Daily Times

Letter to President Ayub Khan of Pakistan, September 1, 1967

In the name of God, most Gracious, most Merciful

C/ O Deputy Commissioner

Delhi, 1st September, 1967

My dear Khan Sahib,

May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you.

While giving your views on a proposed South Asian Confederation in your book, Friends Not Masters, you have said, among other things:

When Sheikh Abdullah and Mirza Mohammad Afzal Beg came to Pakistan in 1964, they too had brought the absurd proposal of confederation between India, Pakistan, and Kashmir. I told them plainly we should have nothing to do with it. It was curious that whereas we were seeking the salvation of Kashmiris, they had been forced to mention an idea which, if pursued, would lead to our enslavement. It was clear that this was what Mr. Nehru had told them to say. I do not blame them, because they were obviously acting under the compulsion of circumstances. But they left me in no doubt that their future was linked with Pakistan.

In order to keep the record straight, I would request you to refresh your memory as to what I actually told you when I met you along with Mirza Afzal Beg, for I find certain discrepancies in your statement above.

We never carried with us any cut and dry proposals for the solution of the Kashmir dispute and, to be fair to the late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, he never forced us to put before you any particular proposal. No, we are not made that way. My sole purpose in visiting Pakistan and meeting you was to persuade you to agree to a summit meeting with the Prime Minister of India, so that a solution acceptable to all concerned could be found at a conference table. When asked if I had any specific solution in my mind, I told you clearly that I had none, except the one that emanated from the United Nations to which both India and Pakistan had agreed. Incidentally, I referred to a number of other possible solutions suggested, from time to time, by various people and friendly countries. It was in this sequence that confederation between India, Pakistan, and Kashmir was mentioned by me, as it was also being suggested as one of the possible solutions. Of course, this proposal was vehemently denounced by you. Such a solution, you felt, would encourage forces of disintegration not only in Pakistan, but more so in India. My advice to you, however, was not to reject any proposal outright, but to discuss its pros and cone in a friendly manner at the conference table and convince the other side that a particular solution would not lead to ultimate peace, which ought to be the common objective of all. My whole emphasis was that parties must give up their rigid attitudes and be prepared to listen to the viewpoint of the other side without attributing motives.

Both India and Pakistan, unfortunately got too involved in this dispute, and, therefore, such a solution must only emerge from the conference table, which the parties could present to their respective people as the only practical, honorable, and just solution under the prevailing circumstances. None should leave the conference table with a sense of defeat.

You were kind enough to agree to come to Delhi and meet late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru but, to our misfortune, his sad and untimely death robbed us of this opportunity.

I hope you are doing well.

With kind regards,

Yours sincerely,

Sd. Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah)

Excerpt from Dr Nyla Ali Khan’s Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s Reflections on Kashmir (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s Letter to President Ayub Khan regarding the resolution of the Kashmir imbroglio

Published in Daily Times, April 18^th 2018.