Jammu High Court Bar Association celebrates state's accession to India on 71st anniversary

Jammu: The Jammu High Court Bar Association on Tuesday suspended work to pay tributes to the last Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh for signing the instrument of accession on this day in 1947, making the state an integral part of India. The lawyers suspended work around 1 pm and took part in the celebrations in connection with accession day at the High Court complex in Jammu, a spokesman of the association said. [caption id=“attachment_4178599” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Jammu and Kashmir High Court. Image courtesy: jkhighcourt.nic.in[/caption] He said the association has decided to observe ‘accession day’ to convey a message to the world that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. The association decorated various markets in the city, the road leading to the court and the court complex with the national flag flying high, the spokesman said adding that a seminar was also organised. “The association believes that the accession of Jammu and Kashmir after signing of Instrument of Accession by the then Maharaja is full and final and irrevocable. “To raise any dispute in this regard by a few disgruntled elements is to question the very Indian Independence Act under which Pakistan was created and 560-odd Princely states acceded to India and Pakistan. It is a settled issue as per the terms on the constitutional law on the subject,” president of the association, BS Slathia, said addressing the seminar. He said that the association resolved that the only dispute which remains is that the parts of the state which are under the illegal occupation of the Pakistan. “It is the duty of all to retrieve those illegally-occupied parts and reintegrate them into India so that the state as it existed on 15 August, 1947 comes into being,” he said. Meanwhile, various other groups also organised separate functions at different places in the city to celebrate the accession day.