KARACHI: Two straight questions have been addressed to Sir Cyril Radcliffe and straight answers … demanded by Mr Yusuf Khattak, General Secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League, in an interview to Dawn … yesterday [Oct 2]. Mr Khattak said: “I ask Sir Cyril Radcliffe … : (1) Is it a fact that he changed his award to the disadvantage of Pakistan even after it had been communicated to the then Governor of the Punjab, Sir Evan Jenkins? (2) Is it a fact, as stated by Sardar Vallabhai Patel in a speech in Calcutta, that it had been agreed beforehand that India would not lose Calcutta?”

Mr Khattak continued: “These are simple and straightforward questions and Sir Cyril should have no difficulty in giving straightforward answers. All he has to say is ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.”

He pointed out that [Sir Radcliffe], on being … interviewed by the United Press of America, had given evasive answers, which had led the Manchester Guardian to advise him “to clear up the truth”. Pandit Nehru, added Mr Khattak, had strangely enough rushed to … [describe] the charges against [Sir Radcliffe] as “absolutely false”. “If they are false”, concluded Mr Khattak, “let Sir Cyril say so himself. But vague answers will not do. …” — Political correspondent

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2025