Treaty of Amritsar (1846)
The Treaty of Amritsar, executed by the
Description
The treaty was executed on 16 March 1846. It formalised the arrangements in the
During
Then as part of the Treaty of Amritsar (1846) Maharaja Gulab Singh Jamwal agreed to serve the British Empire under Article 6: "Maharajah Gulab Singh engages for himself and heirs to join, with the whole of his Military Forces, the British troops when employed within the hills or in the territories adjoining his possessions." and in exchange under Article 9 "The British Government will give its aid to Maharajah Gulab Singh in protecting his territories from external enemies."[5][3][4][6][7][8][9][2][10][11][12][13] After which the Dogras served the British Empire in the Indian Rebellion and in the various wars.[5][3][4][6][7][8][9][2][10][11][12][13] Hence a large percentage of the Kashmiris fought in the First World War and in the Second World Wars, as part of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces and directly with the Royal Navy, The British Army, the merchant navy and Gilgit Scouts as mentioned by Major William A. Brown in his book The Gilgit Rebellion 1947.
Hence 1.1 million Kasmiris now live in the UK. The high taxes to support these wars were resented by all the Kashmiris including the Hindus, Muslims and the Sikhs[5][3][4][6][7][8][9][2][10][11][12][13] And combined with the tens of thousands of trained men, coming back from the Second World War generated a highly volatile situation in 1947.[5]
Lacking the resources to occupy such a large region immediately after annexing portions of Punjab, the British got Gulab Singh pay 75 thousand Nanakshahee Rupees for the war-indemnity. The angry courtiers of Lahore (particularly the baptized Sikh, Lal Singh) then incited the governor of Kashmir to rebel against Gulab Singh, but this rebellion was defeated, thanks in great part to the action of Herbert Edwardes, Assistant Resident at Lahore. The Kashmiris also rebelled throughout Jammu and Kashmir.[5]
To pay for this, from the very start the Kashmiris were heavily taxed and complained of being sold into slavery and extensive literature was written by the British writers regarding these treaties.
Text of the treaty
Following is the detailed treaty of Amritsar
Treaty of Amritsar March 16, 1846
The treaty between the British Government on the one part and Maharajah Gulab Singh of Jammu on the other concluded on the part of the British Government by Frederick Currie, Esq. and Brevet-Major Henry Montgomery Lawrence, acting under the orders of the Rt. Hon. Sir Henry Hardinge, G.C.B., one of her Britannic Majesty's most Honorable Privy Council, Governor-General of the possessions of the East India Company, to direct and control all the affairs in the East Indies and by Maharajah Gulab Singh in person - 1846.
Article 1 The British Government transfers and makes over for ever in independent possession to Maharajah Gulab Singh and the heirs male of his body all the hilly or mountainous country with its dependencies situated to the eastward of the River Indus and the westward of the River Ravi including Chamba and excluding Lahol, being part of the territories ceded to the British Government by the Lahore State according to the provisions of Article IV of the Treaty of Lahore, dated 9 March 1846.
Article 2 The eastern boundary of the tract transferred by the foregoing article to Maharajah Gulab Singh shall be laid down by the Commissioners appointed by the British Government and Maharajah Gulab Singh respectively for that purpose and shall be defined in a separate engagement after survey.
Article 3 In consideration of the transfer made to him and his heirs by the provisions of the foregoing article Maharajah Gulab Singh will pay to the British Government the sum of seventy-five lakhs of rupees (Nanukshahee), fifty lakhs to be paid on or before the 1st October of the current year, A.D., 1846.
Article 4 The limits of territories of Maharajah Gulab Singh shall not be at any time changed without concurrence of the British Government.
Article 5 Maharajah Gulab Singh will refer to the arbitration of the British Government any disputes or question that may arise between himself and the Government of Lahore or any other neighboring State, and will abide by the decision of the British Government.
Article 6 Maharajah Gulab Singh engages for himself and heirs to join, with the whole of his Military Forces, the British troops when employed within the hills or in the territories adjoining his possessions.
Article 7 Maharajah Gulab Singh engages never to take to retain in his service any British subject nor the subject of any European or American State without the consent of the British Government.
Article 8 Maharajah Gulab Singh engages to respect in regard to the territory transferred to him, the provisions of Articles V, VI and VII of the separate Engagement between the British Government and the Lahore Durbar, dated 11 March 1846.
Article 9 The British Government will give its aid to Maharajah Gulab Singh in protecting his territories from external enemies.
Article 10 Maharajah Gulab Singh acknowledges the supremacy of the British Government and will in token of such supremacy present annually to the British Government one horse, twelve shawl goats of approved breed (six male and six female) and three pairs of Cashmere shawls.
This Treaty of ten articles has been this day settled by Frederick Currie, Esq. and Brever-Major Henry Montgomery Lawrence, acting under directions of the Rt. Hon. Sir Henry Hardinge, Governor-General, on the part of the British Government and by Maharajah Gulab Singh in person, and the said Treaty has been this day ratified by the seal of the Rt. Hon. Sir Henry Hardinge, Governor-General. Done at Amritsar the sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, corresponding with the seventeenth day of Rubee-ul-Awal (1262 Hijri).
(Signed) H. Hardinge (Seal) (Signed) F. Currie
(Signed) H. M. Lawrence
See also
References
- ^ a b c Kashmir Legal Documents Treaty of Lahore Archived 5 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ ISBN 0-691-11688-1.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4422-3601-1.
- ^ a b c d e f By G. S. Chhabra. Advance Study in the History of Modern India (Volume-2: 1803-1920). p. 188.
- ^ a b c d e f g h William A. Brown. The Gilgit Rebellion 1947.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-14-306826-6.
- ^ a b c d e f Stanley Wolpert. India and Pakistan: Continued Conflict Or Cooperation?. p. 21.
- ^ a b c d e f Christopher Snedden. Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris. p. 67.
- ^ a b c d e f Bawa, Satinder Singh (1974). The Jammu Fox: A Biography of Maharaja Gulab Singh of Kashmir, 1792-1857. Southern Illinois University Press. p. 263.
- ^ a b c d e f Raja Afsar Khan, 2006 - Islam. The Concept, Volume 26, Issues 1-6. p. 42.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d e f Vijay Kumar. Anglo-American Plot Against Kashmir. People's Publishing House, 1954 - Jammu and Kashmir. p. 10.
- ^ a b c d e f G. M. D. Sufi. Kashir, Being a History of Kashmir from the Earliest Times to Our Own, Volume 2. Light & Life Publishers, 1974 - Jammu and Kashmir.
- ^ a b c d e Satinder Singh Bawa. Gulab Singh of Jammu, Ladakh, and Kashmir, 1792-1846 University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1966. p. 218.
- ^ Robert Thorp (1868). Cashmere Misgovernment. pp. 2–.
- ^ W. Mulligan, M. Bric. A Global History of Anti-Slavery Politics in the Nineteenth Century. pp. 152–.