Unwise Method

came to Lahore. At a dinner attended by Liaquat, Governor Mudie and the four Ministers of West Punjab, Lord Mountbatten conveyed the message from Patel, the strongman of India, asking Liaquat to abide by the rules over the future of Indian States previously agreed upon between the Congress and the Muslim League: that those States whose subjects made up of a majority of a community and the State was contiguous and adjoining a Dominion, would accede to the adjoining country. Patel had said that Pakistan could take Kashmir and let go Hyderabad Deccan which had a majority Hindu population and was nowhere near Pakistan by sea or land. After delivering this message, Lord Mountbatten went to sleep in the Lahore Government House. I, being overall in charge of the Kashmir operations, went to Liaquat Ali Khan. I suggested to him that, as the Indian Army had entered Kashmir in force and we would be unable to annex Kashmir with tribal mujahids, or even with our inadequate armed forces, we should make haste to accept Patel’s proposal. “Nawabzada turned round to me and said, ‘Sardar Sahib, have I gone mad to give up Hyderabad State, which is much larger than the Punjab, for the sake of the rocks of Kashmir?’ “I was stunned by the Prime Minister’s reaction and ignorance of our geography and his lack of wisdom. I thought he was living in a fool’s paradise and did not understand the importance of Kashmir to Pakistan while hoping to get Hyderabad, which at best was only quixotic wishful thinking. It was not connected with Pakistan anywhere. As a protest, I resigned from the position I was holding in Kashmir operations.” If one accepts the statements of Pakistani leaders, it is Unwise Method