Self-determination
In 1947, India gained independence from the British Empire. The empire was in decline but adapted to these circumstances by creating the British Commonwealth—since 1949 the Commonwealth of Nations—which is a free association of equal states. As India obtained its independence, multiple ethnic conflicts emerged in relation to the formation of a statehood during the Partition of India which resulted in Islamic Pakistan and Secular India. Before the advent of the British, no empire based in mainland India had controlled any part of what now makes up the country's Northeast, part of the reason for the ongoing insurgency in Northeast India. In 1971 Bangladesh obtained independence from Pakistan.
Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir
India gained its independence from the United Kingdom on midnight of 15 August 1947 IST, and simultaneously Pakistan was created as a new country as a result of the partition of India. Jammu and Kashmir, then a princely state under suzerainty of British Monarch, and ruled by the Maharaja Hari Singh tried to avoid declaring his state's accession to either of the two dominions at the time of independence (although that was not an option under the Indian Independence Act, 1947). A Muslim majority state ruled by Hindu Maharaja Hari Singh (then the ruler of the state), government of the state signed a standstill agreement with Pakistan. However, on 6 October 1947, Pakistani Muslim tribes, supported by the government of Pakistan, attacked Jammu and Kashmir on the behest of Pakistan to achieve forcible accession to Pakistan. Maharaja Hari Singh requested assistance from India, and when India requested an Instrument of Accession to India, Maharaja signed it so that India could help in defense.