MISSION TO KASHMIR

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22484, 13 November 1947, Page 5

MISSION TO KASHMIR

INDIAN LEADER’S TALKS DEFENCE OF STATE (10 a.m.) NEW DELHI, Nov. 12. The Premier of India, Mr. Nehru, when he arrived at Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, yesterday, said he had come to Kashmir to discuss the military situation with the Maharajah and ' military leaders and to devise ways and means of defending Kashmir. He added that if the inhabitants of Kashmir had not supported the Indian troops they would have been powerless to repel the invaders. Hindus, Moslems and Sikhs in Kashmir had fought unitedly for independence while the Punjab and other parts of India were suffering acute communal warfare.

Reuter’s Srinagar correspondent reports that the Premier of Kashmir. Sheik Abdullah, said he thought there was no possibility of guerrilla warfare in Kashmir. He declared that the peasantry were behind the Administration.

The Maharajah, Sir Hari Singh evidently felt keenly the reversal oi his situation and Mr.. Nehru’s when he arrived at Srinagar yesterday, says the Daily Telegraph’s correspondent ir Srinagar, reporting the welcome foi Mr. Nehru and his reception by Sheik Abdullah. He recalls that Mr. Nehru was arrested on Sir Hari’s orders ir June 1946 when he entered Kashmii and attempted to secure Sheik Abdullah’s" release from gaol. A crowd of 20,000 cheered Mr. Nehn and Sheik Abdullah when they sbool hands in the public square in Srinagar. ■' -