Thursday, May 29, 2025

India Then and Now Part 1

Political Philosophy of India was on complete disarmament and world free from Nuclear  weapons.  Gandhian philosophy of nonviolence, mutual cooperation and truthfulness could not sustain immediately after the Great Theocentric divide and partition. The Violence and bloodshed that started with a new revived phase on 16 August 1946 continued with October attack on Kashmir by the newly born Pakistan. Soon the Chinese incursions set a new security concern. The Government led by Jawaharlal Nehru relied on friendship and deposed trust in the Chinese leadership under Chou en Lai that territorial violations would not escalate. India refused accept that china waged a war with India, instead treated the whole situation as an aggression.  However, much against the political notions, from the initial set backs, Indian Army mounted an assault on the invading Chinese contingents , forcing them to flee.  Eye witness narratives point towards  and the real data huge difference in the official data of casualties on Chinese side.  It was an unprecedented shock for the Chinese Communist Party, deciding to withdraw their positions which was evident from the response from the Chinese Government. " Beginning from December 1, the Chinese frontier guards will withdraw 20 kilo meters from the line of actual control as on November 7, 1959.". That was a new beginning and a matter of great psychological win fro the Indian Armed Forces. 

Today,  the ear on India has to be based on skepticism generated from  undisclosed Defense technological secrets that will  point to a   disaster of indefinite proportions  for any country.  The Country has just displayed the effectiveness  of integrating  indigenously developed systems  with imported ones to create an architecture that had proved its outstanding capabilities in Operation Sindoor. At the same time time immediately before the 1962 invasion of China, the Prime Minister of India showed his reliance to low quality Indian weaponry  than importing  the weapons from other countries that were useless for them. 

The change is visible. as one goes through the political outlook of India in 1962.  the  debates in the Parliament on Chinese incursions will provide a clear and concise picture, 

On  06 December   1961,  Braja Kishore Sinha called the attention of the Rajya Sabha on the Chinese incursions into the Indian Territory.

A sizeable area of our territories were lost from within a decade, starting with 12,000 square miles in 1956 that led to several changes in the international borders between 1959 and 1961. Attack on Assam Riles post in Lingju of Arunachal Bhutan Border.in 1950 was not taken up seriously.  Lingju was taken over by China and Assam riffles had to withdraw. For the First time, Guns sounded in the India China Border,

Nehru took the stand that the Lingju confrontation as a creation of those who stood for the liberation of Tibet. The Government of India had hidden the information from the people on the Chinese taking away 12000 square miles.

Barely an year before Chinese Communist forces launched a full scale attack deep inside NEFA, the  question raised by Pandit Hridyanathh Kurzu in November 1961 in on the area taken away by the Chinese, the Prime Minister holding the Ministry of External Affairs had stated that :

"The exact area is the area of the post. There is no other area. They sit on a post. Now the influence of that post round about is not occupation, but its influence. They do not occupy any other territory, actual occupation. It is just that post, whatever it may be, a few hundred yards or so, but actually a post has certain influence round about. How far round about depends upon many circumstances. It is not occupation; any other area is not occupied."

On the motion of  06 December961, a motion on the Chinese incursions Rajya Sabha the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru replied:.

“… So the point we have been considering is what has appeared in the course of the last year—that is a narrow issue—and if you like in that connection, what our broad policies are. I stated that what has happened in the course of the last year on the Chinese side was, so far as we knew, that three check-posts or military posts had been established. We cannot give the exact date, it is not possible. We can only say that it was not there on one day and later it was there on some other day when our reconnaissance party went there. Or, in other words, we got to know about it then. We heard about it in September—in the 'beginning or middle of September. And so, we mentioned these three posts—one, rather in the north, not far from the Karakoram and not far from an important post that we have— a long name, I forget it at the moment—and their post is on the Chipchop River about fifteen miles to east of our post and two posts in the southern region of northern Ladakh which we mentioned and which we said were round about the international frontier.”.

