Speech of Mr. Gopalaswani Ayyanagar ( India s Representative)

Speech of Mr. Gopalaswani Ayyanagar ( India's Representative)

The Security Council has met today to commence the consi­deration of the communication addressed to it on 31 December 1947 by my Chief, the Prime Minister of India.

That communication summarizes in clear terms the impasse that has been reached in the relations between India and Pakistan over the situation in the Jammu and Kashmir State,

 and the threat to international peace and security with which it is pregnant if it is not solved immediately. It further makes a specific suggestion for consideration by the Security Council as to the action that it may take immediately for ending the impasse and eliminating the danger for an armed conflict between the two countries with its attendant, almost inevitable, repercussions on the maintenance of world peace. I desire at (the outset of this investigation to make a fuller statement of our case with a view to assisting the ^Security Council in obtaining a comprehensive and realistic appreciation of the problem that faces it in this connexion.

It is with a heavy sense of responsibility that India invokes the good offices of the Security Council in finding a solution. The report under Article 35 of the Charter has been made to this Council after a great deal of hesitation and with the deepest regret . I wish it had been possible to settle between ourselves, with perfect friendliness and in a generous spirit of give and take, our differences? in relation to this problem, in the same way as we have done, and are doing, in the case of many other problems. The failure has not been due to lack of effort on our part. Towards the end of the third week of November, an all-out effort was launched by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, in which the Prime Minister of Pakistan concentrated up to a point, for effecting an over*an amicable settlement between the two countries in respect of all outstanding major points of controversy. Agreement was reached, with willing and free consent, in respect of even some of the most intricate matters which had until then baffled solutions.

On the Kashmir issue alone, though good progress was made and a settlement was almost in sight at one stage, the negotiations finally broke down as a result of the attitude adopted by the Pakistan Government in declining to do what, under any view of right international conduct, it is its obligation to do. No one with knowledge of the course of these negotiations could fail to have been impressed by the transparent good faith, the sincerity and the honesty of our endeavour to reach a settlement; and that settlement would have been reached but for the intransigence and the lack of adequate confidence and courage, in dealing with their own people, which the Government of Pakistan have unfortunately exhibited in this connexion.

1. situation in Jammu and Kashmir State is grave today. It is growing graver every day, thanks to the difficult nature of the country where the Sanguinary fight is in progress and to the wintry weather conditions. Even so, the situation needs to be a matter of concern to us if we proceed to handle it in an exclusively military way and to deal with the invaders and raiders in the way they deserve to be dealt with, and in the manner in which, under other circumstances, we would not have hesitated to deal with them. Such handling, in the present case, might however, involve risks of an armed conflict with our neighbour, and, with due regard to (he principles we have subscribed to as a Member of the United Nations, we would like to exhaust every possible resource for avoiding war, particularly war with the people of a neighbouring State with whom centuries of common living, culture and tradition incline us, in spite of ephemeral recent happenings, to continue to develop the ties that bind us together.

We have come, therefore, to invoke the assistance of the Security Council in persuading the Pakistan Government, where we so far have failed, and in thus helping to save the lives and honour of thousands in the Jammu and Kashmir State. Freed from the scourge of invasion, and with normal life restored, this land of beauty and it's hard-working and self-awakened people will thus be enabled to carve out for themselves, by a free choice of their own, the economic and political destiny that awaits them.

It is, if I may say so, of the highest importance that action for the stoppage of the fighting in the State, which is now going on between the armed forces of India and the forces and people of the State on the one side, and the raiders and invaders from the tribal areas and the West Punjab and North West Frontier Provinces of Pakistan, together with some insurgents in the State, on the other, should be taken with special expedition, not only for the purpose of saving life, property and honour, but also for the purpose of avoiding the risk of a war between India and Pakistan, which the compelling necessities of military action might any day precipitate and make inevitable. I would very strongly urge, therefore, on behalf of my Government, that not merely urgency but immediacy should characterize the action that should, as a result of your consideration, be recommended in the present situation.

Lying at the North-western extremity of India, the Jammu and Kashmir State has (o its North Chinese Turkestan, to its North-east Tibet, and to its North-west, the tlnion of Soviet Socialist Republics. On its Southern side, its borders are conti­guous with those of Dominions of India and Pakistan. The area of the State is approximately 82,000 square miles and its population is just over four million.

Essentially mountainous in its geography, the State consists of successive ranges of snowclad mountains and beautiful valleys between. For administrative purposes, the State could be divided into four distinct regions: Jammu proper with the largest proportion, in any area of the State, of Hindus, mostly Dogra Rajputs; to the East and North, the areas of Baltistan and Ladakh, originally parts of Tibet but conquered and annex­ed to the State by the great-grandfather of the present Maharaja over a century ago; the Kashmir Valley, the third distinct division of the State; and Gilgit, with its strategic position across the river Indus, at the Northernmost extremity.

The population of Kashmir Valley is over 90 per cent Muslim and that of Gilgit is wholly Muslim. In Jammu, the proportion of Hindus is substantially higher, but taking the State as a whole, the Muslims are in a majority of about seventy-eight per cent. From Srinagar, the principal city in the Valley of Kashmir, one road leads to Pakistan, branching off at Domel via Muzaffarabad and Abbottabad, but proceeding straight through Kohala and Murree to Rawalpindi. The other road connects it with Jammu. The usual line of communication from Jammu to India before partition was through Sialkot, now in Pakistan; but, after the partition of India, through connexion with the Indian Dominion is from Jammu to Pathankot over a fair-weather road which has had to stand the heavy strain of military and other traffic during the last two and a half months, and is therefore not in a good condition. This is, however, being rapidly improved and re-aligned.

