Facts on Kashmir

[KALKI]

Books on Kashmir
'Edwina Influenced Nehru on Kashmir'

Srinagar, July 17: Lord Mountbatten "used" his wife Edwina, who shared a "deep emotional love" with Jawaharlal Nehru, to influence India's first Prime Minister to refer the Kashmir issue to the United Nations, according to last Viceroy's daughter Pamela Hicks.

"That is true and he did use her like that. But he certainly wasn't going to throw her, he didn't say to her go become the Prime Minister's lover because I need you to intercede. It was a by-product of this deep affection," Lady Pamela Hicks said in an interview to Karan Thapar in his programme 'Devil's Advocate' to be aired on CNN-IBN.

She was replying to a query on whether Lord Mountbatten used the Edwina-Nehru relationship to influence him in the handling of the Kashmir issue.

Hicks, who has recounted the relationship between Nehru and her mother in the book 'India Remembered: A Personal Account of the Mountbattens During the Transfer of Power', said it was possible that Edwina's influence played a role in Nehru's decision to refer Kashmir to the UN.

"I think it could have been my father, just in dry conversation might have been able to get his viewpoint over. But with my mother translating it for Panditji and making, you know, appealing to his heart more than his mind, that he should really behave like this, I think probably that did happen," she said.

This was in reply to a question on whether Nehru decided to refer Kashmir to the UN under Lord Mountbatten's advice and whether this was an area where Edwina's influence could have been particularly useful.

"Yes, I think so," Hicks said on whether her father had a bit of influence on Nehru through Edwina. KO Monitoring


Book Digs Up At Nehru-Edwina Relationship

New Delhi: The youngest daughter of Louis and Edwina Mountbatten says her mother and India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru were very much in love but it was a platonic affair and no sex was involved.

Lady Pamela Hicks said in a television interview that Lord Mountbatten, British India's last viceroy, did use her mother to influence Nehru into going to the UN on the Kashmir row with Pakistan.

But Hicks insisted in her interview to Karan Thapar in CNN-IBN's Devil's Advocate programme to be telecast Sunday night that Nehru and Edwina never got physical.

'If you long to believe that (they had sex), then don't let me prevent you. But I don't believe it,' she said.

'I believe just that they loved being together ... they might like to hold hands or to hug or something like that. (But) I don't believe, I really don't believe, because of the fact that my father was so often around and that there was not a hint of that.'

CNN-IBN said it was the first interview given by any member of the Mountbatten family on the relationship between Lady Mountbatten and Nehru.

Hicks gave the interview to mark the publication of her book 'India Remembered' about the 15 months she spent in the country from March 1947 to June 1948.

She admitted that it was 'very awkward for them (her mother and Nehru), you know, if I was around the whole time'.

She called Nehru a very honourable man 'who liked my father. There was a great affection between the two... I think he (Nehru) would never have dishounoured his friends'.

Pressed that it would have been natural for a widower that Nehru was to be attracted sexually to a beautiful woman that Edwina was, Hicks said: 'It could be and maybe everybody will think I'm being very naive but the fact she had had lovers in the past, somehow this was so different. It really was.

'My mother was so happy with Jawaharlal ... my father knew that it helped her because a woman can, after a long marriage, and they had had their silver wedding so they'd been over 25 years together, a woman can feel perhaps frustrated, and perhaps neglected ... and so if a new affection comes into her life, a new admiration, she blossoms and she's happy ...

'It made my mother, who could be quite difficult at times, as many very extraordinary women can be ... lovely to be with her. There were no prickles.'

She said that both she and her father, Lord Mountbatten, handled the Nehru-Edwina affair with tact. Asked how easy that was, she responded: 'We just had to go out of the room.'

She added: 'They were (always) both fully dressed sitting on a sofa in the study or something.'

Hicks admitted that Lord Mountbatten did use his mother to influence Nehru's thinking.

'But he certainly wasn't going to throw her, he didn't say to her 'go become the prime minister's lover because I need you to intercede'. It was a by-product of this deep affection...'

Thapar: Many people in India believe that the decision Nehru took to refer Kashmir to the UN was taken under your father's advice. Could that have been an area where your mother's influence would have been particularly useful?'

