DELHI: The following telegram was sent recently by the Muslim residents of Delhi to Mr. Clement Attlee, Lord Mountbatten … Qaed-e-Azam M.A. Jinnah. “The Muslim residents of Delhi resent partitioning of the Punjab and Bengal and demand the inclusion of Delhi in Pakistan as well as the division of the army. The partial treatment of ‘Sardar’ Patel, Home Member, in allowing Sikhs to carry swords in public in spite of Section 144 while denying Muslims the privilege of keeping sticks in houses is also strongly resented.”

[Meanwhile, as reported from London,] “The Indian leaders today — particularly those on the Congress side — are paying for their past political pretences and for a certain amount of their intellectual dishonesty,” says Geoffrey Tyson, editor of the “Capital” and member of the Indian Central Assembly, in an article in the “Sunday Times”. “Pretence No. 1, common to both parties, was that Britain, in spite of her repeated promises, did not intend to give India her independence. Pretence No. 2 was the Congress illusion that the Muslims were not serious in their demand for Pakistan and that when the time came, they would be fobbed off with something less.”

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2022