LONDON: The … last-minute Round-Table Confe­rence between the Congress, Muslim League and Sikh leaders and the British Government at No. 10 Downing Street … failed to achieve immediate results. The Round Table parleys, nevertheless, are believed by political quarters to have served a useful purpose and may yet prove to have laid the ground work for some future progress, cables Reuter’s Special Correspondent.

The conference lasted 70 minutes. … Eventually an official statement was issued by the British Government. Its general effect is to restate the present constitutional position as the Government sees it in the light of the Cabinet Mission Statement on May 16 and to reaffirm the Cabinet Mission’s view on interpretation of the paragraphs on grouping which have produced so much controversy between the Congress Party and Muslim League adherents.

… The statement suggests the British Govern­ment’s belief that if the Congress will accept the Cabinet Mission’s interpretation of grouping, which is the immediate problem, some modification of the Muslim League attitude might result. At the moment the League is boycotting the Constituent Assembly, which will meet on Monday [Dec 9] to begin the work of framing a constitution for independent India with the League unrepresented.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2021