Saturday, August 11, 2007

Mountbatten and Partition Again

"The viceroy, Mountbatten, must take the blame - though not the sole blame - for the massacres in the Punjab in which between 500,000 to a million men, women and children perished," he writes.

Not me this time, but off the BBC news website today. The 'he' in 'he writes' is Christopher Beaumont who in 1947 was the private secretary to Sir Cyril Radcliffe, chairman of the Indo-Pakistan Boundary Commission. His papers are being released by his son.

More quotes from the BBC.

"The central theme ever present in Beaumont's historic paperwork is that Mountbatten not only bent the rules when it came to partition - he also bent the border in India's favour. The documents repeatedly allege that Mountbatten put pressure on Radcliffe to alter the boundary in India's favour. "

"Beaumont goes on to argue that it was "irresponsible" of Lord Mountbatten to insist that Beaumont complete the boundary within a six-week deadline - despite his protests."

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