Instrument of Accession (Jammu and Kashmir)

Instrument of Accession of Jammu and Kashmir State

Instrument of Accession of Jammu and Kashmir state to the Union of India
Type	Accession Treaty
Signed	26 October 1947
Location	Srinagar/Delhi
Effective	27 October 1947
Condition	Acceptance by the Governor-General of India
Expiration	Perpetual Validity
Signatories	Maharaja Hari Singh, Lord Louis Mountbatten
Parties	Jammu and Kashmir Dominion of India
Depositary	Dominion of India
Language	English
Full text
Index:Instrument of Accession and Standstill Agreement of Jammu and Kashmir to Dominion of India.pdf at Wikisource

The Jammu and Kashmir Instrument of Accession is a legal document executed by Maharaja Hari Singh, ruler of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, on 26 October 1947. ^{[1] [2]}

Parties

By executing an Instrument of Accession under the provisions of the Indian Independence Act 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh agreed to accede his state to the Dominion of India. ^{[3] [4]}

On 27 October 1947, the then Governor-General of India, Lord Mountbatten accepted the accession. In a letter sent to Maharaja Hari Singh on the same day, he said, "it is my Government's wish that as soon as law and order have been restored in Jammu and Kashmir and her soil cleared of the invader, the question of the State's accession should be settled by a reference to the people." ^[5]

Pakistan governor-general Mohammad Ali Jinnah stated that the accession was "fraudulent", and that the Maharaja "betrayed" trust by acceding to India at a time when a standstill agreement signed as per his personal request to the Maharaja was still in force. ^{[6] [a]}

The accession to India is celebrated on Accession Day, which is held annually on 26 October. ^[8]

Text

P1. Instrument of accession Kašmir

P2. Instrument of accession Kašmir

The text of the Instrument of Accession, excluding the schedule mentioned in its third point, is as follows: ^[9]

Whereas the Indian Independence Act, 1947, provides that as from the fifteenth day of August, 1947, there shall be set up an independent Dominion known as INDIA, and that the Government of India Act, 1935 shall with such omissions, additions, adaptations and modifications as the Governor General may by order specify, be applicable to the Dominion of India. And whereas the Government of India Act, 1935, as so adapted by the Governor General, provides that an [princely state

Schedule

The Schedule referred to in paragraph 3 of the Instrument of Accession reads as follows: ^[10]

SCHEDULE OF INSTRUMENT OF ACCESSION THE MATTERS WITH RESPECT TO WHICH THE DOMINION LEGISLATURE MAY MAKE LAWS FOR THIS STATE

A. Defence

1. The naval, military and air forces of the Dominion and any other armed forces raised or maintained by the Dominion; any armed forces, including forces raised or maintained by an acceding State, which are attached to, or operating with, any of the armed forces of the Dominion.
2. Naval, military and air force works, administration of cantonment areas.
3. Arms, fire-arms, ammunition.
4. Explosives.

B. External Affairs

1. External affairs; the implementing of treaties and agreements with other countries; extradition, including the surrender of criminals and accused persons to parts of His Majesty's Dominions outside India.
2. Admission into, and emigration and expulsion from, India, including in relation thereto the regulation of the movements in India of persons who are not British subjects domiciled in India or subjects of any acceding State; pilgrimages to places beyond India.
3. Naturalisation.

C. Communications

1. Posts and telegraphs, including telephones, wireless, broadcasting, and other like forms of communication.
2. Federal railways; the regulation of all railways other than minor railways in respect of safety, maximum and minimum rates and fares, station and services terminal charges, interchange of traffic and the responsibility of railway administrations as carriers of goods and passengers; the regulation of minor railways in respect of safety and the responsibility of the administrations of such railways as carriers of goods and passengers.
3. Maritime shipping and navigation, including shipping and navigation on tidal waters; Admiralty jurisdiction.
4. Port quarantine.
5. Major ports, that is to say, the declaration and delimitation of such ports, and the constitution and powers of Port Authorities therein.
6. Aircraft and air navigation; the provision of aerodromes; regulation and organisation of air traffic and of aerodromes.
7. Lighthouses, including lightships, beacons and other provisions for the safety of shipping and aircraft.
8. Carriage of passengers and goods by sea or by air.
9. Extension of the powers and jurisdiction of members of the police force belonging to any unit to railway area outside that unit.

