Editing Hunza (princely state) (section)

== History ==

Hunza was an independent [[principality]] for centuries. It was ruled by the [[Mir of Hunza|Mirs of Hunza]], who took the title of [[Thum (title)|Thum]].

The Hunzai people maintained their relationship with China, recognizing China as their [[suzerainty|suzerain]] from around 1760<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Law, Culture, and Governance in Hunza |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03601069/document}}</ref> or 1761.<ref name="Oriental">{{cite book |author=Oriental Institute (Woking, England), East India Association (London, England) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ob0VAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA74 |title=The Imperial and asiatic quarterly review and oriental and colonial record |publisher=Oriental Institute |year=1892 |page=74 |access-date=2011-01-23}}</ref><ref>''The Draft History of Qing'', volume 529, Revised Edition, 1977, Zhonghua Book Company.</ref> The rulers of Hunza claimed a lineage, tracing their descent back to Alexander the Great. In their view, both they and the Emperor of China held the most pivotal leadership roles in the world.<ref name=Knight>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_kL0RAAAAYAAJ |title=Where three empires meet: a narrative of recent travel in Kashmir, western Tibet, Gilgit, and the adjoining countries |author=Edward Frederick Knight |year=1893 |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co. |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_kL0RAAAAYAAJ/page/n374 331] |access-date=2011-01-23}}</ref> Historically, there were instances when the Kanjutis, the residents of Hunza, conducted raids on mountainous regions within the Karakoram and  [[Kunlun Mountains]],  including areas like [[Xaidulla]], where certain nomadic Kirghiz groups resided. These raids sometimes resulted in the Kirghiz being taken as slaves and subsequently sold to the Chinese authorities.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ralph Patteson Cobbold |url=https://archive.org/details/innermostasiatr00cobbgoog |title=Innermost Asia: travel & sport in the Pamirs |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=1900 |page=[https://archive.org/details/innermostasiatr00cobbgoog/page/n62 22] |quote=mir of hunza who sold the kirghiz to the chinese as slaves for 120 rupees. |access-date=2011-01-23}}</ref>

From 1847, the [[Mir of Hunza]] gave nominal allegiance to China. Mir Ghazanfur Khan helped China in the fight against the [[Afaqi Khoja revolts|Uyghur separatist Afaqi Khoja revolts]] in [[Yarkand (town)|Yarkand]], after which China granted Hunza a [[jagir]] ([[land grant]]) in [[Yarkant (town)|Yarkand]] and paid him a subsidy.{{sfn|Woodman, Himalayan Frontiers|1970|pp=90–}}<ref name="Biddulph1880">{{cite book |author=John Biddulph |title=Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.5264 |quote=Ghazanfur 1847. |year=1880 |publisher=Office of the superintendent of government printing |pages=[https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.5264/page/n37 28]–}}</ref> In 1860, the Mir paid tribute to the [[Dogra dynasty|Dogras]] after their conquest of Gilgit, and Hunza became a tributary to both [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Kashmir]] and China.<ref name=":0" /> The last fully independent ruler, Mir Safdar Khan, who ruled from 1886, escaped to China after an invasion by the British.<ref name=Knight/>

In the late 19th century Hunza became embroiled in the [[Great Game]], the rivalry between Britain and Russia for control of the northern approaches to India. The British suspected Russian involvement "with the Rulers of the petty States on the northern boundary of Kashmir";<ref>[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16528/16528-h/16528-h.htm#534 Forty-one years in India – From Subaltern To Commander-In-Chief, Lord Roberts of Kandahar – The Hunza-Nagar Campaign]</ref> In 1888, the Russian captain [[Bronislav Grombchevsky]] visited Hunza,<ref>{{Cite book
  | last = Younghusband
  | first = Francis
  | author-link = Francis Younghusband
  | title = The Heart of a Continent
  | year = 1896
  | page = 235
  | publisher = Asian Educational Services
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Avk88OI8bQkC
  | isbn = 9788120608504}}
</ref> and the following year the British captain [[Francis Younghusband]] visited Hunza to express British displeasure at Kanjuti raids in the [[Raskam]]. Younghusband formed a low opinion of the ruler, Safdar Ali, describing him as "a cur at heart and unworthy of ruling so fine a race as the people of Hunza".{{sfn|Hopkirk, The Great Game|2006|p=461}}
In 1891, the British mounted the [[Hunza-Nagar Campaign]] and gained control of Hunza and the neighbouring valley of [[Nagar Valley|Nagar]]. The Mir, Safdar Khan, fled to China with his two brothers, Prince Muhammad Nafis Khan and Prince Muhammad Nazim Khan.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

