Excelsior Correspondent
LONDON, Oct 27: The British Parliament witnessed a historic seminar commemorating the 68th year of the signing of the Instrument of Accession of Jammu & Kashmir to the Union of India by the then Maharaja Hari Singh.
Jointly organised by the Kashmiri Pandits Cultural Society and Voice of Dogras, the seminar was supported by All Party Parliamentary Group for British Hindus led by Bob Blackman, MP. It was the first ever attempt in the UK that saw the coming together of Kashmiri Hindus and Dogras from Jammu in highlighting the accession of Jammu & Kashmir to the Union of India in 1947 and the ratification of this decision in 1954 in the State Assembly establishing the finality of the decision made by the Maharaja.
The representatives from across the Jammu & Kashmir and some parts of India and abroad participated in the seminar. Bob Blackman MP, Chair APPG for British Hindus hosted the seminar along with Lord Popat of Harrow, Virendra Sharma MP – Vice Chair, APPG for British Hindus & Chair, APPG for India, P K Patel, Ist Secretary, High Commission of India and various community leaders and representatives.
Bob Blackman chaired this seminar at the House of Commons and welcomed the initiative. He said, “I am proud to be hosting the commemoration of the 68th anniversary of the signing of the Instrument of Accession of Jammu & Kashmir to India by Maharaja Hari Singh at the British Parliament as the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Hindus, set up especially to provide a voice to the British Hindu community. The seminar is the first such attempt to educate the parliamentarians and members of the community on the history of Jammu & Kashmir. It establishes the fact that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and has been since 1947,” the British MP maintained.
The evening saw the release of a White Paper on history of Jammu & Kashmir: Instrument of Accession, describing what the document was and the various events surrounding the signing of the legal documentation that acceded Jammu & Kashmir to India. Congratulating the organizers, Virendra Sharma- MP said, “ This is an important seminar and an act of remembrance for Jammu & Kashmir’s accession to India. 68 years ago history was made, but sadly the roots of the longstanding conflict between India and Pakistan were laid, too. Only by understanding why there is conflict can we hope to end it for our future generations.”
Lakshmi Kaul, Founder of Kashmiri Pandits Cultural Society highlighted the significance and need for conducting this seminar in the UK. “In the UK as well as other parts of Europe there is a growing anti-India lobby that is making people believe that Kashmiris’ want the right of self-determination. This lobby has targeted and attempted to eliminate the very identity of any other minority communities in the region. Infact, they do not acknowledge the State in totality but only refer to the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir area calling out for independence. This misinformed narrative needs to be rectified and the facts need to be laid out. The seminar and commemoration is only a joint attempt by communities from the region of Jammu & Kashmir to state that the State is an integral part of the dominion of India and has been since 1947. This decision was final and was ratified in the State Assembly in 1954, making it legal and by the people’s will. Since its accession, J&K and its people have participated whole heartedly in the democratic process of India and there is no reason for it to change now. The historical and legal evidence has been outlined in the white paper to dispel the myths surrounding the complex history of J&K,” Mr Kaul said.
There was an upbeat celebration in the British Parliament with energetic, educative and well-rounded informative speeches by Prof Harbans Singh, Jammu based senior academic and author of the famous book, “The Troubled Years” and Anmol Ganjoo, the grandson of late Justice Ganju who was the first intellectual in Kashmir mercilessly targeted and killed at the hands of Islamist separatists during the 1989-90 exodus. Retired Col Pradeep Saxena, who served three tenures in J&K gave an insight into the terrain, topography and physical difficulty of armed forces operations in the region.
Prof Harbans Singh Sambyal spoke at length on the misconceptions surrounding the background of the Accession. He explained the diversity of the State in geographical, cultural and religious aspects making the decision to accede to one or the other dominion difficult. He added, “The State had been peaceful for a century till Pakistan who depended on communal polarization stoked communal violence at the border. The hordes of refugees coming into the State incited further communal frenzy. The Maharaja wanted to wait to take a decision in calmer times but Pakistan jumped the gun and attacked Jammu Kashmir. Maharaja Hari Singh knew that if the minorities of the State had to be protected, the Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs of the Valley, Buddhists of Ladakh and Hindus from Jammu Kashmir must accede to India which had adopted a secular Constitution. Hence the accession was the only, just and final decision.”
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