I'll make a wikibox for this when I get the chance.
The Himalayan War and Hindi-Chini Bhai-Bhai
The Chinese invasion of Tibet coincided with another war - the war between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region. The Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir was majority Muslim region, but ruled by a Hindu. Despite the British Raj being divided on religious lines (roughly speaking), the Hindu ruler of Jammu and Kashmir chose to integrate with India. Although India at first claimed that the religion of a ruler was irrelevant to whether it would go to India or Pakistan, as shown by their invasion of the Muslim-ruled Hyderabad Deccan, they reversed their position and claimed that the wishes of the ruler of Kashmir had to be respected.
Opinions in Pakistan were hardened by blatant Indian hypocrisy. However, Indian positions were also hardened after their invasion of Kashmir immediately resulted in mass ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus. Although many innocent Muslims were murdered in Hyderabad, the situation in Kashmir seemed to go beyond that, with the Hindu population being actively chased out of the entire region. The two powers were both ready for war. Indian and Pakistani forces clashed inconclusively in Kashmir, with almost 10,000 soldiers killed between the two sides (mostly Pakistani, as the Pakistani offensive ground to a halt, leaving 2/3rds of Kashmir in Indian control).
In contrast, KMT troops largely crushed Tibetan troops whenever they engaged in open battle. Fearing that KMT troops, especially those of Muslim origin serving under the Ma warlords, would wreak terrible vengeance on Tibetan cities, members of the Tibetan military and nobility seized control in Lhasa, announced the supposed elevation of the 14th Dalai Lama to temporal power, and negotiated with the KMT on his behalf. Ironically, many of these nobles had been the ones to advocate resistance against the Chinese. The deal they hammered out was significantly worse for Tibetan autonomy than the one originally offered. Chamdo Province for example, was permanently severed from Tibet Province.
In addition, in a bid to limit both Tibetan autonomy and charm the British (whose objections to the invasion of Tibet were noted), the Chinese drafted an entirely new Constitution for the new State of Tibet, which was to be an “integral permanent subdivision of the Chinese Republic.“ The Tibetan interim Constitution was a strange mix of Chinese Republicanism, British parliamentarism, and the Tibetan dual system of government. The Ganden Phodrang was officially abolished and the Dalai Lama was reduced to a mere constitutional monarch. Furthermore, a bicameral Parliament was granted the power to govern internal Tibetan affairs. The Constitution was drafted in cooperation with many of these Tibetan nobles, so the upper house, also named the Kashag (after the ruling council of Tibet) was seated mostly of Buddhist clergy, with a small percentage reserved for pro-KMT Imams (in a nod to the Chinese casus belli). The lower house, the Provincial Assembly was in theory democratically elected, but the districts were drawn by Tibetan nobles with rotten boroughs to ensure that the Tibetan landed gentry would control almost all of the seats and the ability to elect their own desi (regent). All of these clergy and nobles would join the new “Kuomintang, Tibet Province Branch”, which of course, was completely new and had little to do with the rest of the KMT. The KMT got what it wanted. The nobles and clergy of Tibet got what they wanted. The Dalai Lama didn’t, but who cared at the time what a 13 year-old boy thought?
A month earlier, in August 1948, a UN Resolution condemned both sides of the ROC-Tibet conflict, the Tibetans for their religious persecution of Muslims and the Chinese for their invasion. The bill passed unanimously in the UN Security Council except with one dissenting vote - China, which vetoed the resolution. The Chinese, in a retaliatory mood, were convinced by Nehru to veto the next resolution on the docket - a call for India and Pakistan to agree to a cease-fire and later allow for a plebiscite in Kashmir to decide territorial control.[1] Kashmir was majority-Muslim (even more so after the Kashmiri Pandits fled), so India would almost certainly lose any such plebiscite. After Chinese victory in Tibet, Nehru kept in close contact with Chiang Kai-Shek, most notably signing the secret Menon-Sun protocols.[2] Chiang didn’t particularly care about adding more land to the ROC outside of core China, but he felt Aksai Chin, near the Soviet Union, was strategically important to foil any Soviet incursion into Sinkiang or Tibet. China agreed to drop its claim on Arunachal Pradesh, India dropped its claim on Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract, and the two parties agreed to work together to ensure Chinese sovereignty over Tibet and India sovereignty over all of Jammu and Kashmir outside of Aksai Chin. China had thus also secured total Indian and British support for its rule in Tibet.
