Uninvited visitors

BBC correspondent Andrew Whitehead’s rivetting book, A Mission in Kashmir provides a ringside view of a period that is critical to our understanding of the India-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir.To be more precise, the book focuses on events that occurred on one date:
27 October, 1947. It was on that day that three events that would be heatedly debated in the decades to follow occurred: Lord Mountbatten’s acceptance of Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India, the Indian airlift of troops to Srinagar and the ransacking of the Saint Joseph’s convent and hospital in Baramulla by Pathan tribesmen from Pakistan.
The book begins with the tribal attack on the Catholic mission at Baramulla. He reconstructs events through the diary of Father Shanks, a priest in the mission;
conversations with some of the survivors of the massacre at the mission, including Sister Emilia, an Italian nun and Tom Dykes, the five-year old son of a British officer and his wife who were gunned down there.

The accounts provide vivid details of the savagery of the tribal invaders, the utter ruthlessness with which they treated the local population, whether Hindu, Christian or Muslim. It gives the reader insights into why Kashmiri locals — even those who were pro-Pakistan — in some parts of the state welcomed the Indian troops after the tribal invasion.

The anecdotes the witnesses describe also provide valuable nuggets of information about the nature of the invasion. Alongside the brutality that was unleashed on them, Sister Emilia recalls the acts of kindness as well and draws attention to the fact that the person who saved her and other nuns from being killed was a Pakistani army officer the nuns had once taught. This clearly reveals that the tribal invasion was under the command of the Pakistani army.

One of the most hotly debated events relating to the Kashmir dispute is when Kashmir’s accession to India happened. Whitehead examines various books — some written by the main actors in the drama — that address this issue. He raises doubts over the official Indian version of the time of the accession, pointing out that the account by V P Menon, the Indian civil servant who secured Maharaja Hari Singh’s signature on the accession document, “is misleading.”

Thus while A Mission in Kashmir reaffirms India’s long-held position that the tribal invasion was backed by the Pakistan army, it disputes India’s claim that the accession happened a day before the airlift.

 The book is meticulously researched and written in an extremely engaging style. As interesting as the information it provides is the way in which the author went about locating those who experienced the events on October 27, 1947.  There is some repetition of details and this makes sections of the book a bit tedious to read. However, this repetition is because the author confirms details by drawing on interviews/writings of different people. 

Most books on Kashmir describe the India-Pakistan dispute as one over territory or of competing nationalisms, forgetting the human tragedy involved. A Mission in Kashmir puts people squarely at the heart of the narrative. And this is what makes the book such a compelling reading.