Mountbatten, Cabinet Mission And Provincial Boundaries

“This is a work of reinterpretation of Mountbatten’s role in the emergence of Pakistan. It moves beyond previous controversies concerning his impact on the Radcliffe Boundary Award and bias towards Nehru and the Congress to delve into his interactions with developments at the provincial level in the future Pakistan area. The insight emerges that Mountbatten’s interventions were far more complex than negative stereotypes of his Viceroyalty have acknowledged. The investigation draws on a careful reading of primary sources as well as building on the author’s earlier research into the end of British India. The judgements which emerge are balanced and form an important addition to the understanding of Pakistan’s independence.”

—Ian Talbot—

Emeritus Professor in the History of Modern South Asia, University of Southampton, Associate, The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University.

One of Pakistan’s most eminent historians, Professor Iqbal Chawla, follows his magisterial study of Wavell’s viceroyalty with this nuanced perspective on the impact of his controversial successor, Louis Mountbatten, who is often reviled for his actions in 1947 and the murderous Kashmir issue. In exhaustive research conducted in Pakistan and in England, Professor Chawla offers his own pathbreaking findings by focusing on the Viceroy’s actions in Sindh, Baluchistan, and the N.W.F.P. before assessing Mountbatten’s role in the Radcliffe Award and the violence unleashed in 1947 in the Punjab. How much should Mountbatten be blamed for the carnage? Iqbal Chawla thoroughly examines the arguments and the evidence and makes his own special contribution to the contentious and ongoing debate.

—Prof. Dr. Roger D. Long—