India often makes hollow claims to the tune that
Kashmir is an integral part of India. This argument,
often put forward by the Indian leaders, is used to
tell the world at large that they have no business
meddling in India's internal policies. They claim
that the so-called "Instrument of Accession" as
purportedly signed by the ex-Maharajah of Kashmir,
makes Kashmir an integral part of India. But by
invading the princely states of Junagadh and Manavadar,
whose rulers had acceded to Pakistan, and Hyderabad
whose ruler had chosen to remain independent, and
ensuring their accession to India by holding general
plebiscites by force of arms there, India had itself
invalidated the right of the rulers of princely states
to decide their subjects' futures.
It is well accepted nowadays that even the existence of
such an "Instrument" as signed by the ruler of Jammu
& Kashmir is highly suspect. The fact that Maharajah was
overthrown by his own people in a massive uprising, and
that he had already fled from his capital, when he
supposedly signed the "Instrument" to get the Indian
"help", casts further doubts on the validity of the
document. As per international law, as is evident from
the various UN resolutions, Kashmir is a disputed
territory, occupied forcefully by India, and whose fate
is pending an impartial plebiscite to be held under UN
auspices. The Indian leaders who had initially taken the
Kashmir dispute to the UN had publicly and repeatedly
accepted the United Nations' positions and had promised
to abide by it.
Hence it is quite obvious that India is illegally
occupying the State of Jammu & Kashmir, in defiance to
the International Law, and that it is an offender in
the current conflict.