Asoka founded the most powerful secret society on earth: that of the Nine Unknown Men. What can have been the aim of these men?
External Borders
The day before India's independence the country
was partitioned and Pakistan was created on both sides of India. In west was
West Pakistan and in the east was East Pakistan, now an independent state called
Bangladesh.
During the independence period India was not quiet socially. All around India
there were bloody riots between the Hindus and the Muslims, while the
Sikhs were siding with the Hindus. Two regions which suffered the most from
these riots were Punjab in the north and Bengal in the east. Some of Punjab and
Bengal remained in India, while the other parts became Pakistan. Passages
between India and Pakistan in these regions were also the main passages through
which millions of Indians moved from one side to other. Hindus and Sikhs moved
to India and Muslims to the two entities of Pakistan.
The communal riots which were not the only problem India's government had. Other
problems were deciding its borders with Pakistan and convincing princely states
to join India when some of these states wanted to declare independence.
The British administered India by two systems. One was Provinces which were
administered regions under complete British control and the other was princely
states, which were ruled by local Indian rulers subjected to the British. When
the British gave India and Pakistan independence, the provinces were handed over
to the respective governments and it was agreed that the princely states could
join India or Pakistan according to two principles. The ruler's will and the
people's will.
Three princely states which were within India's borders refused to join India.
One of them was Junagad. Junagad, in the present day Gujarat, was a small
princely state whose ruler was a Muslim and he opted for Pakistan but the
residents of his state were mostly Hindus and they opted for India. After some
riots which occurred in Junagad the ruler emigrated or exiled to Pakistan and
thus Junagad was included in India.
Two other states wanted to declare independence. One was Hyderabad in south
India and Kashmir in north India. Both these states were big princely states,
about the size of England. The rulers of these states claimed that with the end
of British rule in India, ended also the agreements these ruling families had
with the British and therefore were independent. Hyderabad's ruling family was
Muslim, but the majority of its residents were Hindus and they wanted to join
India. After some riots in Hyderabad and the request from these people to the
Indian government to join India, the Indian government acting according to the
principle of 'people's will' sent its army to Hyderabad to include it in India.
Kashmir's problem was more complicated. Its ruling family was Hindus and most of
its residents were Muslims, but what made it more complicated was that it was
also bordering on Pakistan. Both, India and Pakistan, wanted to include Kashmir
to their countries while the ruler opted for an independent Kashmir. The
Pakistanis claimed that majority of the Kashmiris were Muslims and therefore
Kashmir should be Pakistan. While the Indians not only claimed that Kashmir's
ruler was a Hindu but they also had support from the Muslim leaders of Kashmir
who wanted to join India and therefore claimed that as per the principle of
'people's will' they had the rights on Kashmir. The Pakistanis also acting
according to the 'people's will' sent army and mercenaries into Kashmir. This
action by the Pakistanis caused the ruler of Kashmir to ask help from the Indian
government and he agreed in exchange to join India under specific terms which
would give Kashmir more autonomy than the other Indian states. The Indian
government sent its troops to Kashmir and there was a war between the Indian and
Pakistani troops. During the war the United Nation intervened and a cease fire
was declared. Parts of Kashmir which the Pakistanis invaded remained in their
hands while India claims its rights over them, Pakistan claims that the whole of
Kashmir belongs to Pakistan. The official map of India includes in Kashmir some
parts which are actually in Pakistani control. Every few years in the month of
August when the patriotic feelings are high (because of the independence days)
there are always firing incidents in Kashmir between the Indian and Pakistani
troops.
After 1948 the external borders changed a few times again. In 1949 the Hindu
kingdom of Tripura, sized about 10000 square kilometers, on the eastern side of
India, joined India. In 1950 the British troops ultimately left India. 26/1/1950
is celebrated in India as the 'Republic Day'. But there were still two other
European countries in India, France and Portugal. France had small pockets in
India and they handed them to the Indian government in 1950. The Portuguese
remained in India with three pockets, two small regions, Daman and Diu. And one
big region, Goa.
Religiously the people of Goa belong to two religions, Hindus and Christians.
About one third of the Goanese are Christians and the rest are mainly Hindus.
The Goanese wanted to join India and so an uprising took place in Goa. In 1961
the Indian government decided to free Goa from the foreign rule. The Portuguese
did not have a big army in India and they preferred to leave India.
In 1962 a war broke out between India and China. In this war the Indians lost
some territories in Kashmir and in north east India to China. In 1975 India
gained other territories which previously were not Indian territories. The
kingdom of Sikkim (about 7000 square kilometers) was annexed to India. Sikkim's
rulers were Buddhist and they were socially, culturally and politically
connected with Tibet. After the British arrived in this region, they established
political agreements with the Sikkim rulers giving them certain rights over
Sikkim. But the Tibet rulers saw in Sikkim their subject. After the British left
India, Sikkim became an Indian subject according to which India managed the
security and foreign affairs of Sikkin but did not intervene in internal Sikkim
problems. But after the riots which occurred in Sikkim in 1975, India annexed
Sikkim. But the Chinese who occupied Tibet in 1959 saw in Sikkim part of Tibet
and it did not recognize India's annexation of Sikkim.