Prince Muhammad Nafis Khan was the primary claimant of the Mir-ship of Hunza as the eldest son of Mir Ghazan Khan I. However, the British installed his younger brother Muhammad Nazim Khan as Mir in September 1892.<ref name="Dani">History of The Northern Areas of Pakistan By Prof. A.H. Dani, Islamabad 1991</ref> Hunza became a [[princely state]] in a [[subsidiary alliance]] with [[British India]], a status it retained until 1947. The [[Kuomintang]] [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] government engaged in secret negotiations with the Mir of Hunza over restoring the state's previous relationship with China, amidst the partitioning of British India, with the Hunza state independent from India and Pakistan. The Kuomintang also plotted to expand its influence into Kashmir, taking advantage of the weakness of the newly independent India. However, due to the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947|war of 1947]] in Kashmir, the Mir of Hunza changed his mind and [[Instrument of accession|acceded]] to Pakistan, after a coup against India in Gilgit.{{sfn|Lin, Modern China's Ethnic Frontiers|2010|pages=111–}}

=== Territorial claims ===
Historically the people of Hunza cultivated and grazed areas to the north and the Mir claimed those areas as part of Hunza's territories. Those areas included the [[Taghdumbash Pamir]] and the [[Raskam]] Valley.{{sfn|Lall, Aksaichin and Sino-Indian Conflict|1989}}

According to Kanjuti traditions, as related by McMahon, the Mir's eighth ancestor, [[Shah Salim Khan]], pursued nomadic Khirghiz thieves to [[Kholm, Afghanistan|Tashkurghan]] and defeated them. "To celebrate this victory, Shah Salim Khan erected a stone cairn at [[Dafdar]] and sent a trophy of a Khirghiz head to the Chinese with a message that Hunza territory extended as far as Dafdar". The Kanjutis were already in effective possession of the Raskam and no question had been raised about it. The Mir's claims went a good deal beyond a mere right of cultivation. He "asserts that forts were built by the Hunza people without any objection or interference from the Chinese at Dafdar, Qurghan, Ujadhbhai, Azar on the [[Yarkand River]] and at three or four other places in Raskam."<ref>For. Sec. F., October 1896, 533/541 (534)</ref>

McMahon was able roughly to define the territorial limits of Kanjut. "The boundaries of Taghdumbash, [[Khunjerab River|Khunjerab]], and Raskam, as claimed by the Kanjuts, are the following: the northern watershed of the Taghdumbash Pamir from the [[Wakhjir Pass]] through the Baiyik peak to Dafdar, thence across the river to the [[Zankan nullah]]; thence through Mazar and over the range to Urok, a point on the Yarkand river between Sibjaida and Itakturuk. Thence it runs along the northern watershed of the Raskam valley to the junction of the Bazar Dara River and the [[Yarkand River]]. From thence southwards over the mountains to the [[Mustagh River]] leaving the Aghil Dewan or [[Aghil Pass]] within Hunza limits."<ref>For. Sec. F.July 1898,306/347 (327)</ref>

In 1898 Captain H. P. P. Deasy substantially corroborated McMahon's information. Deasy resigned his commission to devote himself to trans-Himalayan exploration. An item of special interest was Deasy's description of the limits of Raskam. Starting from Aghil Dewan or pass, in the [[Karakoram]] range, the dividing line ran north-east to [[Bazar Dara]], where it met the Yarkand River. He found an outpost built of earth at Bazar Dara, surmounted by a Chinese flag (by 1898 the Chinese had intruded to the area south of the [[Kun Lun Mountains]] with a few unarmed Kirghiz in occupation. This marked the boundary claimed by China. From there the line ran "along the northern watershed of the Raskam valley to Dafdar in the Taghdumbash Pamir, to the north of the mills at that place, and thence to the Baiyik peak. Deasy also came upon clear evidence of what could only have been Kanjuti occupation. South of Azgar "many ruins of houses, old irrigation channels and fields now no longer tilled, testify to Raskam having formerly been inhabited and cultivated". Anyone familiar with the care with which the Kanjuts cultivate every available strip of land in Hunza would have no hesitation in regarding this as proof of long standing Kanjuti occupation. The remains could not have been attributed to the Kirghiz; they were unfamiliar with the state of art.<ref>For. Sec. F., August 1899, 168/201 (175)</ref> "Seven locations in the Raskam were involved. Azgar and Ursur on the right bank, and five others on the left, that is on the Mustagh-Karakoram side-Kukbash, Kirajilga, Ophrang, Uroklok, and Oitughrak, extending from Sarakamish, north of Kunjerab pass to Bazar Dara, north of the Arghil pass". He said it was an area of about {{convert|3000|acre|km2}}.

