The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 178
162 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN best but did not succeed - then no doubt was left in my mind that the only way out was partition. So you may take it that the final change in my mind and attitude started with the Cabinet Mission's Plan. At first I thought we had a fair enough substitute, at least for trial for ten years, and then when that was torn up, the rebound was that nothing else was now feasible. In fact, though that does not strengthen the argument, even a person like Mr. Attlee, who was dead-opposed to partition, was finally convinced that the only solution was partition. All my subsequent experience has confirmed that nothing else could have worked. Question : In the summer of 1947, wasn't it, you became Adviser for a number of the Princes. Would you care to say something about that ? Khan : I have already touched upon that. I had known His Highness the Nawab of Bhopal for some years. Perhaps I had known him more intimately than I knew any of their other Highnesses. I was never very intimate with them as a group; but with some of them I had good personal relations, including the Maharajah, whose hospitality I had often enjoyed in Srinagar whenever I had been on a visit there, whether as a Minister in the Viceroy's Cabinet, or later as a judge of the Court. As soon as the announcement of Prime Minister Attlee was made on the 3rd of June, I made up my mind to resign from the Court and to revert to practice at the Bar. This resolve was strengthened when His Highness of Bhopal inquired whether I would be willing to act as his Constitutional Adviser for a few months, or longer, in case of need. The Maharajah of Indore was also associated with him in making this suggestion. On one or two occasions, the Chief Minister of Bahawalpur, Mr. Gurmani, who was a friend of long standing, approached me for advice. As soon as I resigned from the Court I moved down from Delhi to Bhopal, which I made my headquarters, but I was not allowed to remain there long at one stretch. I was first asked by Mr. Jinnah, as I have already related, to take on the Muslim League’s case and to present it before the Punjab Boundary Commission, and later he asked me to lead the first delegation of Pakistan to the United Nations. It was not until I returned from the Assembly’s session in New York in December, 1947, that Mr. Jinnah asked me to join the Pakistan Cabinet. Thus, though for over six months I acted as Constitutional