The book Mountbatten, Cabinet Mission and Provincial Boundaries has been written by Prof Dr Mohammad Iqbal Chawla, an established and renowned historian of Pakistan. His commitment towards the overall growth of the subject and setting high standards of writing history is well accomplished. The main theme of the book is Mountbatten’s role in the transfer of power to indigenous settlers in the light of the Cabinet Mission proposals and to decide the provincial boundaries between two independent nations. To achieve this gigantic target, his era experienced large-scale massacre in Punjab, mostly due to problematic provincial boundaries.
Prof Chawla has constructed the history of creation of Pakistan from a different perspective - ie Lord Mountbatten as the main character in the final episode of the transfer of power to two independent nation states-Pakistan and India. The uniqueness of the book is that a Pakistani perspective on Mountbatten, in the context of the Pakistan movement, has been provided thoroughly for the first time, even though Indian and British perspectives are already available. The already available Pakistani perspective is highly critical towards Mountbatten, leaving gaps when it comes to in-depth analysis and evaluation.
The current book, written by Prof Chawla, has filled this existing gap by bringing various facts to light. One of the strongest elements of the book is the use of primary source material, which the author has collected from various archives of the United Kingdom and Pakistan. Primary sources include both government record and private papers. The most prominent collections of such sources are the Mountbatten Papers, Attlee Papers, Jinnah Papers and Muslim League Papers.
This work has been written in continuity to another book by Prof Chawla ie Wavell and the Dying Days of the Raj: Britain’s Penultimate Viceroy in India. Lord Wavell, the architect of Cabinet Mission Plan and the interim government, was not successful in creating a consensus between Congress and the Muslim League leadership. Lord Mountbatten was then sent by the British government to preserve the unity of India. However, he orchestrated and executed the partition within only five months, concluding in the birth of both India and Pakistan. Besides this, he ascended as the first Governor General of independent India. The author has asserted that the success of Mountbatten lies in the fact that he very quickly realised that there was meagre possibility of the implementation of the Cabinet Mission Plan. Realising the desire of the bigger communities of India, and owing to brewing large-scale human massacres, he decided in favour of partitioning India and the two major provinces ie Bengal and Punjab. With that intention a new formula, ie the 3rd June Plan, was given.
Unlike most Pakistani historians, Prof Chawla, on the basis of various primary source materials, has concluded that Lord Mountbatten had neither exclusively supported Congress nor vehemently opposed the creation of Pakistan
The book consists of six chapters along with an introduction and conclusion. The first chapter offers an analysis of the historiography on Partition and Mountbatten’s viceroyalty. It also shares enough gaps in the literature which have been filled in this study. Chapter two evaluates political dynamics of Sindh, the implementation of the 3rd June Plan and its subsequent accession to Pakistan. The major contribution of this chapter is an assessment of the role of Mountbatten in the whole process of inclusion of the province in Pakistan. The author has specifically contributed in the existing literature while bringing the fact to light that he strictly advised the British members of the Sindh Assembly to stay away from the voting on bill of joining Pakistan. That advice kept the process of transfer of power objective, and free of controversy which might have been raised by Congress in case such members had voted in favour of Pakistan.
The third chapter focuses on the accession of Balochistan, where a Legislature was missing, so its Shahi Jirga was given the status of its electoral college. The transition, however, was not without controversies, especially with reference to joining the state of Kalat with Pakistan. Mountbatten explicitly met with the representatives of the state of Kalat and emphasised that the state should settle its matters with Pakistan before the lapsing of paramountcy. Further, Mountbatten was not ready to accept the demand of the Khan of Kalat for complete independence. He also rejected the demand of Afghanistan for retaining some areas of Balochistan – and in that way, the objective approach of Mountbatten worked to include Balochistan in Pakistan. Mountbatten was instrumental in signing of the Standstill Agreement between the state of Pakistan and Kalat on the 4th of August 1947, which prevented any sudden disruption in the governance.
The fourth chapter accesses Mountbatten’s understanding and how he evolved the procedure for the inclusion of the then North West Frontier Province (NWFP, today KP) in Pakistan. This chapter truly appreciates Mountbatten’s usage of the tool of referendum in NWFP for making the transition smooth. The option of referendum had created a conducive atmosphere for the Muslim League to mobilise public support for Pakistan, despite the presence of the Congress ministry. However, after the success of the Muslim League in the referendum, Mountbatten avoided dismissing the Congress ministry, which did not have legal grounds at that time. This discourse is generally missing in the existing literature.
The fifth chapter revolves around the Radcliffe Award and finds the place of Mountbatten in finalising the Award. The said Award proved to be the origin of various problems related to partition, some of which still exist such as Kashmir issue. The author’s assessment is that although written evidences of the direct role of Mountbatten in preparing the final draft have not been found, yet enough situational elements exist to prove that Mountbatten had used his influence to convince Radcliffe for the addition of last-minute changes in the draft.
The sixth and last chapter is the most significant part of the book, which objectively accesses the role of Mountbatten in controlling the large-scale violence and terrible massacres in Punjab. It emphasises that in spite of the earlier genuine efforts from March to August 1947 of the ultimate viceroy, the magnitude of the violence continuously increased after the partition of India. The reason for this situation was the transfer of power to the local authorities, who were actually not successful in controlling bloodshed. That episode had ultimately put Lord Mountbatten in controversy, as he was serving as Governor General of India at the time.
A foremost contribution of this study by Prof Chawla is objective analysis on Lord Mountbatten’s role in partition of India and in the process of transfer of power. Unlike most of the Pakistani historians the movement that created the country, Prof Chawla, on the basis of various primary source material, has proved and concluded that Lord Mountbatten had neither exclusively supported Congress nor vehemently opposed the creation of Pakistan. However, he developed biases towards Pakistan on account of Jinnah’s refusal to accept Lord Mountbatten as Governor General of Pakistan. Resultantly, he intentionally helped India, being its Governor General to create problems for Pakistan such as wrong partition and Kashmir issue etc. The book is a valuable addition in the existing literature on colonial India and Pakistan movement and is strongly referred to the students and scholars of history. It is also useful to understand higher politics and colonial policy towards the colonised.