10031948 Text of the Speech made by Mr. Gopataswami Ayyangar (India) in the Security Council Meeting No. 266 held on 10 March 1948

10031948 Text of the Speech made by Mr. Gopataswami Ayyangar (India) in the Security Council Meeting No. 266 held on 10 March 1948

When the debate on the Jammu and Kashmir question was interrupted on 12 February 1948 [246th meeting], we were, as the President has pointed out debating the draft resolution which had been placed before the Security Council by the repre­sentative of Canada, who was then functioning as the President of the Security Council. We had reached a stage in the debate when I considered it necessary to ask the Security Council for an adjournment of the debate, for the purpose of enabling me to go back to my country to hold consultations with my Government, in order that I might come back fully armed with the results of those consultations and fully equipped for the purpose of participating in the continuance of that debate with greater chances of achieving a result which would be satis­factory to both India and Pakistan. With the permission of the Security Council, I went back to my country, and for a number of years I held continued consultations with my Government.

We have explored all avenues of reaching a settlement. I may, at this stage: assure the Security Council that India is essentially a lover of peace; she stands for the maintenance of peace in the world, for the avoidance of war; she has immense faith in the capacity of the United Nations and the Security Council in achieving this end of maintaining world peace. But for that faith, we would not have come to the Security Council with the reference that we did on 1 January 1948. It is our hope that' with the help of the Security Council we shall reach a settle­ment with Pakistan which would, in the first place, put an end at the earliest possible moment to the fighting that is still going on and which, in the second place, would lay the foundations for a more permanent understanding between the two countries, so that all future conflicts either might be avoided or might be solved with satisfaction to both countries. That is really our objective. I am asked by my Government once again to reite­rate our faith in the efficacy of this world Organization and the Security Council.

The interruption in the debate that has taken place has enabled us to review the whole position. I would express the hope that it has also enabled members of the Security Council to review their attitude on the questions that have arisen for consideration in respect of the Jammu and Kashmir problem.. As a result of this review on both sides, it is my expectation that we shall bring to the solution of this knotty problem a somewhat modified approach, not only from our side, but also from the side of Pakistan, and—may I add—from the side of the members of the Security Council themselves.

That being the general line on which I would ask the Secu­rity Council to approach this question afresh today, ^id on the subsequent days on which we may debate this problem, I desire to refer to the three or four particular issues on which we struck on the last occasion.

The first and most important of these was the question of bringing the fighting that is going on to an end as quickly as possible. I do hope that in spite of the eight or ten weeks that have elapsed since we brought this question to the notice of the Security Council, we shall yet realize that the utmost pri­ority has to be given to the measures that should be taken for the stoppage of fighting in Kashmir. It is an unfortunate fact that sanguinary fighting has proceeded in that State during the two months and more that we have been considering this problem here. One wonders whether we might not have saved many lives and the expenditure of much material and money, if we had been able to arrive at a settlement much earlier than we shall.

That -being the first thing that I would, on behalf of my Government, urge on the Security Council today, I shall take up the other points on which I thought at the time we had reached a kind of impasse. Those points are, roughly speaking, points which relate to the ensuring of a free and impartial plebiscite on the question of accession of the Jammu and Kashmir State.

The first on these points related to the substitution, as suggested by certain participants in the debate, of a neutral, impar­tial administration for the administration that is now functioning

'On that point, I should like to repeat what the President said {speaking as the representative of China, at the 243rd meeting]: there is a fundamental constitutional issue involved in making a suggestion of that sort. That constitutional position which requires that a question of that sort has to be left to the deci­sion of the Jammu and Kashmir State, its Ruler and its people, has got to be maintained. Any attempt on the part of the Security Council to demand that the internal administration of a sovereign State should be put into the hands of an agency unconnected with the State, perhaps, or an agency which does not command the support of the people of the State, is a proposition which is unthinkable, and I would respectfully urge the Security Council not to press that idea on us.

It will not be possible for us—and I say it with a full sense of responsibility and with the full authority of my Government behind me—to yield on the question of doing away with the administration that is functioning now, and substituting in its place some kind of outside agency, or an agency which does not meet with the support of the people of the State.

In this connexion, I should like to mention the informa­tion            of the Security Council, that since we last met the -Maharaja of the State of Jammu and Kashmir has issued a -proclamation. There are two or three important features of this proclamation.

One feature is that full responsible government is conceded to the people of the State.