Hicks: I think it could have been ... my father, just in dry conversation might not have been able to get his viewpoint over, but with my mother translating it for Panditji and making, you know, appealing to his heart more than his mind, that he should really behave like this. I think probably that did happen.

Thapar: So, in a very interesting sense, Panditji had a love in your mother and your father had a bit of influence through your mother on Panditji.

Hicks: Yes, I think so.

Hicks also spoke at length about the letters Nehru and Edwina wrote to each other.

'My mother died in Borneo ... She died suddenly in the middle of her work. On her bedside table was a packet of Panditji's letters. In her will we found she had left the whole collection of letters to my father, and they were an enormous number. There were suitcases full of these letters.'

Hicks said that although her father was sure there was nothing in the letters that would hurt him, he was nonetheless reluctant to be the first to read them.

'He said he was ninety nine percent sure there was nothing that would wound him or worry him or diminish him in any way. But there was just that one percent of doubt fluttering in his heart and he said: 'Darling will you read them first'.

'And so I read them and they were wonderful letters, but nothing at all that would have distressed my father.'

Speaking about the content of the letters, she said: 'They would have an endearment to begin with and, sadly always, that they were missing each other so much ... these letters had an opening paragraph of tenderness, and the end would also be tender and romantic and nice like that.

'But three quarters of the letter was unburdening himself of all his worries and his disappointments or his hopes.'

Indian Pledges

1. In his telegram to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said, "I should like to make it clear that the question of aiding Kashmir in this emergency is not designed in any way to influence the state to accede to India. Our view which we have repeatedly made public is that the question of accession in any disputed territory or state must be decided in accordance with wishes of people and we adhere to this view". (Telegram 402 Primin-2227 dated 27th October, 1947 to PM of Pakistan repeating telegram addressed to PM of UK).

2. In other telegram to the PM of Pakistan, Pandit Nehru said, "Kashmir's accession to India was accepted by us at the request of the Maharaja's government and the most numerously representative popular organization in the state which is predominantly Muslim. Even then it was accepted on condition that as soon as law and order had been restored, the people of Kashmir would decide the question of accession. It is open to them to accede to either Dominion then". (Telegram No. 255 dated 31 October, 1947).

3. In his broadcast to the nation over All India Radio on 2nd November, 1947, Pandit Nehru said, "We are anxious not to finalise anything in a moment of crisis and without the fullest opportunity to be given to the people of Kashmir to have their say. It is for them ultimately to decide ------ And let me make it clear that it has been our policy that where there is a dispute about the accession of a state to either Dominion, the accession must be made by the people of that state. It is in accordance with this policy that we have added a proviso to the Instrument of Accession of Kashmir".

4. In another broadcast to the nation on 3rd November, 1947, Pandit Nehru said, "We have declared that the fate of Kashmir is ultimately to be decided by the people. That pledge we have given not only to the people of Kashmir and to the world. We will not and cannot back out of it".

5. In his letter No. 368 Primin dated 21 November, 1947 addressed to the PM of Pakistan, Pandit Nehru said, "I have repeatedly stated that as soon as peace and order have been established, Kashmir should decide of accession by Plebiscite or referendum under international auspices such as those of United Nations".

6. In his statement in the Indian Constituent Assembly on 25th November, 1947, Pandit Nehru said, "In order to establish our bonafide, we have suggested that when the people are given the chance to decide their future, this should be done under the supervision of an impartial tribunal such as the United Nations Organisation. The issue in Kashmir is whether violence and naked force should decide the future or the will of the people".

7. In his statement in the Indian Constituent Assembly on 5th March, 1948, Pandit Nehru said, "Even at the moment of accession, we went out of our way to make a unilateral declaration that we would abide by the will of the people of Kashmir as declared in a plebiscite or referendum. We insisted further that the Government of Kashmir must immediately become a popular government. We have adhered to that position throughout and we are prepared to have a Plebiscite with every protection of fair voting and to abide by the decision of the people of Kashmir".

