Hayward returned to India, again crossing the Himalaya with no supplies in the dead of winter. Upon returning he wrote a letter to a Calcutta newspaper describing the atrocities that the Kashmiris had committed against people in Yasin. The publication of the letter caused a minor political storm, as the Maharaja of Kashmir, Ranbir Singh, was a close British ally and vassal. Because of the negative attention he received from this letter Hayward severed his connection with the Royal Geographical Society.