The second feature is that suitable machinery should be set up as early as possible for framing a constitution which would give this full responsible government to the people of the State, and if that government is established, it will inure to the bene6t not merely of one part of that State, but to the benefit of the whole of the State, including the area in which there is some local fighting still going on.

The third feature that this proclamation has published to the world is the conversion of the Emergency Administration into a regular Council of Ministers under the existing Jammu and Kashmir State Constitution. This Council of Ministers is to function, as far as possible, as a responsible executive. That -change has taken place. The head of this new Council of

Ministers are now engaged in forming his Cabinet, and it will be of interest to the Security Council to know that only yesterday T received a cable that he is putting forth his best efforts to include in his Cabinet representatives of schools of political opinion other than his own. I hope that he will succeed in bringing into his Cabinet representatives of all sections of political opinion so that the interim Government may evoke the smallest possible amount of criticism.

So much as to the question of the interim Government. The next point for the ensuring of a free and impartial plebiscite that was being debated on the last occasion 244fh meeting], related to the question of the retention of the armed forces of India in the State during the interval that has to elapse bet­ween the stoppage of fighting and the completion of the taking of the plebiscite.

There also I would invite the attention of the members of the Security Council to the very wise advice that the President [speaking as the representative of China] gave in his speech during the last debate [243th meeting]. To ask for the exclusion of the armed forces of India altogether from the State during that period is not a matter which is within the range of practi­cal politics so far as we are concerned. But the essential reason for making that demand is that the armed forces of India which may remain within the State should not be allowed to interfere with the taking of a free arts unfettered vote on the question of accession when the plebiscite comes to be conducted.

On .that point, I have been instructed to assure the Security Council that we are quite prepared to consider any reasonable suggestions that might be put forward by any members of the Security Council for the purpose of ensuring that the armed forces do not have the opportunity to interfere with voting during the time of the plebiscite. We are quite willing to go as far as we possibly can to ensure that. We do not want any-pressure, any violence, any coercion used on even a single voter in the matter of his choice between India and Pakistan on the question of accession.

If there is anything that we can do short of withdrawing our forces altogether from the State for the purpose of ensuring this non-interference with the plebiscite, we shall be quite prepared to consider suggestions.

There is one matter in this connexion which I should like to lay before the Security Council. The retention of the armed forces is an obligation which we owe the State of Jammu and Kashmir for ensuring its defence from external aggression, for going to the aid of the civil power when it is inevitable that armed forces should be used for the purpose of maintaining internal law and order. It is only for those two purposes that we wish to retain armed forces within the State. We, as much as anybody else in the Security Council, are totally against anything that will smack of armed forces influencing the casting of votes during ihe plebiscite.

The third point that was considered on the last occasion was the machinery that should be devised for the conduct of this plebiscite. My delegation, the Government of India and I are perfectly convinced—in fact, it is our desire—that arrange­ments should be so devised that this machinery for the conduct of the plebiscite will be allowed to work in a completely unfettered manner, without any pressure of influence being exercised on it by the administration of the State, to ensure in the eyes of the world that the vote at the plebiscite was cast in conditions which would be open to no criticism on the score of coercion, pressure or anything else of that sort. We are quite anxious that this machinery should have, in the field of activity assigned to it, as much independence as it is possible to give to it, consistent only with the maintenance of the sovereignty of the Jammu and Kashmir State and with the maintenance of the proper relations that should subsist between the federal centre-namely, the Government of India—and the Government of the Jammu and Kashmir State.

We are willing to consider any suggestions that may be put to us, subject only to this one condition. We want this machine to work independently. We want this machinery to propose rules and regulations which can be put into force with­out any amendment or modification. We are prepared to issue orders and to see that those orders are implemented by the Government of the State, to the effect that no administrative, police or military pressure shall be allowed to be exercised over voters during the taking of the plebiscite. That, I hope, will give the Security Council confidence that the Government of India is as anxious as anybody else that this plebiscite should be conducted in a perfectly free and unfettered manner.

As to what concrete steps could be taken to bring about this result, it is not for us to make suggestions, but we shall be quite willing to consider any reasonable suggestions that are put for­ward for ensuring peace. More than that I do not wish to say on this occasion. I hope that, with the help of the Security Council, we shall arrive at a settlement of these questions which both the representative of Pakistan and we will recognize and agree is the most satisfactory in the circumstances of the situation.