General Kariappa who wished for a solution to the Kashmir issue

It may come as a surprise to many that the former Chief of the Indian Army, Field Marshal Sir KM Kariappa, struggled a lot to resolve the Kashmir issue and establish peace.

General Kariappa was the first Army Chief of India who succeeded Lt General Sir Rai Bachar in 1949. Kariappa was commanding the Bannu Frontier Brigade posted in Waziristan in 1945 when General Ayub Khan was posted as a colonel in the same brigade.

Kariappa retired in 1954 and later served as India’s High Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand. In the war of 1965, General Kariappa’s son KC Nanda was taken prisoner by Pakistan. When General Ayub came to know, he immediately contacted Kariappa and offered to release him, but Kariappa said that he is no longer mine but India’s. He is a son, so he should be treated the same as other prisoners of war.

Lt. Col. (Rtd) Skand Khan Baloch has written a whole chapter about General Kariappa in his book ‘Tarikh Ke Zhom’ regarding Kariappa’s efforts to solve the Kashmir issue. He writes that Field Marshal Ayub Khan and Field Marshal Kariappa were both infantry officers. They served together in Bannu Brigade, so both were friends of each other.

Ayub Khan was eight years junior to Kariappa. Circumstances made one the Army Chief of Pakistan and the other Indian Army. Both of them came against each other but still maintained a relationship of respect due to which efforts were made to resolve the Kashmir issue. Kariappa visited Pakistan five times and encouraged Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah to resolve the Kashmir issue.

When General Ayub proposed a joint defense between Pakistan and India, General Kariappa proposed a non-war agreement between the two countries. It was at Kariappa’s urging that General Ayub eased visa restrictions for Indian nationals in 1964, but Kariappa’s efforts were ridiculed on both sides of the border.

In 1964, he wrote a letter to General Ayub saying ‘You are aware of my personal feelings for the people of Pakistan and India, it is my sincere effort that both countries join hands as soon as possible and remain good neighbours. I have been to your country five times in the last nine years. You received me as your personal guest once in Karachi and twice in Pindi in 1959. I also came to your country in September 1958 when Sikandar Mirza was the President of Pakistan.

‘My old friend, every time I came there myself as a personal ambassador so that I could talk to you and create a friendly atmosphere between the two countries. On April 14, 1964, when you were in bed for the operation, we had a very frank discussion on this subject in your bedroom. You gave me a formula to solve the Kashmir issue. Which I narrated to Nehru, on which he was very happy and got up from his chair happily.

‘He shook my hand very warmly and said “Thank you very much for what you have done Kariappa. I urged him to invite you to come to Delhi soon. Unfortunately he is late.” went and he died. Later, when Lal Bahadur Shastri became the Prime Minister, he wanted to come to you to get your permission to deliver the same message, so it was not possible for you to receive me.’

With the efforts of General Kariappa, Sheikh Abdullah and Mirza Afzal Baig also came to Pakistan in May 1964, met President Ayub. After considering the situation, Ayub Khan was ready to go to Delhi in June, the date was fixed, but Nehru died on 27 May 1964, thus the problem remained unresolved. Finally after a few months war broke out between the two countries and all efforts of Kariappa failed.

But Kariappa still did not give up. In 1968, he again wrote to President Ayub, ‘However, I am a rebel type of optimist, I know that one day or the other, Allah will surely bring the two countries together and we Will be the best neighbors. We must leave a legacy of friendship and good feelings for each other for future generations.

In my view there is only one solution for Kashmir and that is that the areas we both have along with Kashmir and Jammu remain as they are and the valley is given under the United Nations on the model of Switzerland or Monaco. In this way, the venomous slogans between the two of us will end. I have discussed this solution with many respected people including Sheikh Abdullah. I can assure you that many people in India also have a strong desire that we should continue to be peaceful neighbors for both countries.’

After the war of 1971, Kariappa once again tried to allow East Pakistan to remain as it is instead of separating it from Pakistan and instead to settle Kashmir from Pakistan, but these efforts could not prove fruitful. . General Kariappa’s son KC Nanda, who was a prisoner of war in 1965, later became the Air Marshal of the Indian Air Force. After retirement, General Kiriappa helped many countries build their army, for which US President Harry Truman gave him a special award.

On May 15, 1993, this general who dreamed of peace between the two countries died. In this way, not only Kariappa, but also Karipa, who was calling for peace, died.