Janak Singh

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Major General Janak Singh (surname Katoch) CIE, OBI, (7 August 1872 – 15 March 1972) was a prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir.^[1][2]

Biography[]

Singh hailed from the village of Khaira, Kangra district, in the present-day state of Himachal Pradesh in India. He was army minister and later revenue minister in the government of Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir. On 11 August 1947 he was brought out of retirement to be the prime minister at a turbulent time on the eve of the independence of India and Pakistan.^[3]

He steered the Standstill Agreement that Kashmir wanted to sign with India and Pakistan. The agreement was not signed by India, and before further deliberations were done Pakistan-assisted raiders had marched into Kashmir state. Singh asked to be relieved and was replaced by Mehr Chand Mahajan on 15 October 1947. On 13 September 1947 Maharaja Hari Singh requested the loan of the services of Lt. Col. Kashmir Singh Katoch (son of Janak Singh) to act as the military adviser to the Maharaja. This request was granted by the Indian government.^[4] Lt. Col. Kashmir Singh Katoch was the eldest of the three sons of Janak Singh.

He had won a Military Cross with a unit of the Frontier Force Rifles during World War II in action in Italy. He ultimately retired as a Lt. General in the Indian Army. The other two sons also served in the Indian Army, one in the 5 Gorkha Rifles Brigadier Devendra Singh Katoch, AVSM, and the youngest, Lt. Colonel Rajendra Singh Katoch, followed his father into the J&K State forces, where he was commissioned into the J&K Bodyguard Cavalry.

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