D. Ancillary

1. Election to the Dominion Legislature, subject to the provisions of the Act and of any Order made thereunder.
2. Offences against laws with respect to any of the aforesaid matters.
3. Inquiries and statistics for the purposes of any of the aforesaid matters.
4. Jurisdiction and powers of all courts with respect to any of the aforesaid matters but, except with the consent of the Ruler of the acceding State, not so as to confer any jurisdiction or powers upon any courts other than courts ordinarily exercising jurisdiction in or in relation to that State. ^[10]

Date

While the Instrument of Accession carries the date of 26 October, some scholars believe that it was actually signed on 27 October. ^[11] However, the fact that the Governor General accepted the accession on 27 October, the day the Indian troops were airlifted into Kashmir, is generally accepted. ^{[12] [13]}

An Indian commentator, Prem Shankar Jha, has argued that the accession was actually signed by Hari Singh on 25 October 1947, just before he left Srinagar for Jammu. ^[14]

Before taking any action on the Maharaja's request for help, the Government of India decided to send V. P. Menon, representing it, who flew to Srinagar on 25 October. On realizing the state of emergency, Menon advised the Maharaja to leave immediately for Jammu, for his own safety. He followed this advice and left Srinagar for Jammu that night, while Menon and Prime Minister Mahajan flew to Delhi early the next morning, 26 October. When they reached there, the Indian Government promised Menon and Mahajan military assistance for Jammu and Kashmir, but only after the Instrument of Accession had been signed. Hence, Menon immediately flew back to Jammu with the Instrument. The official version of events is that on his arrival, he contacted the Maharaja, who was asleep after a long journey, but who at once signed the Instrument. Menon then flew back immediately to Delhi with the legal documents on 26 October. ^[15]

Commentary

In 1950, a United States Department of State memorandum prepared by American diplomats George C. McGhee and John D. Hickerson, approved by Secretary of State Dean Acheson, stated on the basis of an Office of Legal Counsel opinion that the Instrument of Accession could not finalize the accession to either dominion. ^{[16] [17]} According to this memorandum, the Attorney General for England and Wales and Foreign Office legal advisors felt that the accession was inconsistent with Kashmir's obligations to Pakistan, and for that reason it was "perhaps invalid". ^[17]

See also

• Instrument of Accession
• Instrument of Accession of Junagadh
• History of Kashmir
• Jammu and Kashmir Constitution Act 1939

References and notes

Notes

1. The argument regarding the "standstill agreement" is based on the supposition that Islamic Republic of Pakistan had acceded to a status equivalent the former British India (see paramountcy) in relation to Jammu and Kashmir as a result of the standstill agreement, and that the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir had surrendered his ability to conduct the foreign policy of his kingdom. Christopher Birdwood considered it a 'wild exaggeration' of the prevailing situation. In fact, no formal standstill agreement had ever been signed; arrangements regarding post and telegraphs and train services had only been confirmed telegraphically. ^[7]

Citations

1. Anand, Adarsh Sein (2007). The Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir: Its Development & Comments (5 ed.). Universal Law Publishing Company Pvt. Limited. p. 67. ISBN   978-81-7534-520-1.
2. Paul Bowers (30 March 2004). Kashmir, Research Paper 04/28, Library Research Paper, House of Commons Library, United Kingdom, p. 46, archived 26 March 2009.
3. Patricia Gossman; Vincent Iacopino (1993). The Crackdown in Kashmir: Torture of Detainees and Assaults on the Medical Community. Human Rights Watch / Physicians for Human Rights. p. 10. ISBN   978-1-879707-13-9.
4. Campbell, Bruce B.; Brenner, Arthur D. (2002). Death Squads in Global Perspective: Murder with Deniability. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 271. ISBN   978-1-4039-6094-8.
5. Thomas Bruce Millar, The Commonwealth and the United Nations (1967),page 26
6. Schofield, Victoria (16 January 2002). "Kashmir: The origins of the dispute". BBC News. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
7. Birdwood, Lord (1956), Two Nations and Kashmir, R. Hale, p. 45
8. "Jammu all set to celebrate accession day". Sify News. IANS. 25 October 2010. Archived from the original on 30 October 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2007.
9. Instrument of Accession of Jammu and Kashmir State dated 26 October, 1947, centralexcisehyderabad4.gov.in, accessed 28 October 2021
10. Accession of Jammu and Kashmir State to India, unica.it, accessed 19 September 2024
11. Raghavan, Srinath (2016), India's War: The Making of Modern South Asia, 1939-1945, Penguin Books Limited, pp. 107–108, ISBN   978-1-84614-543-8 : "The question of when exactly he signed the instrument of accession has been the focus of much scholarly debate and has resulted in a literature out of all proportion to the importance of the matter. Suffice it to say that it was almost certainly signed on 27 October 1947—not the 26th as claimed by India."
12. Schofield, Victoria (2003) [2000], Kashmir in Conflict, London and New York: I. B. Taurus & Co, pp. 56–58, ISBN   1-86064-898-3
13. Whitehead, Andrew (2007). A Mission in Kashmir. Penguin. ISBN   978-0-670-08127-1 . Retrieved 27 August 2019– via Andrew Whitehead.
14. Jha, Prem Shankar (2003), The Origins of a Dispute: Kashmir 1947, Oxford University Press, ISBN   978-0-19-566486-7
15. Gupta, Y.R. (26 November 2018). "1947 - Pakistan Invasion (22nd October, 1947 Muzaffarabad Attacked)". www.earlytimes.in. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
16. Schaffer 2009, p. 29.
17. "Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume V - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Washington. 6 February 1950. Retrieved 17 November 2021.

