Jinnah–Mountbatten talks: Difference between revisions

Officially, the talks were to be held between the Governors-General and Prime Ministers of [[India and Pakistan]] at the state level, focused on the Kashmir dispute on November 1947.<ref name="Allied Publ.">{{cite book|last=Ghose|first=Sankar|title=Jawaharlal Nehru : a biography|year=1993|publisher=Allied Publ.|location=New Delhi [u.a.]|isbn=8170233690|edition=1. publ.}}</ref> The [[British government]] originally facilitated the negotiations in New Delhi, but the venue of the meeting was changed to [[Lahore]]. Before the negotiations started, Prime Minister [[Jawaharlal Nehru|Nehru]] fell ill and his [[Deputy Prime Minister of India|Deputy PM]], [[Vallabhbhai Patel]], refused to come to Lahore, stating "there was nothing to discuss with Pakistan's leadership."<ref name="Orient Longman">{{cite book|last=Singh|first=Iqbal|title=Between two fires : towards an understanding of Jawaharlal Nehru's foreign policy|year=1992|publisher=Orient Longman|location=Hyderabad|isbn=812501585X|edition=1st publ.|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/betweentwofiresv00iqba}}</ref>

On 1 November 1947, [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Louis Mountbatten]] left for [[Pakistan]] to begin talks between the Governors-General of India and Pakistan over the issue of [[Kashmir]].<ref name="Lancer Publishers & Distributors">{{cite book|last=Bhandari|first=M.C.|title=Solving Kashmir|page=149|year=2006|publisher=Lancer Publishers & Distributors|location=New Delhi|isbn=8170621259}}</ref> The talks lasted for three-and-a-half hours, where Mountbatten offered to Jinnah that India would hold a [[Plebiscite in Kashmir|plebiscite]] in the state of [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], provided that Pakistan withdrew its [[Pakistan Armed Forces|military]] support for the [[Azad Kashmir Regiment|Azad Kashmir forces]] and their allies.<ref name="A.P.H. Publ. Co.">{{cite book|last=Chitkara|first=M. G.|title=Kashmir : LoC|year=2003|publisher=A.P.H. Publ. Co.|location=New Delhi|isbn=8176484415}}</ref> Mountbatten also stipulated that the [[Indian Army]] would remain in the [[Kashmir Valley]]. Jinnah opposed the plan and claimed that the Kashmir, with its massive Muslim majority, belonged to Pakistan as an essential element in an incomplete partition process.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}