Both the Maharaja and the Prime Minister agreed to these terms and on October 26 the Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession (GlobalSecurity.org 2009)." Indeed, the First Kashmir War had three major personalities / entities vying for control or maintenance thereof of the disputed region; the Indian and Pakistani governments and the Maharaja of Kashmir. Despite wanting to remain independent, the Maharaja could not do so because of the power that could be yielded on him by either Pakistan or India. With Pakistan initiating the hostilities, the Maharaja had no recourse but to ask for India's help albeit the high price of accession required by India.

With the war seeing no end during 1948, "Indian leaders had to approach the United Nations who ultimately introduced Observers in June 1948. A UN brokered cease-fire went into effect on January 1, 1949 (GlobalSecurity.org 2009)." In the same manner as how the Korean...
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