Wars happen once in decades; Narratives are churned out everyday

 True history! Is there anything even close to the twosome that, to many keen observers, comes across more like an oxymoron than anything else? Can history ever be true? Historical events, in isolation, will always be simple facts but then comes in the power of the pen (and now, the keyboards). Recorders of such events have been influencing the chronicling of such events since time immemorial. Logging of historical events, therefore, has always been prone to manipulations and manoeuvrings. Reasons varying from sheer loyalty to the benefactors to the fear of falling in favour to apprehensions and biases of various kinds have ensured that the writers and recorders of history are seldom free of influences. Most of the original recorders of the historical events, thus, happen to be influencers of some sort.

While the human limitations are well-understood and are taken in the spirit of the game, what upsets many observers is another category of influencers who try and subvert or support a particular historical event in such a way that the truth becomes the first casualty. Such intellectuals, as they like to refer to themselves as, are nowhere associated with the original history or its events in terms of time and space. They, however, excel in twisting the facts as per their agenda and ideology. And then they won’t stop there. Invariably, such twists don’t happen in isolation; there is machinery behind the effort and when many more start singing the same song and join the chorus, the fiction tends to appear like a fact. With the passage of time, repeated rubbing in leads to the formation of a belief among the common masses. History gets polluted and stands subverted in the process.

The ongoing week holds a special significance for us, the natives of J&K. Way back in 1947, it was during this week, with effect from 22 October 1947 to be specific, that well-established international protocol of respecting the sovereignty of an independent nation was shamelessly violated by Jinnah’s army. The fact that fair-skinned Britishers had a big role to play in the game, is well-known too.  A detailed scrutiny of the events that happened thereafter, leaves no doubts about the sequence of events that had followed between the invasion of the Valley (the State, per se, had been invaded on the night of 08/09 October 1947 in the area of Owen Pattan in Poonch) and landing of first troops of the Indian Army on 27 October 1947 as also  subsequent actions leading to the eviction of invaders from the Valley on 13 November 1947. The bravery of State forces despite treachery amidst its ranks and files as also the courageous attempts by the civilians hailing from border belt in and around Muzaffarabad, Poonch, Mirpur, Kotli, Bhimbar and all along the international boundary in Jammu area, then scripted a history that, unfortunately, stands ignored if not forgotten by many.

Instead, some loaded accounts are now being pushed by many so-called intellectuals to throw up a new and an absolutely untrue version of the history of those days. Clever as ever, instead of countering the facts, such influencers are now intentionally mixing up the timelines to prove a point. To cite an example, instead of countering the well-recorded heroism of the State forces (now JAK Rifles regiment of the Indian Army), such quarters are throwing up stories of valour of militia bodies (now JAK Light Infantry regiment of the Indian Army) but again without falsifying the acts per se. Where they are playing the game is by switching the timelines. Erstwhile militia units (now JAK LI) did play a major role during the conflict but that had happened at a later stage. Constituted by local commanders at various places across the State a starting a few months after the invasion, such bodies of volunteers were later converted into militia units and then absorbed into Indian Army in 1970s. While their nerve and intrepidness remain beyond the doubt, they didn’t exist when the invaders had come in, threatening the very existence of the State itself in October 1947. By telling the unsuspecting audience that it was militia that, all by itself, had thrown the invaders out, the influencers are not only trying to undermine the valour of State forces (largely Dogra non-Muslims since desertion had already happened) but also drive a wedge between two regiments. Both JAK Rifles (with associated Ladakh Scouts) and JAK Light Infantry have troops from all parts of the erstwhile J&K State. An attempt is being made to associate JAK Light Infantry solely to Kashmir. Just because the training centre of JAK Light Infantry happens to be located in Srinagar, the narrative gets acceptance by credulous masses. How harmful such an attempt could be, needs no degree in rocket science to understand!