For just over a hundred years, the State has been ruled by the present dynasty. It seems unnecessary to trace the history of the State in any detail. The important date for our present purposes may be taken as 15 August 1947, when the United Kingdom transferred power in India. Prior to that date Jammu and Kashmir, like any other State of comparable size, was an independent State in treaty relations with the Crown of England. It had, however, no international existence. Being a frontier State, its border was under the direct administration of the British. Its economy was dependent for all essentials like cloth, fuel and food on India or Pakistan. The administration is monarchical, the hereditary ruler being assisted by a legislature with an elected majority; two of the ministers were drawn from the legislature and worked with three others appointed by the Maharaja, to form a Cabinet over which the Prime Minister presided. There has been a movement in the State for the establishment and liberalization of popular democratic institutions during the last sixteen or seventeen years. The two main parties contending for recognition and power were the National Conference led by my colleague, Sheikh Abdullah, who is a sturdy champion of a national secular State, and the Muslim Conference Party, which, in regard to ideology, is, in the State, a replica of the Muslim League in non-State India.

On 15 August, when the Indian Independence Act came into force, Jammu and Kashmir, like other states, became free to decide whether it would accede to the one or the other of the two Dominions, or remain independent. It was, however, expected that the State would, as a matter of course, enter into a relationship with one or the other of the Dominions, having regard to its geography and history, its economic interests and the wishes of its population. Kashmir started negotiating simultaneously with India and Pakistan, since it was contiguous to, and had close economic ties with, both of them.

India was, of course, vitally interested in the decision that the State might take in regard to accession. Kashmir, because of its geographical position, with its frontiers contiguous with those of countries like the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and China, is of vital importance to the security and inter­national contacts of India. Economically also, Kashmir is intimately associated with India. The caravan trade routes from Central Asia to India pass through Kashmir State. Neverthe­less, we have at no lime put the slightest pressure on the State to accede to the Indian Dominion, because we realized that Kashmir was in a very difficult position. While a standstill agreement with India was being negotiated, we learned that pressure was being applied on Kashmir by the Pakistan autho­rities with a view to coercing it into acceding to Pakistan. At first we did not pay any serious attention to the reports we received. At that time all the energies of the Government of India were strained to the utmost in achieving the task of effecting a gigantic transfer of population on a vast scale. But the reports about the application of coercive pressure began to come with increasing frequency. In, or about, the month of September, the position became really serious.

The events which actually followed cannot be explained away as a fortuitous combination of circumstances. A closer examination would reveal to any impartial body of men that there was a definite method, a calculated plan, which was being followed.) It is not my desire to overburden this statement with details. It shall, however, briefly refer to the main events. It was not easy for Kashmir to obtain the essential supplies from India because of the difficulty of communications. The Pakistan Government started with a breach of its standstill agreement with the State. Quotas of petrol—384,000 gallons—wheat, salt, kerosene oil and cloth allotted to the State under the All-India Basic Plan, for which payment had been made by the Kashmir Government, and which were lying in Pakistan territory at the towns of Rawalpindi, Lalamusa, Sarai Alamgir and Sialkot, were withheld and prevented from being imported into the State. The consequent distress of the people of the State was great. It became impossible to barry on normal trade, and the entire transport of men and goods to and from the State came to a standstill for want of petrol. That the State of /ammu and Kashmir was subjected to economic blockade has been testified to by foreign correspondents. I will cite only two examples. On 13 October 1947, Norman Cliffe, correspondent of the London.

News Chronicle, reported from Kashmir: "Pakistan has cut off from Kashmir supplies of petrol, sugar, salt and kerosene oil, although a standstill agreement between them has been signed". The London Times carried the following dispatch from its correspondent in India: "The refusal of Pakistan to supply petrol, salt, sugar and kerosene oil to Kashmir has nearly cut off the Slate from India". The Government of Pakistan itself pleaded that it could not send these essential supplies, and in defence of its inability to do so, it put forward the excuse that the means of transport were lacking. A sufficient transport was, however, always available for carrying invaders to Kashmir, on 22 October 1947 and later.

The economic blockade of Kashmir was an ess^itial part of the plan to coerce Kashmir into acceding to the Dominion of Pakistan. The press in Pakistan openly carried on this pro­paganda accompanied by threats and warnings. On 5 Septem­ber 1947, the Zamindar—that is the name of a journal—in an editorial captioned "Surround Kashmir", suggested that in view of the reluctance of the ruler of Kashmir to accede to Pakistan, all the gates which connect Kashmir with India should be closed. The article concluded: "Let us beleaguer Kashmir, let us do it so effectively that it may not be able to get out of our hands and seek refuge beyond the borders of our Dominion. Kashmir and Jammu are parts of Pakistan. Their going out of Muslim domination will badly shatter the prestige of Mussulmans."

India came into the picture of the present developments ojv Kashmir only on the eve of signing the instruments of accession. Since then, we have come to know of the pressure which had been exercised by Pakistan for obtaining the accession of the State. Side by side with the economic strangulation of Kashmir by stop-page of supplies, raids and armed activity began to take place from West Punjab on the territory of Jammu and Kashmir State. On 3 September a gang of 4G0 Pakistan nationals armed with spears and pistols attacked the village of Dohali, 12 miles South-east of Ranbir Singh Pura, looted and set fire to the village.

According to the diary maintained by Brigadier Sir H. L. Scott, Chief of the Military Stuff of Jammu and Kashmir State*.

