# 1947 Gilgit rebellion

In November 1947, the paramilitary force of Gilgit Scouts stationed at Gilgit rebelled against the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, soon after it acceded to the Indian Union. Under the command of a British officer Major William Brown, they executed a coup d'etat, overthrew the governor Ghansara Singh, and imprisoned him. The Muslim troops of Jammu and Kashmir State Forces stationed at Bunji joined in the rebellion, under the command of Captain Mirza Hassan Khan, imprisoned their own commander Colonel Abdul Majid and eliminated the non-Muslim troops. A provisional government was declared under a local chief Shah Rais Khan, which lasted for about two weeks. On 16 November, a Pakistani political agent Khan Mohammad Alam Khan arrived and took over the administration.

## Background

In August 1947, there was a rumor in Gilgit that the government of the Jammu and Kashmir was making plans to disband the Gilgit Scouts. The rumor caused the 'disciplined and secular Scouts' to oppose the government.
Gilgit's population did not favour the State's accession to India. The Muslims of the frontier ilaqas (Gilgit and the adjoining hill states) had wanted to join Pakistan.
William Alexander Brown was a British major who was entrusted the task of directing the Gilgit Scouts, a paramilitary force under the control of Gilgit Agency. As per the plan of the partition of erstwhile India, the princely states had the option of either joining Pakistan or India. Kashmir was in a conundrum to join India or Pakistan. After the Pakistani tribal invasion on 22 October 1947, the ruler of Kashmir joined India, signing the instrument of annexation to India. Brown went to the governor of Gilgit Agency urged him to join Pakistan as the population was majority Muslim.

## Planning

Major Brown was mindful of the anti-maharaja sentiments amidst the people in Gilgit. Sensing their resentment, Major Brown organised a coup on 1 November 1947, overthrowing the Governor, Brigadier Ghansara Singh. The soft coup d'etat and takeover of the region was planned by Brown to the last detail under the code name Described as Operation Datta Khel. Major Brown is also credited to have come to rescue Hindu population in Gilgit from being harmed. Major Brown acted to prevent bloodshed and took some personal risk in doing so. The local populace of Gilgit supported the tribal fighters as they were eager to force the Dogras rule out of Gilgit-Baltistan. Pakistan took over Gilgit when, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan countenanced an intrusion of the Princely state, by Major Khurshid Anwar in the north and a Force led by the ex-Indian National Army personnel in the south . These invasions eventually led to the First Kashmir War fought between India and Pakistan, and the formation of Azad Kashmir provisional government. The Poonch jagir has been since then diverged across Azad Kashmir, administered by Pakistan and the state of Jammu and Kashmir, administered by India.

## Coup d'etat

The governor, Ghansara Singh, refused the manifesto. Brown, along with his group of indigenous personnel under the Gilgit Scouts, mounted a bloodless coup d'état and took control over the region. Taken into custody, Singh was banished to Kashmir. Brown then handed over control of the region to the Pakistan. Pakistan declared Gilgit Baltistan as an autonomous region administrated by Pakistan. Pakistan avoided absorbing the region to Pakistan as it might be caused reverberations for its claim in Kashmir. After taking control of Gilgit, the Gilgit Scouts (a paramilitary force comprising trained Muslim locals but commanded by British officers) along with Azad irregulars moved towards Baltistan and Ladakh and captured Skardu after a lengthy siege by May 1948. They successfully blocked the Indian reinforcements and subsequently captured Dras and Kargill as well, cutting off the Indian communications to Leh in Ladakh. The Indian forces mounted an offensive in Autumn 1948 and recaptured all of Kargil district. Baltistan region, however, came under Gilgit control
On November 2, the Pakistani flag was raised on the old tower in the Gilgit Scout Lines, under the command of Major Brown.
On 12 January 1948, the authority was handed over to Colonel Aslam Khan the first local commander of the Gilgit Scouts, under the Command of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir provisional government.

## Aftermath

The provisional government persisted for 16 days. According to, a scholar Yaqub Khan Bangash, it was short of sway over the population. The Gilgit Coup did not have civilian involvement and was absolutely the work of military leaders, not all of whom had been in favor of joining Pakistan, at least in the short term. Historian Ahmed Hasan Dani says that although there had been a scarcity of public participation in the Coup, pro-Pakistan sentiments were intense in the civilian population and their anti-Kashmiri sentiments were also clear. According to various scholars, the people of Gilgit as well as those of Chilas, Koh Ghizr, Ishkoman, Yasin, Punial, Hunza and Nagar joined Pakistan by choice. The Government of Azad Kashmir handed over the administration of Gilgit-Baltistan to the federal government under the Karachi Agreement.