Our young generation must know the history. As they turn the pages of Kashmir’s past, they will come across one brutal chapter Pakistan’s invasion immediately after independence. This is not propaganda, as it is often dismissed. It is a reality filled with sorrow and suffering. Pakistan annually observes October 27 as “Black Day,” but once you read the true story, you will see a very different picture. Kashmir’s accession to India was not an act of occupation, but a lawful and defensive response to an invasion launched from Pakistani territory five days earlier.
If Jammu and Kashmir is a part of India today, it is largely because of the ugly designs of Pakistan in 1947. Before any final decision could be taken regarding the princely states, Pakistan sent tribal raiders into Kashmir, exposing their brutal face as looters, killers, and perpetrators of terror. This invasion became the immediate reason for the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India.
What Pakistan now presents as a story of “Indian aggression” is, in fact, inseparable from its own decision to launch an armed tribal attack on the state, shattering Kashmir’s neutrality and triggering a humanitarian crisis. The arrival of Indian troops on 27 October 1947 came only after the Instrument of Accession was formally signed—and solely for the purpose of repelling the invaders who had already unleashed violence and fear across the Valley.
Our young generation, many of whom have been radicalized against India the very nation that came to protect Kashmiris from the raiders must know the true history of those invasions. This is why our elders hold such strong resentment towards Pakistan and its proxies. From 1947 till today, Pakistan has been responsible for the suffering and deaths of countless Kashmiris, directly or indirectly. We must recognize these facts and counter the false narratives.
If we turn the pages of the last 35 years of turmoil, it becomes clear that Pakistan has played the most destructive role in our pain. At the time of Partition, Jammu and Kashmir was a princely state under Maharaja Hari Singh, who initially wished to remain independent. While Pakistan signed a Standstill Agreement with the state, India sought further discussion. For two months, the Maharaja tried to maintain neutrality despite pressure from both sides. There was no uprising, no mass agitation for Pakistan, and no military involvement from India. In August, September, and early October 1947, Kashmir was politically undecided but territorially peaceful. This status quo ended not because of a decision made in Srinagar or Delhi, but because of a military gamble launched from across the border.
On 22 October 1947, thousands of armed raiders mainly Pashtun tribesmen backed by the Pakistani Army invaded Kashmir. The stories narrated by elderly eyewitnesses in Kashmir reveal that it was India that ultimately saved them from the brutal and horrific onslaught of these raiders. The attack was lethal in every sense. Baramulla and Kupwara witnessed some of the worst massacres, where civilians, patients, nurses, and even clergy were mercilessly targeted. Looting, arson, abductions, and assaults continued as the raiders advanced toward Srinagar.
Eyewitness accounts Indian, foreign, and even Pakistani document the scale of this violence. By 24–25 October, the state administration had effectively collapsed. Communication lines were disrupted, refugees were pouring into the Valley, and there was a real possibility that Srinagar would fall within hours. The crisis was not ideological. It was existential. Kashmir, at this point, was not weighing political options it was fighting for survival.
Hence, the Instrument of Accession with India was signed by Maharaja Hari Singh as a direct consequence of the invasion and brutality unleashed by the raiders. From 1947 to 1989, and then up to 2014, Kashmir suffered turmoil, unrest, and the killing of innocents driven by Pakistan and its sponsored terrorism. No doubt, in the early years, some Kashmiris, influenced by extremist propaganda, did support local militants; however, the larger truth is that the majority of Kashmiris were never with terrorism.
From the tribal invasion of 1947 to the decades of violence that followed, Kashmir has witnessed enough pain to draw its own lessons. Since, 2008 2014, we have seen a clear change. The involvement of local Kashmiris in terrorism, support networks, and sheltering of militants has significantly declined. Even today, the number of local terrorists is minimal, largely because Kashmiris have understood through bitter experience the destruction that Pakistan’s interference has brought to their land.
In many ways, Kashmir now finds itself at the same moral and political crossroads as in 1947, once again affirming that its future lies with India, not Pakistan.
Yes, it is a “Black Day” for Pakistan now, because their propagandists, extremists, and local support to engage India in Kashmir are gone. Yes, it is a Black Day for Pakistan because there is peace over violence, books over stones in the hands of students, tourism over terrorism, development over destruction, and youth-building over youth radicalization. Now Kashmir is “black” for Pakistan because the people are no longer ready to support terrorism.
Kashmiris, during the tribal invasion, should have realised the Pakistani agenda in Kashmir. No doubt the tribal invasion failed militarily, but the strategic template it created endured. When Pakistan could not seize Kashmir through direct force, it turned to proxy methods ideological radicalisation, support for separatist platforms, state-backed militancy, and sustained propaganda and radicalize Kashmiri youth.
From the 1965 infiltration to the 1990s insurgency and up to the recent phase of hybrid militancy, the underlying objective has remained consistent: to destabilise Kashmir and deny it peace. What changed were only the instruments, not the intention. This continued even after losing four physical wars to India.
Today, Kashmir is undergoing a period of peace after decades of turbulence. Institutions have been strengthened, violence has sharply eliminated , and public spaces are returning to normal civic life. Yet narratives and terrorism from across the border continue to invoke 27 October as a symbol of alleged injustice, without ever acknowledging the 22 October invasion that triggered everything. Kashmiri youth must understand and read historical facts that Kashmir did not join India under the barrel of a gun. India entered only after a lawful accession, and the Indian Army’s first role in Kashmir was not control, but protection from the brutalism of the raiders. Kashmiris remember who arrived to plunder and who arrived to defend. That memory, passed down through generations, matters more than seasonal slogans.
Now, Kashmir has a report card on Pakistan based on historical facts and figures. Go and meet century-old people in Kupwara and Baramulla and ask them about the raiders, which they usually call the “kábail raid,” and you will realise why Kashmir chose India and sought help, such was the brutality of the raiders.
Now Kashmiris know Pakistan well: its instability, undemocratic nature, military rule, and the economic and social crises it has produced, and they understand Pakistan’s role in Kashmir. It is now easy for Kashmiris to recognise their friends and foes.
Now it is “happy days” in Kashmir; common people want to live peaceful lives please don’t make it “black days” again like in 2010, 2016, or after the recent terror attack in Pahalgam. Living a peaceful life is our right, and if India is marring any rights of Kashmiris we will fight. So far, so good and so far, the harm has come only from Pakistan.

Email:------------------------------vadaiekashmir@gmail.com