"On 6 September 1947, [there was] a marked increase in the activity of Pakistan troops on the main roads. A patrol visited Alibeg, twelve miles West of Bhimber, Major General O. D. T. Lovett, commanding 7th Infantry Division, [was] informed. On 13 September 1947, a Pakistan Army patrol visited Alibeg and Jatli, 14 miles West of Bhimber, both in State territory."

Five days after 6 September, 180 refugees of the Kashmir State returning from Rawalpindi to Kohala wefe 'murdered en route. On or about 18 September the railway service between Sialkot and Jammu was suspended by the Pakistan authorities, and a request made on 19 September for a supply of petrol elicited no reply. The hardship which must have been occasion­ed by this unwarranted act of interference can be easily assessed if one realizes that the Jammu-Sialkot railway is the only rail­way connecting the State with the outside world. On the same day armed gangs ferried into Palandri. Ten days later a band of 500 armed men from Pakistan with service rifles, automatics and spears attacked a State petrol near Chak Harka, 6 miles South of Samba. On 30 September, forty Pakistanis accompani­ed by two police constables entered the State territory in uniforms, five miles South-west of Akhnoor, and killed a State solidier. On the same day 100 armed Pathans entered Dhirkota Thana, 8 miles South-east of Kohala, on Kashmir territory. Much damage was inflicted on the local population by these continuous raids.

Matters had thus come to such a pass that the Government of Kashmir had to send a telegram of protest to the Governor General of Pakistan. I shall read out extracts from this telegram, dated 18 October 1947.

"Ever since 15 August, in spite of an understanding to observe 'standstill' agreements on matters on which agreements existed on 14 August with British India, difficulties have been felt, not only with regard to supplies from West Punjab of petrol, oils, food, salt, sugar and cloth, but in the working of the postal system; savings bank accounts were refused to be operat­ed, postal certificates were not cashed, cheques on West Punjab *?banks were not honoured.

"Owing to the failure of remittances from the Lahore Currency Office even the Imperial Bank was hard put to meet its obligations. Motor vehicles registered in the State were held up at Rawalpindi. Railway traffic from Sialkot to Jammu was discontinued.

"The     State Government has afforded safe passage to 100,000 Muslim refugees from Pathankot to Sialkot. On your side 180 out of 220 Kashmiri nationals, who were stranded at Rawalpindi and were being convoyed to Kohala at our request, were killed.

"People armed with modern long-range fire-arms have infiltrated in thousands into Poonch and committed horrors on, non-Muslims.

"Pakistan radio appears to have been licensed to pour out: volumes of malicious, libellous, false propaganda. Smaller feudatory States are prompted to threaten and even intervene with armed interference in Kashmir State. Even private people in Pakistan are allowed to wire unbearable threats, without check, through Pakistan post offices. This State of Kashmir is being blamed for acts which actually are being committed by Pakistan people. Villages are being raided from Sialkot.

"The Kashmir Government cannot but conclude that all this is being done with the knowledge and connivance of the local authorities. The Kashmir government considers these acts extremely unfriendly, if not actually inimical. Finally, the Government wishes to make it plain that it is not possible to tolerate this attitude any longer without grave consequences to the life and property of the people which it is sacredly bound to defend at all costs. Please put a stop to all the iniquities which are being perpetrated.

"If unfortunately this request is not heeded, the Govern­ment hopes that the Governor-General and the Premier of Pakistan will agree that it would be justified in asking for friendly assistance and opposing trespass on its fundamental rights."

The Governor-General of Pakistan, in his reply dated 20 October 1947, made no effort to answer the specific accusa­tions. Instead, he chose to treat the communication from the Government of Kashmir as an ultimatum containing an alleged threat to seek outside assistance. However, by the time the reply of the Governor-General of Pakistan reached the Govern­ment of Kashmir, the large-scale invasion of the State from the side of the North West Frontier Province had actually commenced.

On 22 October 1947, about 2,000 tribesmen, some in about 100 lorries supplied to them by Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, and others on foot, fully armed with modern weapons and under the command of a Pakistan national, entered the town of Muzaffarabad at dawn. They sacked the town, killing, looting and raiding as they went along. The Gurdwara (a place of religious worship for the Sikhs) was burned, the Govern­ment treasury looted, and State records destroyed. The local troops were taken by surprise, outnumbered and defeated.

The invaders continued their progress along the Jhelum Valley road towards Srinagar. Their triumphant march was temporarily stemmed at Uri, a town 50 miles from Srinagar, by the demolition of a bridge and the gallant resistance of about 150 men under the command of Brigadier Rajendra Singh of the Kashmir Army, who was killed fighting a memorable last-ditch battle. The raiders managed to construct a diversion which was about a mile long and which must have required-considerable engineering skill, as it was completed in 52 hours. They then continued their advance and, before reaching Baramulla, they burned the power house at Mathura which supplied electricity to the whole of Kashmir.

The position was now critical. The State troops were scattered all over the territory of Kashmir. They had been split into small isolated groups, incapable of offering resistance to raiders who were overwhelming in numbers. All that stood between Baramulla and Srinagar was a plain road, with hardly any troops to impede the raiders' advance. But the inhabitants of Srinagar, consisting of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims under their leader Sheikh Abdullah, rose up as one man to defend Srinagar.

1. raiders stopped at Baramulla on 27 October and sacked the town. In their 13-day occupation of Baramula they denuded it of all its grain, cloth and money and left behind them a trail of loot, arson, rape, abduction and murder. They opened camps where women were kept, raped the women, and set up parties to loot what was not destroyed. y spared nothing— not even the St. Joseph's Convent, which was thoroughly ransacked. The nuns were violated and two shot dead.

