Islamabad: A 76 years have been past since occupation of state of Junagadh by India.
The state of Junagadh had announced its accession with Pakistan but India by force on thiday 76 years ago occupied this land.
Indian army had conducted massacres in the state of Junagadh.
India had not dared to occupy this state in the life of founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muahmmad Ali Jinnah.
Just after the death of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah,in September 11, 1948, India by force had occupied the state.
History
Junagarh or Junagadh was a princely state in Gujarat ruled by the Muslim Babi dynasty in India, which acceded to the Dominion of Pakistan after the Partition of British India. Subsequently, the Union of India annexed Junagadh in 1948, legitimized through a plebiscite orchestrated the same year
Sovereignty over the erstwhile princely state is disputed between India and Pakistan to this very day.
Muhammad Sher Khan Babai was the founder of the Babi Pashtun dynasty of Junagarh in 1654. His descendants, the Babi Nawabs of Junagarh, conquered large territories in southern Saurashtra.
However, during the collapse of the Mughal Empire, the Babis became involved in a struggle with the Gaekwad dynasty of the Maratha Empire over control of Gujarat during the reign of the local Mohammad Mahabat Khanji I. Mohammad Khan Bahadur Khanji I declared independence from the Mughal governor of Gujarat subah, and founded the state of Junagarh in 1730.
This allowed the Babi to retain sovereignty of Junagarh and other princely states. During the reign of his heir Junagarh was a tributary to the Maratha Empire, until it came under British suzerainty in 1807 under Mohammad Hamid Khanji I, following the Second Anglo-Maratha War.
In 1807, Junagarh became a British protectorate and the East India Company took control of the state. By 1818, the Saurashtra area, along with other princely states of Kathiawar, were separately administered under the Kathiawar Agency by British India.
In 1947, during the partition of India, the last Babi dynasty ruler of the state, Muhammad Mahabat Khanji III, decided to accede to the Dominion of Pakistan.
With the partition of India in 1947, the princely states were left by the British to decide whether to accede to one of the newly independent Union of India or Dominion of Pakistan, but they did not to become a separate country.[12]
The Constitutional Advisor to the Nawab, Nabi Baksh, indicated to Lord Mountbatten that he was recommending that Junagarh should join India. However, upon the advice of Dewan Bhutto, on 15 August 1947, the Nawab announced that Junagarh had acceded to Pakistan. On 16 September, the Government of Pakistan accepted the accession.
India sent its military into Junagarh while the Nawab of Junagarh was in Pakistan and captured the State of Junagarh, overthrowing Nawab and the rights of princely states. The Annexation of Junagarh into India led the[13] Nawab Muhammad Mahabat Khan III of Junagarh (erstwhile Babi Nawab dynasty of Junagarh) left to live in Sindh, Pakistan.
Pakistan’s claim
Pakistan’s government has maintained its territorial claim on Junagadh, along with Manavadar and Sir Creek in Gujarat, on its official political maps.
