The Nehru Report and Muslim Rights — Page 32
[ 32 ] state of affairs, when India will grow free and Hindus will have all powers in their own hands, may better be imagined than described. IV. -N. W. F. PROVINCES, BALUCHISTAN AND SINDH. The fourth Muslim proposal related to the introduc tion of Reforms in the N. W. F. Provinces and Baluchistan, and the constitution of Sindh into a separate province with representative governmtnt. The Nehru Commii:tee has acceded to the extension of Reforms in the N. W. F. Provinces. Its intention is not clear with regard to Balu chistan. With regard to Sindh it stipulates that so long as the province cannot shoulder its financial responsibility or its inhabitants do not undertake to bear the charges, the province should not be made autonomous. Aparently these conditions are reasonable ; for when a province is financially incompetent how can it be constituted into an autonomous territory? They will leave the Muslims free to urge that when Sindh because of financial incompet ency cannot be made autonomous, separate representa tion also cannot be dispensed with, for which the separa. . tion of Sindh was a precedent condition. I, however, propose to bring to light what is between the lines of this apparent simple recommendations of the Nehru-Re. . port. The word ' responsibility ' is so comprehensive that by a mere specification of it, Sindh could be per petually kept out of autonomy. By 'responsibility', it may mean a simple system of administration, which I am sure Sindh is financially competent enough to adopt. Or, it may mean some such �xpensive system as may be impossible for a small province like Sindh to manage, and then the possibility of its growing into a separate province will be precluded for ever. I have grounds to suspect that by responsibility is here meant something