GULF WIDENED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22439, 20 September 1947, Page 5

GULF WIDENED

REGIMESJN INDIA MUTUAL ABUSE MINORITIES’ PLIGHT HOSTILITY AND SUSPICION (N.Z.P. A.—Reuter—Copyright.) (10 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 19. Although during the past week there has been a decline in the number of major incidents and a cessation, possibly only temporary, in the spread of communal warfare, there has been no improvement in relations between the two Dominion Governments, India and Pakistan, says The Times correspondent in New Delhi. Indeed, a series of statements on governmental level have appreciably widened the already wide gulf. Mutual Recriminations The threat made by Sir Zafrullah Khan, chief of the Pakistan delegation to the United Nations Assembly, that unless the Government of India took steps to end the slaughter of Moslems, the Pakistan Government would file a formal complaint with U.N. and, if satisiaction were not obtained, would "resort to direct measures”; the Pakistan Premier’s, Liaquat Ali Khan’s charges, denied by Mr. Nehru, Premier of India, that Pakistan was surrounded on all sides by forces that are “out to destroy us”; the Pakistan Home Minister’s, Ghazanfar Ali Khan’s, statements that the slaughter in East Punjab had been tenfold worse than in West Punjab—all these have exacerbated feelings in India.

From the Indian side the Ministerial utterances have been more restrained, but there have been charges that Pakistan troops are looting and killing and that tlie figures furnished by the Pakistan Army for the casualties suffered by non-Moslem refugee convoys were low.

The press on both sides maintains a violent battle of words. Effects of Communal Strife

The continuation of this communal conflict is having two effects: First. Prime Ministers of both Dominions are being subjected to increasing pressure from extremists. Early this week, for instance, the West Punjab Moslem League Council, most important of all league provincial councils, passed resolutions demanding the immediate fortification of the Pakistan-India frontier and the compulsory training of every Moslem youth.

Secondly, it is transforming the status of minorities who, in both Dominions, are coming more and more to be regarded as fifth columnists.or potential fifth columnists. The two-nation theory always carried with it the corollary of divided loyalty and, even if there had been no bloodshed over the partition, the Hindu masses would still have tended to regard Pakistan as a state for Moslems only and the Moslem masses vice-versa. The common taunt in the recent trouble in the Punjab was “You are a Moslem (or Hindu). Why don’t you go to Pakistan (or Hindustan)?” Now, all over India, even, in parts where there has been no violence, members of minority communities are coming to be regarded, if not with hostility, at least with suspicion. Gandhi and Nehru Criticised

As a result of the communal riots extremist Hindu circles are openly critical of Mr Gandhi and Mr. Nehru and want a strong Hindu outlook. The organ of the extreme wing demands “The removal of the present Government and the replacing of it with strong and competent Hindus, the declaration of the Indian Union as a Hindu State, preparation of the country on the basis of war with Pakistan, conscription of all young Hindus, treatment of all Moslems as fifth columnists. a declaration that professing of Islam is unlawful.” The correspondent says that agitation such as this is making Mr. Nehru's position extremely difficult.