PC Pak Search Sudhan Operation

{{Infobox military conflict

| conflict = PC Pak Search Sudhan Operation

| partof = the Kashmir conflict 1950 and 1955

| date = {{start date|1950|6|5|df=yes}} – 1955

| combatant1 = {{plainlist|

{{flagicon image|Flag of Azad Kashmir.svg}} Azad Kashmir (Sardar Ibrahim Khan loyalists)
{{flagicon image|Black flag.svg}} Sudhan https://frontline.thehindu.com/books/land-beyond-the-line/article37249858.ece/amp/

Book Review: Dinkar P. Srivastava's "Forgotten Kashmir: The Other Side of the Line of Control" sheds light on PoK

Sudhan revolt. The fourth chapter is on the Sudhan Revolt, once again a little-known page of history. Pakistan dismissed Sardar Ibrahim Khan as president of PoK in May 1950 and his tribe, the Sudhan, took to arms. The Pakistani military put down the rebellion.

}}

| combatant2 = {{plainlist|

{{flagicon|Pakistan}} Government of Pakistan
{{flagicon image|Flag of Azad Kashmir.svg}} Azad Kashmir (Pakistani government loyalists)
19px Punjab Constabulary
19px Azad Kashmir Police
{{army|Pakistan}}

}}

| casualties1 = Several arrested
Several homes burned down

| commander2 = {{plainlist|

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| commander1 = Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim KhanMahmud, Ershad. “Status of AJK in Political Milieu.” Policy Perspectives, vol. 3, Sudhan Rebellion In Azad Kashmir http://www.jstor.org/stable/42922642. Accessed 8 Dec. 2023.

| casualties2 = {{plainlist|

458 killed{{cite book |title=Kashmir - The Untold Story |first=Christopher |last=Snedden |date=December 2013 |publisher=HarperCollins India |isbn=9789350298985 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0cPjAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1937 |pages=120, 121, 122}}{{cite web |url=https://tribune.com.pk/article/97333/the-forgotten-poonch-revolt-a-stain-on-our-history |title=The forgotten Poonch revolt: A stain on our history |last=Khan Yousafzai |first=Usman |date=18 March 2021 |website=tribune.com.pk |publisher=The Express Tribune |access-date=20 June 2021}}
1,204 injured
500 captured{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UUrCEAAAQBAJ&dq=Sudhans&pg=PA52

|quote=Sudhans' uprising also was embarrassing. Rebels captured some 500 Pakistani soldiers and spoilt pretensions that Azad Kashmir was a stable, unified region

|title=The Palgrave Handbook of New Directions in Kashmir Studies |date=June 2023

|publisher=Springer

|isbn=978-3-031-28520-2

|editor1=Haley Duschinski |editor2=Mona Bhan |editor3=Cabeiri deBergh Robinson}}

}}

| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Waziristan}}

}}

PC Pak Search Sudhan Operation was a Pakistani military operation of the 1950 and 1955 Sudhan uprising.{{Cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08R6R273N/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr= |title=II: Revolt and Pacification 4.Early Years and the Sudhan Revolt|date=13 February 2021 |publisher=HarperCollins India }} It was the first major operation of the Pakistan Army inside Pakistan and was conducted against Sudhan tribal insurgents in the Sudhan-majority Sudhanoti, Poonch, Bagh, and Kotli Districts of Azad Kashmir.{{Cite web|url=http://www.marxist.com/kashmir-ordeal-six.htm|title=Kashmir's Ordeal - Chapter Six|last=Marxism|first=In Defence of|date=17 November 2005 |language=en-GB|access-date=2016-09-25}}

Background

A UN-backed ceasefire was signed by India and Pakistan on 1 January 1949, marking the end of the Indo-Pakistani war. Sardar Ibrahim Khan, the president of the newly established Azad Kashmir, was not a signatory to the ceasefire and disagreements grew between Ibrahim Khan and the government of Pakistan over the future of Kashmir. These tensions culminated in the Pakistan government suspending Ibrahim Khan from the presidency of Azad Kashmir on 21 May 1950.{{citation |last=Zubair |first=Zeba |title=From Mutiny to Mountbatten |publisher=Routledge |year=2020 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cmA4EAAAQBAJ |page=xliv|isbn=9781317847991 }}

As a response to his ousting, Ibrahim Khan started the democracy movement, which eventually turned into an armed rebellion, paralyzing the Azad Kashmir government. After eliminating all police posts from Azad Kashmir and occupying 80% of its territory, Ibrahim Khan declared his rebel government in Rawalkot in the Poonch District.{{cite book |title=Kashmir - The Untold Story |first=Christopher |last=Snedden |date=December 2013 |publisher=HarperCollins India |isbn=9789350298985 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0cPjAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1937 |pages=120, 121, 122}}

The operation

The PC Pak Sudhan operation was conducted by the 12th division of the Pakistan army.{{cite web |url=https://tribune.com.pk/article/97333/the-forgotten-poonch-revolt-a-stain-on-our-history |title=The forgotten Poonch revolt: A stain on our history |last=Khan Yousafzai |first=Usman |date=18 March 2021 |website=tribune.com.pk |publisher=The Express Tribune |access-date=20 June 2021}} The operation was a direct response to the rebellion orchestrated by Ibrahim Khan, who was continuing to advance on other areas of Azad Kashmir.

Negotiations

Negotiations were held between Sardar Ibrahim and the Government of Pakistan on 4 April 1952, after which ten Saduzai groups, under Ibrahim Khan's command, surrendered to the government of Pakistan while Bagh and Sidhnuti districts refused Ibrahim Khan's decision to negotiate. However, after Pakistani forces gained control and occupied the Bagh and Sidhnuti districts, Sardar Abdul Aziz Khan, who had established his rebel government in the Bagh district, negotiated with the government of Pakistan on 2 January 1955 and surrendered. The Sadhuzai chieftains of the hilly areas of the Sidhnuti district neither surrendered nor agreed to any negotiations until the Baral Agreement of 1956.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NaBDuAEACAAJ&q=sabaz+ali|title=History of Jammu and Kashmir State: The making of the State|last1=Kapur|first1=Manohar Lal|last2=Kapur|publisher=Kashmir History Publications|year=1980|isbn=|location=India|pages=52}}

= Baral Agreement =

The last rebel leader of the 1950s, Ghazi Sher Dil Khan, along with 2,000 Saduzai rebels, signed an agreement surrendering to the government of Pakistan and the independent government of the state of Jammu and Kashmir on 20 September 1956 in the Baral valley. This agreement was effectuated by the president of Azad Kashmir, Sardar Muhammad Abdul Qayyum Khan.