Parties Pakistan
India | Language English | |
 | ||
Context Pertaining to resolve the Kashmir conflict Sealed 1 November 1947 (1947-11-01) Negotiators Mohammad Ali Jinnah
(Governor-General of Pakistan)
Louis Mountbatten
(Governor-General of India) | ||
The Jinnah–Mountbatten Talks were the series of bilateral talks and negotiations between Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Governor-General of Pakistan, and Louis Mountbatten, Governor-General of India, on the Kashmir dispute in November 1947.
Officially, the talks were to be held between the Governors-General and Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan at the state level, focused on the Kashmir dispute on November 1947. The British government originally facilitated the negotiations in New Delhi, but the venue of the meeting was changed to Lahore. Before the negotiations started, Prime Minister Nehru fell ill and his Deputy PM, Vallabhbhai Patel, refused to come to Lahore, stating "there was nothing to discuss with Pakistan's leadership."
On 1 November 1947, Louis Mountbatten left for Pakistan to begin talks between the Governors-General of India and Pakistan over the issue of Kashmir. The talks lasted for three-and-a-half hours, where Mountbatten offered to Jinnah that India would hold a plebiscite in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, provided that Pakistan withdrew its military support for the Azad Kashmir forces and their allies. Mountbatten also stipulated that the Indian Army would remain in the Kashmir Valley. Jinnah opposed the plan and claimed that the Kashmir, with its massive Muslim majority, belonged to Pakistan as an essential element in an incomplete partition process.
From the perspective of many authors, Jinnah was also convinced that a plebiscite under the supervision of the Indian Army would be sabotaged. Instead, he proposed an immediate and simultaneous withdrawal on both sides, including the Pakistani military and their allies, Pathan tribesmen, and the Indian troops. Afterwards, he suggested that the leaders of India and Pakistan should take control of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and sort out all matters including the arrangement of a free and fair plebiscite. Hearing the proposal, Mountbatten told Jinnah that he needed the consent of Nehru and Patel. Thus the talks ended and the dispute remained unresolved.