Sydney Smith, of the London Daily Express, in his dispatch dated 10 November 1947, reported that the tribesmen went in crazed with fighting, shooting and screaming; within 30 minutes they had looted the convent and had killed six, including the assistant Mother Superior and Colonel and Mrs. Dykes of the Indian Army, who were in Baramulla on leave. These were the barbarous men of whom Pakistan had boasted as the champions of liberty, who were supposedly writing for the "liberation" of Kashmir, who had gone all the way from a distant land as the "Saviours of Kashmir".

From Baramulla, where the raiders received reinforcement in thousands, they spread in armed batches toward Sopore, Bandipur, sparing no one from loot or violence. Srinagar, the capital of the State, and the whole of the Kashmir Valley, were in peril.

In this situation the Maharaja of Kashmir approached the Government of India for military aid and addressed a letter from Jammu, dated 26 October 1947, to the Governor-General, Lord Mountbatten:

"My dear Lord Mountbatten,

"I have to inform Your Excellency that a grave emergency has arisen in my State and request the immediate assistance of your Government. As Your Excellency is aware, the State of Jammu and Kashmir has not acceded to either the Dominion of India or Pakistan. Geographically my State is contiguous with both of them. Besides, my State has a common boundary with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and with China. In their external relations the Dominions of India and Pakistan cannot ignore this fact. I wanted to take time to decide to which Dominion I should accede or whether it is not in the best interests of both the Dominions and of my State to stand independent, of course with friendly and cordial relations with both. I accordingly approached the Dominions of India and Pakistan to enter into a standstill agreement with my State. The Pakistan Government accepted this arrangement. The Dominion of India desired further discussion with representa­tives of my Government. I could not arrange this in view of the developments indicated below. In fact the Pakistan Govern­ment under the standstill agreement is operating the post and telegraph system inside the State. Though we have got a stand still agreement with the Pakistan Government, that Government permitted a steady and increasing strangulation of supplies like food, salt and petrol to my State.

"Afridis, soldiers in plain clothes, and desperadoes with modern weapons have been allowed to infiltrate into the State, at first in the Poonch area, then from Sialkot and finally in a mass in the area adjoining the Hazara District on the Ramkote side. The result has been that the limited number of troops at the disposal of the State had to be dispersed and thus had to face the enemy at several points simultaneously, so that it has become difficult to stop the wanton destruction of life and property and the looting of the Mahura power house, which supplies electric current to the whole of Srinagar and which has been burnt. The number of women who have been kidnap­ped and raped makes my heart bleed. The wild forces thus let loose on the State are marching on with the aim of capturing Srinagar, the summer capital of my Government, as a first step to overrunning the whole State. The mass infiltration of tribes­men drawn from distant areas of the North West Frontier Province, coming regularly in motor trucks, using the Mansehra-Muzaffarabad road and fully armed with up-to-date weapons, cannot possibly be done without the knowledge of the Provincial Government of the North West Frontier Province and the Government of Pakistan. In spite of repeated appeals made by rny Government no attempt has been made to check these raiders or to stop them from corning into my State. In fact, both the radio and the Press of Pakistan have reported these occurrences. The Pakistan radio even put out the story that a provisional Government has been set up in Kashmir. The people of my State, both Muslims and non-Muslims, generally have taken no part at all.

"With the conditions obtaining at present in my State and the great emergency of the situation as it exists, I have no option but to ask for help from the Indian Dominion. Naturally they cannot send the help asked for by me without my State acceding to the Dominion of India. I have accordingly decided to do so, and I attach the instrument of accession for accept­ance by your Government. The other alternative is to leave my State and the people to freebooters. On this basis no civilized government can exist or be maintained. This alter­native I will never allow to happen so long as I am the ruler of the State and I have life to defend my country.

"I may also inform Your Excellency's Government that it is my intention at once to set up an interim government and to ask Sheikh Abdullah to carry the responsibilities in this emergency with my Prime Minister.

"If my State is to be saved, immediate assistance must be available at Srinagar. Mr. V.P. Menon is fully aware of the gravity of the situation and will explain it to you, if further explanation is needed.

"In haste and with kindest regards, "Yours sincerely, "(Signed) Hari Singh"

On 27 October 1947 the Governor-General of India replied as follows from New Delhi, to the Maharaja's letter:

"My dear Maharaja Sahib,

"Your Highness's letter dated 26 October 1947 has been delivered to me by Mr. V.P. Menon. In the special circum­stances mentioned by Your Highness, my Government have decided to accept the accession of Kashmir State to the Domi­nion of India. In consistence with their policy in the case of any State where the issue of accession has been the subject of dispute, the question of accession should be decided in accor­dance with the wishes of the people of the State, it is my Government's wish that, as soon as law and order have been restored in Kashmir and its soil cleared of the invader, the question of the State's accession should be settled by a reference to the people.

