Guest guest Posted January 6, 2002 Report Share Posted January 6, 2002 Attlee's reminder: how lies led to pro-Pak bias Secret papers say US backed India, it didn't fit into UK minister's plans C DASGUPTA AS British Prime Minister Tony Blair prepares to exercise a ``calming influ= ence'' in New Delhi and Islamabad, he would do well to reflect on the lesson= s to be drawn from the role played by Britain when clandestine warfare first= made its appearance in Kashmir. Beijing backing: Pak ``All the concessions are being asked from India while Pakistan concedes li= ttle or nothing. The attitude still seems to be that it is India which is at= fault whereas the complaint was rightly lodged against Pakistan.'' — Attlee= to his minister, Baker, on the 1947 tribal invasion In 1947, when Pakistani tribesmen invaded Kashmir, Britain decided to adopt= a pro-Pakistan tilt — not because of any merit in the case but strictly in = pursuit of British global interests in the belief that this was essential fo= r her Middle Eastern policy. Unfortunately for India, the British minister i= n charge of executing this policy, Philip J Noel Baker, had few scruples in = exceeding his instructions. As newly-researched material (recently declassified) in the just published = new book, War and Diplomacy in Kashmir 1947-48 (Sage) by this author reveals= , Noel Baker decided to take a totally anti-India stand in the UN instead of= leaning in its favour as instructed by his government. He deliberately misr= epresented India's position to his own government. He was reprimanded by Prime Minister Clement Richard Attlee in a remarkable= Top Secret and Personal telegram. Attlee wrote: ``I find it very hard to re= concile the view which you express as to the attitude of the Indian delegati= on with the representations I have received through the High Commissioner fr= om India here. It appears to me that all the concessions are being asked fro= m India while Pakistan concedes little or nothing. The attitude still seems to be that it is India which is at fault whereas t= he complaint was rightly lodged against Pakistan.'' Noel-Baker misled his government on the US position too. In 1947-48, Washin= gton accepted (at the level of the Secretary of State George Marshall) the f= act that Kashmir legally belonged to India by virtue of the Maharaja's acces= sion. In February 1948, the Americans informed Noel-Baker that they were dis= turbed by the implications of the resolution that he wanted to move in the U= N which would have allowed Pakistan to deploy its troops in Kashmir. When the British side argued that Kashmir was a ``territory in dispute'', t= he Americans disagreed, stating that they ``found it difficult to deny the l= egal validity of Kashmir's accession to India''. Under pressure from Noel-Ba= ker, the US finally agreed to float a draft resolution which would have perm= itted entry of Pakistani troops but only if India concurred. When his cabine= t colleagues objected that India would never accept this, Noel-Baker chose t= o conceal his own hand in prompting the US move. In November 1948, the acting leader of the US delegation in the Security Co= uncil, John Foster Dulles, complained to the State Department that the ``pre= sent UK approach (to the) Kashmir problem appears extremely pro-GOP (Governm= ent of Pakistan) as against (the) middle ground we have sought to follow.'' In 1947-48 Britain chose to ignore the implications of the clandestine war = launched by Pakistan. This led to an increasing Pakistani appetite for such = actions, resulting ultimately in the massive terrorist campaign unleashed by= the ISI. If Blair seriously wants to play a calming role in the sub-continent, he mu= st do everything in his power to ensure that the terrorists are rooted out f= rom Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied territory. If the terrorists are not brou= ght to justice, India will be left with no other choice than to ``bring just= ice'' to them, to borrow President Bush's felicitous phrase. (C Dasgupta, one of India's most distinguished diplomats, was Ambassador to= China and Brussels before retiring recently) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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