Apropos Mr. Zahid's article "inconsistency-we paid for" (GK 14th January 2013). While Sheikh saheb, as one of the members of Indian delegation to UN in Jannuary 1948, pleaded for an accession with India, he  not only pleaded for third option of "Independence" with American representative to UN, Mr. Warren  Austin but also met with part of the Pakistani delegation in a hotel in New York  comprising Dr. Taseer, who was acting as adviser to Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, the then President of Azad J&K and Chowdhary Muhammad Ali. When they asked Abdullah what he saw as a solution for Kashmir, he replied. “Only this, that Kashmir should be an Independent State, free from both India & Pakistan. This should be a solution which should be acceptable to all, a face saving solution. Afterwards, if Kashmir became an independent State,  it will naturally be closer to Pakistan, firstly because of a common religion and secondly because Lahore is near and Delhi is far off. Such a solution cannot be harmful to Pakistan”.When Chowdhary Muhammad Ali protested that India would plot against this scenario, Abdullah told him to ‘put some trust in the Kashmiris, they will not join in conspiracies against Pakistan and be bought over. (Kashmir in Conflict by Victoria Schofield-page 78).
Put  in simple terms, it means that Sheikh saheb was selling three different stories to three different parties at the same time-India, Pakistan and US.

Abdul Majid Zargar
abdulmajidzargar@gmail.com

Lastupdate on : Sun, 20 Jan 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
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