Cyril Radcliffe: Innocent or devious?

[Yusuf]

Well I always thought about asking this question and kept forgetting.

So was Radcliffe as innocent as he claimed or devious in his role as the one to draw the line partitioning India and Pakistan.

Punjab was partitioned in a manner that the line passed though houses. One may forgive that but fertile areas and Sikh religious places were put on the other side. Major water and irrigation systems went there. I think the thought was that Kashmir would be taken by force later and the entire Indus water system would come to Pak control. No wonder the British army officers were integral part of the planning and execution of the first war. Ever since Britain was supportive of Pak position for a very long time.

The other real thorny issue for me is the Chittagong Hill Tract. It never was a Muslim area but went to Pakistan. No logic or innocence there. It was a careful and well thought out plan. It cut of Indian eastern sector from the sea and left only a chickens neck as connectivity for India for its eastern region. If india had that area under its control, our north east would have been far better developed and strategically we could have a big naval base there as well as strategic depth against China. Add to this, India would have had claims on large oil and gas reserves in the area.

My thought is that Radcliffe was not as innocent as he pretended and was well mandated to come up with a line with strategic calculations.

 

[KS]

If I remember correctly the British officers of Pakistan Army were actually AGAINT a formal invasion of Kashmir and warned Jinnah that their forces would not fight in that.

 

[Ray]

If I remember correctly the British officers of Pakistan Army were actually AGAINT a formal invasion of Kashmir and warned Jinnah that their forces would not fight in that.

Col Brown of the Gilgit Scout was the first one to rebel in Gilgit..

The Gilgit Scouts (currently part of the enlarged Northern Light Infantry, NLI) was a British India force created to help the British Political Agent. In June, 1947, the lease was cancelled and the Agency was returned to the Maharajah. However, the J&K State had retained the services of Maj. William A Brown and Captain A.S. Mathieson of the Gilgit Scouts, a decision that proved fatal. In the night between October 31 and November 1, Maj. Brown and about 100 men of Gilgit Scouts surrounded the house of the Governor, Brig. Ghansar Singh, who had taken over from the British Political Agent, Lt-Col. Bacon, only on Aug. 1, 1947, and asked him to surrender. It now turns out from records that Lt-Col. Bacon and Major W.A.Brown had worked out 'contingency plans should the Maharajah take over the state to India' in June 1947 itself. We must remember that it was exactly what the duo did after the Maharajah had signed accession papers to India on Oct. 26, 1947. After a heavy exchange of fire throughtout the night, the brave Brigadier had to surrender the next morning as Major. Brown threatened to kill all non-Muslims in Gilgit if he did not do so. On November 3, 1947, this British Major, William A Brown, hoisted the Pakistani flag at the garrison and formed an Interim Government and within two weeks, a 'political agent' of Pakistan, Maj. Aslam Khan who had taken part in the invasion of Kashmir, took control of Balawaristan as Col. Bacon, now posted at Peshawar acted as the liaison between the British officers and the Pakistani Government, especially Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. Iskander Mirza. Maj. Brown and Col. Mathieson opted to serve in Pakistan after this episode. Maj. W.A. Brown was bestowed with the Order of the British Empire (OBE) within a few months in c. 1948. No citation was announced as to why he was awarded the OBE.

8. Thus the incidents in Gilgit were plainly a mutiny by certain sections of the Scouts, aided by British perfidy, who took the Governor of the province a hostage, and not a rebellion by ordinary citizens and inhabitants of Balawaristan. In fact, the people of Gilgit wholeheartedly welcomed Brig. Ghansar Singh on August 1, at the thought of the demise of the British rule and the return of the Maharajah's administration. The locals also protested on November 1, 1947, the arrest of the Governor but were suitably pacified by the leaders of the scouts. Pakistan later falsely claimed that ordinary citizens rose in revolt and they sent telegrams to the Government of Pakistan of their desire to unite with Pakistan. A 'Republic of Gilgit-Astore' that was setup was forcibly disbanded by Pakistan's 'political agent'.

9. The British perfidy in ensuring that Pakistan possessed Balawaristan has been described by C. Dasgupta in his book, 'War and Diplomacy in Kashmir", citing records from British archives. The IAF was prevented from attacking the Pakistani Airforce's supply aircraft that ferried supplies to the Gilgit region, by the combined pressure on the British chief of the IAF, Air Vice Marshal Thomas Elmhirst, by the British Commanders of the Pakistani Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Perry-Keene, and Pakistani Army, Gen. Gracey, and the Commander in Chief of Indian Army, General Bucher. The IAF, which did attack one such PAF Dakota aircraft on November 4, 1947 was stopped from conducting similar operations afterwards by the British. AVM Thomas Elmhirst personally met Nehru and persuaded him from conducting such operations. Thus, Balawaristan was saved from Indian military operations, for its recovery from the mutineers.

10. It has now come to light how the British conspired to keep two territories for Pakistan, Gilgit and North Western frontier Province (NWFP, now called Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa), in order to meet the geo-strategic interests of the British.

Pakistan Watch: Know Your Balawaristan

Cyril John Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe GBE, PC, QC had no clue of India and was basically a lawyer by profession and was working for the British Govt.

But like all British personage of that era, he was an imperialist and understood the British subterfuge that was legend.

As everywhere, it was the British policy to leave areas of dispute and discontent in all their colonies or British Administered UN Mandates so that they are called into mediate (through the UNSC where they had the Permanent Seat) and so they thus have a continuous finger in the pie.

 

[Yusuf]

I wonder if India had any plans on Chittagong to take it somehow as it was not a Muslim region and gave access by sea to the north east?

 

[Ray]

It was not contiguous.

 

[Ray]

The British were the real imperialist of the world/

Others failed but Britain reigned supreme all through and without too much of strife.

They knew how to placate the natives and yet lord it over!

Now the chickens are coming to roost in Great Britain!

The worm turns as the adage goes!

 

[parijataka]

The British were the real imperialist of the world/
Others failed but Britain reigned supreme all through and without too much of strife.
They knew how to placate the natives and yet lord it over!
Now the chickens are coming to roost in Great Britain!
The worm turns as the adage goes!

Well said.The British divided India and created Pakistan over opposition from Mahatma Gandhi and Congress Party with plans to use it as a future strategic launch pad into Central Asia. The British, especially Churchill, were very reluctant to let go of India - if not for war fatigue from WW II they would have stuck around for some more time through subterfuge and sweet talk. And now the Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are taking over Great Britain - payback time !