Reasonable, Very close, with some minor reservations on my part; do read my interpretation as well.
Technically it was part of British india as it was administered by british india .
Not correct. British India was administered directly. If you are referring to Gilgit as being part of British India, it was never considered so; it was administered by the Political Service (you may remember the infamous Iskandar Mirza, who belonged to that service) and not by the ICS.
The princely states were, in theory, sovereign states, under the suzerainty of the British Crown. When the Crown Colony, British India, was granted Dominion status as two Dominions, technically these 561 princely states became independent, but were also told in unmistakable terms that they would have to commit to joining one of the two Dominions: Britain would NOT countenance a third, or any other than the two.
the claim of GB being leased is partially right as many states were conquered by the dogras while the frontier states were conquered by the British.
Again, I must demur. Let us take it in sequence.
The Dogras started as vassals of the Lahore Durbar. Gulab Singh's distant relative was Raja of Jammu, and was displaced by the Lahore Durbar (Gulab Singh and his brother fought against the Sikhs, but surrendered when further resistance became clearly futile). Subsequently, for services rendered, Gulab Singh got the jagir of Jammu, and took the precaution of getting the erstwhile Raja to endorse his claim in perpetuity. Then that became the seat of Dogra resurgence in the mountains, and in turn, they took all the small hill states in and around Jammu, surrounding the Vale, that was directly administered by officers of the Lahore Durbar.
Gulab Singh's general, Zorawar Singh, took Baltistan, then Ladakh, and finally mounted a disastrous campaign against Tibet, in which he lost his life. When the fighting ended, the Sino-Tibetan forces had been defeated outside Leh, and they entered into a treaty with the Dogra power that defined that boundary. All the trouble about Aksai Chin was due to subsequent idiocy of a greedy British geographer and a gullible Maharaja of J&K.
This was the situation when the British attacked and defeated the Sikhs in two hard-fought, closely won wars. As a consequence, to liquidate their war indemnity, the Sikhs gave up the Vale to the British, who sold it to Gulab Singh and recognised him as independent and sovereign Maharaja of a state called Jammu and Kashmir.
Upto this point, we have witnessed Dogra conquest and purchase. Their possessions were like a doughnut with the Vale forming the hole in the middle; once they bought it, their territories were contiguous.
What you mention happened after this, in the 80s and 90s of the 19th century. Britain and the princely state joined hands to subdue the north-west; the campaigns against the Pamir Emirates began then, and ended with all of them submitting to the princely state.
However, the British had talked themselves into taking the so-called Great Game seriously; they were also blundering around in Afghanistan and had got into serious trouble there. At this stage, they took what was effectively Gilgit under lease.
There was a formal lease and a tenure of the lease. Nothing informal about it.
To respond to your point specifically: the British gave over nothing of the lands they themselves conquered, but, on the other hand, took over (on lease) some of the state's land.
In 1937 or so, the British renewed the lease, only to give it up abruptly in 1947.
As i said that the Chinese can not claim these part and even if they could their only claim would be partially on states of hunza and nagar no more. And that with very loosely evidence.. even during those time the loyalty of these states would fluctuate between the Chinese and badakhshanis... And the loyalty would be in meare name ... There was no substantial connection with the Chinese except for exporting slaves which my ancestors were very good act..
States of hunza and nagar were independent of them and regular border disputes on land further cement it. As if it were part of any Chinese claim before 1948..there would've been not much blood shed on land grabbing..
Problems arose after 1948 when Chinese moved into what is now GB province.. which narrated by some of my elders of that time talking about canons and troops patrolling the areas and was defused by ayub khan which resulted in them moving out of these land ..
This is very accurate, and I have nothing to add to it. You have even got the fine details, like the slave trade with Kashgar. You mention your ancestors; are you from those parts?