CMP(4) Jinnah's and Muslim League's
responses to the Cabinet Mission Plan on 22 May 1946 and 6 June 1946.
Documents included below:
Comment The point to note is that the League and Jinnah stated clearly that the Plan took them closer to their final goal of a sovereign Pakistan and that is why they accepted it. It was clearly stated that a united India was not their final goal, nor was it the reason for their acceptance. Any historian who asserts otherwise needs to explain why. Statement by Mr. M. A. Jinnah on the Cabinet Mission Plan, 22 May 1946. (excerpts) I regret that the Mission should have negatived the Muslim demand for the establishment of a complete sovereign state of Pakistan, which we still hold is the only solution of the constitutional problem of India and which alone can secure stable Governments and lead to the happiness and welfare not only of the two major communities, but of all the peoples of this sub-continent. It is all the more regrettable that the Mission should have though fit to advance commonplace and exploded arguments against Pakistan and resorted to special pleadings couched in deplorable language which is calculated to hurt the feelings of Muslim India. It seems that this was done by the Mission simply to appease and placate the Congress, because when they come to face the realities, they themselves have made the following pronouncement embodied in paragraph 5 of the statement..
(1) They have divided Pakistan into two-what they call Section
B(for
the North-Western Zone) and Section C(for the North-Eastern Zone). (2) Instead of two constitution-making bodies only one constitution-making body is devised with three Sections A, B and C. (3) They lay down that : 'There should be a Union of India, embracing both British India and the States.... " There is no indication at all that the Communications would be restricted to what is necessary for Defense nor is there any indication as to how this Union will be empowered to raise finances required for these three subjects, while our view was that finances should be raised only by contribution and not by taxation. (4) It is laid down that : 'The Union should have an Executive
and a Legislature ... While our view was:
... This raises a very serious question indeed, for if it
is left to the Union Constituent Assembly to decide these matters by a
majority vote, whether any of the recommendations of the Advisory
Committee should be incorporated in the Union Constitution, then it
will open a door to more subjects being vested in the Union Government.
This will destroy the very basic principle that the Union is to be
strictly confined to three subjects.." Jinnah's
Speech at the Secret Session of the All India Muslim League Council,
New Delhi, June 6 1946 Speeches, 'Statements and Messages of the
Quaid-e-Azam', Vol IV, Khurshid Yusufi, Bazm-i-Iqbal, Lahore. I advised you to reject the Cripps proposal, I advised you to reject the last Simla Conference formula. But I cannot advise you to reject the British Cabinet Mission's proposal. I advise you to accept it."..Mr Jinnah added "The Lahore resolution did not mean that when Muslims put forward their demand, it must be accepted at once. It is a big struggle and a continued struggle. The first struggle was to get the representative character of the League accepted. That fight they had started and they had won. Acceptance of the Mission's proposal was not the end of their struggle for Pakistan. They should continue their struggle till Pakistan was achieved." Mr Jinnah said that they could create a deadlock in the Constituent Assembly if anything was done against their wishes. They would continue to fight in the Constituent Assembly for their objective. They would also fight for the right of the Units or Groups to rejoin the Group from which they seceded. As regards groupings, Mr. Jinnah is reported to have expressed satisfaction and said : The Groups should have power on all subjects except defence, communications and foreign affairs. But so far as defence is concerned, it would remain in the hands of the British till the new constitution was enforced. So they need not worry about it now. They would fight in the Constituent Assembly to restrict "Communications" to what was absolutely necessary for defence only. --- Resolution passed by the Council of the All-India Muslim League, 6 June 1946, (excerpts) 1. This meeting of the Council of the All-India Muslim League, after having carefully considered the statement issued by the Cabinet Mission and the Viceroy on 16th May 1946... places upon record the following views for the guidance of the nation and direction of the Working Committee. 2. That the references made, and the conclusions recorded in paras 6,7,8,9,10 and 11 of the statement concerning the Muslim demand for the establishment of a full sovereign Pakistan as the only solution of the Indian constitutional problem are unwarranted, unjustified and unconvincing, and should not therefore have found a place in a state document issued on behalf and with the authority of the British Government. These paragraphs are couched in such