8. In his press-conference in London on 16th January, 1951, as reported by the daily "Statesman" on 18th January, 1951, Pandit Nehru stated, "India has repeatedly offered to work with the United Nations reasonable safeguards to enable the people of Kashmir to express their will and is always ready to do so. We have always right from the beginning accepted the idea of the Kashmir people deciding their fate by referendum or plebiscite. In fact, this was our proposal long before the United Nations came into the picture. Ultimately the final decision of the settlement, which must come, has first of all to be made basically by the people of Kashmir and secondly, as between Pakistan and India directly. Of course it must be remembered that we (India and Pakistan) have reached a great deal of agreement already. What I mean is that many basic features have been thrashed out. We all agreed that it is the people of Kashmir who must decide for themselves about their future externally or internally. It is an obvious fact that even without our agreement no country is going to hold on to Kashmir against the will of the Kashmiris".

9. In his report to All Indian Congress Committee on 6th July, 1951 as published in the Statesman, New Delhi on 9th July, 1951, Pandit Nehru said, "Kashmir has been wrongly looked upon as a prize for India or Pakistan. People seem to forget that Kashmir is not a commodity for sale or to be bartered. It has an individual existence and its people must be the final arbiters of their future. It is here today that a struggle is bearing fruit, not in the battlefield but in the minds of men".

10. In a letter dated 11th September, 1951, to the U.N. representative, Pandit Nehru wrote, "The Government of India not only reaffirms its acceptance of the principle that the question of the continuing accession of the state of Jammu and Kashmir to India shall be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations but is anxious that the conditions necessary for such a plebiscite should be created as quickly as possible".

11. As reported by Amrita Bazar Patrika Calcutta, on 2nd January, 1952, while replying to Dr. Mookerji's question in the Indian Legislature as to what the Congress Government going to do about one third of territory still held by Pakistan, Pandit Nehru said, " is not the property of either India or Pakistan. It belongs to the Kashmiri people. When Kashmir acceded to India, we made it clear to the leaders of the Kashmiri people that we would ultimately abide by the verdict of their Plebiscite. If they tell us to walk out, I would have no hesitation in quitting. We have taken the issue to United Nations and given our word of honour for a peaceful solution. As a great nation we cannot go back on it. We have left the question for final solution to the people of Kashmir and we are determined to abide by their decision".

12. In his statement in the Indian Parliament on 7th August, 1952, Pandit Nehru said, "Let me say clearly that we accept the basic proposition that the future of Kashmir is going to be decided finally by the goodwill and pleasure of her people. The goodwill and pleasure of this Parliament is of no importance in this matter, not because this Parliament does not have the strength to decide the question of Kashmir but because any kind of imposition would be against the principles that this Parliament holds. Kashmir is very close to our minds and hearts and if by some decree or adverse fortune, ceases to be a part of India, it will be a wrench and a pain and torment for us. If, however, the people of Kashmir do not wish to remain with us, let them go by all means. We will not keep them against their will, however painful it may be to us. I want to stress that it is only the people of Kashmir who can decide the future of Kashmir. It is not that we have merely said that to the United Nations and to the people of Kashmir, it is our conviction and one that is borne out by the policy that we have pursued, not only in Kashmir but everywhere. Though these five years have meant a lot of trouble and expense and in spite of all we have done, we would willingly leave if it was made clear to us that the people of Kashmir wanted us to go. However sad we may feel about leaving we are not going to stay against the wishes of the people. We are not going to impose ourselves on them on the point of the bayonet".

13. In his statement in the Lok Sabha on 31st March, 1955 as published in Hindustan Times New Delhi on Ist April, 1955, Pandit Nehru said, " Kashmir is perhaps the most difficult of all these problems between India and Pakistan. We should also remember that Kashmir is not a thing to be bandied between India and Pakistan but it has a soul of its own and an individuality of its own. Nothing can be done without the goodwill and consent of the people of Kashmir".

14. In his statement in the Security Council while taking part in debate on Kashmir in the 765th meeting of the Security Council on 24th January, 1957, the Indian representative Mr. Krishna Menon said, "So far as we are concerned, there is not one word in the statements that I have made in this council which can be interpreted to mean that we will not honour international obligations. I want to say for the purpose of the record that there is nothing that has been said on behalf of the Government of India which in the slightest degree indicates that the Government of India or the Union of India will dishonour any international obligations it has undertaken".