Two-day symposium to be held on Pak-backed tribal raid of 1947 in J&K

Jammu and Kashmir is hosting a first-ever two-day national symposium, "Memories of 22 October 1947", that marks the day when Pakistan backed tribals invaded Kashmir and led to the beginning of the first Indo-Pak war after Indian troops were airlifted into the valley to repel the invasion.

A host of dignitaries, including Union Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, academicians, Army and Air Force veterans and defence experts, are expected to share their views on the historic event which starts Thursday, officials said.

Being organised by National Museum Institute of History of Art, Conservation and Museology in collaboration with the Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory Government at SKICC here, they said the symposium would bring forth the historical narrative of the day.

"The symposium proposes to outline shapes and contours of a future exhibition/museum on the proposed theme the aim of such an initiative will be to bring about awareness among the people about this phase of the history," an official said.

The event would help recall how the country fought in the very first conflict it faced shortly after getting Independence.

"Museums and exhibitions all over the world are being acknowledged as sites to showcase such historic narratives," the official said, adding a museum or an exhibition would become one of the platforms to document, reconstruct and to bring alive the historic narrative of October 22, 1947.

"Remembering the violence and atrocity of the invaders and the valour displayed in overcoming this challenge will be a tribute to the people who laid down their lives in the first battle of independent India and the exhibition or memorial would be the first of its kind in this direction," the official said.

At its birth in 1947, the official said India faced multiple challenges, of which a prominent one was the choice given to the erstwhile Maharajas of India to be an independent country, or to a part of India or to be a part of Pakistan.

On October 22, 1947, Pakistan invaded Kashmir leading to horrifying stories of mass plunder and vandalism. Thousands of men, women and children were mercilessly killed. On October 26, 1947, the then Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession with India following which Indian troops were airlifted to Srinagar, the state capital to repel the tribal invasion.

The consequences of this watershed event are still affecting the country. It is necessary to portray such a historic narrative in order to create a dialogue among the people, the officials said.