ABSTRACT
The princely state of Kashmir posed a distinct problem. It had a Muslim majority and a Hindu ruler. On the eve of Independence, Lord Mountbatten decreed that the princely states, which were otherwise nominally independent, but had accepted the prerogatives of the Crown to determine their policies in matters such as defence, foreign affairs, etc., had the choice to join India or Pakistan. However, Subroto Roy in his article ‘Solving Kashmir’, points out that originally ‘Jammu and Kashmir existed as an entity in international law long before the present Republics of India and Pakistan ever did’. Though both India and Pakistan sought different reasons to incorporate Kashmir within their political dominions, the Hindu monarch, Maharaja Hari Singh, had refused to accede to either of the two dominions. Kashmir became a local and temporary sovereign till 22 October 1947.
