Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948 بھارت پاکستان جنگ١٩۴۷-١٩۴۸ भारत-पाकिस्तान युद्ध १९४७-१९४८ |
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Part of the Indo-Pakistani Wars | |||||||||
Indian soldiers during the 1947–1948 war. |
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Belligerents | |||||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Gov. Gen. Lord Mountbatten PM Jawaharlal Nehru Gen. Rob Lockhart Gen. Roy Bucher Air Marshal Thomas Elmhirst Lt.Gen. K. M. Cariappa Lt.Gen. S. M. Shrinagesh Maj.Gen. K. S. Thimayya Maj.Gen. Kalwant Singh Maharaja Hari Singh PM Mehr Chand Mahajan Interim Head Sheikh Abdullah Brig. Rajinder Singh |
Gov. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jinnah PM Liaquat Ali Khan Gen. Frank Messervy Gen. Douglas Gracey Col. Akbar Khan Brig. Sher Khan Maj. Khurshid Anwar Sardar Ibrahim Mirza Mahmood Ahmad Major William Brown Major Mohammad Aslam |
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Casualties and losses | |||||||||
1,500 killed 3,500 wounded |
6,000 killed ~14,000 wounded |
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Conflict started when Pashtun tribal forces, and later Indian and Pakistani Army regulars, entered the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu. |
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948, sometimes known as the First Kashmir War, was fought between India and Pakistan over the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu from 1947 to 1948. It was the first of four Indo-Pakistan Wars fought between the two newly independent nations. Pakistan precipitated the war a few weeks after independence by launching tribal lashkar (militia) from Waziristan, in an effort to secure Kashmir, the future of which hung in the balance. The inconclusive result of the war still affects the geopolitics of both countries.
The Maharaja faced an uprising by his Muslim subjects in Poonch, fuelled by the massacres of Muslims in Jammu, and the Maharajah lost control of the western districts of his kingdom. On 22 October 1947, Muslim tribal militias crossed the border of the state, claiming that they were needed to suppress a rebellion in the southeast of the kingdom. These local tribal militias and irregular Pakistani forces moved to take Srinagar, but on reaching Uri they encountered resistance. Hari Singh made a plea to India for assistance, and help was offered, but it was subject to his signing an Instrument of Accession to India. British officers in the sub-continent also took part in stopping the Pakistani Army from advancing.