Nepalese army in Peace Making Operation in Hyderabad, India 1948

History of Hyderabad

The State of Hyderabad, located over most of the Deccan Plateau in southern India, was established in 1724 by Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah after the collapse of the Mughal Indian Empire. As was the case in several Indian royal states, the Nizam was a Muslim, while a majority of the subject population was Hindu. In 1798, Hyderabad became the first Indian royal state to accede to British protection under the policy of Subsidiary Alliance instituted by Arthur Wellesley. When the British finally departed from the Indian subcontinent in 1947, they offered the various princely states in the sub-continent the option of acceding to either India or Pakistan, or staying on as an independent state.

The State of Hyderabad under the leadership of its 7th Nizam, Mir Usman Ali, was the largest and most prosperous of all princely states in India. It covered 82,698 square miles (214,190 km2) of fairly homogenous territory and comprised a population of roughly 16.34 million people (as per the 1941 census) of which a majority (85%) was Hindu. Hyderabad State had its own army, airline, telecommunication system, railway network, postal system, currency and radio broadcasting service.

Nizam decided to keep Hyderabad independent. The leaders of the new Union of India however, were wary of having an independent - and possibly hostile - state in the heart of their new country and were determined to assimilate Hyderabad into the Indian Union, even if it were by compulsion, unlike the other 565 princely states, most of which had already acceded to India or to Pakistan voluntarily.

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Initiation of the Problem

When Indian Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel requested the Hyderabad Government to sign the instrument of accession, the Nizam refused and instead declared Hyderabad as an independent nation on 15 August 1947, the same day that India became independent. Alarmed at the idea of an independent Hyderabad in the heart of Indian territory, Sardar Patel approached the governor general of India, Lord Mountbatten who advised him to resolve the issue without the use of force.

Accordingly, the Indian government offered Hyderabad a 'Standstill Agreement' which made an assurance that the status quo would be maintained and no military action would be taken. Unlike in the case of other royal states, instead of an explicit guarantee of eventual accession to India, only a guarantee stating that Hyderabad would not join Pakistan was given. Negotiations were opened through K.M. Munshi, India’s envoy and agent general to Hyderabad, and the Nizam’s envoys, Laik Ali and Sir Walter Monckton. Lord Mountbatten, who presided over the negotiations, offered several possible deals to the Hyderabad government which were rejected. The Hyderabadi envoys accused India of setting up armed barricades on all land routes and of attempting to economically isolate their nation. The Indians retaliated by accusing the Hyderabad government of importing arms from Pakistan. Hyderabad had given Rupees 200 million to Pakistan, and had stationed a bomber squadron there.

In June 1948, Mountbatten prepared the 'Heads of Agreement' deal which offered Hyderabad the status of an autonomous dominion nation under India. The deal called for the restriction of the regular Hyderabadi armed forces along with a disbanding of its voluntary forces. While it allowed the Nizam to continue as the executive head of the state, it called for a plebiscite along with general democratic elections to set up a constituent assembly. The Hyderabad government would continue to administer its territory as before, leaving only foreign affairs to be handled by the Indian government.

Although the plan was approved and signed by the Indians, it was rejected by the

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Nizam who demanded only complete independence or the status of a dominion under the British Commonwealth. The Nizam also made unsuccessful attempts to seek the arbitration of the President Harry S. Truman of the United States of America and intervention of the United Nations.

Unrest Started

The 1941 census had estimated the population of Hyderabad to be 16.34 million, over 85% of who were Hindus and with Muslims accounting for about 12%. In spite of the overwhelming Hindu majority, Hindus were severely under-represented in government, police and the military. The Nizam and his nobles, who were mostly Muslims, owned 40% of the total land in the state.Even as India and Hyderabad negotiated; most of the sub-continent had been thrown into chaos as a result of communal Hindu-Muslim riots pending the imminent partition of India.

