Airavat wrote:surinder wrote:Jammy & Kashmir was an artificial construct, it was given to Gulab Singh Dogra on an apparent sale of 75 Lakhs. That sale was a pretense; it was an award to Gulab Singh for his services to the British & his treasons to his own nation.
Another example of scoring self-goals by Indians, by thoughtlessly reproducing paki/western propaganda. Gulab Singh was a descendant of the Rajas of Jammu (Jamwal Rajputs) whose soldiers had conquered and consolidated Jammu, Ladakh, and Baltistan
before the British came on the scene. The Dogras defeated a Chinese army that invaded Ladakh and forced them to sign the Treaty of Chushul in 1842, which marks the boundary between Ladakh and Tibet.
There was no love lost between the Dogra rulers and the British, particularly a large section of officials who believed that the Kashmir valley should have been taken by the British. Maharaja Pratap Singh was falsely accused in a conspiracy case, and though that case was dismissed, the British took the opportunity of tightening their hold on J&K by creating a ruling council in 1889. It was also around this time that Urdu, the administrative language in British Punjab and elsewhere, was imposed on J&K.
We Indians feel hurt when they see distorted histroy by Westerners, but we Indians distort our own history evern more. It is ironical. I don't wish to go into too much details, since this is not the right thread, but will briefly say the following:
+ Gulab Singh Dogra was recruited as a soldier by Ranjeet Singh. He rose through the ranks fast, as he was personally courageous in war & and a very able & competent man.
+ GSB, and two of his brothers & his nephews played a very deleterious role in the Lahore kingdom of Ranjeet Singh (more so after his death). They were at the center of some pretty nasty intrigues.
+ Gulab Singh Dogra was liked by the Maharaja, and hence was made Rajah of Jammu. Ranjeet Singh had already conquered Jammu, but installed Gulab Singh as its adminsitrator since he was pleased with him. He was not an independent ruler, but more of a governer. History books sympethetic of Dogras deliberately obfuscate this issue.
+ Gulab Singh, while he was still in Ranjeet Singh's court, had been secretly cultivating the British, and the British had been courting him because they had their eye on the Lahore Kingdom. He was in secret communication wtih them, and had been doing favors to them to prove his loyalty to them.
+ In the Anglo-Sikh wars, his inaction was a siignificant contributor to British victory. Had he acted, as he was capable of, the outcome would have been different.
+ Subsequent to the Sikh-British wars, he was the representative from the Sikh side to the negotiations for the treaty. While being an agent of one side, he got helped himself to a pretty nifty deal. If this doesn't smell like treason, then I am not sure what would.
+ The British created this pretense of a "sale" of Kashmir. That is ridiculous ideas helped them get 0.75 Crore Nanakshahi Ruppees & get whole of Kashmir under a man whose loyalty they could trust.
+ Gulab Singh Dogra had brazenly looted the treasury of Lahore. Probably that is where he got the money to pay the 75 Lakh Rs.
+ The campaigns to occupy Laddakh, Tibet were those of the Lahore Kingdom, with Gulab Singh's Jammu dominion taking a lead role. Jammu itselft was a vassal state of Lahore. They were not Gulab Singh's campaigns alone. Jammu, as I have mentioned before, had been conquered by Ranjeet Singh quite early in hiis career & Gulab Singh was a General in his army; he granted the raja-ship to Gulab Singh. History books are keen on omitting the Sikh role in the Laddakh & Tibet wars.
+ Treaty of Amritsar, of 1949, gave J&K to Gulab Singh. Even after he got awarded the whole state---conquered by Ranjeet Singh from the Afghans, & adminsitered by the Lahore Kingdom---he could not take possession of it. Even to take possession of his "purchase" he had to seek the help of his British masters.
+ He & his subsequent dynasty was to be intensely loyal to the British. They had obtained the state of J&K without winning it, or inheriting it. They had obtained it by intrique, deceit & cunningness. In 1857 mutiny, J&K ruler pledged repeated loyalty to the British, providing troops & resouces to the British. Again, J&K was a British vassal state, it being an independent state was a myth.
+ The inaction & vacillations of Hari Singh Dogra in 1947 cost us dear. He flirted with the idea of Independence for far too long. He held out hopes that he could make J&K an independent nation, right as his kingdom was being overrun by the Afghan tribes. They took 1/3 of J&K right from under his nose due to his inpeptness. So much for the myth of independent nation of J&K.
+
Not safe in office/SHQ/GHQ.