Bibliography

• Jha, Prem Shankar (2003), The Origins of a Dispute: Kashmir 1947, Oxford University Press, ISBN   978-0-19-566486-7
• Schaffer, Howard B. (2009). The Limits of Influence: America's Role in Kashmir. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN   978-0-8157-0370-9.

Further reading

• Anand, Adarsh Sein (1964). "Kashmir's Accession to India". Journal of the Indian Law Institute. 6 (1): 69–86. ISSN   0019-5731. JSTOR   43949788.
• Howley, James D. (1991), Alive and Kicking: The Kashmir Dispute Forty Years Later, vol. 9, Dickinson Journal of International Law. Penn State International Law Review., pp. 87–120
• Lamb, Alastair (1994). Birth of a Tragedy: Kashmir 1947. Roxford Books. ISBN   978-0-907129-07-3.
• Jha, Prem Shankar (1996). Kashmir, 1947– Rival Versions Of History. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-563766-3 – via Internet Archive.
• Anand, Adrarsh Sein (1996), "C.L. Agrawal Memorial Lecture Accession of Kashmir - Historical & Legal Perspective", The Practical Lawyer, Jaipur
• Anand, Adarsh Sein (2001). "Accession of Jammu and Kashmir State – Historical and Legal Perspective". Journal of the Indian Law Institute. 43 (4): 455–468. ISSN   0019-5731. JSTOR   43953394.
• McCarthy, Michael R. (2002). A subject of dispute: a legal analysis of the claims of India and Pakistan to Kashmir (Masters thesis). Durham University.
• Mian, Qaiser Javed (2012), Resolving Kashmir Dispute Under International Law (PDF), Pakistan Journalist Association (PJA), archived from the original (PDF) on 10 January 2020
• Sagar, Daya (2015). Jammu & Kashmir: A Victim, A Victim of Personal Ambitions of Some and Mishandling by the Core Indian Leadership: A Victim of Personal Ambitions of Some and Mishandling by the Core Indian Leadership. Prabhat Prakashan. ISBN   978-81-8430-313-1.
• Lone, Fozia Nazir (2018). Historical Title, Self-Determination and the Kashmir Question. BRILL. ISBN   978-90-04-35999-4.
• Nayak, Venkatesh (5 August 2019). "The Backstory of Article 370: A True Copy of J&K's Instrument of Accession". The Wire. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
• Singh, Vijaita (7 August 2019). "J&K special status | Home Ministry pulls out original instrument of accession to support Article 370 move". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 17 November 2021.
• Jha, Priyaranjan; Jha, Pranay (21 September 2019). "Article 370 and The Paradox of Kashmir's Accession". The Wire. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
• Soofi, Ahmer Bilal; Aziz, Jamal; Anwar, Muhammad Oves; Malik, Ayesha; Khan, Shayan Ahmed (2019), The Status of Jammu and Kashmir Under International Law. The Law of Occupation and Illegal Annexation. (PDF), Research Society of International Law, Pakistan
• Menski, Werner; Yousuf, Muneeb, eds. (September 2021). Kashmir after 2019: Completing the Partition. SAGE Publishing India. ISBN   978-93-5479-122-2.

External links

• Venkatesh Nayak, Exclusive: For the First Time, a True Copy of Jammu & Kashmir's Instrument of Accession, The Wire, 26 October 2016.
• Proclamation of 1 May 1951 on Jammu & Kashmir Constituent Assembly by Yuvraj (Crown Prince) Karan Singh from the Official website of Government of Jammu and Kashmir, India
• Conflict in Kashmir: Selected Internet Resources by the Library, University of California, Berkeley, USA; University of California, Berkeley Library Bibliographies and Web-Bibliographies list