On 25 July 1947, Mountbatten held a meeting with the
Chamber of Princes, where he addressed the question of the princely states, of which there were 562. The treaty relations between Britain and the Indian States would come to an end, and on 15 August 1947 the
suzerainty of the British Crown was to lapse. Mountbatten ruled out any dominion status for any of the princely states, and advised them to accede to one or the other of the dominions, India and Pakistan, according to geographical contiguity. Although it was possible for the states to remain independent (autonomous) to some extent after 15 August, their dependency on the British government of dominion of India for defence, foreign affairs, communication and other matters rendered such freedom meaningless.
India Lord Mountbatten continued as the first Governor General of independent India.
Jawaharlal Nehru became the
prime minister and
Vallabhbhai Patel became the
home minister. Over 550 princely states, almost all of the states contiguous with the territory of India, acceded to India by 15 August. The exceptions were
Junagadh,
Hyderabad, and
Jammu and Kashmir. Contiguous to both India and Pakistan, the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, on account of its 77% Muslim majority, was expected to accede to Pakistan. When Maharaja
Hari Singh hesitated to do this, Pakistan launched a
tribal invasion in an effort to persuade him. Instead, he chose to accede to India. The state has been
disputed between India and Pakistan ever since. The state of
Junagadh initially acceded to Pakistan but faced a revolt from its Hindu population. India considered the accession of Junagadh invalid because it violated the principle of geographical contiguity of the partition, but Pakistan argued that the maritime border of Junagadh is connected to Pakistan by sea route. Following a breakdown of law and order, its
Dewan requested India to take over the administration on 8 November 1947. India conducted a referendum in the state on 20 February 1948, in which the people voted overwhelmingly to join India. The state of
Hyderabad had a majority Hindu population but also a Muslim ruler with a large Muslim minority. The
Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to get Dominion status. Hyderabad elected to maintain its independence and lobbied internationally for recognition. However, it faced the pro-communist
Telangana Rebellion and agitation by Indian nationalists opposed to its independence. On 13 September 1948, the Indian government launched an invasion of Hyderabad called
Operation Polo. The Hyderabadi military was defeated over five days of fighting. With his state about to be over run, the Nizam signed the
Instrument of Accession, joining India. The formal integration of Hyderabad into the dominion of India took place much later on January 25, 1950, when the Nizam signed the Instrument of Accession with the central government. A day later, as India became a republic on January 26, the Nizam took over as the Raj Pramukh or governor.
Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah became the
governor-general of Pakistan, and
Liaquat Ali Khan became the
prime minister of Pakistan. Between October 1947 and March 1948 the rulers of several Muslim-majority states signed instruments of accession to
join Pakistan. These included
Amb,
Bahawalpur,
Chitral,
Dir,
Kalat,
Khairpur,
Kharan,
Las Bela,
Makran, and
Swat. The Khanate of Kalat initially elected to resume its independence, until 27 March 1948 when its ruler acceded to Pakistan. ==Repeal==