Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume V, Part 1

501.BC 1–848: Telegram

The United States Representative at the United Nations (Austin) to the Secretary of State

secret

New York, January 8, 1948—7:05 p. m.

27. Cadogan brought Noel-Baker¹ and Lord Ismay² in to see me this afternoon. They described the local situation in Kashmir and indicated that the danger of the situation there is of great magnitude. Once Jehad gets running it will stir up all of India resulting in a bloody and cruel mess in which all law and order will disappear. The representatives of all countries in India will be exposed to crimes because of the turbulence of the situation.

It is extremely important for the United Nations to pursue a course that will stop the present fighting as quickly as possible. There may be elements of agreement between Pakistan and India permitting a decision by the UN. Such a decision should be firm and promptly made. They believe both sides would obey an order by the SC since each wishes to avoid the responsibility of yielding to the other.

If a plebiscite were to be held it could not be organized short of six months and could not be conducted without some military policing. On the latter point the view was expressed that Pakistan troops would be the most suitable. This observation is based on the conclusion that the one indispensable condition of peace in Kashmir is to guarantee the security of the Moslems. The whole affair according to my visitors started with the massacre of Moslems instigated by the Prince.³ When threatened with reprisals by the troops he took political refuge by requesting the accession of Kashmir to India. The only effective guarantee of the security of Moslems in the view of the tribes would be supervision by Pakistan troops.

The view was expressed that the partition of Jammu and Kashmir should not be resorted to except as an ultimate alternative.

The British do not want to initiate proposals in the SC. They expressed the hope that the US representative or possibly the President of the Council might initiate proposals. It was not apparent that they felt any other member of the Council might do so.

I replied that I would not exclude the possibility of the US initiating proposals in the SC but indicated that the US position was in reality very much like their own. The position which the US might take would have to be determined in the light of thorough consideration of the circumstances.

They expressed a desire to discuss this matter with the appropriate officers of the Department and in accordance with telephone conversations between Rusk and Ross⁴ an appointment has been arranged for them with Under Secretary Lovett at 11 a.m. Saturday morning.

Austin

1. Philip John Noel-Baker, British Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations.
2. Lord Ismay of Wormington, Principal Adviser to Noel-Baker and former Chief of Staff to the Viceroy of India.
3. Heir Apparent Yuvraj Karansinghji Bahadur.
4. Dean Rusk, Director, Office of United Nations Affairs, Department of State, and John C. Ross, Assistant to the United States Representative at the United Nations.