Evening star., 1947-08-17
India's S Rule
Facing Test
New Governments
Inherit Numerous
Problems
D. nj .ll.
! By Phillips Talbot

KARACHI.-The India that the
world has known for generations
has passed into history.
A patchwork quilt even under,
British suzerainty of constitutional
provinces and princely. states, the
teeming subcontinent now becomes
an even more complicated political
design.
First, the bulk of the country
where the government of India
rather than the maharajas exer-
cised direct authority-has been
ripped apart to from two separate
nations.
Each of these will have It's own
government, its own currency, its
own foreign representatives, and its
own trade policy. Instead of one am
bassador, the United States will send
two ENJOYS to this land.
The smaller of the new countries,
Pakistan, comes to life as a mainly
Moslem nation. Awkardly, it will be
cut into two pieces separated by
1000 miles OF non-Pakistan terri
tory. This is because Moslems are
most numerous only in the north
western and far eastern parts of
India.
She Will Be Reunited
But Pakistan will be the largest
rslamic country in the world.
The other newborn self-governing
nation, three times as populous as
Pakistan and correspondingly richer,
will continue to call itself India.
It's territory is the heartland of
the country. It's borders will stretch
from Bombay to Calcutta and from
above New Delhi to the southern
tip of the peninsula at Cape Com
orin.
Although truncated and residual,
the new India is claimed by its
leaders, including M. K. Gandhi,
Jawaharlal Nehru. and Vallabh-
bhai Patel, to be the true heir and
successor to the India of the past.
Our notherland is torn apart,
but she will be reunited" they say.
Both of these new countries will,
for at least while, remain within
the British commonwealth of ma
tions as dominions, like Australia
or Canada.
At first they will need to retain
the British link, because their own
constitutions are not yet ready.
Later they may, or may not, decide
1t is to their advantage to stay in
the British commonwealth.
The Princely States
Both Indians and British agreed,
however, that from August is In
dians and Pakistanis were free to
govern themselves and do what
they wish without any control from
London. - p.
The second political complication
added in the new order is the posi-
ton of the 500-odd autocratic
princedoms that are splattered
across the map of the whole sub
, continent. Some are large and
rich, others small and weak, But a
common feature is that Maharajas
and Nawabs who reigned in those
territories during the British period
were semi-autonomous rulers in the
midst of the larger nation.
Only a handful of. these royal
domains lie within or alongside
Pakistan. Kashmir, the famed
Himalayan resort country is the
largest. Gov. Gen. M. A. Jinnah
has said that Pakistan would make
individual arrangements for future
relations with these states.
The vast number of principalities,
however, are situated within and
around the borders of the truncated
Indian dominion. Where do they
f1t into the new pattern?
A great many Indians think that
the princely states are outmoded
relics. of India's medieval age, and
must disappear so that their people
can join the rest of the country as
a single whole.
For the time being, however,
agreement has been reached be-
tween the new government and a
great majority of the Maharajas
for the states to "accede" to the
new dominion.
Bow to Central Rule
In Pakistan, almost the only
initially important political party
will be the Moslem League. This is
the political organization that jim
nah built up from almost nothing to
a force capable of demanding and
eventually winning a separate, coun-
try.
Pakistan will be a largely agri-
cultural country. In the northwest
the Northwest Frontier Province
and Baluchistan are mostly barren
territories while in many parts of
the Punjab and Sind the desert has
Sblossomed. thanks to some of the
biggest irrigation works in the
world.
{ But. apart from Lahore and Kara
chi, there are no large cities. Nor
Is there much industry.
- Eastern Pakistan covers the east
Sern part of Bengal Province and
a slice Of Assam. Here most of In
'dia's jute supply-a world monopoly
still very important to the United
States-is grown.
{ Jute may be source of great
wealth to Pakistan. But If the
tjute trade is to continue, there
must be close cooperation between
the two dominions.
e The new. abbreviated India is