"Meanwhile, in response to Your Highness's appeal for military aid, action has been taken today to send troops of the Indian Army to Kashmir, to help your own forces to defend your territory and to protect the lives, property and honour of your people. My Government and I note with satisfaction that Your Highness has decided to invite Sheikh Abdullah to form an interim Government to work with your Prime Minister... "(Signed) Mountbatten of Burma"

The two letters give the story of the offer and acceptance of the accession. would invite the attention of the members of the Security Council to the high-principled statesmanship characteristic of the Government of India under its present rule. leadership. In accepting the accession they refused to take advantage of the immediate peril in which the State found itself and informed the Ruler that the accession should finally be settled by plebiscite as soon as peace had been restored. They have subsequently made it quite clear that they are agreeable to the plebiscite being conducted if necessary. under international auspices. The acceptance of the accession was urged by the Government of India by the leader of the most influential popular organization in Kashmir. It was clear to my Government-as indeed it was clear to everybody else that peace in Kashmir could never be restored or maintained without the support of the people. Sheikh Abdullah, leader of the National Conference in Kashmir, pressed for accession as earnestly as the Ruler of Kashmir himself, and his organization. promised its complete cooperation. On the question of accession, the Government of India has always enunciated the policy that in all cases of dispute the people of the State are concerned. should make the decision.

The Government of India had in fact no plans to send any military assistance to Kashmir before 25 October 1947. The British chiefs of staff of the three services of the Indian armed forces. forces have certified:

1. On 24 October the first intimation of the tribesmen's capture of Muzaffarabad reached the Commander-in Chief in India.

2. No plans of sending troops to Kashmir had been either considered or made by the Indian Army until then.

3. On 25 October directions from the Government of India were received for the first time to prepare plans for sending troops to Kashmir by air and road if necessary.

4. On 27 October, with Kashmir's instrument of accession signed, Indian troops were sent to Kashmir by air.

1. India had any plans ready to send troops to Kashmir before this date it would hardly have waited until the invaders had overrun half the Valley. 

There is ample proof available to establish that the invaders of Kashmir are not only being allowed transit across Pakistan territory but also draw much of their equipment, arms, trans­port, supplies and petrol from Pakistan.

For three months thousands of tribesmen have crossed Pakistan territory and have continued to pour into Kashmir. And yet Pakistan has acquiesced in this mass and continuous trespass on its own territory by people who were openly on their way to violate the integrity of a neighbouring State and to challenge constituted authority therein.

Sydney Smith of the London Daily Express wrote on 10 November 1947 that he saw bus-loads of howling Pathans crossing the Kashmir border from Pakistan at Domel in 45 lorries. One Lai Mir, taken prisoner by us on 12 December 1947, said that on first recruitment he was taken in a truck to a camp at Wazirabad, where he saw some 10,000 tribesmen in all. All of them were issued arms, ammunition, transport, food and clothes in that camp. Those who were unacquainted with arms were trained accordingly. Lai Mir, after being fully equipped for the front, was then taken by a truck to "another big city like Wazirabad" which he reached at night and where he left the bus. After crossing a bridge at midnight he went across the border into the State and participated in an attack on five villages and killed and looted Hindus in that area.

A British officer of the Pakistan Army writing home to the United Kingdom on 25 November 1947 from Abbottabad, said

lorry-loads of food from local civil supplies and about 1,000 gallons of gasoline were being sent to tribesmen in Kashmir from Abbottabad daily. Our District Liaison Officer

at Jhelum reported on 25 November 1947 that a large number of the First Punjab Regiment, dressed in civilian clothes, were carrying arms and ammunition every evening in trucks and

1. tanks and armoured cars over the Jammu and Kashmir border. He saw 5,000 tribesmen under training 14 miles beyond Kahuta. . ~

Our representative at Peshawar reported in November that about 20,000 tribesmen had moved from the North West Frontier Province to Kashmir accompanied by men of the Pakistan Army "on leave*', frontier constabulary and additional police in plain clothes, and that petrol, ammunition, arms and transport were invariably supplied to them. Transport for this purpose was requisitioned by order of the North West Frontier Province Government.

A report from our Chief Liaison Officer stated that all raiders' casualties are being admitted into the Pakistan military hospitals.

One of the raiders, on being interrogated as a prisoner, admitted that there was a large training camp at Sialkot where raiders are trained for a period of 8 weeks, prior to proceeding to Karianwala in order to receive arms, equipment, ammuni­tion and uniforms before going into action.

There is proof also to show that the raiders were in use. 303 rifles, Bren and Sten guns, two-and three-inch mortars, 3.7 howitzers' anti-tank rifles, Mark V mines and man pack W/T sets. I have photographs of some of these items which we captured from the raiders, indicating that such large numbers could only have come from Pakistan military depots.

In the opening phases invaders were not in uniform; now they appear wearing battle-dress, steel helmets, army greatcoats and boots. Captured vehicles have Pakistan number plates on them. Large quantities of petrol, a rationed article, without using which it is not possible for any bodies of such men to reach Kashmir, could only have come from Pakistan. We have evidence to show that large numbers of buses and Juries carrying tribesmen towards Kashmir had their petrol tanks filled to the brim at Pakistan pumps without coupons or payment. Raiders' vehicles are repaired in Pakistan workshops.

Three-inch mortars have been so extensively used against us that it indicates far larger numbers than the few we have lost in action. We have also encountered fire from an anti-tank rifle in the Naoshera area. Two Humber and GMC type armoured cars were seen in the Akhnoor sector and four anti-tank mines located in the same area. Their technical examination showed that the mines had originated in the Kirkee Arsenal of India in 1943.

In his statement, prisoner Iqbal, son of Sakhi Mohd of Takbal village, said that since the creation of Pakistan there had been extensive propaganda by the Muslim League leaders to the effect that every Muslim should join the Lashkar1 which was to invade Kashmir. According to him, the Prime Minister of the North West Frontier Province was the chief organizer of the rebel force being assembled at Peshawar. He said he was sorry they had to kill their own Muslim brothers in Kashmir and that they had been cheated by their Prime Minister.

