Letter dated 15 July 1958 from the representative of Pakistan Agha Shahi to the President of the Security Council

Letter dated 15 July 1958 from the representative of Pakistan Agha Shahi to the President of the Security Council

1. In continuation of my letter dated 25 June 1958 [S/4036] I have been directed by my Government to draw the attention of Your Excellency and other members of the Security Council to the situation which has arisen throughout Pakistan and Azad Kashmir as a result of the launching of the Kashmir Liberation Movement under the leadership and direction of Chaudhri Ghulam Abbas and other leaders of the people of Kashmir. Despite the ban imposed by the Government on the holding of public meetings and on the taking out of processions, volunteers in large numbers have been attempting to march into that part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir which is under Indian occupation, shouting, "On to Chenari" (Chenari is near the cease-fire line and is the main point of entry into the State held by India). So far hundreds of volunteers from Azad Kashmir and the frontier districts of West Pakistan such as Rawalpindi, Gujarat, Abbottabad, Sialkot and Lahore, have been arrested for defying the ban. Chaudri Ghulam Abbas was arrested on 27 June, 1958, while trying to cross the cease fire line at Chenari. Sardar Abdul Qaiyam Khan and Colonel Sher Ahmed, ex-Presidents of Azad Kashmir who took over the command, were also arrested in similar circumstances. Chaudhri Ghulam Abbas was released on 29 1958, to enable him to celebrate the Muslim festival of Id-ul-Azha. But soon after his release he set out for Chenari and had to be re-arrested. Raja Haider Khan, ex-Defence Minister of Azad Kashmir, has also been detained for defying the ban. The arrest of these leaders has caused widespread resentment among the masses. A large section of the Press is supporting the movement and is criticising the Government for obstructing the Kashmir people in the exercise of their right to go to their native place. Protest meetings and demonstrations are being held in all the border towns and in Lahore. The police had to use force at several places to disperse the demonstrators. A number of processions were recently taken out in Sialkot to demonstrate in front of the office of the United Nations. Observer Group. They were dispersed with great difficulty and their leaders arrested. Shops were closed in protest. Women have also started courting arrest. The camps are full of volunteers. The dissident group led by A.R. Saghir and Nazir Husain Shah, who at first did not support Abbas' movement, are now supporting it wholeheartedly. Sardar Ibrahim, President of Azad Kashmir, is becoming unpopular owing to his opposition to the movement. His own supporters are deserting him. The situation is gradually deteriorating.

2. The Government of Pakistan is determined to maintain law and order and to honour its commitments with regard to the inviolability of the cease-fire line. The high command of the Liberation Movement seems to be equally determined, according to its proclaimed intentions, to violate the cease-fire line and, to use its own words, "to precipitate a first-class crisis in this world of slumbering conscience and force Mr. Dag Hammarskjold to see on the spot the sanctity of the artificial barrier smashed to pieces". The widespread public agitation and the support the movement is receiving from almost all the important political parties of Pakistan such as the Muslim League, Jamaat-e-Islami, National Awami Party, Millat, and Awami League, has made the task of the Government of Pakistan difficult. However, it will continue to do its best.

3. I request that this letter be circulated among the members of the Security Council,

(Signed) AGHA SHAHI Minister Plenipotentiary, Acting Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations

(Source: UN Document no. S/4048)