“….Now, one word about building of roads. An hon. Member has asked why they have built thousands of miles of roads on their side and we have not done so still. The broad answer to that question is that the terrain they have to pass through is far easier to build roads on than the terrain we have on our side. That is to say, there are broad plateaus, ups and downs. Road-making in Tibet, apart from the high mountains that come in, is merely pulling out trees and levelling and nothing else, no application of anything, because the moment it is levelled it is a road. Owing to extreme winter the ground is so hard that nothing more is done. We have ourselves built one airfield at least in these high regions in Ladakh which cost us at that time, I do not know, exactly Rs. 400. Practically nothing. It meant really sweeping the place and removing little boulders and stones and pulling out shrubs and it became an airfield, not a first class one but good enough for use. So that road-making on the other side has been a very much simpler undertaking. Then on our side we have to cross high mountain peaks, passes, up and down precipices. Hon. Members who have cared to see the photographs of some places— even the Himachal Pradesh roads that are being built— will realize the extremely hazardous nature of this road-making. That is one reason. I think we have proceeded fairly well with road making in these mountains. The real difficulty has been that we have to take everything—I mean every machine, every screw has to be taken by air and that led, naturally, to our trying to acquire bigger transport planes, big ones to carry these things. We did that and matters have been progressing fairly well and I can assure Dr. Kunzru that it is not in an attempt to save a few crores of rupees that we have allowed, or we are going to allow, this to suffer.”

” But there is another fact. Apart from any temporary affair, in any major conflict anywhere with any country, our first and basic defence is the industrial position we hold behind it, what we are producing—I am not talking about other things, of war material and the rest but everything—whether it is aircraft, whether it is guns, whether it is other things. That is the basic thing. If one does not have it, one depends on external sources which are not very reliable and not forthcoming at the time. It is better, I have always held—and that has been the opinion of some of  the highest military advisers that we get from abroad to advise us—it is better to have second class weapons which you produce yourself and have them in abundance than an improved weapon which you do not produce and which may be denied to you at the time of need and which may get out of order and you cannot put it right and then you are helpless. However, that is a matter of opinion”.

“Anyhow, the basic thing for defence is the Plans. All these Five Year Plans are basic for the defence of India. People seem to think that the Five Year Plans are something isolated from the defence of India. Some people in the other place said, "Oh, scrap the Five Year Plans and go in our defence" which showed how little understanding there is as to what is required for defence. All this is required— may be some odd thing or may not be—but whether we want an iron and steel factory, it is essential for defence. All that defence -wants is steel. So, in building up defence, in building up  the strength of India for protecting the security of India, building up this industrial apparatus is highly important. We may give a twist to the industrial apparatus so as to build more of defence. That is another matter. But essentially the things are common whether It is defence, or whether it is any kind of civil advance. So, as I said, in considering the position as it is, arising during the last year this has happened to the best of our know ledge and we consider it as a serious matter, not merely as an intention or intent but as something that has been done-“

"We have meanwhile also put up a number of posts, che»k-posts, military posts. It is not quite proper for me to give the exact locations of them except the one I have mentioned which is right near the Karakoram and which prevents any flanking movement fro« that side. The position is that, when people ask how -much territory they have taken over, committed aggression on—the Chinese —and vaguely they say ten thousand miles, fifteen thousand miles or two thousand miles, it is difficult to say that because it is not occupied in the ordinary sense of the word, although it is true that a certain influence is exercised over a certain territory by these check-posts, and one may say that where there is a succession of check-posts they are, in a sense, in possession of the territory behind them. That is so. On the other hand, there are some check-posts which are like a zigzag. They are check-posts and it cannot be said that they have occupied that territory. I do not wish to make much of the facts. It really does not make very much difference. The point is how much strength they have to control that place because occupation there is not occupation of territory where people live. They are just mountains and other things and in that sense I had said that it was not correct that the building up of one check-post in the north— there is one in the north really, the other is on the frontier—had given them a larger area under occupation, but it has given them a stronger position in that area. That is correct”.

