Empire, Accession and Jammu & Kashmir: Reading Krishan Dev Sethi in 1953

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Krishen Dev Sethi

Krishen Dev Sethi 

Krishan Dev Sethi was born to a Brahmin family in Mirpur in 1928. Sethi was not only a well known leader in Jammu, where he resided but also very popular across the LOC in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. He was an ardent supporter of an independent Kashmir and fought for independence since the 1950s.

Sethi was the general secretary of the Democratic Conference in Jammu & Kashmir.

He was the last surviving member of the Jammu & Kashmir Constituent Assembly the body that drafted J&K’s constitution.

He died in 2021 and his death marked an end of an era.

In a speech was given by him after arrest of Sheikh Abdullah in 1953 and the formation of Bakshi government. Sethi attempted to explain why Kashmir had become the focus of so much international attention.

The speech starts with Sethi warning for if the change in govt had not taken place J&K would have become another Korea(he was referring to korean war as how it ended with ceasefire and not with a peace treaty, so for present context and better understanding compare new politics of separate Jammu state/Kashmir State)

According to Sethi, the story did not begin in 1947.

He argued that Jammu & Kashmir became strategically important during the 19th-century "Great Game" between the British Empire and Tsarist Russia.

Prince of Wales at Jammu, Cashmere 1876


He tells How J&K became a playground for two superpower of that time, especially the British Empire and the Tzar of Russia, british wanted to control Kashmir as for how Tzar was increasing its presence in Central asia, it was was for that purpose british intervened with the Kings Court of HRH Maharaja Pratap Singh in 1890.

He then tells about the freedom movement in J&K state that was highly influenced by Indian national movement after the british intervention. The then Kashmir Govt used Hindu-Muslim division like they used in India to supress the freedom movement in the state using young educated men, Later Gilgit was annexed by British, The imperialist govt was gaining more power in state despite the movements.

By the time Hari Singh became King India was partitioned, The members(British) wanted Kashmir to remain independent so that they could get a foot-hold in it for some military purpose(why? bcuz british still was not ready to leave a strategic region like J&K b/w Republic of China and growing tzar just think of it like they wanted a landlock colony or more or like buffer region in 20th century).

Sethi claimed that British intervention in the affairs of the princely state, including increasing involvement during the reign of Maharaja Pratap Singh and later developments in Gilgit, was driven primarily by imperial security concerns rather than the interests of the people of the State.

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