690D.91/8–2150: Telegram
The Ambassador in Pakistan (Warren) to the Secretary of State
182. Eyes only Secretary. Sir Owen Dixon returned from Delhi this morning and invited me to see him. He flies to London day after tomorrow for a stay of ten days and is then going on to Washington and hopes to see you, Mathews, Hickerson and Gross about 6th September. He expects to be at Lake Success about September 10. General [Page 1424] Hodges who has been ill for several days with some of the prevailing Karachi diseases hopes to leave Wednesday even for US and will remain in NY until Dixon arrives there.
Dixon said he went to Delhi following the receipt of a telegram from Nehru last Thursday in reply to his of two days earlier: see my 156, August 15.
He had me read Nehru’s message which stated in the first paragraph Dixon’s plan for partition and partial plebiscite was entirely novel. In the second paragraph he admitted partition and partial plebiscite as an alternative to overall plebiscite had been discussed by him and Dixon at the time of the conference with Liaquat but added he had understood it was a speculative idea and he had not taken it as a basis for further thinking. In three succeeding paragraphs he rejected the conditions for Dixon’s proposed partial plebiscite on the grounds that acceptance by India would mean acquiescence in Pakistan aggression and India in no case could accept Pakistan propaganda prior to voting, that India could not accept a “new government” as a substitute for “the lawful government now established in Kashmir” and lastly that only assurance of a free plebiscite could be obtained by continuance of the present government supported by necessary Indian troops to insure order.
He then concluded by apologizing for the length of the telegram and suggested that if Dixon found it convenient to come to Delhi he would be glad to explain at length his reasons for rejection of Dixon’s plan.
When Dixon arrived in Delhi Bajpai came to see him apparently on a fishing expedition to determine if Dixon would modify his plebiiscite conditions. He started out by telling Dixon he had not drafted Nehru’s telegram and was not prepared to discuss Nehru’s “novel amnesia”. When Dixon said he would not deviate one inch from his proposals, Bajpai then remarked he must report to Nehru. The interview with Nehru, which apparently was planned for Bajpai’s presence because three places for tea were laid, was confined to Nehru and Dixon. The time was taken up largely by a long dissertation by Nehru that conditions suitable for a plebiscite through the eyes of Australian democracy were entirely unsuitable in Kashmir because of the special conditions there obtaining. Dixon felt that the interview was entirely inconclusive and formed the impression that Nehru had taken Dixon’s telegram on partial plebiscite to a sub-committee of the Cabinet and had indicated it was a novel suggestion which if accepted would abandon Sheik Abdullah and his government and received a mandate to draft a reply of rejection. From his conversation with Bajpai Dixon inferred that the FonMin had made a draft which was torn [Page 1425] up by Nehru who thereupon drafted a telegram himself, as received by Dixon, without further consultation with his Cabinet.
Dixon has not yet seen Liaquat with whom he has an appointment this afternoon. Nehru, when Dixon left, inquired what kind of press statement he would issue when leaving the subcontinent. Dixon said he planned to issue identical statements simultaneously from Delhi and Karachi when he leaves Wednesday morning; that he does not intend to criticize governments but he does intend to set forth clearly the history of his activities and spell out his efforts to reach an agreement. His understanding of Nehru’s feelings at the time he left was that he is somewhat baffled and bewildered and wonders how severely Dixon may criticize him in his report to the UN.
Dixon feels that his mission has accomplished something to the extent of bringing to the attention of the two governments conditions that may have to be met should the Kashmir question be brought to plebiscite, and that the partial reaction of some Cabinet members both in India and Pakistan, is to work out a partition that would not require the holding of a plebiscite. Dixon feels that this attitude is so strong among three leading members of the India Cabinet that if the Pakistanis were to attempt a solution at a lower political level there might be a friendly approach to Patel for an arrangement that would give Pakistan the Vale provided Sheik Abdullah could be looked after. He hopes that the Pakistanis will not attempt to exploit his press statement prior to the publication of his report by the UN.
With reference to war talk voiced by Nehru this week and previously by Liaquat, Dixon said General Hodges is of the opinion that neither country can undertake a military foray unless they have an assured oil supply. Should war talk develop in political or press circles, Dixon feels an intimation from the UK and/or the US that oil would not be available would be an effective deterrent.