On 4 December 1947, Narayan Rao Pawar, a member of a Hindu nationalist organisation called the Arya Samaj, made a failed attempt to assassinate the Nizam outside his palace. On the other hand, the Nizam of Hyderabad had a large army with a tradition of hiring mercenary forces. These included Arabs, Rohillas, North Indian Muslims and Pathans. The State Army consisted of three armoured regiments, a horse cavalry regiment, 11 infantry battalions and artillery. These were supplemented by irregular units with horse cavalry, four infantry battalions (termed as the Saraf-e-khas, paigah, Arab and Refugee) and a garrison battalion - all forming a total of 22,000 men. In addition to these, there were about 200,000 irregular militia called the Razakars

As the Indian government received information that Hyderabad was arming itself and was preparing to ally with Pakistan in any future war against India, Sardar Patel described the idea of an independent Hyderabad as an ulcer in the heart of India - which had to removed surgically. In response, Hyderabad's prime minister Laik Ali stated "India thinks that if Pakistan attacks her, Hyderabad will stab her in the back. I am not so sure we would not." Sardar Patel responded later by stating "If you threaten us with violence, swords will be met with swords".Finally, the

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Police Action against Hyderabad was started on Monday, 13th September 1948. There was hardly any resistance from the Hyderabad forces. The Indian forces reached the outskirts of the city four days later.

Operation Polo

Operation Polo1 was the code name of the Hyderabad Police Action was a military operation in September 1948 in which the Indian Armed Forces invaded the State of Hyderabad and overthrew its Nizam, annexing the state into the Indian Union.

Nepalese Military Assistance in the Hyderabad Operation

As previously mentioned, in August 1947, India became independent. The British rule ended there. The India was partitioned then into two sovereign states namely India and Pakistan. In the early phase of independence, a turbulent situation surfaced in different parts of India. Nepal did not show much interest in the beginning to send its soldiers for garrison duties in India. Later, Nepalese Prime Minister, Mohan Shamsher Rana agreed to send Nepalese troops to India on the hope that India might help him to strengthen the Rana rule in Nepal. Nepal had clearly stated that it would withdraw its forces from India at any time if Nepal were put in grave difficulty under the International laws from the presence of its forces in India or if the need of those forces were arisen for itself. On 4 th August, 1948, the Nepalese troops left for India under the command of Major General Sharda Shamsher Rana, son of then prime minister. Nepal dispatched 10 regiments of troops. Each regiment contained two battalions as under:

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Polo

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Regiment (1040) 2

Regiment a. Regiment commander - Lt. Colb. Regiment 2/IC - Captain

Battaliona. Major Captain -Battalion Commander b. Captain -Battalion 2/IC

The regiment was named from the senior battalion, stood in Right Half and junior in Left Half. The battalions were as under:

a. Shreenathb. Kali Bukshc. Bhairavnath d. Bhairunge. Mahindradalf. Jabbarjangg. Kali Bahadur h. Second Rifle

2 British library , UK - Indian office R/S/130/pp.241-44.

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Regiment Hq -6

Right Half(One Battalion-517)

Left Half(One Battalion-517)

i. Kali Prasadj. Ganeshdalk. Suryadall. Singhnathm. Shamsherdaln. Narsinghdalo. Naya Gorakh p. Sherq. Purano Gorakh r. Barda Bahadurs. Devidutta t. Gorakhnath

The Nepalese troops in India were used mostly for the garrison duty. However, the larger portion of Nepali forces was directed for police action under 'Operation Polo" for peace making operation. In other words, that was the first Peace Making Operation from bilateral agreement in the Military History of Nepal. It was because of the strong enforcement of siege and conduction of the actions against Hyderabad by the Nepali soldiers, the Najam of Hyderabad realized that he could not fulfill his ambition and them he surrendered. During this period, the Indian soldiers were in a state of confusion because of the emerging Kashmir problem, other turbulence arising out of partition, and pricking the Indian soldiers' conscience to go against own people just after independence. After the successful conclusion of the Hyderabad police action, Pandit Nehru, the Indian Prime Minister, sent a telegram immediately to Nepal expressing thanks for the participation of the Nepali forces in the action. Later, the Nepali forces were used for garrison duty in India. On the basis of agreement reached between two countries, the Nepali forces returned to Nepal in March 1949. On 3rd April, a welcome ceremony was organized at Tundikhel in their honour, in which the Indian Ambassador expressed gratitude to Nepal for the assistance extended by its forces. The Nepali Premier specially mentioned that a new chapter of the history of friendship and co-operation between two countries was added.

