The Nehru Report and Muslim Rights — Page 49
[ 49 ] men ts of war? Afghanistan has a population of barely one crore, Persia of one crore and a half, while Indian population exceeds 33 crores. Fourthly, the fact must be remembered that India will be given dominion status and not complete independence. As such, it will form a part of the British Empire and in the event of a foreign power launching an offensive against India, the whole Empire will be at its back. Thus judging by the material aspect of the question, even the third alternative is an impossible dream. Moreover, it is highly immoral to wish for such a foreign intervention, an act of high treason to the nation. BRITISH INTERVENTION NOT POSSIBLE. Possibly there are some who think that as India will not be completely independent we will appeal to England for a restoration of our rights. From what I have stated elsewhere regarding the rights of the Domi nions, it will appear that no such thing would be possible. Firstly, because here the question would be not the Hindus encroaching upon our rights, but the question would be how to persuade the Hindus to restore us our rights which we, of our own free will, would have given away only to discover our mistake later on. Now, from the legal point of view it is evident that although Britain will have the formal right to veto the decision made by the Dominions, it will not have even the formal right to force anything new upon the dominions. Legally, there fore, Great Britain shall have no right to interfere in s uch matters, and even if it had, it does not stand to sense that Britain would care to exercise the right. I have a very high opinion of Great Britain, but nevertheless, I cannot