Nehru Chose to spin the matters to another angle. His usual manner of exhibiting his vision on the global  security and safety:

“The major problem before us now is whether in the course of two, three, four or five years there is going to be a nuclear war or not. That is the big problem of a war which will destroy everything, which will affect every country, including India, even though we may not be joining any war. And so we have to see this problem in this context, because when we see it in that context, it does make a difference, what China can do to us and what we can do to China. In spite of some people thinking that we are isolated in the world—we may be isolated from the point of view of non-alignment and not being a party to some military alliance—there are other ways of contact, close contacts and close friendships. And apart from any such ways, there are reactions. Is it imaginable that a war between India and China will remain confined to these two countries? It will be a world war and nothing but a world  war. I am not saying that it need necessarily be a war between India and China. Other steps can be taken and may have some effect. But we have to think of every aspect, of every possible development and prepare for it, and avoid developments which may be very harmful not only to us but to the world.”

“…I hope, Sir, that the House will agree with this assertion of our position, that this aggression has taken place on our territory and we must do everything in our power to get that aggression vacated. We must try to use every diplomatic and all peaceful devices to that end, whatever they may be, that is to say, avoid war to that purpose, because war between India and China would be one of the major disasters of the world, for us and for the world, for it will mean world war. It will mean war which will be indefinite. We would not be able to limit it in time, because it will not be possible for China to defeat us and it will be impossible for us to march up to Peking across Tibet. These things are not done. Things function differently and for us to jump into such things would be the reverse of wisdom. If it is to be done, if it is forced upon us, it is a different matter. Therefore, we should be prepared and prepare as fast as we can and in the best way we can, keeping in view always the larger situation in the world and how it is developing and how that is affecting our own problems in India”

It requires no interpretation or commentaries. 

The long term planning to develop whole infrastructure  required for the defense industry and then entering into production of weaponry was the approach.  Situations of border areas did not change in  even by the 21st century. Yet the present government came out of the age old notions and went on to develop the border areas. The defense sector was freed from the old psyche of confining everything within the fold of government establishments. Private sector took entry and more indigenous investments in capital and ideas making an unprecedented line of combat efficiency abd self dense. 


Monday, May 19, 2025

JUGULAR VEIN & NORTH EAST

 Jugular Vein & the Northeast.