During recent days, a young Kashmiri lad, Maqbool Sherwani’s name has started doing rounds both in the media as well as official circles. All of 19, the boy had done his bit by misleading the invaders in Baramulla and by trying to ensure communal amity during those days within a close circle of his acquaintances. However, before he could do that, Baramulla had already fallen to the invaders. Soon, his bluff was called and he was mercilessly crucified by the invaders. His act, though not too consequential in overall scheme of things, was duly acknowledged by the Indian Army and a hall was erected in his memory at Baramulla. However, as per the latest attempts being made by the intellectuals of various hues (remember, they work in packs!), Maqbool Sherwani is being made out to be the sole saviour of Kashmir! The gallantry of Brigadier Rajendra Singh and his band of selfless men who had kept the enemy at bay for four days between Garhi (to the West of Uri) and Diwan Mandir (at the outskirts of Baramulla), however, has simply been shelved. No sane mind would ever accept such a twisted narrative but sanity, like common sense, left many of us many epochs ago. When a colourfully written epitaph is cited to change the discourse and audience tends to believe such a narrative, sanity dies but without making any noise.

As narrated by many first-hand witnesses, the chaos and confusion were so high during the initial days that no one actually knew what had been happening. Even when the first army unit landed at Srinagar airfield on 27 October, the Commanding Officer had no exact idea about the numbers and disposition of the enemy. The first aircraft had to make a circle over the airfield just to ensure its safety before landing. Such a state of fog continued for many days as Indian Army fought its way through the territory to the West of Srinagar during the days to follow. It is, however, also a fact that once the news and rumours about invaders’ atrocities in Muzaffarabad, Uri and Baramulla had reached Srinagar, many civilian volunteers had come forward to create a civil defence force. Most of them had only sticks and clubs to fight the invaders. Slowly, many ladies too came out and trained themselves in one way or the other. However, no one of the two groups of men and ladies had any role or contact with the enemy during the initial days. While Women Defence Corps became a great subject of photography during the months that followed, the group’s contribution remained confined to looking after refugees and related activities. While their guts, determination and service to destitute may not be taken away, the fact remains that no opportunity was ever afforded to them to showcase their battlefield prowess.

National Conference, with its roots in highly communalised Muslim Conference, had its volunteers spread across the Valley during those days. While they acted as eyes and ears of Indian troops, they also played a big role in ensuring the amity amongst the masses. Most of them, however, were Kashmiri Pandits. While brushing aside their profile, an attempt had repeatedly been made to showcase the secular character of the group. While NC’s secular credentials (despite Sheikh Abdullah’s own origin in a non-secular set up called Muslim Conference) during the conflict remain overboard, Sheikh carried on with his separatist agenda even during those crucial days. In the first week of November 1947, as the enemy had been converging on to the city and as one single brigade of Indian Army had been consolidating their positions around the city and the airfield for close protection and a last ditch battle, an NC member had been shot dead by an Indian soldier on duty when the former had tried to run away when challenged by the sentry in the middle of the night. Though the act was without any malice, Sheikh Abdullah organised a huge demonstration and used his links with Pandit Nehru to make sure that the concerned subunit was moved out of that locality. The enemy had attempted to storm the airfield only a few hours back and Major Somnath and his men from 4 KUMAON had made the supreme sacrifice while defending the lifeline of the city. The enemy was now within less than ten km from the city at that time. And amidst such a crucial situation, Sheikh had the gumption to organise the demonstration! The thin line between being a nationalist and being a sub-nationalist, however, has repeatedly been blurred through the efforts of many intellectuals and historians. A few things, despite the falsity involved, simply don’t change.

Reverting back to Maqbool Sherwani who, incidentally, got his share of fame and recognition, there were numerous unsung heroes who did their bit when it mattered the most. No epitaphs were ever written in their honour nor anyone ever bothered to speak about them. Many gurudwaras, for example, saw heroic fights and honourable deaths. There were others like Porter Ismail (awarded Maha Vir Chakra) and Porter Zuma Mohd (awarded Vir Chakra) who were given due recognition but later forgotten. The list of other braves simply doesn’t exist. And then seven decades later, when the name of one single person is propped up as the sole saviour of Kashmir or when a particular group (non-existent at that time) is given the credit of stopping invaders in their track, the bells begin to ring. Politics has always played its part in the recording and reproduction of history. A corrupted record may or may not do big damage due to its vintage but a twisted narrative claiming to be a version of a piece of history, however, does as much harm as is done by a piece of fake news being circulated.

Being a student of history, I only wish and pray that some good sense prevails and that such politicisation of history is not encouraged. Regardless of the status and level at which such distortion happens, it is the history that suffers in the end.  

 

 (Writer is a military veteran and a founder member of Military History Research Society of India)