ABSTRACT
One of the great, historical worries of the British Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Relations Office related to the appointment and transfer of its envoys and concerned them ‘going native’ – a transformation that then, often prejudicially, affected their sense of judgement – more so of unpredictable, volatile and contentious circumstances, issues and personalities. This chapter focuses on three such ‘natives’, the first British High-Commissioners in newly independent India and Pakistan, during whose tenure the two Dominions had their first conflict over Jammu and Kashmir. Men who were to exercise a restraining influence on Indian and Pakistani governments, instead, appeared to target each other with, at times, flatly contradicting information, interpretations and appreciations. In a conflict during which India and Pakistan were dependent on London for military supplies, diplomatic support and economic aid, Great Britain was caught in an unenviable position between a potential partner and a possible ally in the early days of the Cold War and instead of being integral to a diplomatic resolution of this situation, its high-commissioners became instrumental in a diplomatic near-breakdown. Drawing on official and private papers in the UK and India, and supplementing it with relevant published material, the chapter reconstructs yet another instance of envoys and embassies getting embroiled in crises as actors discrete and agents distinct, from each other as well as from their ‘home’ government.