The Government should have switched into immediate action after terror operatives from Bangladesh were found to be involved in the Murshidabad Violence and destruction of National Properties.
Very soon, two loud calls came from the West and the East, both were repetition of of the demand of Jinnah in 1946 .
Pakistan Army Chief reiterated the Jugular Vein Theory and the Mohammed Yunus administration on Assam as proposed by Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
Some of Our mainstream media went on to the extent of mooting the idea that ' Lahore is the Jugular Vein of Pakistan '. No one either in the Ministries of External Affairs or I &B found it necessary to correct the facts.
India adopted a very bad practice that people should not be made aware of adverse movements and campaigns against India. Information and news were what New Delhi and state capitals send across. There was no reverse flow of information. Most news on clashes and conflicts, communal revolts instigated by the adversaries were suppressed or were made insignificant.
National integration is not talking sweet about the Political Government of New Delhi and appeasement of minorities. A reluctant Government for decades kept on meddling with the conflicts in the Northeast, waiting for it to die off a natural death.
Nehru knew it well that Jinnah had claimed all of Assam, including the Hill Areas. Bengali Dominance of Tripura was taken up as a ground for the Kingdom of Tripura to follow the suit of Hyderabad and Junagadh. Between 1920 and 1940 the migration from East Bengal crossed all limits and the intensity became so high to outnumber the Hindu population. Jinnah demanded that the tribes of Assam have no Religion. Together, with the Muslim population, the Hindus fall in minority. Jinnah had included in his Green Map the entire Northeast comprising of Manipur, Naga Hills, Mikir Hills, North Cachar, Khasi- Garo and Jaiantia Hills, Abor- Miri- Mishmi-Dibang valley, Lushai Hills and other areas of Balipara and Sibsagar Frontier tract areas, Gopinath Bordoloi cried before Gandhiji. It is said that his tears fell on Gandhiji’s feet that awakened his conscience, to take up the matters with Viceroy and to retain Assam and hill areas including Manipur Kingdom with India. However, the referendum on Sylhet is the most tragic development in the Eastern corridor. Except a total tally of votes no records were available in the Archives of Assam State or New Delhi. Chicken neck of Silguri is often draws national attention, however, the chicken neck of Karimganj the only strip connecting Tripura with Assam and the mainland is never discussed. Along with Sylhet, the Karimganj also was mapped out with East Pakistan. Again Bordoloi intervened and Nehru understood the situation. Yet, confusion prevailed in Karimganj on the 14th of August 1947, unfurling the Pakistan Flag. A clarification came from Delhi after three days and on 17th August Pakistan flag was brought down and the National flag of India was unfurled.
Transfer of Dehargram Angarpota enclaves and Berubari Union No.12 did not get much national attention. How far a national consensus could agree to abide by the 1958 Nehru-Noon Agreement following the 1971 Surrender treaty is not clear. Did Assam and West Bengal Assembles take up the matter in the aftermath of Surrender to India, in the wake of issues relating to large scale migration remaining unsettled? The Boundary Agreement between Mujib Ur Rahman and Indira Gandhi on 16th May 1974 should have been cancelled after the Military Coup on 15 August 1975, that too, on the Independence Day of India was not read as a straight message of Pro Pakistani Military vestiges in Bangladesh. Justice Abu Sayeed Choudhary was not an insignificant personality for Indira Gandhi to ignore. What he said exactly happened. Indira acted too fast. She was in a hurry, the cost of which India will have to pay in the near future.
Though Bangladesh has been liberated, West Pakistan continued to undermine India in the eastern theatre. Indira Gandhi had bartered Kashmir and Sikh Religious centres in Pakistan for the release of Sheikh Mujib ur Rahman. Military coup against the founding father of Bangladesh and his killing was a failure of the Neighborhood Intelligence Network and the hold over the affairs of the political Environment of the Indian Subcontinent
It is time for India to clear from the mess created by the ego of Nehru in the Northeast and Kashmir which was further infuriated by successive governments. Intelligence machinery works on a philosophy inculcated by mainstream India. Advice of Gen. Thimmayya who was then a Brigadier in the Eastern Command was not heard. The Region needs a strong political resolve and determination to come out of the conventional notions and standards set by the narratives of the illiterate, on the ground realities. More divisions and factions are created and the dangerous miscalculation that is likely to happen would become dear and costly for the country. Enough mistakes have been done. North Block has to differentiate between the phraseology of “Insurgency” that entered the British records following the East India Company operations after the Kuki Tribes captured the Chittagong port in 1777. With that of Political Unrest . Nearly 13000 square Km of Chittagong Hill Tracts belongs to the Kuki Chin Mizo Group that remained independent till the annexation by the British in 1860 and were granted special status in 1903. Kukis were brought to Cachar and were given arms and ammunition as barriers between Nagas and British Subjects. The same policy was adopted in Manipur as well. Exclusion of Kabaw Valley and CHT Areas Kuki-Zo groups and of Khyoungtha and the Toungtha Tribal areas in 1947 and 1974 were the political mistakes of India.
Kukis became organized as a political and armed force by 1980 with the formation of Kuki National Front and later Kuki National Army. It is not a secret that the Government of Manipur had funded them. If at all available now, the Receipts of the payment of Rs. One lac by Chief Minister of Manipur, Raj Kumar Dorendra Singh himself must be in the records along with another receipt for Two Lacs dated 02 August 1992. There were reports on a demand for Rs. 7 Cr. by the KNO for their self defence purposes. Today, it would be most unfortunate for the Government of India to treat Kukis or any armed group as terrorists in the Region.
The Tribes that enjoyed protection and security cannot be let to enter into Triangular Conflict with other tribes, Bangladesh forces and with the Indian Army.
The political solution is at the fingertips. It takes only two weeks of serious negotiations to resolve the issues of the Region and to achieve socio-political stability.
The compromises and settlements were made later between ZA Bhutto and Indira Gandhi for the release and to give a political leader for the newly formed Bangladesh. It was with this resolve and to strengthen the hands of Mujib ur Rahman that the 1974 border agreement was signed.
When Bangladesh falls under a civil unrest and eliminates everything that reminds of the founder of the Country Mujib ur Rahman, India has every right to rescind from all agreements and treaties and awards of Partition.
It all depends on the line that will be adopted by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet colleagues Amit Shah , Rajnath Singh andDr. S Jaisankar . A new turn of events in the Politics of Northeast will be a a determining factor in the political stability of the Indian Subcontinent and the South east Asia. It will silence the mouth of Pro Pakistan - Pro CCP proactive elements in the region to draw a new Political contours.
The mistake of creating an arms race with another splinter country of India would be too costly.

