The Jammu and Kashmir Instrument of Accession is a legal document executed by Maharaja Hari Singh, ruler of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, on 26 October 1947.
The Line of Control (LoC) is a military control line between the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary, but serves as the de facto border. It was established as part of the Simla Agreement at the end of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Both nations agreed to rename the ceasefire line as the "Line of Control" and pledged to respect it without prejudice to their respective positions. Apart from minor details, the line is roughly the same as the original 1949 cease-fire line.
Ram Chandra Kak was the prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir during 1945–1947. One of the very few Kashmiri Pandits to ever hold that post, Kak had the intractable job of navigating the troubled waters of the transfer of power from British Raj to the independent dominions of India and Pakistan.
Hindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter of K. K. Birla.
Tehelka is an Indian news magazine known for its investigative journalism and sting operations. According to the British newspaper The Independent, the Tehelka was founded by Tarun Tejpal, Aniruddha Bahal and another colleague who worked together at the Outlook magazine after "an investor with deep pockets" agreed to underwrite their startup. Bahal left Tehelka in 2005 to start Cobrapost – an Indian news website, after which Tehelka was managed by Tejpal through 2013. In 2013, Tejpal stepped aside from Tehelka after being accused of sexual assault by his employee. Tehelka had cumulative losses of ₹66 crore (US$8.3 million) till 2013, while being majority owned and financed by Kanwar Deep Singh – an industrialist, a politician and a member of Indian parliament.
The following is a timeline of the Kashmir conflict, a territorial conflict between India, Pakistan and, to a lesser degree, China. India and Pakistan have been involved in four wars and several border skirmishes over the issue.
Sankarshan Thakur is an Indian print journalist. He was born in Bihar in 1962. His work seems deeply inspired by M.J. Akbar, under whom Thakur apprenticed as a journalist for many years. Thakur was the Executive Editor of Tehelka weekly, which he helped launch in early 2004. He has now returned to The Telegraph, where he started his journalistic career in 1985, as the newspaper's Roving Editor. He was earlier Associate Editor of The Indian Express. Thakur has covered Bihar and Kashmir extensively. Some of his most memorable stories came off the Kargil warfront in the summer of 1999. He won the Prem Bhatia award for excellence in political journalism in 2001. In 2003, he won the Appan Menon Fellowship to work on a book on Kashmir which is in the making.
Major General Janak Singh CIE, OBI, was an officer of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. After retirement, he briefly served as the prime minister of the state during a crucial period in 1947, which was evidently a temporary appointment while the Maharaja looked for a more permanent candidate.
Tarun Tejpal is an Indian journalist, publisher, novelist and former editor-in-chief of Tehelka magazine. In November 2013, he stepped down as editor for six months after a female colleague accused him of sexual assault. On 21 May 2021, a Goa trial court presided over by Justice Kshama Joshi acquitted him of all charges.
Basharat Peer is a Kashmiri journalist, script writer, and author.
Ajit Bhattacharjea was a veteran Indian journalist, newspaper editor and campaigner for democratic rights, and the Right to Information Act. In a career spanning nearly 60 years, he remained the editor of the Hindustan Times, The Times of India and The Indian Express and after his retirement in 1983, was the director of the Press Institute of India till 2004.
Ankush Saikia is an Indian author. He grew up in Madison, Wisconsin; Assam; and Shillong, Meghalaya. Saikia has previously worked as a journalist at India Today, indiaabroad.com, and Express India, and as a senior editor in the publishing firm Dorling Kindersley (India).
Vikramaditya is a 1945 Hindi historical drama film directed by Vijay Bhatt for his banner Prakash Pictures. The title role of the King of Avanti, Vikramaditya, was played by Prithviraj Kapoor, who had made a name for himself as a good actor by then and was extremely popular. The film was made as a result of Bhatt's interest in history and on the request of the Vikram Bimillenium Committee, celebrating the 2000 years of the King Vikramaditya according to the Vikram Samvat, Hindu calendar. The film-maker concentrated on factual history rather than fiction for his story. The music direction was by Shankar Rao Vyas with the lyricists being Ramesh Gupta and Roopdas. The film starred Prithviraj Kapoor, Prem Adib, Baburao Pendharkar, Ratnamala, Bhagwandas and Ranjana.
After the Partition of India, during October–November 1947 in the Jammu region of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, many Muslims were massacred and others driven away to West Punjab. The killings were carried out by extremist Hindus and Sikhs, aided and abetted by the forces of Maharaja Hari Singh. The activists of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) played a key role in planning and executing the riots. An estimated 20,000–100,000 Muslims were massacred. Subsequently, many non-Muslims were massacred by Pakistani tribesmen, in the Mirpur region of today's Pakistani administered Kashmir, and also in the Rajouri area of Jammu division.
In spring 1947, an uprising against the Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir broke out in the Poonch jagir, an area bordering the Rawalpindi district of West Punjab and the Hazara district of the North-West Frontier Province in the future Pakistan. It was driven by grievances such as high taxes, the Maharaja's neglect of World War veterans, and above all, Muslim nationalism with a desire to join Pakistan. The leader of the rebellion, Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, escaped to Lahore by the end of August 1947 and persuaded the Pakistani authorities to back the rebellion. In addition to the backing, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan authorised an invasion of the state, by the ex-Indian National Army personnel in the south and a force led by Major Khurshid Anwar in the north. These invasions eventually led to the First Kashmir War fought between India and Pakistan, and the formation of Azad Kashmir provisional government. The Poonch jagir has since been divided across Azad Kashmir, administered by Pakistan and the state of Jammu and Kashmir, administered by India.
Alastair Lamb (1930–2023) was a Chinese-born British diplomatic historian who authored several books on the Sino-Indian border dispute and the Indo-Pakistani dispute over Kashmir. He also worked in archaeology and ethnography in Asia and Africa.
Brigadier Muhammad Aslam Khan (1918–1994) was a Pakistani military officer, who led the Gilgit Scouts and Azad rebels in the First Kashmir War. Using the nom de guerre of 'Colonel Pasha', he organised a force of 1200 rebels and local recruits in Gilgit, and led an attack on the Indian Army and the State Forces from the north, conquering Skardu and Kargil and advancing within 30 miles of Leh. Even though the Indian Army eventually repulsed the attack beyond Kargil, Skardu remained part of the rebel territory, coming under Pakistani control at the end of the war.
The Red Ink Awards, also known as the Red Ink Awards for Excellence in Indian Journalism, are a set of annual awards given by the Mumbai Press Club in India to recognize excellence in journalistic achievements as assessed by a special jury. Instituted in 2010, the award grants national recognition to journalists by a professional body.
