1958 would be a year of unrest in South Asia. The causes of this unrest very varied. Firstly, the success of the Telangana Rebellion in achieving radical land redistribution had showed the peasants of the subcontinent that throwing out their landlords by force was a way to achieve land reform when nonviolent means were unsuccessful. Secondly, the coup in Pakistan and subsequent repression had left dissidents with no way out other than to rise up in armed rebellion. Thirdly, the ongoing unrest in Ceylon would bring issues to the fore that had formerly been on the back burner.

The Travancore Revolution

The first conflict to kick off 1958 would be in the Kingdom of Travancore, the subcontinent’s last remaining fully independent Princely State (as both Hyderabad and Kalat were now home to permanent garrisons of foreign troops). Travancore had earlier experienced a Communist rebellion in 1946, which had been brutally put down by Royalist troops. While the Communists themselves were not strong enough to defeat the Royalist army themselves, the harsh tactics used by the Royalists would drive many former moderates into sympathy with the Communists. Moreover, the refusal by the King of Travancore to accept accession to the Dravidian Federal Republic would lead to further unrest as the people of Travancore saw their neighbours enjoying democratic rights that they still lacked.

In January of 1958, a group of dockworkers would organize a strike in the port town of Quilon, refusing to load or unload the British ships there. As usual, the monarchy would order their troops to crack down on the strikers, arresting many and firing on those who resisted arrest. This of course came with the consequence of anger from the people of Quilon. But angry people have existed in Travancore for decades….

This time the angry people were armed. Some of them carried Soviet-made SKSs, others Lee Enfields. They appeared in every alley and around every street corner. Before they knew it, the Royalist troops were surrounded and running for their lives. Barely ¼ of them make it out of Quilon that day.

Soon, the group that had chased the Royalist troops out of Quilon made itself known. Calling itself the "All Travancore Congress Socialist Party", this group was made up of a coalition of Socilaists and Communists alike, and stood for democracy, republicanism, and land reform within Travancore. They soon controlled the Northern third of Travancore between Quilon and Cochin, and called to annexation by Dravida under the same terms as the Telangana Autonomous Area.

The Travancori monarchy knew that it couldn't defeat the revolution on its own. It's army was too small; the unrest was too widespread. However, it believed that it could get help in the name of stamping out Communism. Telegrams were sent to Dravida, India, and the UK begging for military aid with which to put down the leftist revolt. The future of Travancore would be decided by outsiders.

The Balochistan Insurgency

Balochistan was isolated from the rest of Pakistan. The transfer of Quetta to Afghanistan and the continued existence of North Kalat meant that Balochistan was only connected to the rest of Pakistan by a few roads leading through South Kalat to Karachi. North Balochistan, along the border with Afghanistan, was the most isolated part of the region. The troops guarding the Afghan border were dependent on a long supply line back to Karachi through rough desert terrain.

The Baloch people were also some of those most upset by the new Pakistani regime. The Baloch people, as the only remaining Iranics within Pakistan after the Pashtuns had voted to join Afghanistan, were strongly opposed to the One Unit policy that lumped them in with Punjabjs and Sindhis. They also had traditions of tribal autonomy which were threatened by strict military rule. While there were certainly many more Balochis who were willing to accept the staus quo than those willing to take up arms against it, those few troublemakers could still cause a lot of trouble.

Nauroz Khan was a Baloch tribal leader who had served the Khan of Kalat during the Kalat War. Since the end of the war, Nauroz had lived in Afghanistan, but in February 1958, he would return. Soon he had quite the following, with nearly 1000 guerillas skirmishing with Pakistani troops in the name of Baloch autonomy. The Pakistanis would note that these insurgents seemed better-armed than the typical tribal troops, and every week it would seem that the insurgency grew stronger.

While the Pakistani garrisons were capable of defeating the insurgents in battle, their supply convoys were more vulnerable. Allocating more soldiers to the defence of supply chains meant less to be posted at the Afghan border. If the insurgency would continue to grow it could seriously jeopardize the Pakistani position in Balochistan.

The New Tebhaga Movement

In the 1940s, the Tebhaga Movement saw Communists in West Bengal organize sharecroppers in a successful fight to keep a greater share of their harvest. While the Tebhaga Movement had resulted in the Bargadari Act of 1950, the land reform promised in this new legislation was never fully enacted. Many peasants were still stuck farming land they could not own, and many continued to fall deeper in debt to their landlords.

By 1958, the Kisan Sabha had succeeded at smuggling enough weapons into India that an armed revolt by the peasants against their landlords was possible. Like in the Telangana Rebellion, the uprising began as a refusal by the peasants to pay rent to their landlords, but soon the landlords were driven from their land, and the villages would be reoraganized as peasant communes.

The New Tebhaga Movement, as the revolt is known, is beginning to spread beyond West Bengal to Bihar and Assam. The landlords have demanded that the Indian government step in to enforce their property rights, while the Communists are publicizing a demand for the full collectivization of the land similar to the arrangement made in Telangana. With India still relatively insecure in its food supply, a protracted peasant revolt, together with the inability to import food from Pakistani Punjab, could easily result in famine.

And, of course, Kashmir

The dissolution of the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir and the creation of the Federal State of Jammu and Kashmir has angered many amongst Kashmir's Muslim majority. While few are unhappy to see the Maharaja step down, the referendum which only gave the citizens a choice between monarchy and annexation by India has still left a bitter taste in many. While the recent coup and repression in Pakistan has dampened the calls for joining Pakistan, these have simply been replaced with calls to make Jammu and Kashmir an independent Republic.

While protests in the streets have been common, and these protests have frequently resulted in communal violence between Muslims and Hindus, little armed resistance to Indian rule has yet materialized. This could simply be the effect of over 100 000 Indian troops deterring an uprising. The Vally of Kashmir as well as the Poonch and Muzaffarabad districts are the hotspots of unrest. Gilgit-Baltistan has been relatively tranquil, probably due to the autonomy already granted to it by India.