The Chinese completed the reconquest of [[Xinjiang]] in 1878. Before they lost southern parts of the province to [[Yakub Beg of Yettishar|Yakub Beg]] in 1863, their practical authority, as [[Ney Elias]] and [[Francis Younghusband|Younghusband]] consistently maintained, had never extended south of their outposts at [[Sanju Pass|Sanju]] and Kilian along the northern foothills of the Kun Lun range. Nor did they establish a known presence to the south of the line of outposts in the twelve years immediately following their return.{{sfn|Lall, Aksaichin and Sino-Indian Conflict|1989|pp=56-57,&nbsp;59,&nbsp;95}} Ney Elias, who had been Joint Commissioner in Ladakh for several years, noted on 21 September 1889 that he had met the Chinese in 1879 and 1880 when he visited Kashgar. "They told me that they considered their line of 'chatze', or posts, as their frontier – viz., Kugiar, Kilian, Sanju, Kiria, etc.- and that they had no concern with what lay beyond the mountains" i.e. the Kun Lun range in northern Kashmir.<ref>For. Sec. F. October 1889, 182/197.</ref>

In March 1899 the British proposed, in a Note from Sir [[Claude MacDonald]] to China, a new boundary between China and British India. The Note proposed that China should relinquish its claims to suzerainty over Hunza, and in return Hunza should relinquish its claims to most of the Taghdumbash and Raskam districts.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} The Chinese did not respond to the note.{{sfn|Woodman, Himalayan Frontiers|1970|pp=74–75,&nbsp;366}}

Until 1937 the inhabitants of the Taghdumbash Pamir paid tribute to the Mir of Hunza, who exercised control over the pastures,<ref name=Kreutzmann>[http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/ad347e/ad347e0t.htm Kreutzmann, H. ''Yak Keeping in Western High Asia'']</ref>

=== Relationship with Jammu and Kashmir ===
Although never ruled directly by neighbouring [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], Hunza was a vassal of Jammu and Kashmir from the time of [[Maharaja]] [[Ranbir Singh (Maharaja)|Ranbir Singh]] of [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]] in 1860.<ref name=":0" /> The Mirs of Hunza sent an annual tribute to China and the Mirs of Nagar to Maharaja Kashmir. [[Durbar (court)|Durbar]] until 1947, and along with the ruler of [[Nagar (princely state)|Nagar]] were considered to be among the most loyal vassals of the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. According to [[Emma Nicholson]], "All the evidence points to the fact that Gilgit and Baltistan region were constituent parts of Jammu and Kashmir by 1877". They were under the sovereignty of the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir and remained in this princely domain until the date of accession "in its entirety to the new Dominion of India" on 26 October 1947.<ref name="Nicholson">[http://www.iakf.org/main/files/uplink/2007_05_22_Letter_to_Ambassador_Khalid.pdf Emma Nicholson's letter to Ambassador Khalid] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326182756/http://www.iakf.org/main/files/uplink/2007_05_22_Letter_to_Ambassador_Khalid.pdf|date=26 March 2009}}</ref>
Further, this fact is confirmed and reiterated from the correspondence of the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir dated 26 October 1947 with [[Lord Mountbatten]], Governor General of India<ref>[http://www.jammu-kashmir.com/documents/harisingh47.html Hari Singh]</ref> which states that the state of Jammu and Kashmir has a common boundary with the "Soviet Republic", and the said statement also determines the fact that ''inter alia'' [[Gilgit]] and Kanjut (which includes the Raskam, Hunza valley and Taghdumbash) are integral parts of Jammu and Kashmir. [[Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru]] had also made a similar statement that "Jammu and Kashmir's Northern frontiers, as you are aware, run in common with those of three countries, Afghanistan, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and China".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/kasnehru.htm |title=Kasnehru |access-date=31 March 2009 |archive-date=6 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706022218/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/kasnehru.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> These statements of the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir as well as Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru also have a bearing on the territorial extent of Kanjut as well as the rest of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir at the time of her accession "in its entirety to the new Dominion of India" on 26 October and Section (4)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kashmir-information.com/LegalDocs/140.html |title=Legal Document No 140 – the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, 1956 |access-date=16 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507120652/http://www.kashmir-information.com/LegalDocs/140.html |archive-date=7 May 2013 }}</ref> of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir which pertains to the territorial extent of the Indian state of [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]] also unequivocally states that "The territory of the State shall comprise all the territories which on the fifteenth day of August, 1947, were under the sovereignty or suzerainty of the Ruler of the State".

===Accession to Pakistan===
On 3 November, 1947, the ruler, [[Mohammad Jamal Khan]] sent a telegram to [[Mohammad Ali Jinnah]] acceding his state to Pakistan.<ref>''Jinnah Papers The states: Historical and Policy Perspectives and Accession to Pakistan'', First series volume VIII, Editor: Z.H.Zaidi, Quaid-i-Azam Papers Project, Government of Pakistan 2003 Pg 113</ref> It stated:

<blockquote>"I declare with pleasure on behalf of myself and my State accession to Pakistan."</blockquote>