The prime minister’s statement on the ceasefire of 1949 betrays his understanding of history and appears to be meant to divert attention from the conditions leading to the sudden declaration of ceasefire amid Operation Sindoor. The Kashmir war started on the 26th of October 1947 and the ceasefire was declared on 1st January 1949. More than 14 months of ground fighting had already taken place. Stalemate had already set in, along Jammu and valley regions. Ladakh did give some late gains in the preceding two months leading to the lifting of morale among the troops, but what lay ahead was a difficult winter and stretched supply lines. The state had no roads. The immediate gains were also achieved by rolling up tanks onto the Zoji La pass. It was necessary to consolidate the gains in the valley and Ladakh. The claim of sardar Patel’s dissent is also overstated looking into the fact that both sides had British commanders in chief and they were not ready for full scale war. Lastly even general Thimayya, on whose accounts this theory has some currency, never claimed total capture of all of POK. He wanted some strategic locations like the Haji pir pass and Kargil heights. These were gained through the 1972 Shimla agreement. General Thimayya also acknowledged it. It’s time we discuss our present conduct with greater accountability than dissecting history
