In addition, a new account (hereafter referred to as «Account No. 1») is opened with the Bank of England, on behalf of the Bank of England, on which are credited every pound sterling received by the Reserve Bank of India for current transactions after the date of this agreement, as well as all amounts transferred from Account 2. Lord Mountbatten (who served from March to August 1947) was sent to replace Wavell as viceroy, with Britain ready to transfer its power over India to a few «responsible» hands by June 1948. Shortly after reaching Delhi, where he met with the leaders of all parties and with his own officials, Mountbatten decided that the situation was too dangerous to wait, if only for this short period. Fearing a forced evacuation of British troops still stationed in India, Mountbatten decided to opt for a partition that would divide Punjab and Bengal, instead of risking further political negotiations as a civil war raged and a new mutiny of Indian troops was imminent. Among India`s leading leaders, Gandhi alone refused to reconcile with partition and asked Mountbatten to offer Jinnah the post of prime minister of a united Indian nation instead of a separate Muslim nation. But Nehru would not agree, nor would his most powerful deputy, Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (1875-1950), being both tired of arguing with Jinnah and persevering in the task of leading an independent government of India. Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced on 20 February 1947 that (iii) the transfers of Account 1 under Article IV, paragraph 3, and Article VIII, paragraph 2, of this agreement; As a pragmatist, Jinnah – who suffers from tuberculosis and lung cancer indefinitely – accepted the cabinet`s mission proposal, as did the leaders of the Congress Party. The beginning of the summer of 1946 thus saw the beginning of hope for the prospects for India`s future, but this soon proved to be false when Nehru, at his first press conference as re-elected President of Congress, announced that no Constituent Assembly could be «linked» by a pre-established constitutional formula. Jinnah read Nehru`s remarks as a «total rejection» of the plan, which had to be accepted in its entirety to work. Jinnah then convened the League`s working committee, which withdrew its prior agreement on the Federation`s programme and asked the «Muslim nation» to take «direct action» in mid-August 1946.

Thus, the bloodiest year of India`s civil war began since the mutiny almost a century earlier. The Hindu Muslim riots and assassinations, which began in Calcutta, sent deadly sparks of anger, incendiration and fear into every corner of the subcontinent, as all civilized restraint seemed to disappear. Her Majesty`s government has always wanted to transfer power according to the wishes of the Indian people themselves. This task would have been greatly facilitated if there had been an agreement between the Indian political parties. In the absence of such an agreement, the task of developing a method of identifying the wishes of the Indian people has been passed on to Her Majesty`s flesh . After full consultation with political leaders in India, Her Majesty`s Government decided to adopt the plan contained in this announcement. Her Majesty`s Government wishes to make it clear that it has no intention of creating a final constitution for India; It is the business of the Indians themselves. There is also nothing in this plan to exclude negotiations between communities for a united India. India`s early years of freedom were tormented by the tragic legacy of division.