We have ample evidence to prove that the raiders include a large number of Pakistan nationals. There is reason to suspect that "General! Tariq, Commander Chief of the Raiders" who has been described by a foreign Press correspondent as a tall Sandhurst-trained officer, is a regular officer of the Pakistan Army. Michals, U.P.A. correspondent, in a dispatch dated 11 November 1947, said he met three "rebel" officers at Pdlandri. One of them admitted he was an officer of the Pakistan Army "on leave to fight in Kashmir."

I have in my possession some discharge certificates, pay books and driving licences of raiders, who were captured or killed, showing that they were nationals of Pakistan. Documents recovered from the dead bodies of two raiders in uniform showed them as men of the I6th Punjab Regiment of the Pakistan Army. Other identifications have disclosed the enemy to include the Pakistan National Guards.

Pakistan officers are training, guiding or otherwise actively

1. Armed force.

helping the raiders and are being allowed to use Pakistan territory as a base for operations. The main bases are at Shakargarh, Sialkot, Wazirabad, Gujarat, Lala Musa, Jhelum, Rawalpindi, and Abbottabad.] All these towns lie along the length of the border between Jammu and Kashmir State and Pakistan. Our Chief Liaison Officer in West Punjab reported in November 1947 that there was a reception camp at Rawai. near Rawalpindi, for tribesmen en route to Poonch through Kahuta. Also, there is a training camp at -Nar near Kahuta where training in small arms and elementary tactics is given.

One of our military evacuation officers reported a few weeks ago that he saw at Jhelum six Pakistan cadets who had finished training at the Indian Military Academy, being sent by the 1st Punjab Regiment to the Kashmir front for "battle inocula­tion." He also reported that the 7/1 Punjab Regiment and the 1st Punjab Regimental Centre were training tribesmen bound for Kashmir; also that there are nearly 10,000 tribesmen being trained at Gujarat under the instruction of the 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment.

Certain members of the Central and Provincial Governments in Pakistan have done extensive propaganda in the North West Frontier province and Western Punjab calling upon all Muslims to fight a jehad.

A Press report has said that the Premier of the North West Frontier Province in a statement to the Press at Dera Ismail Khan on 1 January 1948 said Pathans had decided to sacrifice everything in the Kashmir campaign.

Alan Moorehead of the London Observer wrote in his dispatch to London dated 2 November 1947 that recruiting for Kashmir was going on everywhere, not only in the tribal territories, but also inside Pakistan itself.

The methods employed by raiders and the way they are handled, including their system of defences, indicate that they are being trained and led by professional soldiers. In fact, they use the same words of command as are prevalent in the Pakistan forces.

1. Holy war.

The Press and the State-controlled radio in Pakistan have extolled Pathans all along for their "successes" in Kashmir. They frequently refer to India as "the enemy." The have repeatedly said that Pathans have proved to the world by their victories in Kashmir that they alone can effectively protect the State of Pakistan.

1. Prime Minister of Pakistan has emphatically repudiated the charges of aiding and assisting the invaders in Kashmir, and has stated that they have in fact tried to stem their movement "by all means short of war." Yet, according to him, it should not be surprising if "some Pakistan nationals" were taking part in the struggle for the liberation of Kashmir along with the raiders.

Pakistan officials nae stated that arms, Brens and mortars being used against us are those brought over when Muslims of the Kashmir military forces deserted to the invaders, or those captured from our forces. The number of desertions has been comparatively so small that this allegation is in essence false.

The Prime Minister of Pakistan has described the raiders in Kashmir as "poorly equipped" and has said that such modern weapons as they possess have been captured from the Kashmir State troops or were in their possession since the days of the British. He has, however, confessed that Pakistan military personnel on leave in their homes "might have rendered assistance to their kith and kin in defence of their hearths and homes."

It seems extraordinary conduct for an army to allow its officers and men to "go on leave" anJ omit to take disciplinary action against them for participating, during their leave, in fighting against a neighbouring and a friendly country. As a matter of fact, these men on leave could not have been defend­ing their own hearths and homes when they joined in convoys and formations proceeding from the North West Frontier Province towards places in Jammu and Kashmir State, sacking, burning and looting towns and villages on their way.

The members of these convoys, far from defending their own hearths and homes and protecting their kith and kin, were really out to destroy the hearths and homes of the peoples in the villages and towns they sacked.

I shall not refer to other evidence of a similar character which is available to me. What I have said already is sufficient to indicate that a large movement of Pathans has been taking place through Pakistan into Kashmir; that several military bases exist in Pakistan where the raiders are trained and equipped and from which they finally proceed to Kashmir; that arms, equipment and clothing have been freely available to these raiders in Pakistan.

I received information yesterday that at Gujarat, one of the bases already referred to, a train carrying non-Muslim refugees from the North West Frontier Province was attacked by armed tribesmen. These tribesmen were in one of the concentrations to which I have already referred. Out of a total of 2,400 refugees in the train, only 1,100 have been accounted for—this morning's newspaper puts it at only 750—and of this small number, many are badly mutilated and wounded. Of the escorting Indian troops, numbering 61, only 15 survivors have so far been accounted for. Many women among the evacuees have been abducted.

