(Statement by Dr. Karan Singh, Maharaja of Jammu & Kahmir, and former Sadar-e-Riyasat, read out to the participants of the National Integration  Convention at Jammu on October 27, 2001, the 54th anniversary of the Accession (VOM News Service, Jammu, October 29, 2001)

 "Today is the 54th anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh's signing the Instrument of Accession on 26th October 1947. I must recall that the founding of the composite multi-regional, multi-ethnic and multi-religious state of Jammu and Kashmir by Maharaja Gulab Singh was itself one of the greatest military and diplomatic achievements of the 19th Century. This was done by a combination of Dogra military powers and diplomacy, in which thousands of Dogra soldiers perished in the heights of Ladakh and Gilgit so
 that India's Northern Frontiers could be extended and consolidated. The unprecedented high-altitude campaigns fought by great commanders like General Zorawar Singh General Baj Singh, and consolidated by administrators like Mehta Basti Ram and Devan Jawala Sahay, will go down as a glorious chapter in Indian history.

Regarding the events of 1947, my father Maharaja Hari Singh realized that with the whole sub-continent engulfed in communal violence he had to be very cautious in deciding the future of the State. He, therefore, offered Standstill Agreements both to India and Pakistan. But in October an invasion was launched from Pakistan and, in order to save the State from fatal destruction, he signed the Instrument of Accession in Hari  Niwas, Jammu on 26th October 1947. In fact, I was present in the palace on that momentous occasion.

I would sincerely advise General Musharraf that in the very difficult situation he is facing due to the Afghanistan war he should grasp India's hand of friendship rather than continue the unrealistic and unifocal obsession with Kashmir. We have no quarrel with the people of Pakistan, and if they adopt a policy of friendship and goodwill it could ensure peace and stability on the sub-continent, and enable both countries to continue to fight the common enemies of poverty, hunger, malnutrition and unemployment.

A policy of peace and reconciliation is the only sane option for India and Pakistan in the present highly surcharged and dangerous situation that is developing in this region, and that calls for the greater statesmanship that looks beyond the present crisis into the future that lies ahead".