language, and contain such mutiliations of the established facts, that
the Cabinet Mission have clearly been prompted to include them in their
statement solely with the object of appeasing the Hindus, in utter
disregard of Muslim sentiments. In order that there may be no manner of doubt in any quarter, the Council of the All-India Muslim League reiterates that the attainment of the goal of a complete sovereign Pakistan still remains the unalterable objective of the Muslims in India for the achievement of which they will, if necessary, employ every means in their power, and consider no sacrifice or suffering too great. 3. That notwithstanding the affront offered
to Muslim sentiments by the choice of injudicious words in the preamble
to the statement of the Cabinet Mission, the Muslim League, having
regard to the grave issues involved, and prompted by its earnest desire
for a peaceful solution, if possible, of the Indian constitutional
problem, and inasmuch as the basis and the foundation of Pakistan are
inherent in the Mission's plan by virtue of the compulsory grouping of
the six Muslim provinces in Sections B and C, is willing to co-operate
with the constitution-making machinery proposed in the scheme outlined
by the Mission, in the hope that it would ultimately result in the
establishment of complete[ly] sovereign Pakistan, and in the
consummation of the goal of independence for the major nations, Muslims
and Hindus, and all the other people inhabiting the vast subcontinent. The Muslim League reserves the right to modify and revise the policy and attitude set forth in this resolution at any time during the progress of the deliberations of the constitution-making body, or the Constituent Assembly, or thereafter if the course of events so require, bearing in mind the fundamental principles and ideals herebefore adumbrated, to which the Muslim League is irrevocably committed. |
Update
in 08/09: www.geocities.com is closing down in end-October 2009. The new location of this website is: http://sites.google.com/ site/cabinetmissionplan/ Home Page 2 Secondary sources on Page 3 CMP(1) - From Ayesha Jalal's 'The Sole Spokesman'' CMP(2)
- The Congress League positions on 12 May 1946
CMP(3) - The Cabinet Mission Plan 16 May 1946> CMP(8)
- More exchanges on parity during Simla Coonference meeting 11 May
1946
CMP(9)- Jinnah's Conversations with Major Wyatt(1) on Pakistan and the Cabinet Mission Plan , 8 January and 25 May 1946 CMP(10) - Jinnah's Conversations with Major Wyatt((2) on the interim government, 11 June 1946 CMP(12A) Congress and the Cabinet Mission's arguments over inclusion of a Congress Muslim in the Interim Government June 12 and June 23 1946 CMP(13)- Jawaharlal Nehru's press conference on the Plan, 10 July 1946 CMP(14) - League withdrew from Plan, called Directt Action, Viceroy Wavell talked to Nehru, July-August 1946 CMP(15) - The Viceroy tried to strong-arm Nehru annd Gandhi on compulsory grouping, Pethick Lawrence to Attlee, August-September 1946 CMP(16)- Intelligence
assessment on Jinnah's options and threat of civil war, September 1946
CMP(17)- The League's boycott of the Constituent Assembly, Jinnah and Wavell, Mission insisting on compulsory grouping, etc October 1946-January 1947 CMP
(A1) - Additional material - Some Plain speaking from Sir Khizr Hayat,
Abell on the Breakdown plan, Viceroy to Jinnah
CMP(A2) North West Frontier Province, October-November 1946 and February-March 1947 CMP(A3) Bengal and Bihar, August - November 1946 CMP(A4) Punjab, February - March 1947 CMP (18) - My take CMP (19) - What did parity and communal veto mean in numbers? CMP(20) Another summary /take on the Cabinet Mission Plan-with links to the above reference material CMP(21) Mountbatten discusses the Cabinet Mission Plan with Sardar Patel and M. A. Jinnah, 24-26 April 1947 CMP(22) A reply on the Cabinet Mission Plan Extra(1) - Speech by Jinnah in March 1941 outlining the case for an independent sovereign Pakistan Extra(1A) Jinnah's Speeches and Statements from 1941-1942 Extra(1B) Jinnah's Speeches and Statements from 1938-1940 Extra(1C) Jinnah's speeches and Statements from 1943-45 Extra(2) - Jinnah's letter to Gandhi during GGandhi-Jinnah talks in 1944 on defining Pakistan Extra(3)- B.R. Ambedkar quoted from his book 'Pakistan or the Partition of India' |