… the distinction between membership and merger makes no sense. It can be said that over the past two centuries, many of the princely states, including Kashmir, have joined the British crown, but that the inhabitants of those states have not obtained British citizenship. It was refreshing that, during the nuclear debate in Parliament in 2008, Omar was rightly rewarded for enforcing his Indian nationality. The accession instrument was the legal document to achieve accession, where it was adopted. It was executed, on the one hand, by the Indian government and, on the other hand, by the leaders of each print state. The most important point of the act of accession was that its sovereign and formal director Singh ruled and stated that the State of Jammu and Kashmir would join the “Dominion of India” with a clear result, that by “Governor General of India, legislators, the Federal Court and any other government authority established for the purposes of domination”, would be legally entitled to perform any function concerning the State of Jammu and Kashmir. in the same way as they were transmitted by or under the Government of India Act, 1935. U.S. Representative Warren Austin detached this view to the Security Council, where he said that with jammu and Kashmir`s accession to India, this foreign sovereignty had passed to India. [19] For example, see A. G. Noorani, The Kashmir Dispute: 1947-2012, Flights.
1 – 2, etc. and A. G. Noorani, Article 370: A Constitutional History of Jammu and Kashmir, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2011. It is interesting to note that Mr. Noorani dedicates section 370 to Mrs Mridula Sarabhai. While researching the IoAs and the decommissioned files on J-K at the National Archives, I discovered several files containing correspondence between Ms. Sarabhai and the Indian government, particularly with regard to women and children abducted after the partition of the subcontinent. The 1947 Interior and Foreign Ministers` Procedural Indications contain references to several files that demonstrate their government`s leading role in assistance and rehabilitation efforts.
This is a topic for other scientists to explore and highlight their contributions to alleviating the suffering most affected during the chaos caused by the division of the subcontinent. These documents are available to researchers at the National Archives. First, the document signed by the Maharaja of J-K, like several other IoAs, consists of two parts. The first three pages contain the text of the terms of membership – it is the IoA itself. Page 2 of the document bears the signature of Maharaja Hari Singh and the acceptance of the instrument signed by Lord Mountbatten. Page 3 contains a list of topics on which the powers of the Dominion Legislature to enforce laws for J-K have been accepted by the Maharaja on the basis of this instrument of membership. Pages 4 and 5 contain the status quo agreement between J-K and the Dominion of India, as it was called in 1947, before India became a republic. The IoAs signed by the various other princely states contain a status quo agreement between them and the Dominion of India as annexs. [9] The accession instruments implemented by the leaders provided for the accession of states to the Dominion of India (or Pakistan) in three areas, namely defence, foreign affairs and communication.
[11] Tehri Garhwal[12] and Udaipur,[13] Lord Mountbatten signed his acceptance of the instruments and mentioned the acceptance date in green ink, as he did when he accepted the J-K IoA. [14] In addition, the overall discolored aspect of this document – just like the other IoAs I have taken over – clearly indicates its vintage. The author tries to revive the informed debate on this subject by making public a real copy of the signed accession instrument.