This essay will examine the implications of the Article 370. Article 370 which fulfils the obligation of Instrument of Accession signed between Maharaja of Kashmir and Dominion of India when State acceded to India which grants autonomy to the State of Jammu and Kashmir over all its affairs except relating to matters of defense, external affairs and communication. However, it has been seen that this Article is rather been misused and the State even after 66 years of acceding into India has not been able to integrate with rest of the country emotionally. This Article enabled the State to have Constitution of its own. It also has got its own national flag and anthem. Important Articles of Indian Constitution are not applicable to State or are applicable with omission and modification. Parliament which is considered as temple of democracy does not have much say when it comes to Jammu and Kashmir. The Union does not have much control over the administration and governance of the State. Due to this Article Jammu and Kashmir has turned out to be a State within a State. The article 370 of the Constitution of India gives some special privilege to the State of Jammu and Kashmir which is not available to other states of the Union of India. It is article 370 which governs the relation of the Jammu and Kashmir with the Union. Since its inception it is one of the most hotly debated and discussed topics and always has special mention in books of law and politics. Hence it becomes imperative to study article 370 and more importantly its implications. Before dissecting the implications of article 370 it is important to look back into the background of accession of Jammu and Kashmir into formerly Dominion of India. Present State of Jammu and Kashmir used to be a part of Sikh State before Sikh’s were routed by the British in the first Anglo-Sikh war. By the Treaty of Lahore on 9 March 1846 the Sikhs were made to surrender the valuable regions between the Beas River and Sutlej River. According to the Treaty of Lahore on 9 March the Lahore Durbar was also required to pay an indemnity of 1.5 crore rupees. Because it could not readily raise this sum, it ceded Kashmir, Hazarah and all the forts, territories, rights and interests in the hill countries situated between the Rivers Beas and Indus to the East India Company, as equivalent for one crore of rupees. In a later separate arrangement (the Treaty of Amritsar), the Raja of Jammu, Gulab Singh, purchased Kashmir from the East India Company for a payment of 75 lakh and was granted the title Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir.1 Due to being a frontier region and adjoining powerful countries there was always a fear of invasion and hence the British took control of defense, external affairs and communication leaving the rest to the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in lieu of annual payment made by the State. This was the arrangement of the state before 1947 but when British decided to leave India in 1947 the British decided to partition India into Hindu majority India and Muslim majority Pakistan. It was decided that ‘paramountcy’ arrangement that British had over the princely states will revert back to the princely states itself and hence were given freedom to choose about their own future themselves. They were given the option to accede either to Dominion of India or to Dominion of Pakistan or to remain independent. All the states amicably acceded either to India or Pakistan through Instrument of Accession. However, the future of three princely states (Hyderabad, Junagadh and Kashmir) remained undecided and created conflict between India and Pakistan. Accession story of all these three States is a story in itself but the most intriguing is of Jammu and Kashmir. During the time of Indian independence princely state of Jammu and Kashmir was ruled by Maharaja Hari Singh. He kept vacillating on whether to accede to India or to Pakistan or to remain independent. He went on to sign a standstill agreement with Pakistan on 12 August, 1947 but which India refused to sign. The reluctance of Maharaja ended with invasion of Kashmir by Pakistani troops and irregulars on 22 October, 1947. To help his State from brutality of invaders he at last signed the Instrument of Accession with India on October 26, 1947 which India accepted the next day and sent it troops to fight the invaders.2 He transferred mainly three powers to Dominion of India, namely, defense, external affairs and communication through Instrument of Accession. Sheikh Abdullah of the National Conference became the head of the Kashmir State according to the terms of the Instrument of Accession. While all the Indian States made Constitution of India operative in the state it was clearly stated to the Constituent Assembly of India, by the National Conference leaders, who were deliberating over the constitution of the free country that according to clause 7 of the Instrument of Accession the state was not committed to accept the