690D.91/5–1254
Memorandum by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs (Jernegan)1
top secret
[Washington,] May 12,
1954.
Subject:
- Recent Exchange of Letters Between Prime Ministers Mohammed Ali of Pakistan and Nehru of India Regarding the Kashmir Dispute and Military Assistance to Pakistan.
With a top secret letter dated April 3, 1954 to you, Ambassador Hildreth transmitted a file of correspondence containing copies of a recent exchange of nineteen letters between Prime Ministers Mohammed Ali of Pakistan and Nehru of India. The file was given to the Ambassador by Prime Minister Ali with the request that only top Department officials have access to it.
A summary of the correspondence (Tab A)2 has been prepared for your use.
Highlights of the correspondence are:
- 1.
- Ali’s vigorous attempt to have Admiral Nimitz retained as Kashmir Plebiscite Administrator, Nehru’s refusal and Ali’s acquiescence to Nehru’s position.
- 2.
- Nehru’s suggestion of a regional plebiscite in Kashmir, Ali’s contention that the regions should be defined before any plebiscite, Nehru’s position that the regions could properly be defined only after a plebiscite—no agreement reached.
- 3.
- Nehru’s vigorous objections to U.S. military assistance to Pakistan, Ali’s unsuccessful efforts to answer them and Nehru’s firm position that further progress on the Kashmir issue is not now possible.