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

KASHMIR: BOUNDARIES

 Before Negotiating....


India should not fall into the grip of frivolous negotiations every time as and when Pakistan gets depleted of its fire power or cannot sustain a war for their own reasons.  Whenever such a situation arises, their trusted provider and ally US will step into their rescue.  Quite visibly, it would be a turn of events for the Whitehouse to settle their score with China and Soviet Union, now Russia. China has their huge investments including Nuclear reactors and power generation. Pakistan is their nuclear laboratory and India will not desist to freeze their repeated threatening of “Dirty Nuclear Bombs”.  US Presidents have downgraded their political cult to the extent to request the Soviets  to ensure that the Western Frontier remains unaffected in the 1971 War. How Yahya Khan mediated with Mao and Chou en Lai in the secret mission of Henry Kissinger.

For an average Indian citizen, this is the last opportunity for India to take back Illegally Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Deposing that trust and faith in Narendra Modi the entire people of the Country stands with him. It would be his own decision to suffer a few losses and save the country from the menace of  the  Revanchist  Ambitions of Pakistan.

The US is realizing that their potential ally in South East Asia and the Transit corridor to China will be  reduced to less than half,  inviting  a huge setback to their trade and commercial  and Strategic positioning in the region. They would be bent on to do anything and even  may reach an understanding  with Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping  and will enter into a political diplomacy  with New Delhi,

Whatever the situation may be, Narendra Modi  should stand firm and live up to the expectations of his countrymen.  The advisories and adversaries to the conflict or the escalation to a War, should look at the background of the whole issue. It is a decision on the stability and the economic growth of India.

India cannot afford to cling on to security conflicts and be a silent spectator of  an arms race in the region.  India has to emerge as a power to contain the region from the arms race and should ensure that the neighborhood does not become a dump yard of obsolete weaponry that would become an irritant and challenge later on. Towards this  South block and 7, LKM has to set the records straight, removing the debris of  Colonial improprieties and political oversight of  over six decades.

The British had to insulate Sino Russian transit from the eyes of the Transitory Government of India, basking in the nonviolence of Mahatma Gandhi. Resignation of the Congress Government of NWFP was the first success for Great Britain and their ally US for countering the advances of Soviets in the Eastern corridor. Mountbatten could do the task keeping Nehru within his ring, not even letting Sardar Patel or anyone to get ample time to realize the situation.  Administrative intervention of the British Government in the Reforms of Kashmir during Maharaja Pratap Singh, if looked meticulously, impairments  in the political history of India on account of  Anglo- Sino- Russian conflict would have been  visible to the political leaders of India. Again, this is an indicator that the British knew how to keep Indian leaders busy with their own internal conflicts. At the same time, the Muslim League was nurtured and given a free hand to keep the Western and Eastern Frontiers within their fold. India was to be meant only as  the mainland with Hindu Provinces disrupted with the green patches of Muslim dominated Circle Areas added to their religious State. The Poona Pact was in letter and spirit meant to disintegrate the Upper Caste Hindus from the Scheduled castes and tribes together with Muslim majority. The only threat to the British design was Subhash Chandra Bose who was with Stalin around the time. Clement Atlee had to whisper in the ears of  Mountbatten to keep Gilgit –Baltistan out of the Kashmir Maharaja and to reconsider the revocation of the lease. Mountbatten wisely took the matters out of New Delhi and shifted Kashmir Affairs to Lahore and Karachi. He had the right explanation that all communication lines were routed through Peshawar.

In the year 1928, the Chinese Chin-Shu-Jen administration of Sinkiang province started developing some serious apprehensions regarding its conventional enemy the British. The Chinese suspected that the British would capitalize on the Muslim discontent in Kashgar for their  ulterior motives  thereby dismantling the  authority of Peking. Expecting an invasion from the British side, in the year 1929, the Chinese government dispatched a contingent of 700 soldiers to the main Karakoram watershed up to the Yarkand and Karakash rivers. A permanent post was set up at Shahidulla, the same place just across the Karakoram pass where Maharaja Ranbir Singh had also stationed a garrison in the year 1864.  

