Follies of the past

Apropos the report Idealism lost us chance to get PoK back: Arup Raha (September 2). First, Maharaja of Kashmir Hari Singh’s wish to keep Kashmir autonomous and then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s idealism led to the Kashmir problem. The Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession only when the Pakistani invaders occupied a large part of the state and reached the outskirts of Srinagar. Had Nehru not taken a moral high ground in agreeing to a ceasefire and taking the matter to the UN, Indian troops would have thrown the invaders out and there would have been nothing like Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

M.C. Joshi

Lucknow