24011958 -193 Letter dated 24 January 1958 from the representative of Pakistan Agha Shahi to the President of the Security Council
Letter dated 24 January 1958 from the representative of Pakistan Agha Shahi to the President of the Security Council
1. With reference to the permanent representative of India's letter addressed to you on 20 January 1958 [S/3939], regarding the Mangla Dam construction, I have the honour to say that, in substance, this letter repeats the contention put forward earlier by him in his letter dated 21 August 1957, addressed to the President of the Security Council.
2. These contentions have been answered by my predecessor in his letter of 3 October 1957.
3. May I also invite your attention of the following statement of the Foreign Minister of Pakistan before the Security Council at its meeting on 15 November 1957, in which he drew attention to the measures taken by India to consolidate her illegal occupation of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, including the construction of the Banihal Pass tunnel:
"...not for the alleged purpose of exporting fruit from Kashmir, but for the purpose of providing a major strategic highway for Indian tanks and troops to move into the Kashmir Valley throughout the year as the 17,000 feet high Banihal Pass is snowed up during the winter."
4. In regard to the allegation of the permanent representative of India that Pakistan is forging ahead with the construction of the project in the teeth of opposition from the people in the area, I have the honour to invite your attention to the following press statement issued by a number of political leaders of "Azad" Kashmir on 5 September 1957:
Dawn of 6 September 1957:
"Azad Kashmir's full support to Mangla project "Six leaders condemn Bharati propaganda.
"Mirpur (Azad Kashmir), 5 September: Six prominent political leaders and lawyers of the Mirpur district have said that the people of Azad Kashmir who had given their blood for Pakistan, would in no circumstances grudge water to their brethren.
"The statement said: 'Bharat is using river waters as another weapon against Pakistan and hopes that through this nefarious design she would convert the fertile land of Pakistan into a veritable desert.
"The people of Azad Kashmir cannot remain silent spectators of Bharati aggression against Pakistan. We have linked our destiny with Pakistan and we are prepared to undergo all sacrifices in this caus. We cannot allow Bharat to strangle Pakistan's economy.
"It is for these reasons that the people of Azad Kashmir are giving their fullest co-operation and support to the Mangla Dam project. How can those who have given their blood for Pakistan, grudge water to their brethren ?
""Besides, we fully realize that the people of Azad Kashmir will also benefit from the Mangla Dam. Completion of this project will lead to economic, agricultural and indus trial progress of the area. The people of Azad Kashmir will find new avenues of employment through this project and it will help raise their standards of living. "Fantastic stories
""The enthusiastic support of the people of Azad Kashmir for this project had understandably unnerved Bharat, Bharati propagandists are feverishly engaged in circulating fabricated and fantastic stories clashes between the people and the local authorities with the intention of misleading public opinion. "We wish to state in unequivocal terms that neither have there been any demonstrations in the area nor any clash between the people and local authorities. It is also equally false that villages are being razed to the ground and people made homeless.
"All that the people of the area desired was that the displaced should be adequately compensated and this the Government of Pakistan has already undertaken to do."
"Signatories to this statement are: Ghazi Ellahi Bakhsh, ex-President, District Muslim Conference, Mirpur; Chaudhri Mohammad Iusuf, ex-Member, State Legislative Assembly, Salar Mohammad Din, President, City Muslim Conference and Vice-President, Municipal Committee, Mirpur; Mr. Ihsanul Haque, Advocate, Mirpur; Mr. Mohammad Shafi, ex-Municipal Commissioner, Mirpur; and Dr. Mohammad Yakub, Organizer, City Muslim Conference, Mirpur."
-APP.
5. The only voice against the project, which is being carried out in co-operation with the Azad Kashmir authorities, has been that of a few disgruntled individuals because of their personal differences with Sardar Mohammed Ibrahim, President of Azad Kashmir, and not because the proposed dam will adversely affect the people of the area.
6. To claim, as the permanent representative of India does in his letter of 20 January 1958, that the State of Jammu and Kashmir is Indian territory, is to beg the question. Until the people of the State have been enabled to express their wishes through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite held under the auspices of the United Nations, the only sanction behind India's presence in Jammu and Kashmir is military force.
7. I request that this communication may kindly be circulated as a Security Council document and brought to the notice of the members of the Security Council.
(Signed AGHA SHAHI
Minister, Acting Premanent Representative of Pakistan
to the United Nations
(Source. UN Doument no. S/3943)