Before independence...
•16 March 1846: Jammu and Kashmir (princely state) was created with the signing of the Second Treaty of Amritsar between the British East India company and Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu. It was an addendum to the Treaty of Lahore, signed one week earlier, which gave the terms of surrender of the Sikh Darbar at Lahore to the British. The Sikhs could not pay part of the demand made by the British; Gulab Singh paid Rs 7,500,000 on their behalf, and in return received Kashmir Valley, part of the Sikh territories, to add to Jammu and Ladakh already under his rule. Gulab Singh accepted overall British sovereignty.Kashmir Valley was a Muslim-majority region speaking the Kashmiri language and had a distinct culture called Kashmiriyat.
•1931: The movement against the repressive Maharaja Hari Singh began and was brutally suppressed by the State forces. Hari Singh was part of a Hindu Dogra dynasty which ruled over a majority Muslim State. The predominantly Muslim population was kept poor, illiterate and inadequately represented in the State's services.
•April 1932: The Glancy Commission appointed by the Maharaja recommended the establishment of a legislative assembly, called the Praja Sabha. It would have 75 members, with 15 official representatives, 33 elected representatives and the remaining seats held by the Maharaja's nominees. Of the 33 elected seats, 21 would be reserved for Muslims, 10 for Hindus and 2 for Sikhs. The Maharaja accepted these recommendations but delayed implementation, leading to protests in 1934. The Maharaja granted a constitution providing a legislative assembly for the people, but it was powerless.
•June 1932: The All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference was founded by Sheikh Abdullah in collaboration with Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas to fight for the rights of the State's Muslims.
•September 1934: The first elections for the Praja Sabha (the state's legislative assembly) were held. The Muslim Conference won 14 of the 21 seats reserved for Muslims. Soon afterwards, the younger leaders of the Muslim Conference pled for broadening the party to include all the people of the state.
•May 1938: The second election for the state's Legislative Assembly was held. The Muslim Conference won all 19 contested seats. Two independent candidates that won were said to have joined the Muslim Conference afterwards.
•June 1939: Under Sheikh Abdullah's leadership, the Muslim Conference changed its name to National Conference and opened membership to people of all religions. At the same time, the National Conference joined the All India States Peoples Conference, a Congress-allied group of movements in princely states.
•23 March 1940: The Pakistan Resolution was passed at Iqbal Park, Lahore. The resolution demanded the establishment of an independent state comprising all regions with Muslim majorities. The letter "K" in the name "Pakistan" represented Kashmir.
•1941: 71,667 Kashmiris joined the British Indian Army for World War II; seven-eighths of them were Muslim, mainly from the Poonch-Mirpur area.
•April 1944: Sheikh Abdullah proposed a Naya Kashmir (New Kashmir) programme to the Maharaja, calling for a constitutional monarchy. Mohammad Ali Jinnah visited Kashmir during the summer, supporting the Muslim Conference in preference to the National Conference.
•May 1946: Sheikh Abdullah launched the Quit Kashmir movement against the Maharaja; he was arrested and charged with sedition. Jawaharlal Nehru attempted to go to Kashmir to defend Abdullah in court but was arrested and forced to leave the State.
•June 1946: Representatives of the Muslim Conference met Jinnah in Karachi and were told to capitalise on the failure of Sheikh Abdullah to unseat the Maharaja.
•July 1946: The Muslim Conference complained that Prime Minister Ram Chandra Kak was oppressing Muslims. The Maharaja declared that Kashmiris would decide their own destiny without outside interference.
•October 1946: The Muslim Conference launched a "Campaign of Action" demanding the end of autocratic rule by the Maharaja. Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas was imprisoned.
•November 1946: The British Resident in Kashmir observed that the Maharaja and Prime Minister Ram Chandra Kak intended to stay away from the Indian Union (the proposed independent Dominion, prior to the partition decision). The reason cited was "antagonism... displayed by a Congress Central Government" towards Kashmir.
•December 1946: The British Resident reported that the "new leaders" of the Muslim Conference, Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas and Agha Shaukat Ali, were stirring anti-Hindu sentiments in the guise of Muslim unity.
•January 1947: Elections were held for the State's legislative assembly. The National Conference boycotted the elections, and the Muslim Conference won 16 of the 21 Muslim seats.
•2 March 1947: Khizar Hayat Khan Tiwana resigned as the premier of Punjab. Within a week, communal fires were set ablaze in Multan, Rawalpindi, Amritsar and Lahore, spreading to Campbellpur, Murree, Taxila and Attock.
