25111948 Text of the Speech made by Sir Girja Shankar Bajpai (India) in the Security Council Meeting No. 382 held on 25 November 1948

25111948 Text of the Speech made by Sir Girja Shankar Bajpai (India) in the Security Council Meeting No. 382 held on 25 November 1948

I should like to begin by saying that nothing was further from my intention when I spoke last, than to say or do anything which would make the existing situation worse, and I hope that I succeeded substantially.

The representative of Pakistan has said that he would abstain from picking a point here or there, in a spirit of controversy, to refuel what I have said. I wish to assure him that what I said was not said in any spirit of controversy at all. Since the military situation in Kashmir had been referred to, in fairness to the Council and also to my Government, I had no option but to explain the circumstances which led up to that military situation.

The representative of Pakistan is concerned-and if I may say so, rightly concerned-over a situation in which men are being killed, maimed and wounded. It is not a situation in which we rejoice, it is not a situation which we desire; it is not a situation which we wish to continue. The members of the Council will have by now, I hope, read, marked and inwardly digested the report of their own Commission. That Commission sets out a resolution which it presented to both Governments, the resolution of 13 August which provides for a cease-fire, which provides for a truce, which provides for consideration of the conditions of a plebiscite. Did India decline to accept that resolution? No. Does India decline to accept that resolution? now? No. Having accepted once, that acceptance stands. Might I suggest to the representative of Pakistan, in a spirit of conciliation and friendship, that perhaps he has second thoughts and his Government has second thoughts regarding the acceptance of that resolution.

I venture to suggest that parts one and two of that resolution contain material by which the object that he has in view and I have in view-his Government and my Government have in view-namely, a cessation of hostilities, can be achieved. Those two parts contain provisions which are fair to both sides; by their acceptance the very desirable and humane objective of a cessation of hostilities can be quickly attained.