1. Prime Minister of Pakistan has said, again: "Kashmiri, and especially the inhabitants of Poonch, have many relatives in Hazara and in West Punjab. Consequently, feelings in certain parts of Pakistan rose very high, and some people from the North West Frontier Province and the tribal areas, stirred by the atrocities in Kashmir, rushed to the aid of their brethren.*' Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan then goes on to say: "Our heart goes out to them, our brethren, in this mortal struggle… If the plans of their enemies succeed, they will be exterminated as Muslims in various-parts of India have been exterminated." The Prime Minister of the North West Frontier Province goes a step further. He openly appeals to "every Muslim in Pakistan to get ready" and invites the Governments of Afghanistan, Iran Turkey and the Governments associated with the Arab League to "face this new danger to the existence of Islam." He also admits his inability to check the invading tribesmen entering Kashmir. Pir Iilahi Bux, Minister of Education in Sindh, unburdens his sentiments, as reported in the Times of India on 4 November 1947, thus: "I hold all Muslims on the surface of the earth as brethren. It is not only the Pathans who have to carry on the struggle. It has become the concern of all Mussulmans of Pakistan, nay of the whole world, to save the Muslims of Kashmir from destruction.'' He then appeals to all trained and demobilized soldiers to proceed as volunteers to the Kashmir front. While all this was happen­ing, we still continued to hope that Pakistan would realize the utter futility of this conflict and adopt a friendly and -co-operative attitude and help us in ridding Kashmir of these pestilential invaders. We exercised every restraint and did our utmost to persuade the Government of Pakistan to take action against the raiders, but to our abiding regret, our efforts met with no success.            

The attitude of the less responsible people in Pakistan is one of unconcealed hostility towards India. The leading newspaper of the Muslim League Party in Pakistan namely, Dawn, published our military communiques as "enemy versions." It is not possible for me here to convey to the members of the Security Council in all its varied aspects the atmosphere of hostility and enmity which the press in Pakistan stirred up against India. In such circumstances, it was not an easy matter to persevere in our efforts for negotiation. And yet we did persevere. During the months of November and December, several conferences were held between the Governments of the two Dominions in order to arrive at a satisfactory solution to the problem. There were moments when we thought that we had almost come to a satisfactory settlement, but we did not. And the reason for this was that at no time was the Govern­ment of Pakistan willing, openly and categorically, to disassociate itself from the invaders. In the meantime, the military situation assumed added gravity. The raiders became better organized and better equipped. They intensified their pressure several-fold. In one of the engagements at Jhangar, our troops were attacked by six thousand men, armed with automatic weapons including medium machine-guns and mortars. We could no longer tolerate this situation without endangering our own peace and safety, and so on 22 December 1947, our Prime Minister handed over a formal letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan in which he made a final attempt to persuade him to take measures to deny all assistance to the raiders. We received no reply for a week. We then brought the ^matter to the notice of the Security Council.

The numerous communications exchanged between, and the statements made by, the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan merely show that, whereas we have been making earnest endeavours to seek the cooperation of Pakistan in effecting the withdrawal of the raiders, the Government of Pakistan has not been willing to do anything to stop the raiders from making use of its territory for warlike operations against Kashmir.

Illustrative of this attitude of unhelpfulness are some of the communications which the Prime Minister of Pakistan sent in reply to the telegrams addressed to him by the Prime Minister of India. Thus, on 28 October 1947, our Prime Minister sent a telegram to the Prime Minister of Pakistan in the following terms (and I wish to draw the attention of the Council to the fact that this was on the day immediately following our sending of troops to Kashmir):

"I want to invite your Government's co-operation in stopping these raiders entering Kashmir territory from Pakistan. These raids have already resulted in large-scale death and destruction, and, if they are not stopped imme­diately, will lead to the ruin of Kashmir. The consequent success of such irresponsible raiders anywhere will be far-reaching all over India. Therefore, in the interest of both Pakistan and India, such raids must be stopped. As raiders come across Pakistan territory, it should be possible to stop them there."

The Prime Minister of Pakistan sent his reply to this telegram on 30 October. Permit me to quote it in full. After acknowledging the receipt of Pandit Nehru's telegram, the Prime Minister of Pakistan went on to State as follows:

"The position is that Sikh attacks on Muslims in East Punjab in August greatly inflamed feeling throughout Pakistan and it was only with the greatest difficulty that Pathan tribes were prevented from entering West Punjab to take revenge on Hindus and Sikhs. In Poonch Muslims were attacked and those in Jammu massacred by mobs led by Kashmir State forces, and when it was evident that there was to be a repetition in Kashmir of [what happened] in East Punjab, it became impossible wholly to prevent tribes from entering that State without using troops who would have created a situation on the frontier that might well have got out of control.

"Your recent action of sending troops to Kashmir on the pretext of accession has made things infinitely worse. The whole of the frontier is stirring and the feeling of resentment among tribes :s intense. The responsibility for what is happen­ing is entirely yours. There was no trouble in Poonch or Jammu until State troops started killing Muslims. All along the Kashmir Government has been in close touch with you. At the same time they ignored or refused our offers of friendly discussion. On 2 October, I suggested that both Pakistan and Kashmir should appoint representatives to discuss supplies to Kashmir and mutual allegations of border raids. The Prime Minister of Kashmir replied that he was too busy. When in spite of this we sent Shah, Joint Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs and States, to Kashmir, the Prime Minister refused to discuss with him. On 15 October, this Prime Minister of Kashmir threatened that unless we agreed to an impartial inquiry into what was happening he would ask for assistance to withstand aggression on his borders. We immediately agreed to an impartial inquiry. Since then no more has been heard from Kashmir about this proposal.

"The Pathan raid on Kashmir did not start until 22 October. It is quite clear therefore that Kashmir's plan of asking for Indian troops—and it could hardly have been unilateral—was formed quite independently of this raid, and all evidence and action taken shows it was pre-arranged. It would seem rather to have been made after the failure of their troops to suppress the people of Poonch and in anticipation of the reaction which they expected to their massacre of Moslems in Jammu.

