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Establishment of Residence

Colonial intervention in Jammu and Kashmir Princely State Via establishment of Resident

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105 views

Establishment of Residence

Colonial intervention in Jammu and Kashmir Princely State Via establishment of Resident

Uploaded by

bhatjamsheed59
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Establishment and role of British Residency

Since the foundation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir under Gulab Singh
British had been anxious to increase their influence in the state. The state
of Jammu and Kashmir was strategically located and this acted as the
northern most frontier of British crown in sub continent. That is why when
Kashmir was sold to Gulab Singh many British officers had criticized this
move arguing that such a strategic place (which borders with Central Asia
and had Tsarist Russia almost on its borders) could not be kept in the hands
of a “Petty” Raja. So pressure had been mounting to increase the influence
of British in Kashmir. Also the treaty signed with Gulab Singh did not talk
about Kashmir Darbar having a British resident in the state. So many
started arguing that if we can’t directly annex the state but at least the local
king should be pressured to accept British Residency so that Maharaja
could be dictated to conduct the state administration as per the dictates of
British Administrators. When the question of imposing British residency
was put forth before Gulab Singh (and later before Ranbir Singh) they
would dodge this question by quoting Treaty of Amritsar (which doesn’t
talk about any resident) and by professing full loyalty towards British
Crown. But finally Britishers were in no mood to respect the treaty
obligations with a petty Raja at a time when Afghanistan and its northern
borders were being subjected to the onslaughts of Tsarist Russia. Initially
they were successful in having a seasonal British Officer “Officer on Special
Duty” installed in the state to look after the interests of the European
visitors in Kashmir. This officer however actually kept a watch on the
activities of Maharaj and his officials.
However all the reports that were emanating from State suggested that
British could have complete control on the state only when a full Residency
would be imposed in it.
Soon after the death of Ranbir Singh the Govt took first opportunity to
establish a British resident in State. S per PNK Bamzai two factors were
directly responsible for the imposition of Residency during the time of
Pratap Singh….the Maharaja’s unimpressive figure and indifferent health
and the legacy of the vigorous forward policy of Lord Lytton’s viceroyalty.
So Pratap Singh’s vigorous protests against this decision were of no avail as
the government had taken a decision to appoint a resident after Ranbir
Singh’s death.
1n 1885 St John was appointed as the first British resident in Kashmir. He
was succeeded by C Plowden in 1888. The new resident was an intriguing
officer. He at once set about planning the deposition of the Maharaja and
even the outright annexation of the state.
He openly declared that the government was inefficient. Plowden even
made a plan with the brother of Pratap Singh (Amar Singh) in 1889 to
depose Maharaja. He with the help of Amar Singh prepared some letter
claiming to have been written by Pratap Singh to his servants to kill the
resident by poison and revealing treasonable correspondence with Russia.
The Anglo –Indian Press at once started cornering Maharaja on these issues
(Even though Indian press, especially Amrit Bazar Patrika took up the cause
of Pratap and thrashed out this propaganda).Finally in 1889 Pratap Singh
was forced o resign in favour of a council of Regency with Amar Singh as its
president. Pratap Singh had no alternative but to give his consent to such
arrangement as made by the resident (Even though Pratap Singh was made
President of this council in 1891 and finally his powers were restored only
in March 1921).
But from this time onwards Resident started controlling the administrative
matters of the state. No big decision could be taken by the state without
due consultation from resident as he was the symbol and representative of
British Crown in Kashmir.

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