[FairfieldLife] The Kashmir saga

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 12:52:58 -0700

                    
                                                                                                  
                                   
                                                                                                                                             
         
             
                  The Kashmir saga
           by   Bhashyam Kasturi
 
     The Instrument of Accession now available on the Home Ministry's website gives us a glimpse of the original document 
 
     THE UNION Ministry of Home Affairs has done a great service to the nation and to the world by making available on its website the entire original text of the Instrument of Accession signed by Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir on October 26, 1947. This document, long thought to be lost, has generated considerable controversy among historians and others alike.

     The Instrument of Accession now available on the MHA website gives us a glimpse of the original document as it was signed by the other 550 odd princely states of British India and lets us see Hari Singh's signature. It is not as though the actual document was not available with the government of India. Since 1947, it has been with the government and later it was transferred to the National Archives where it rests in a file with other documents relating to Jammu and Kashmir's accession.

  Alastair Lamb's claim

     It is sad that it took the Centre so long to put out this document on public display, for scholars like Alastair Lamb had already done the damage by claiming that the document did not exist and even if it did, Hari Singh may have never signed it. More damaging for India, Lamb claimed that even if Hari Singh did sign any such document, it was done after the first landing of Indian troops at Srinagar on October 27, 1947.
 
      The document that Hari Singh signed makes it clear that he offered accession on October 26, 1947 and that it was accepted by the then Governor General of India, Louis Mountbatten, the next day. Now that the Instrument of Accession has been made available, it remains to be suggested to the MHA that it should put out all the documents available on Jammu and Kashmir on the Internet.

     The broad outline of how and when Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession has been clear for some time now. As Prem Shankar Jha states in his book, Hari Singh was persuaded by V.P. Menon to sign the Instrument of Accession on the night of October 25/early morning of October 26, 1947. Menon also persuaded Hari Singh to leave Srinagar for Jammu, given the threat from the tribal raiders from Pakistan, which he did at around 2 a.m.

      After driving almost non-stop, the Maharaja's entourage reached Jammu palace probably around lunchtime on October 26. There they waited for news from Delhi about the request for assistance. V.P. Menon did not come as his flight to Jammu was put off due to bad weather that afternoon. But he had already handed over the Instrument of Accession to Lord Mountbatten on October 26 at the meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet.

      The other document that is available at many sources is a letter written by Hari Singh to Mountbatten, also dated October 26, 1947. Actually, while the Maharaja had signed the Instrument of Accession, he had not agreed to bring in Sheikh Abdullah to head the emergency administration. To persuade Hari Singh to get Sheikh Abdullah in, Menon went to Jammu on October 27, soon after the first Indian troops were in, and got the Maharaja to append his signature to a letter dated October 26 and datelined "The Palace, Jammu." This letter, probably written originally on October 24-25 had to be redrafted to include at the end the paragraph about Sheikh Abdullah's inclusion in government. This Menon took back to Delhi on the October 27 and then in the evening handed both the Instrument and the Letter offering Accession to Mountbatten to Jawaharlal Nehru.
 
      Thus the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India. And now thanks to some bright bureaucrat in the Home Ministry we are able to see the original document signed by Hari Singh.
 
 

Instrument of Accession executed by Maharajah Hari Singh on October 26, 1947

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 Indian State may accede to the Dominion of India by an Instrument of Accession executed by the Ruler thereof.

Now, therefore, I Shriman Inder Mahinder Rajrajeswar Maharajadhiraj Shri Hari Singhji, Jammu & Kashmir Naresh Tatha Tibbet adi Deshadhipati, Ruler of Jammu & Kashmir State, in the exercise of my Sovereignty in and over my said State do hereby execute this my Instrument of Accession and

1. I hereby declare that I accede to the Dominion of India with the intent that the Governor General of India, the Dominion Legislature, the Federal Court and any other Dominion authority established for the purposes of the Dominion shall by virtue of this my Instrument of Accession but subject always to the terms thereof, and for the purposes only of the Dominion, exercise in relation to the State of Jammu & Kashmir (hereinafter referred to as "this State") such functions as may be vested in them by or under the Government of India Act, 1935, as in force in the Dominion of India, on the 15th day of August 1947, (which Act as so in force is hereafter referred to as "the Act').
2. I hereby assume the obligation of ensuring that due effect is given to provisions of the Act within this State so far as they are applicable therein by virtue of this my Instrument of Accession.
3. I accept the matters specified in the schedule hereto as the matters with respect to which the Dominion Legislature may make law for this State.
4. I hereby declare that I accede to the Dominion of India on the assurance that if an agreement is made between the Governor General and the Ruler of this State whereby any functions in relation to the administration in this State of any law of the Dominion Legislature shall be exercised by the Ruler of the State, then any such agreement shall be construed and have effect accordingly.
5. The terms of this my Instrument of Accession shall not be varied by any amendment of the Act or the Indian Independence Act, 1947, unless such amendment is accepted by me by Instrument supplementary to this Instrument.
6. Nothing in this Instrument shall empower the Dominion Legislature to make any law for this State authorizing the compulsory acquisition of land for any purpose, but I hereby undertake that should the Dominion for the purpose of a Dominion law which applies in this State deem it necessary to acquire any land, I will at their request acquire the land at their expense, or, if the land belongs to me transfer it to them on such terms as may be agreed or, in default of agreement, determined by an arbitrator to be appointed by the Chief Justice of India.
7. Nothing in this Instrument shall be deemed to commit in any way to acceptance of any future constitution of India or to fetter my discretion to enter into agreement with the Government of India under any such future constitution.
8. Nothing in this Instrument affects the continuance of my Sovereignty in and over this State, or, save as provided by or under this Instrument, the exercise of any powers, authority and rights now enjoyed by me as Ruler of this State or the validity of any law at present in force in this State.
9. I hereby declare that I execute this Instrument on behalf of this State and that any reference in this Instrument to me or to the Ruler of the State is to be construed as including a reference to my heirs and successors.
 

Given under my hand this 26th day of October, nineteen hundred and forty seven.

  Hari Singh

  Maharajadhiraj of Jammu and Kashmir State.


ACCEPTANCE OF ACCESSION BY THE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF INDIA

I do hereby accept this Instrument of Accession. Dated this twenty seventh day of October, nineteen hundred and forty seven.

Mountbatten of Burma

Governor General of India.


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.
 



 
 
   
                                                                                          

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