Kashmir and the Commonwealth
'The Commonwealth contains no machinery for settling internal disputes. Now that both India and Pakistan have ceased to acknowledge the authority of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, there is no court which can examine even the legal aspects ot_the Kashmir question. Nevertheless the request by the Prime Minister of Pakistan that Kashmir should be added to the agenda of next month's conference of Commonwealth Prime Ministers is, a gesture which carries with it some hope of success. The sort of mediation which such a gathering can offer, either formally or informally, may well ease the deadlock which is having such Unfortunate results for both parties. The good offices of sister Dominions might have been called on is a first resort ; that having fei various reasons been impossible, there is every reason why they should be called upon as a last resort.. It is still at Delhi that a ochange of heart is most necessary It is the Indian Government which originally made impossible the carrying out of a plebiscite, and which later rejected the compromise plebiscite, based on a preliminary measure of partition, which was put forward by Sir Owen Dixon in the summer. Although the principle of self- determination for Kashmir was long ago accepted by the Indian government, the conditions which it has successively produced before it will take part in a plebiscite have given the impression that no solution will be accepted which involves the risk of any part of Kashmir falling to Pakistan. That is straining too far the arguments of history and geography, and it is to be hoped that the dangers which today confront both Dominions in the sub- continent will induce a more accommodating frame of mind when their representatives meet in London.
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