But the people of the former princely State of Jammu & Kashmir observe October 26 every year as Accession Day. In fact, the people of Jammu province and Ladakh region celebrate Accession Day with great pomp and show. (In Kashmir, the separatists observe Accession Day as “Black Day” and the “mainstream Kashmiri leaders either make controversial statements to identify with the separatists or consider the day unworthy of comment.)

As usual, on October 26, several social and political organisations, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrated the day as Accession Day and the people who participated in these impressive programmes declared that Jammu & Kashmir was, is and shall always remain an integral part of India. Not just this, they declared in one voice that they will not allow any power on earth to either tinker with Indian sovereignty in any way or allow any power on earth to grab even in an inch of Indian territories in Jammu & Kashmir.

Besides, one thing more was common in all these very impressive programmes. It was stated and restated by the speakers, including BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi that the only issue between India and Pakistan which still remains unresolved is the political future of the Jammu & Kashmir territories which have been under the illegal occupation of Pakistan since 1947-1948. 

Why do the people of Jammu and Ladakh, unlike people of other former princely States, celebrate the Accession Day? Why does confusion persist over the status of Jammu & Kashmir? This is the issue that needs to be addressed. The problem is that there are elements in the political establishment in Jammu & Kashmir and New Delhi who make controversial statements which create confusion in the minds of the people. A reference here to just seven such statements made during the last nine years would in order to clear the misunderstanding and establish that New Delhi more than Pakistan and separatists in Kashmir is responsible for creating uncertainty in the minds of the people over the status of Jammu & Kashmir.

1.      “We are prepared to redraw the political map of India if that could resolve the Kashmir problem”. Former Foreign Minister K Natwar Singh made this unsettling statement during an interview to the BBC immediately after the formation of the Congress-led UPA Government on May 21, 2004.

2.     “We have decided to reward the moderate militants”. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, presently Governor of Punjab, made this statement in the first week of June 2004 during his interview to the BBC.

3.     “We are prepared to consider the demand for the withdrawal of the Army from the State if it could prove a confidence-building measure”. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made this statement in April 2005.

4.     We are prepared to consider the demand of “pre-1953” (read a step short of complete independence). “There is the need to evolve a broad consensus on the issues of autonomy and self-rule within the vast flexibilities provided by the Indian Constitution,” said Dr Manmohan Singh on February 25, 2006 at his official residence, 7 Race Course Road, while concluding the first roundtable conference. This writer was part of the roundtable conference as a representative of the BJP.

5.     There should be India-Pakistan “joint control over the state waters, power projects, agriculture, sericulture, horticulture, forestry and environment”. This unsettling statement was made by Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad (presently Union Health Minister) in the University of Jammu on March 29, 2006, a day after the then Jammu & Kashmir Governor Lt Gen SK Sinha bemoaned (in the same University) that the Government of India had virtually stopped calling Jammu & Kashmir an integral part of India.

6.     “Jammu & Kashmir is not a bilateral issue. It is a trilateral issue. There has to be Srinagar-Islamabad axis, Srinagar-Delhi axis and New Delhi and Islamabad”. Union Minister for Water Resources Saif-ud-Din Soz (presently president of Jammu & Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee) made this statement not once but a number of times in 2006, and even thereafter.

7.     “Kashmir has a unique history and unique geography, Kashmir problem is unique that needs a unique solution and solutions which are applicable to other States of the Union cannot be replicated in Kashmir”. Union Home Minister and Presently Finance Minister Mr. P Chidambaram made this statement in Srinagar in 2010.

These and umpteen similar umpteen statements made by various persons holding constitutional position have alarmed the people of Jammu and Ladakh so much that they have to reiterate again and again that they are an integral part of India.

What is the constitutional status of Jammu & Kashmir within India? We have the Constitution of India, the supreme Indian statute book, and we also have the Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir.

Jammu & Kashmir is the solitary state in the country which has a separate constitution and separate flag. Article 1 of the Indian Constitution unequivocally says that Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India; it figures at number 15 in the list of Indian states. Article 1 is part of the basic structure of the Indian Constitution and it cannot be altered even by the Indian Parliament, the highest law-making body in the country.

As for the Jammu & Kashmir Constitution, its section 3, which is also part of the basic structure of the constitution, says in unequivocal terms that the State of Jammu & Kashmir is and shall be an integral part of India. But more than that, section 147 of the Jammu & Kashmir Constitution unambiguously says that “no Bill or amendment seeking to make any change in – (a) this section (read section 147 that deals power to amend the Constitution); or (b) the provisions of section 3 and; or (c) the provisions of the Constitution of India as applicable, in relation to the State, shall be introduced or moved in either House of the Legislature”.

Not just this. We have three unanimous parliamentary resolutions of February 22, 1994 and March 15 and August 14, 2013. All three resolutions say the same thing: “The entire State of Jammu & Kashmir, including the territories under the illegal occupation of Pakistan, is an integral part of India”. Even those who demand greater autonomy or those who say in and outside the Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly that the State only acceded and did not merge with India are party to the parliamentary resolutions of March 15 and August 14, 2013.

It is therefore a matter of grave concern that we have in the State and at the Centre persons who frighten the nationalist constituency in the State and always keeps it on tenterhooks.