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Officers and JCOs of Purano Gorakh Regiment in Haidarabad Action, Dinapore 1948-49

1st Row Left of Right – Jem. Hirendra, Sub Khadga, Sub. Debi, Sub. Judha Mardhan. 

2nd Row – Capt. Deb, Major Lochan, Lt. Col Padma, Maj.Gen. Surendra, Maj. Gen. Sarada Shumsher, Col. Sovag, Major Lalit, Capt. Rajendra. 

3rd Row – Lt. Bala, Lt. Krishna, Capt. Devi, Capt. Rishi, Capt. Punnya, Capt. Rabi, Capt. Amrit, Lt. Ghana, Civil Offr. Surat. 

4th Row- Jem Balkrishna, Jem Narendra, Jem Krishna, Sub. Chandra Bir, Maj. Sub. Khilendra, Su Mahmud, Sub. Krishna, Jem. Dala, Jem. Indra, Jem Dhana. 

5th Row – Jem. Jit, Jem. Tek, Jem Nara, Jem. Krishna, Jem. Padma, Jem. Bhim, Jem Ishwari Bdr Chauhan- Pipal Danda Sindhupalchok, Jem Siba, Jem. Ganga, Jem Shah.

 

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Officers and JCOs of Purano Gorakh Regiment in Haidarabad Action, Dinapore Cantt, 17 th Nov. 1948

Ist Row : Capt B.N. Mehta (G.S.O II) Maj Laxman Sh. J.B. Rana. Maj R.N. Sarkar (G.S.O. II) Manney Nepal Tara. Lt. Col Padma Bahadur Shah. M.B.E. Brig L.P. Sen O.S.O (Sirh Area Comdr) Major Lochan Sh. Thapa, Maj S.M. Abbas (D.A.Q.M.Q), Capt Balraj Singh Nijjar (L.O. Attached). 

2nd Row : Civil Offr Surat Bdr, Lt. Krishna Bdr Karki, Capt Chandra Jang Sahi, Capt Rishi Bk Rana, Capt Amrit Bdr Thapa, Capt Ravi Bk Rana, Capt Pooanya, Ratna Shah, Capt Devi Bdr Kunwar, Capt Padma Bdr Karki, Lt. Ghana Bk Rana, Lt Bala Bdr Karki. 

3rd Row :Sub Bala Bhadra Upadhe, Sub Laxmi Bdr Magar, Sub Durga Singh Basnyat, Sub. Chandrabir Thapa, (Ist Attached), Sub. Maj Khilendra Bdr Thapa Magar, Sub Balkrishna Nanda (Hd Clk Attached), Sub. Lal Bdr Kunwar, Sub. Judha Mardan Thapa, Sub. Chandrabir Thapa, Sub. Khadga Bdr Gurung. 

 4th Row : Jem Krishna Bdr Bista, Jem Narendra Bdr Khatri, Jem Ganga Bdr Khatri, Jem Bhim Bdr Khatri, Jem Indra Bdr Khatri, Jem Padam Bdr Pande, Jem Hiranuy Bdr Basnet. 

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 5th Row : Jem Dala Bdr Thapa, Jem Nara Bdr Thapa, Jem Shiv Bdr Silwal, Jem R.L. Shah, (Inst Attached), Jem. Adj Jit Bdr Magar, Jem Krishna Bdr Khatri, Jem Ishwari Bdr Chauhan- Pipal Danda Sindhupalchok, Jem Damar Khadga

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