Northwest_Frontier_Province | TriviaQuestions.online

⭐ In the context of Jammu and Kashmir (princely state), the unrest that significantly influenced Hari Singh’s decision to accede to India in 1947 was primarily fueled by support originating from which region?

An uprising in the western districts of Jammu and Kashmir received support from militias originating in the Northwest Frontier Province, as well as personnel from the Pakistani army, creating a situation that pressured Hari Singh to seek assistance from India.

⭐ Core Definition: Northwest Frontier Province

The North-West Frontier Province (abbr. NWFP), commonly known as Sarhad (lit. 'Frontier'), was a province of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955 and from 1970 to 2010; and prior, a province of British India from its establishment in 1901 to Pakistan's independence in 1947. It was established from the north-western districts of British Punjab during the British Raj. Following the referendum in 1947 to join either Pakistan or India, the province voted hugely in favour of joining Pakistan and it acceded accordingly on 14 August 1947. It was dissolved to form a unified province of West Pakistan in 1955 upon promulgation of One Unit Scheme and was reestablished in 1970. It was known by this name until 19 April 2010, when it was dissolved and redesignated as the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following the enactment of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan.

The province covered an area of 70,709 km (27,301 sq mi), including much of the current Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province but excluding the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the former princely states of Amb, Chitral, Dir, Phulra and Swat. Its capital was the city of Peshawar, and the province was composed of six divisions (Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Hazara, Kohat, Mardan, and Peshawar Division; Malakand was later added as the seventh division). Until 1947, the province was bordered by five princely states to the north, the minor states of the Gilgit Agency to the northeast, the province of Punjab to the east and the province of Balochistan to the south. The Kingdom of Afghanistan lay to the northwest, with the Federally Administered Tribal Areas forming a buffer zone between the two.

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👉 Northwest Frontier Province in the context of Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)

Jammu and Kashmir, also known as Kashmir and Jammu, was a princely state in a subsidiary alliance with the British East India Company from 1846 to 1858, and under the paramountcy (or tutelage) of the British Crown from 1858 until British withdrawal and the partition of British India in 1947. Following the subsequent First Kashmir War between India and Pakistan, it became a disputed territory, now administered by three countries: China, India, and Pakistan. The princely state was created after the First Anglo-Sikh War, when the East India Company, which had annexed the Kashmir Valley, from the Sikhs as war indemnity, then sold it to the Raja of Jammu, Gulab Singh, for 75 lakh rupees.

At the time of the partition of India and the political integration of India, Hari Singh, the ruler of the state, delayed making a decision about the future of his state. However, an uprising in the western districts by the Gilgit Scouts against Hari Singh supported by informal militias from the neighbouring Northwest Frontier Province, and the Pakistani army personnel, forced his hand. On 26 October 1947, Hari Singh acceded to India in return for the Indian military being airlifted to Kashmir to counter the invasion by tribal militias from Pakistan, which were assisted by the Pakistani government and military leadership. The western and northern districts now known as Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan passed to the control of Pakistan with the support of Gilgit Scouts, while the remaining territory stayed under Indian control, later becoming the Indian administered state of Jammu and Kashmir. India and Pakistan defined a cease-fire line dividing the administration of the territory with the intercession of the United Nations which was supposed to be temporary but still persists.

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