NEW DELHI: India may prevent the declassification of papers from 1947 related to Kashmir, as it fears the \u201csensitive\u201d letters might affect foreign relations, according to internal government documents seen by the Guardian.
\nThe letters, known as the Bucher papers, are believed to include political and military arguments for why India\u2019s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, called for a ceasefire with Pakistan and provided a special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.<\/p>\n
For decades the region in the foothills of the Himalayas was given a separate constitution, a flag, and autonomy over all matters except for foreign affairs and defence. Those measures were seen by Kashmiris as crucial to protecting their rights in the Muslim-majority state. But in 2019, under the Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government in Delhi formally revoked the state\u2019s constitutional autonomy in an attempt to integrate it fully into India.<\/p>\n
The decision tightened the government\u2019s grip over the region and stoked anger and resentment as a three-decade armed revolt continued to rage.<\/p>\n
The Bucher papers refer to communications between Gen Sir Francis Robert Roy Bucher, who served as second commander-in-chief of the Indian Army between 1948 and 1949, and government officials, including Nehru.<\/p>\n
Over the years, several attempts have been made by activists to declassify the papers to throw light on the reasoning for Article 370, which gave Jammu and Kashmir its special status.<\/p>\n
A recent foreign ministry document seen by the Guardian said the contents of the papers should not be declassified yet. The papers contain \u201cmilitary operational matters in Kashmir and correspondences amongst senior government leaders on sensitive political matters on Kashmir\u201d, the document said.<\/p>\n
The papers have been kept at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, an autonomous body under India\u2019s culture ministry.<\/p>\n
According to a source with knowledge of the matter, they reveal that Nehru was aware and informed of the military development in Kashmir.<\/p>\n
\u201cRoy Bucher suggested a political approach to solve the escalating situation given military fatigue faced by Indian troops due to 13 months of military deployment, including taking the matter before the United Nations,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n
That advice may have influenced Nehru\u2019s decision to grant Kashmir special status. In 1952, the prime minister argued that the aspirations of the people of Kashmir should be respected.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to stress that it is only the people of Kashmir who can decide the future of Kashmir,\u201d he told India\u2019s parliament. \u201cWe are not going to impose ourselves on them on the point of the bayonet.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bucher papers were handed over by India\u2019s external affairs ministry to the Nehru museum and library in New Delhi in 1970, with a note saying they should be kept \u201cclassified\u201d. They have remained in the library\u2019s closed collection since then, the foreign ministry document said.<\/p>\n
An Indian activist, Venkatesh Nayak, has filed multiple appeals to declassify the papers, a move that was initially rejected. However, in 2021 the Indian information commissioner ruled it was in the \u201cnational interest\u201d but fell short of ordering the disclosure of the crucial documents. The order advised that the library may seek the foreign ministry\u2019s permission to declassify the papers for academic research.<\/p>\n
In a letter dated 12 October 2022 that has been reviewed by the Guardian, the chair of the museum and library, Nripendra Misra, wrote to India\u2019s foreign secretary arguing the papers \u201care very important for scholarly research\u201d and requested declassification.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have read the contents of the Bucher papers. Our view is that the papers need not remain \u2018classified\u2019 beyond the reach of academicians. We are opening papers of other important public figures also,\u201d Misra argued.<\/p>\n
India typically allows the declassification of archival documents after 25 years.<\/p>\n
The foreign ministry argued in the document that the disclosure of the papers should be put in \u201cabeyance\u201d for the time being and advised that the \u201csensitivity of Roy Bucher papers and the likely implications of their disclosure\u201d should be examined further.<\/p>\n
Sources say the Indian government has yet to take a final decision on the matter.<\/p>\n
The Guardian has contacted the Indian foreign ministry and the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library for a response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI: India may prevent the declassification of papers from 1947 related to Kashmir, as it fears the \u201csensitive\u201d letters might affect foreign relations, according to internal government documents seen by the Guardian. The letters, known as the Bucher papers, are believed to include political and military arguments for why India\u2019s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=113403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113405,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113403\/revisions\/113405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/113404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=113403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=113403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=113403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}