10111958  Letter dated 10 November 1958 from the representative of Pakistan Aly Khan to President of Security Council.

10111958  Letter dated 10 November 1958 from the representative of Pakistan Aly Khan to President of Security Council.

I have been directed by my Government to invite the attention of the Security Council to the grave conditions now being created in that portion of Jammu and Kashmir State which is under Indian occupation.

According to reports published in the Press, Sheikh Abdullah the acknowledged leader of the people of Kashmir, along with other prominent leaders like Mirza Afzal Beg, Maulvi Mohammad Saced Khawaja Ali Shah. Ghulam Mohiuddin, Soofi Mohammad Akbar and Khawaja Ghulam

Qadir is being brought to a stage-managed trial for alleged conspiracy against the State with the aim of facilitating the annexation of the territory of that State by Pakistan. The extraordinary nature of this trial and international implications of the charge are obvious from two undisputed facts. Firstly, according to the international agreement between Pakistan and India on the one hand, and between them and the United Nations on the other the question whether the territory of Jammu and Kashmir should form part of India or of Pakistan is open to decision by the people of the State through. a free and impartial plebiscite. Secondly, the leaders of the people of Kashmir, who are now being tried have been demanding the implementation of that agreement. From these facts, it is obvious that this trial is a political manoeuvre and an attempt to suppress and intimidate those within the State who continue to demand the implementation of the Security Council's resolutions regarding the accession of the State. My Government, therefore, strongly believes that this action on the part of India connotes a clear defiance not only of the authority and decisions of the United Nations, but also of the international engagements which bind both India and Pakistan in regard to the disposition of the Jammu and Kashmir State.

In this connection, it is pertinent to quote some comments, on the so-called trial, which have been made by an impartial journal. The New York Times. In its issue of 26 October 1958, the paper commented editorially :

"In the long and sometimes tortuous political career of the 'Lion of Kashmir', Sheikh Abdullah, nothing has done him more credit than the charge upon which, at long last he has now been brought to trial. Ostensibly he is being tried for conspiracy against the Indian-controlled Kashmir Government with a view to Kashmir's adherence to Pakistan. Actually this supposed to promote 'conspiracy' is alleged to have taken place during the more than four years during which Sheikh Abdullah was already under house arrest.

"His 'crime' is well known to all, his friends and accusers alike. He 'deviated' from his allegiance to India and proposed a free election in Kashmir. He was promptly arrested and silenced.

"India will gain no stature from this manoeuvre. The world already knows that what the 'Lion of Kashmir' proposed was a free vote. If that is a crime, then India's claim to Kashmir is obviously an arbitrary seizure of power and fails of its own injustice."

It hardly needs any emphasis before the Security Council that India's allegations against the Kashmir leaders are false and frivolous. The utterances of these leaders inevitably crystallized their people's resentment against the subjugation and tyranny to which they have been subjected by India. This resentment has been aggravated throughout the State by India's disregard of the continuing concern of the United Nations in the Kashmir dispute and her open declaration that, despite her solemn commitments to the contrary, she regards the so-called accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to the Indian Union as final and binding.

The Government of Pakistan takes a very serious view of these developments and wants to place on record their emphatic belief that these developments will embitter relations between the two countries and render still more difficult and amicable settlements of the Kashmir dispute.

I request that this letter be circulated to the members of the Security Council document.

I shall of course, continue to keep the Council informed of the views of the Government of Pakistan in regard to these grave developments.

(Signed) Aly KHAN

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

Permanent Representative of Pakistan

(Source: UN Document No. S/4110)