 Cold War historian Robert J. McMahon states that American officials had increasingly felt that India was using questionable legal technicalities to justify its dismissals of the various UNCIP truce proposals, and they believed that these actions were motivated by India's desire to avoid holding a plebiscite.McMahon adds that they were 'right' since the vote was most likely to go in Pakistan's favour due to Kashmir's predominantly Muslim population and delaying the referendum would work in India's favour.In private, some Indian officials confessed to American officials that they would prefer a partition of the State rather than a plebiscite.