scouts ''they indirectly made it clear how they despised and hated Kashmir and everything connected with it, how happy and content they had been under the British rule, and how they considered they had been betrayed by the British in the unconditional handing over of their country to Kashmir''. Taking advantage of the situation the populace of Gilgit-Baltistan started revolting, the people of Ghizer were first to raise the flag of revolution, and gradually the masses of entire region stood up against the rule of Maharaja, again British played an important role in war of independence of Gilgit-Baltistan. End of the princely state On 26 October 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir, faced with an invasion from tribal fighters coming from Pakistan due to 1947 Jammu Massacre along with 1947 Poonch rebellion, signed the Instrument of Accession, joining India. Gilgit's population did not favour the State's accession to India. According to Muzzaffar Bangash, the Raja orderly in Chilas, represented the views of the region's people when he said: The whole of Gilgit Agency is pro-Pakistan ... we could never swear allegiance to Hindustan. Apart from religion, the Gilgit Agency is really a part of the NWFP and is therefore a part of Pakistan. If Kashmir remains independent, well and good .... But if the Maharaja through pig headedness and bad advice, political pressure or attractive remunerations accedes to Hindustan, then there will be trouble here! The local populace of Gilgit supported the tribal fighters as they were eager to force the Dogras rule out of Gilgit-Baltistan. According to Scholar Yaqoob Khan Bangash: "By the middle of 1947 news of communal tensions had reached Gilgit and in a place where Hindu Dogras were despised for their heavy-handedness during the conflicts to subdue Gilgit, stories of Muslims being slaughtered by Hindus and Sikhs in the Punjab inflamed passions against the small minorities of Hindus and Sikhs in Gilgit." Major Brown was well aware of the anti-maharaja sentiments among the people in Gilgit. Sensing their discontent, Brown mutinied on 1 November 1947, overthrowing the Governor Ghansara Singh. The bloodless coup d'etat was planned by Brown to the last detail under the code name Datta Khel. Major Brown is also credited to have saved Hindu population in Gilgit from being harmed. Major Brown acted to prevent bloodshed and took some personal risk in doing so. On the morning of 2 November 1947,