In early January, egged on by strong covert Chinese support, Indian forces walked away from a cease-fire, choosing to fire General Roy Bucher, who had cautioned restraint. Pakistani losses aside, they had gained almost half of Kashmir’s territory in their offensive - Defense Minister Menon wanted it back. General Cariappa was going to be appointed, but he threatened to resign unless Nehru went back to the peace table, feeling that Menon was excessively interfering politically.[3] Under Chiang Kai-Shek’s advice, Nehru and Menon rejected that, so the position went instead to S.M. Shrinagesh. British officers and troops had served on both sides of the war, hoping to keep the war more limited. Menon rejected this approach. British air and artillery assets refused to aid, so Indian forces were forced to rely on a large infantry offensive. In a massive infantry offensive, Indian forces swarmed to attack Pakistani positions. Although Indian forcse quickly advanced against Pakistani irregulars, Pakistani regulars (with British aerial and artillery support) quickly turned the situation around, with Indians taking hideous losses and the bulk of the Indian Army was pushed back, cut off from supplies, and surrounded in Mirpur.
Nehru began to contemplate surrender as most of the world was shocked at Pakistan’s shock victory against India. Defense Minister V.K. Menon had other plans, however. Working around Nehru, Menon ordered the recruitment of as many former Indian National Army soldiers as possible in his drive to take all of Kashmir. Inspired by the refusal of Indian troops trapped in Mirpur to actually surrender, legions signed up. Chiang Kai-Shek also loaded off many unnecessary weapons at a discount price, as they were no longer needed from the Chinese Civil War. The INA veteranas were trained in cannier tactics, inspired by the Japanese, involving infiltration squads, widespread uses of knee mortars, and night-time attacks. The then-celebrating Anglo-Pakistani forces were taken by complete surprise as they concluded that the Indian Army was both shredded and had no way of supplying another large offensive. However, they were not aware of the INA veteran recruitment, nor was the world aware at the time that Chiang Kai-Shek had supplied the Indian Army through Aksai Chin in order to prove to Nehru the benefits of Chinese sovereignty there. Even though Indian forces took ever worse losses while charging Pakistani positions from all sides, Anglo-Pakistani forces were completely chased out of Kashmir proper. After linking up with the trapped army in Mirpur, Indian forces quickly fortified the western borders of Jammu and Kashmir in preparation for a Pakistani counter-attack. Pakistani forces retreated to both the north (Gilgit and Baltistan) and the West.
It was of course at that moment that Chiang Kai-Shek declared the war “over”, issuing an ultimatum to both sides to cease fighting (the Indians were of course aware that this "ultimatum" would arrive as soon as India achieved its goals). India immediately relented and agreed to the ceasefire it had previously. The Pakistanis were shocked at what they saw as blatant Chinese meddling in India's favor, but they were pressured by their British allies to agree, as the British sought to keep good relations with China and did not want to see the war further escalate. The Pakistanis agreed under duress, instead claiming that taking control of Baltistan and Gilgit, and inflicting hideous casualties on the Indian Army meant Pakistani "won." However, the Indians thought differently, celebrating the shock victory of the Fall Offensive. In retrospect, the Fall Offensive was merely the Indians barely managing to avoid total catastrophe, trading tens of thousands of lives for marginally more territory in the Kashmir. However, among internal elites of the Indian National Congress, the victory elevated the position of Defense Minister V.K. Menon, while diminishing that of Nehru, who had almost thrown in the towel.[4] Chiang Kai-shek was also strengthened, as he used Indo-Pakistani compliance to claim at home that China had once again become a Great Power.
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[1] OTL, this resolution obviously passed.
[2] Between V.K. Menon and Sun Li-Jen.
[3] OTL, he was appointed and banned INA members from the new army.
[4] The territorial difference here from the OTL War is that the Line of Control for India includes most of what is OTL Azad Kashmir, which is small, but heavily populated.
