The Wilmington morning star., 1947-03-09

The News
By Dewitt Mackenzie
AP Foreign Affairs 1iE

Former Affairs Analyst
Winston Churchill declaro.M inist.,
y that the feuding Moslsgs,so oni.
1ilndus of India are prener and
civil war when England mit for
her troops not later bmiUaoraw,
1s4s' in accordance with H. Juns,
eminent. 0Nst gov.
Churchill made this sssertio.
she house Of Commons duri non IN
bate in which he and his Cong Com de-
tive followers attacked tbb'ISeFva'
gram. The postmaster Of 'cepso pro.
language termed the o1lotu
Operation Scuttle.' and h'uPa"al
|duced this word picture tsl' pro pro-
sweeping strokes: with
1T is with deep grief that
watched the gathering down nave
British empire with all its VI me
and all the service it has siof!es
mankind" 'ueFed
Supports AttIee
The big Socialist majority ,ou.
ever, stood behind Prime Mir H1.'
Attiee's pledge. Sir Sta+s'ef
Grips, who has played an ia1nH
tant role in the Indian ne ,pVI'
a%tions, told Commons that tb n'soI'
alternative to withdrawal WOMB any y
to strengthen British controls NJ We
reinforce British troops T %.a
would mean England would Da'
to remain in India at least fi 4r.e
to twenty years, he said. And A.
lee gave this corollary;
"The time has come Whom :.
dlans must shoulder their respon,i.
bilities. We can help them, brt ~.
cannot take this burden orr.
selves"
The danger of civil war in rndi,
will always exist until the warrina
Moslems and Hindus bury tho no
litico-religious Ratchet. As a m.t
ter of fact the. past few month,
have seen thousands slain and
much property damage in com.
munal fighting. Even as this i,
written, there is turmoil in ths
great Punjab province of northern
India.
It's true that British troops have
quelled many bloody outbursts in
India. But supposing the situation
as a whole should boil over. what
have We? The Indian peninsula i,
about the size of all Europe, ey.
GLIDING Russia. Within that vast
area are some 400, 600, 900 people.
What sort of British force wouId
it require to handle a f~ull-scale
civil war there? Certainly more
than John Bull could muster, es.
pecially in view of his grave eco.
nomic difficulties and commit.
ments elsewhere.
Most of the fireworks are in So
called British India, which is dis.
tinct from the native states ruled
by the princes. If either the Hindul
Or the Moslems of British India
wanted John Bull to stay in the
country, the situation would be far
more favorable for him. Probably
most if not all the princes would
like him to retain control-not be-
cause they love him but because
they are fearful of losing their
thrones after he WithdraWs. How.
ever, in British India both Hindus
and Moslems want John 10 clear
out.
An overload doesn't inspire al.
lection in a subject people.
The consensus, of impartial OBJ
servers is that the time has come
for England to withdraw. No one
can say that there won't be civil
war if she clears out, but it's a
hundred to one there will be II
she doesn't. And her Withdrawal
according to schedule may be the
move which will impel the lndi'
ans to remain within the British
commonwealth of nations instead
of severing all ties with Britain
Frequently l am asked whether
India is. far enough advanced TO
be able to rule herself. I've been
studying this situation for more
than a generation, and this is Inc
way it looks to me:
Many of midas millions still are
primitives and, gagged by western
standards, her backWardness is
vast. Still, she has been making
mighty strides since the first "oflo
war. Education has spread ana
amazingly enough she has lQ[sFu
ahead until she is n of the 'eaG'
ing industrial nations OF the "ol'u'
While the masses CERTAIN!
aren't qualified to rule themseIEss'
there are many brilliant and nlSn
ly educated Indians who are wen
equipped to take over the respon]
bilities. There are enough Of then
to see the job through.