20101947 Telegram dated October 20, 1947 from the Governor-General, Pakistan, to the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir
20101947 Telegram dated October 20, 1947 from the Governor-General, Pakistan, to the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir
"I have received a telegram of the 18th October from your Prime Minister regarding the situation in Kashmir which, I regret, was released to the Press before it reached me and before I could deal with it. My Government have already been in communication with your Government and I deplore that your Prime Minister should have restored to the tone and language adopted in his telegram to me which embodies a threat to seek outside assistance and is almost in the nature of an ultimatum. This is hardly the way for any responsible and friendly Government to handle the situation that has arisen.
2. On 15th October your Prime Minister sent a telegram to
my Government making similar allegations in the same offensive manner as have been repeated in his telegram of 18th October now addressed to me without waiting for the reply for his earlier telegram from my Government. My Government have a/ready replied to (hat telegram on the 18th October and this reply shows dearly that your Government's wholly one sided and ex parte allegations cannot be supported. Since your Government have re/eased to the Press the telegram addressed to me under reply, my Government have no other course left open and have, therefore, decided to release to the Press their reply referred to above refuting your allegations.
3. The allegation in the telegram under reply that the Standstill Agreement has not been observed is entirely wrong. The difficulties that have been felt by your administration have
arose as a result of the widespread disturbances in East Punjab and the disruption of communications caused thereby particularly by the shortage of coal. These difficulties have actually been felt by the West Punjab Government themselves. The difficulties with regard to banking facilities were caused by the fact of staff in the various banks and cannot be laid at the door of the West Punjab Government, who have in fact tried their best to ensure protection to the banks. The failure of remittances from the Lahore Currency Officer has nothing to do with the Pakistan Government since the Lahore Currency Officer is under the Reserve Bank of India. Your Government's complaints regarding Press reports and telegrams by private persons are also wide off the mark. Your Government does not realize
that there is no censorship in West Punjab. The complaint about local and provincial authorities is thus wholly unfounded. It is a travesty of the truth to call the promises of the Central Government paper promises, as your Government alleges. My Government adheres to those assurances and has every intention of carrying out the Standstill Agreement.
4.In order to remove various difficulties relating to communications and supply of goods my Government suggested long ago that representatives of the Governments of Pakistan
and Kashmir should meet. That request was ignored. In the circumstances I am, reluctantly, forced to the conclusion that
The unfounded allegations and accusations are only a smokescreen to cover the real aim of your Government's policy. A recent instance of this policy is the differential treatment accorded to leaders of the Kashmir National Conference and the Muslim Conference. On the one hand, your Government has released Sheikh Abdullah who was tried and convicted of high treason, removed the ban on his colleagues and allowed the National Conference a free field in which to carry on their propaganda. On the other hand, Mr. Gliularo Afibas and his colleagues whose alleged offence was only that they disobeyed the order banning the meeting of the Muslim Conference are still rotting in jail and the Muslim Conference organization is not allowed its elementary right of civil liberties. The course which your Government is pursuing in suppressing the Mussalmans in every way, the atrocities which are being committed by your troops and which are driving Muslims out of the State, various indications given in the Press, particularly the release to the Press of your Prime Minister's telegram addressed to me containing unfounded allegations and the threat to enlist outside assistance, show clearly that the real aim of your Government's policy is to seek an opportunity to join the Indian Dominion through a coup d'etat by securing the intervention and assistance of that Dominion. This policy is naturally creating deep resentment and grave apprehension among your subjects 85 percent of whom are Muslims.
5. The proposal made by my Government for a meeting with your accredited representatives is now an urgent necessity. * suggest that the way to smooth out difficulties and adjust matters in a friendly way is for your Prime Minister to come to Karachi and discuss the developments that have taken place instead of carrying on acrimonious and bitter controversy by telegrams and correspondence. I would also repeat that I endorse the suggestion made in your Prime Minister's telegram of 15th October and accepted by the Government in their reply Of 18th October to have an impartial inquiry made into the whole affair."