised a plebiscite under UN auspices to enable the people of Jammu and Kashmir to determine whether they wish to join Pakistan or India.