In Hunza too the British felt their position being challenged. The Chief official of the Kashgar town Tao-yin Ma Shao Wu told the representatives of the Mir of Hunza that if Hunza men accepted themselves to be Chinese citizens, only then they would be allowed to cultivate their lands in Raskam. Shao Wu claimed that the Mir had no rights over the lands for any activity including cultivation or revenue.

These developments taking place in the Sinkiang province of China adjacent to the Northern Frontier made the British Government watchful regarding its security concerns. First, there was much evidence to suggest that there were disturbing contacts between Moscow and the Sinkiang Governor  Sheng Shit Ts’ai. Joseph  Stalin had  granted financial assistance to the Sinkiang Government in 1935. Soviets gained rights for oil and mineral exploration in Sinkiang, with the assurance for military support as and when Sinkiang Government needs. Sinkiang, as it became a protectorate of the Soviet Union, the British expected that the next  step would be the taking over of Turkistan.

By the middle of 1935, London realized that  Moscow  was in full control of Sinkiang. The British Empire of India feared the Soviet infiltration to spread communist ideals and literature that would threaten the position of Northern Ladakh. The British were facing issues with the control of Gilgit Baltistan with the take over of the reins of Kashmir by Hari Singh in 1926. Hari Singh had served Maharaja Pratap Singh as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and was of the view to make a change in the policy approach on Gilgit –Baltistan. The Young Maharaja asserted his position in the region and was moving ahead with his plans to merge the region with his Province of Jammu and Kashmir. He  raised objections to British Supremacy and ordered  the hoisting of the state flag along with the Union flag. He declared Gilgit Region as his territory. He went ahead further to abolish Gilgit as a British Agency .

This paid well for their future nuclear programme. Already the mainstream political leaders of India were aware of the encounter of the Russian military during the expedition of Captain Younghusband.  The political leadership in India could not question the British Indian Government as they stopped Maharaja Ranbir Singh  of Kashmir from his expeditions to China.  Ranbir Singh saw the future conflicts that his kingdom will face with the British Policy allowing China to take over Karakonam Ranges forming a frontier between India and Russia. The new policy was not in tally with the 1759 demarcation of India China border with the Qianlong contingent after their conquest of Turkestan.

 

 The Kashmir ruler was confronted with the security concerns after the Russians  seized    over a large part of Kashmir along with  the  Pamir ranges of the Chinese border and Tijik Region of Afghanistan. Russian advances were put to hold in 1891, with the use of force by the British. This military action decided the borders of India with Afghanistan – Russia and China.  Chitral, Nagar and Hunza became a part of British India. In 1938, Soviets closed Khunera Mountain Pass.  Ladakh Region became disconnected from Sinkiang and thus the trade route through Karakoram pass also became cut off.

Negotiations with Pakistan on POK  should be based on the  boundaries of  the Gilgit Agency  as in the   ‘ Military report of 1909  on the  Gilgit Agency  and the Independent territories of  Tangir and Darel:- 

“On the north is the Hindu Kush, separating Ishkuman and Yasin from Wakhan, and on the north east in continuation of the Hindu Kush are-the Mustagh mountains, which divide Hunza and Nagir from the Chinese New Dominions. On the east lies the Skardu District of Kashmir. On the west is the Shandur Range which divides the Gilgit Agency from the Chitral Districts of Dir and Swat. The southern boundaries are the Burzil Pass on the east, separating the Astor Tahsil of Gilgit from Kashmir, and the ‘ Babusar Pass, by which communication with the Punjab is maintained arid the Kaghan Valley, while in the Indus Valley the boundary is coterminous with that of Northern Kohistan, Kandia and Dir.”

