"Nehru would not have dreamt to coerce Kashmir into India...": Lord Mountbatten told authors Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre

"Do you remember the particular feelings Nehru had about the Kashmir issue? Did they complicate things?" -- Lord Louis Mountbatten (1900 - 1979) was asked by eminent authors Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre 

.... His response was :

"I do indeed. From the beginning, he (Nehru) confessed he was deeply involved in Kashmir. He was a Kashmiri Brahmin, it was his home. But he was a man of the highest integrity and intellect. He would not have dreamt to coerce Kashmir into India on account of his emotional attachment...

Nehru never expunged from his mind the facts as he saw them. he did not have such an emotional block that he could not see then, he could. I urged him to have a plebiscite to decide which was Kashmir wanted to go. He immediately agreed...".

Question: What was Jinnah's reaction when he heard you were sending Indian troops in Kashmir?

Mountbatten: He exploded with rage. He called Lt General Sir F W Messervy (GoC, Northern Command 1946-47) and told him - "This is going too far, we shall have to declare war and we'll have to invade Kshmir and throw the Indians out.

Messervy said -- "You realise this will mean a real war?" 

"Yes"

 "I must warn you that this will entail severe repercussions and I must report this to the Supreme Commanded," Messervy said. 

Question: You have been accused of having got too involved in the Kashmir operation. What is your own feeling about it?

Mountbatten: I have been indeed accused of getting too involved in doing this....Whatever they did wrong, they did it less wrong because I was there. When it was decided to send troops, I said : "You cannot do it until Kashmir is a part of India. You can only do it, therefore, if he accedes. If he does not, I shall have to advise you, you are not entitled to send troops in.