SIMLA: The reply of Mr. Jinnah to Pandit Govind Vallabh Pant that the Muslim League being the sole representative of Muslim India could alone nominate the Muslim personnel of the proposed Executive Council has been received in political circles here with mixed feelings. While Muslims of all shades of opinion warmly welcome the attitude of Qaid-e-Azam, the Congress quarters are shocked.

A wave of pessimism is discernible in all circles in Simla today [June 28] following the deadlock in the Congress-League negotiations says an A.P.I. report. A League spokesman re-affirmed today that the Muslim League cannot and will not give up its fight to select all the Muslim members of the Executive Council. No further efforts have so far been made for the resumption of Pant-Jinnah talks.

Official circles in Simla are keenly watching developments and have declined to make any comment though it was believed that the deadlock in the Congress-League negotiations in regard to allocation of quota of seats by itself need not necessarily prove a stumbling block in the way of the Conference as the Viceroy according to the Wavell Plan has the last word on the question of settling Hindu-Muslim parity…

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2020