The exact boundary line may be thus traced :

“Starting from the Palesar Pass on the west, it runs in a northwesterly direction from the Dadrel Pass to the Shandur Pass, following the range of that name to its junction with the Hindu Kush, east of the source of the Yarkhun River. From here it follows the crest of the Hindu Kush to a point about five miles south-west of the Kilik Pass ; from this point it turns north-west past the Wakhjir Pass and then, circling round the western vend of the Taghdumbash Pamir, follows the northern watershed of the latter till it reaches the Peak Povalo' Shveikovski, the meeting point of Afghanistan with the three empires of India, Russia and China. Leaving Peak Povalo Shveikovski the line descends in a south-easterly direction to the bed of the Karachukar stream, crossing which near Mintaka Aksai it continues in the same direction till it gains the crest of the Mustagh Range at a point about seven miles east of the Karachenai Pass. It then follows this crest-line east and south-east to a point some six miles south-west of the Oprang Pass ; here the watershed is left abruptly and the line runs due east-for about five miles and then south-east till it strikes the Mustagh, or Oprang, River at Kuram Jilga ; it then follows the course of this river to a point some five miles above the junc tion of the stream from the Shingshal Pass when ascending the nearest high spur to the west it regains the crest of the Mustagh Range about 25 miles south-south-east of the Shing shal Pass. From the point where the line first touches the crest of the Hindu Kush, east of the source of the Yarkhun River, to Povalo Shveikovski‘the boundary of the Gilgit Agency thus coincides with the Indo-Afghan frontier, while from Peak Povalo Shveikovski onwards it is identical with the Indo-Chinese frontier up to the point where it regains the crest of the Mus tagh Range south-south-east of the Shingshal Pass. Here it leaves the Indo-Chinese frontier and turns south and west along the border of Baltistan to Hispar, south to Barungdoi on the Indus, following the course of that river to Bunji, south to the Burzil and Kamri Passes, and north old the Kamri Dara to its junction with the Rupal River. Thence it runs west to the Babusar and Zure Passes, north to the Pushkari Pass, west to Jalkot in Kohistan, north along the watershed to the Lahtar River, west by the undefined northern boundary of the Kandia Valley, and finally links up m'd the Paloga Pass with the Palesar Pass.”

The Parliament of  United Kingdom had adopted a motion that asserts the Position of Kashmir King, "Gilgit-Baltistan is a legal and constitutional part of the state of Jammu & Kashmir, India, which is illegally occupied by Pakistan since 1947, and where people are denied their fundamental rights including the right of freedom of expression". Despite all the legal and territorial rights of India over the region, Pakistan went ahead with the illegal construction of China Pakistan Economic Corridor, This move was also decried by the UK Parliament. New Delhi kept cold feet towards the actions of Pakistan. With the Act of 1970 Promulgated by Yahya Khan, the Karachi Agreement of 1948 has become a dead document.

 The demand of the Government of the POK to return the Gilgit Baltistan Areas was ignored by the Pakistan Government. The verdict of the Supreme Court of Pakistan  was also turned down by the military regime.  The Assembly of POK passed a resolution in 1972 to return the Northern areas comprising Gilgit Baltistan. To overcome this, a Presidential order was issued by mid-1972,that  abolished the hereditary laws of Jagirdari in the Region and created  Administrative Districts under Deputy Commissioners. This totally changed the situation and State Subject law promulgated by the Maharaja of Kashmir was removed.

The right of the indigenous People over the land was removed and the natural resources became nationalized. This led to large scale migrations from elsewhere.  India, after the 1971 War had seemingly lost showing any interest in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, This gave enough fuel from ZA Bhutto to enact Northern Areas Legal Framework Order bringing the region under Penal Code of Pakistan.  Further Bhutto abolished the Northern Areas Advisory Council and constituted the Northern Area Council without any legislative and executive Powers. The confidence of Pakistan over asserting the control of POK was growing high.    Gen. Zial ul Haq went a step ahead categorizing the Region under martial law Zone E, and brought it under the control of Pakistan as a natural  part of Pakistan. Zia lifted the colour of the disputed zone. He was a strong advocate of Deobandi School and implemented Sipah e Sabha Pakistan in the region. 

 However, India showed no sign of support to the demand to treat POK as a part of Jammu and Kashmir placed by   Azad Muslim Conference, Azad Kashmir’s Peoples party, All J&K Muslim Conference and  J K Mahaze Rai Shumari. Instead of listening to their demand, Pakistan went ahead with the formation of the Northern Areas Legislative Council in 1998.

How the Present Government  and the Ministry of External Affairs would formulate the organisation structure of Gilgit-Baltistan -NWP region is to be seen. Pakistan would be losing some of their key mining and prospective Areas , it would be a tough line of approach for India.