"I, in my turn, appeal to you to stop the Jammu killings, which still continue. Yesterday West Punjab was again invaded by a well-armed mob, who, after a fight with villagers, retreated, leaving two Gurkha soldiers in uniform dead behind them. As long as this sort of thing continues, passions are bound to become further inflamed."

The attitude of mind disclosed in the reply given by the Prime Minister of Pakistan was regrettable. It does not attempt even.to disown these raiders or condemn their activities; indeed, it almost attempts to extenuate and find excuses for them.

1. may be stated here that the Prime Minister of Kashmir, Mr. Mahajan, has categorically challenged the correctness of . the allegations made against him and the Government of Kashmir by Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan.

I come now to the subject-matter of the reference made to the Security Council. In doing so, it is necessary to emphasize that there is no dispute about territory. The territory is that of Kashmir, and it is this territory which has been invaded, its towns and villages sacked, its people massacred, and its women -abducted. Secondly, the subject-matter of reference is limited to the dispute in Kashmir, and its purpose is to request the Security Council to use its undoubted influence and power to persuade the Government of Pakistan (1) to prevent Pakistan Government personnel, military and civil, from participating in or assisting the invasion of Jammu and Kashmir State; (2) to call upon other Pakistani nationals to desist from taking any part in the fighting in Jammu and Kashmir State; (3) to deny to the invaders:

(i) access to and use of its territory for operations against Kashmir;

(ii) military and other supplies, and

(iii) all other kinds of aid that might tend to prolong the present struggle.

We have referred to the Security Council a simple and straightforward issue. There is at this very moment a small war going on in Kashmir. Every day that passes brings in its wake added sorrow and suffering to the people of Kashmir. Further­more, every day that the war is prolonged, the danger of the extension of the area of conflict grows. Who can derive-satisfaction from such a State of affairs? Is it not really a. matter of extreme urgency that the raiders be withdrawn and fighting cease? Is not the withdrawal of these raiders and the averting of a threatened breach of the peace the sole issue-demanding priority and urgent consideration? Are we making any unreasonable demands when we ask our neighbouring State of Pakistan to discharge its neighbourly duties? We desire only to see peace restored in Kashmir and to ensure that the-people of Kashmir are left free to decide in an orderly and peaceful manner the future of their State. We have no further interest, and we have agreed that a plebiscite in Kashmir might take place under international auspices after peace and order have been established. Everything that we have done has been in discharge of our legal, constitutional, and moral responsibilities and obligations.

I must apologize for the length of this statement. My excuses are the magnitude of the issue involved from the stand­point of our immediate needs as well as of ultimate human values, and the imperative and paramount necessity in present world conditions of the united conscience of the nations of the world represented in this body exerting moral, if not legal, authority in preventing war. Otherwise, there is no hope for peace or human betterment.

In some ways, Kashmir might prove a test case for this Security Council. I have, in as small a compass as possible, referred to the happenings during the last three months in that now unhappy corner of the world, a full account of which will fill more than one sumptuous tome.

What is the present position as regards the political problem in that-State? By committing himself before the world to the framing of a constitution providing for responsible government and calling Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah to shoulder the responsibility for administration during the interim period, the Maharaja has already set in train the chain of events which will convert him in the next few months from an absolute ruler into the constitutional head of an executive responsible to a democratically-elected legislature.

The question of the future status of Kashmir vis-a-vis her neighbours and the world at large, and a further question, namely, whether she should withdraw from her accession to India, and either accede to Pakistan or remain independent, with a right to claim admission as a Member of the United Nations—all this we have recognized to be a matter for unfettered decision by the people of Kashmir, after normal life is restored to them.

There is, therefore, no excuse for outsiders, whether of the tribal areas or of Pakistan proper, to continue fighting against the people and Government of the State, unless it be religious fanaticism based upon hatred and revenge. (To allow continuous opportunity for the play of this unholy passion for a "holy war" is to succumb to a barbaric doctrine. It therefore means prolongation of the entirely unnecessary suffering to which the people of Kashmir have been subjected for no rational comprehensible reason).

The Indian Army today is the one unshakable factor which now stands between the miscreants, marauders and murderers, from outside, on the one hand, and chaos and anarchy on the other. The withdrawal and expulsion of the raiders and the invaders from the soil of Kashmir and the immediate stoppage of the fight are thus the first and the only tasks to which we have to address ourselves.

To my friends from Pakistan, I would therefore address this question:

You have welcomed this reference to the Security Council. Are we jointly so bankrupt of faith in the need for peace, in human decency and dignity that we cannot, even at this late stage, agree upon your taking the action which it is so obviously your duty to take and your calling us to cooperate with you in implementing it should you consider our assistance necessary?

The most disquieting news from India today is the fast upon which Mahatma Gandhi has entered. It is for an inde­finite period, and unless the warring religious and communal fanatics in India will give up feelings of hatred, revenge, violence and retaliation and give evidence of a real change of heart, the biggest man of the age, the greatest apostle of non­violence, peace and goodwill in the world today, might deprive us of the guidance with which his immaculate life of sacrifices has sustained us all these years.

I saw him on the day I left New Delhi for New York last week. I wish we could notify him as soon as possible of a settlement between the two Dominions calculated to stop at once the fighting in Kashmir and to restore conditions which will enable all, whether non-Muslim or Muslim, who have fled from the State, to return to their homes. We can make no greater contribution to the saving of this precious life. May we of India and Pakistan have the vision and the determination to do so.

(SCOR, 3rd Year, Mtg; No. 227 pp. 10-30)