STALEMATE IN INDIA

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5328, 14 February 1947, Page 2

STALEMATE IN INDIA

G. W.

BLAIR

(To. The Editor) Sir, — As one who has the interest I of India at heart, having residecl | there foi' over 20 years as a mission- j ary of the Irish Presbyterian Church, j I wish to thank you for piuhlishing \ the article in Saturday's issue on | "Stalemate in India." It is a great ■ pity that after all the efforts that i have heen made to bring about a sat- ; isfactory solution of this knotty prob- j lem, the result should be as your article states. i A great deal iias been wrltten about the right of India to self-government ; and Britain has very magnanimo'usly [ done all, in her power to give7 India j this freedom. But the ohstacles to a united independent India are many j and insurmountable. An Interim Gov- | ernment Constituent Assemhly has ; been formed; but the Moslems have ^ decided to boyeott it, and won't attend or take part in its proceedings. Despite all efforts for an amicable settlement between the. Congress Party and the Moslem League, the rift between the parties is wider than ever, or, as the London Times New' Delhi correspondent says: "The facade of a coalition Interim Government has beqn split wide open, and the edifice clearly is in danger* of collapse." It would seem from this that Congress and the League will never agree to work together harmoniously. What then would be a satisfactory solution for these differences? A good many people all over the world are thinking very seriously that the only logical solution of this problem is to -divide India, just as Ireland was divided some 25 years ago. Ih this way the Moslems would have their Pakistan and the Congress Party the rest of the country.. _ And the writer's firm belief is that, if wholesale shedding of 'blood is to be avoided in India, the foregoing plan is the only solution of self-gov-ernment for India. Por, let it be carefully noted, it it an mndeniable fact that the Congress Party and the Moslem. League remain, and maxst remain, poles apart, and they cannot bring themselves, at this stage, to compromise, or co-oper-ate for a common working out oi' India's destiny. Would it not therefore be much better for the Govern- , ment to dissolve, what can be only a one-sided assenrbly, and then proceed to the formation of a Hindu and a Moslem India. — I am etc..

(REV.)