Lalit Shastri

Ved Bhasin’s narrative of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 is twisted and warped like that of a communist. What Bhasin, a recognised National Conference worker and loyalist, has narrated is obviously with a motive and purpose. He projected that he was narrating history but I have no hesitation in saying that he has only tried to fool the gullible. If he was sincere to his narrative, he should not have spoken with blinkers on. His take off point is 1947 and the Mountbatten Plan….Bhasin has deliberately shut his eyes to the havoc the Muslims from as far as Peshawar and Lohare were wrecking in Jammu region way back in the 30s. And what about the torture and genocide leading to mass conversion of Hindus over the Centuries in Kashmir. What about the targeted killings by the terrorists and jihadis in 1990….. My exclusive research on Kashmir of pre-Independence period tells how the foundation for the Kashmir crisis was laid much before independence. Majlis e Ahrar was fomenting trouble, loot and violence in Jammu region by sneaking in volunteers from Punjab. And this was happening in 1932. Ahrars and Congress party obviously were hand in glove. This gets amply exposed by this official British noting:

“The Ahrar newspaper of Lahore seems to me to involve a complete misapprehension of the situation. *The article is just of that type to which Congress propaganda has made us accustomed for while paying “lip service” (the tiresome phrase beloved of Indian politicians) to non violence*, it expresses doubt whether Muslims in Jammu have been guilty of violence and is at pains to explain the provocation to violence which the Ahrar Party profess to believe” – Excerpt from a letter regarding an Ahrar newspaper article which the British Resident in Kashmir wrote to Sir Charles Watson, Political Secretary to Government of India, in the Foreign and Political Department, New Delhi with a copy to Garbett, Chief Secretary, Punjab, Lahore.
On 12 Feb 1932.

Maj Gen Goverdhan Singh Jamwal, author of “Valour and Betrayal” has questioned and rubbished Ved Bhasin’s narrative by stating that he is absolutely wrong. Gen Jamwal has said: “Our  battalions were mixed and there were Muslim officers in non-Muslim Battalions and Maharaja Hari Singh himself did not believe in segregating his soldiers on the basis of religion. He did not order Colonel Narayan Singh to replace his Muslim company posted at the most strategic area that controlled the only bridge on river kishanganga where they attacked and killed their all Hindu and Sikh Comrades on 21st October 1947 night.Before that Dogra Muslim soldiers of 2 J&K infantry had killed all The Gorkha Comrades at Tharochi Fort in Jammu sector. Ved Bhasin or those from the Media or the so icalled  intellectuals also do not talk of them.”

“Dogra Muslim soldiers  killed their Hindu, Sikh and Gorkha Comrades at night or by day by deceit. Have Ved Bhasin or his like ever talked about it. Fact is not a single Muslim was killed by the Hindu and Sikh soldiers throughout the war where as almost all the Muslim soldiers defected to form the so called Azad Kashmir force on the pattern of Azad Hind Fauj and some of the Muslim officers of Subhash Chandra Bose’s Azad Hind Fauj trained and commanded them.  A book can be written on their treacheries and also on their supporters in India like Ved Bhasin and others like him. Let them talk to me.  This is why I was very keen to write about it when no one else did it.  This and much more is mentioned in my book Valour and Betrayal“.