ABSTRACT
Both Nehru and Jinnah5 well knew that the Princely States like Jammu and Kashmir would be independent and sovereign entities on the termination of British Paramountcy and that they were free to decide to join India or Pakistan or remain independent. It is generally accepted that the falterings of Sir Hari Singh, the Maharaja of Kashmir, abruptly came to an end by the invasion of desperados and groups of the newly-formed Pakistan Army, some posing as volunteers, and that such soldiers wearing plain clothes, but equipped with modem arms, and lashkars (bands of tribesmen) were allowed to infiltrate into Kashmirterritory raiding, burning and looting parts of the border area from Gurdaspur up to Gilgit, threatening invasion which had actually begun in Poonch, then spread to Sialkot and finally to Hazara. The Indian version, substantiated by General Akbar Khan in his book, was that this infiltration was planned and actively carried out by the Government of Pakistan, that the latter let loose the tribal people on Kashmir holding outto these newly-acquired poor citizens the alluring promise ofland and plenty there, and also to kill the Pathanistan movement, thereby securing its own safety in an expanded Muslim society.6 Major General Akbar Khan was the officer charged with the responsibility of organizing the raids.
