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The commission's final gesture, an arbitration proposal backed by the U.S. and Britain, had been accepted by Pakistan, rejected by India. Abdullah's delegates passed a resolution denouncing the "arbitration offer sponsored by President Truman and Prime Minister Attlee" as "yet another device to deny freedom to the people of Kashmir." Nehru told them: "My anxiety has always been for a fair and impartial plebiscite." There was, however, a noticeable lessening of Indian enthusiasm for a plebiscite. Instead, the Indian press trotted out the old charge that Pakistan had entered Kashmir as a military aggressor and ought to be punished as such. Abdullah told the convention: "We want to tell the whole world that Kashmir has decided, whatever difficulties may arise, we will always be with India."
Privately, he gave foreign newsmen his idea of a fair plebiscite: "The Security Council should give us control of all Kashmir. After that, if you wish, we will have our own referendum."
All the portents Indicated that India considered that the battle for Kashmir had been won—and that India intended to keep the prize.
Back in New Delhi at week's end, Nehru said that the U.S.S.R.'s atomic discovery may help prevent war. "The more terrible the dangers of war," Nehru explained, "the more the people should see the folly of it and avoid it. But people do not always behave logically, of course.
"Personally, I don't believe there is any chance of a world war in the near future. The only thing I am afraid of is the psychology of blind fear which is gripping people all over the world."