On Monday 26th October 2015, the British Parliament witnessed a historic seminar commemorating the 68th year of the signing of the Instrument of Accession of Jammu & Kashmir to India, by Maharaja Hari Singh.
The seminar was jointly supported by the Kashmiri Pandits Cultural Society and Voice of Dogras, and was supported by the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Hindus led by the Chair, Bob Blackman MP. It was the first ever attempt in the UK that saw the coming together of Kashmiri Hindus (Pandits) and Dogras from Jammu in highlighting the accession of Jammu & Kashmir to India in 1947 and the ratification of this decision in 1954 in the state assembly establishing the finality of the decision made by Maharaja Hari Singh.
Along with Bob Blackman, Lord Popat of Harrow, Virendra Sharma MP – Vice Chair, APPG for British Hindus & Chair, APPG for India, P K Patel, First Secretary, High Commission of India and various community leaders and representatives attended this event.
Bob Blackman 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 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 organisers, 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.”
Leading the commemoration 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. In fact, 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.
Hundreds of messages of support were received by the organisers including those from the veterans, senior activists and celebrities including actor, director & teacher Anupam Kher, media guru & activist Sushil Pandit, senior journalist Aditya Raj Kaul, plus many more.