•March 1947: Reuters reported that Kashmir had reinforced its troops along the Kashmir–Punjab border to ensure that the communal violence of Punjab did not spill into Kashmir. The border was virtually sealed.
•March 1947: The British Resident reported that the Pir of Manki Sharif, a Muslim League leader in the North-West Frontier Province, had sent agents to Kashmir to prepare the people for a "holy crusade".
•March 1947: Lord Mountbatten arrived in India as the last Viceroy of India, amidst country-wide communal riots. The Unionistgovernment of Punjab collapsed.
•April 1947: Hindus and Sikhs of Sialkot fled to Jammu in the face of increasing tensions. The exodus increased in June and continued until August.
•21 April 1947: The Maharaja was met by a gathering of 40,000 demobilised soldiers in Rawalakot. He was "specially impressed and alarmed", according to Azad Kashmir sources.
•1 May 1947: The Maharani of Jammu and Kashmir along with Yuvraj Karan Singhinitiated discussions with Justice Mehr Chand Mahajan, a judge of the Punjab High Court with connections to the Indian National Congress, to come in as the Prime Minister of Kashmir. Mahajan showed reluctance.
•3 June 1947: Mountbatten proposed the partition plan to divide British India into independent dominions of India and Pakistan.
•13 June 1947: At the Joint Defence Council meeting, Jinnah and Nehru disagreed on the accession of princely states, Jinnah asserting that it was for the rulers to decide and Nehru insisting that it was for the people.
•19 June 1947: Lord Mountbatten visited Kashmir for 5 days to persuade the Maharaja to accede to India or Pakistan. The Maharaja showed reluctance.
•June 1947: Poonchis started a 'No Tax' campaign against the Maharaja's administration.
•June 1947: The Maharaja met with Punjab businessman Rai Bahadur Gopal Das and expressed fears of ill-treatment at the hands of Congressmen. Gopal Das relayed this to Vallabhbhai Patel.
•July 1947: The Maharaja forced the disarming of demobilised soldiers in Poonch and Mirpur. Muslims complained that the arms they deposited with the police were distributed to Hindus and Sikhs for self-defence.
•3 July 1947: Vallabhbhai Patel wrote to the Maharaja to allay his fears of ill-will from the Indian National Congress. Patel encouraged him to visit Delhi for discussions. The receipt of the letter was followed by detailed discussions between the Maharaja and Gopal Das. By 14 July, the Maharaja is reported to have decided on declaring general amnesty to all political prisoners and dismissing the Prime Minister Ram Chandra Kak.
•11 July 1947: Muhammad Ali Jinnah declared that if Kashmir opted for independence, Pakistan would have friendly relations with it. Liaquat Ali Khan endorsed this position.
•19 July 1947: At a convention of the Muslim Conference in Srinagar, followers of Acting President Choudhry Hamidullah supported independence for the state, and those of Mirwaiz Yousuf Shah supported accession to Pakistan. The eventual compromise resolution requested the Maharaja to declare the "internal autonomy" of the state and accede to Pakistan for defence, foreign affairs and communications. Jinnah's personal secretary K. H. Khurshid assured the Maharaja that Pakistan would not "take away an iota of his power".
•23 July 1947: State's Prime Minister Ram Chandra Kak visited Delhi for 5 days, meeting Mountbatten and the political leaders of Congress and Muslim League. He explained that the State had decided not to accede to either Dominion.
•1 August 1947: Mahatma Gandhi visited the Maharaja and impressed upon him the need to be prompt in deciding on the State's accession based on the people's wishes. In discussions with Ram Chandra Kak, Gandhi pointed out Kak's lack of popularity among the people and Kak offered to resign.
•1 August 1947: The Gilgit Agency was transferred by the British to the Maharaja. British Political Agent Colonel Roger Bacon handed over power to Major Ghansara Singh, the appointed Governor of Gilgit. Major William Brown was appointed the commander of Gilgit Scouts.
•11 August 1947: The Maharaja dismissed Prime Minister Ram Chandra Kak and replaced him with retired Major Janak Singh. A second invitation was made to Justice Mahajan to become Prime Minister. Due to floods and partition violence, the message reached him on 25 August.
•11 – 13 August 1947: Partition violence erupted in Sialkot, and drove the surviving Hindus and Sikhs to Jammu.
•14 – 15 August 1947: Independence and Partition of British Indiainto India and Pakistan. Kashmir signed the Standstill Agreement with Pakistan. India requested further discussions for a Standstill agreement.
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