Editing Lord Mountbatten (section)

=== Independence of India and Pakistan ===
[[File:Lord Mountbatten swears in Jawaharlal Nehru as the first Prime Minister of free India on Aug 15, 1947.jpg|thumb|left|Mountbatten with [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], the first Prime Minister of sovereign India, in Government House. Lady Mountbatten is standing to their left.]]
When India and Pakistan attained independence at midnight of 14–15 August 1947, Mountbatten was alone in his study at the Viceroy's house saying to himself just before the clock struck midnight that for still a few minutes, he was the most powerful man on Earth. At 12 am, as a last act of showmanship, he created [[Joan Falkiner]], the Australian wife of the Nawab of [[Palanpur State|Palanpur]], a highness, an act that was apparently one of his favourite duties that was annulled at the stroke of midnight.<ref>{{harvp|Tunzelmann|2007|p=4}}</ref>

[[File:Mountbatten Jinnah.jpg|thumb|left|Lord and Lady Mountbatten with [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]].]]
Notwithstanding the self-promotion of his own part in Indian independence&nbsp;– notably in the television series ''The Life and Times of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Mountbatten of Burma'', produced by his son-in-law [[John Knatchbull, 7th&nbsp;Baron Brabourne|Lord Brabourne]], and ''[[Freedom at Midnight]]'' by [[Dominique Lapierre]] and [[Larry Collins (writer)|Larry Collins]] (of which he was the main quoted source)&nbsp;– his record is seen as very mixed. One common view is that he hastened the process of independence unduly and recklessly, foreseeing vast disruption and loss of life and not wanting this to occur on his watch, but thereby actually helping it to occur (albeit in an indirect manner), especially in Punjab and Bengal.<ref>See, e.g., {{harvp|Wolpert|2006}}.</ref> [[John Kenneth Galbraith]], the Canadian-American [[Harvard University]] economist, who advised governments of India during the 1950s and was an intimate of Nehru who served as the American ambassador from 1961 to 1963, was a particularly harsh critic of Mountbatten in this regard.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.windsorscottish.com/pl-lp-jkgalbraith.php |title=People: Scots of Windsor's Past |publisher=Windsor's Scottish Heritage |access-date=20 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120809005357/http://www.windsorscottish.com/pl-lp-jkgalbraith.php |archive-date=9 August 2012 }}</ref> However, another view is that the British were forced to expedite the partition process to avoid involvement in a potential civil war with law and order having already broken down and Britain with limited resources after the Second World War.<ref name="Lawrence p 72">Lawrence J. Butler, 2002, ''Britain and Empire: Adjusting to a Post-Imperial World'', p. 72</ref><ref>Ronald Hyam, ''Britain's Declining Empire: The Road to Decolonisation, 1918–1968'', p. 113; Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0-521-86649-9}}, 2007</ref> According to historian Lawrence James, Mountbatten was left with no other option but to cut and run, with the alternative being involvement in a potential civil war that would be difficult to get out of.<ref name="Lawrence p 72"/>

The creation of Pakistan was never emotionally accepted by many British leaders, among them Mountbatten.<ref>{{harvp|McGrath|1996|p=38}}</ref> Mountbatten clearly expressed his lack of support and faith in the [[All-India Muslim League|Muslim League]]'s idea of Pakistan.<ref>{{harvp|Ahmed|1997|p=136}}</ref> [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah|Jinnah]] refused Mountbatten's offer to serve as [[Governor-General of Pakistan]].<ref>{{harvp|Wolpert|2006|page=163}}</ref> When Mountbatten was asked by Collins and Lapierre if he would have sabotaged the creation of Pakistan had he known that Jinnah was dying of [[tuberculosis]], he replied, "Most probably".<ref>{{harvp|Ahmed|1997|p=209}}</ref>