845.00/1961: Telegram
The Officer in Charge at New Delhi (Merrell) to the Secretary of State
[Received 11:34 p.m.]
365. The following communiqué was issued this afternoon by the Government:
“The Government of India have received request from Mr. Gandhi to forward a short letter from himself to Mr. Jinnah expressing a wish to meet him. In accordance with their known policy in regard to correspondence or interviews with Mr. Gandhi, the Government of India has decided the letter could not be forwarded and have so informed Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Jinnah. They are not prepared to establish facilities for political correspondence or contact to a person detained for promoting an illegal mass movement which is not disavowed and thus gravely embarrassing India’s war effort at a critical time. It rests with Mr. Gandhi to satisfy the Government of India that he can safely be allowed once more to participate in the public affairs of this country and until he does so the disabilities from which he suffers are of his own choice.”
In his speech at the annual meeting of the Muslim League in April Jinnah said [“]Nobody would welcome it more than myself if Mr. Gandhi is even now really willing to come to a settlement with the Muslims on the basis of Pakistan.…48 If he has made up his mind what is there to prevent Mr. Gandhi from writing direct to me”.
- Omission indicated in the original telegram.↩