Letter dated 25 July 1968 from the representative of Pakistan A. Shahi to the President of the Security Council

Letter dated 25 July 1968 from the representative of Pakistan A. Shahi to the President of the Security Council

Under instructions from the Government of Pakistan, I have the honour to draw the attention of the Security Council to two measures recently taken by the Government of India with the aim of further consolidating its occupation of a large area of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, thereby aggravating the situation in the State and hampering an improvement of relations between Pakistan and India.

These measures consist of government-sponsored legislation reported to have been adopted by the Indian Legislature on 20 March and 9 May 1968-the former measure seeks to confer jurisdiction on the Supreme Court of India to hear appeals against decisions of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in respect of election petitions and the latter aims at authorising the extension of a number of laws of the Indian Union to the State of Jammu and Kashmir-including the Companies Act, the Essential Commodities Act, the Road Transport Corporation Act, the Official Trustees Act, the Transfer of Prisoners. Act, the Mines Act as well as some provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act.

The Government of Pakistan has consistently brought to the attention of the Security Council the measures taken by the Government of India over the years, patently designed to consolidate India's hold over the occupied area of the Jammu and Kashmir State, to integrate it with the administrative structure of the Indian Union, to demoralise its people and to interpose obstacles to a just and honourable settlement of the dispute concerning the State of Jammu and Kashmir. In this connexion the Council will recall, inter alia, the letters from the representative of Pakistan addressed to the President of the Security Council contained in documents S/3860 of 6 August 1957, S/3981 of 28 March 1958, S/4217 of 9 September 1959, S/5437 of 9 October 1963, S/5504 of 3 January 1964, S/5517 of 20 January 1964, S/5657 of 15 April 1964, S/7483 of 6 September 1966 and S/8315/Rev. 1 of 29 December 1967, as well as statements made by Pakistan in the Security Council from time to time.

The latest measures form another link in the chain of attempts by India to obliterate the special status of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and gradually to about fait accompli diametrically opposed to the solemn agreement contained in the resolutions of the United Nations Commission. for India and Pakistan of 13 August 1948 and 5 January 1949 jointly accepted by India and Pakistan which provided for the disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the freely ascertained wishes of its people, and to the principle embodied in Security Council resolutions 91 (1951) of 30 March 1951 and 122 (1957) of 24 January 1957. It is acts of this nature which foment tension between India and Pakistan and which, as borne out by experience, have led to conditions. of hostility between the two countries. My Government deplores India's persistence in these acts and has again urged the Government of India to desist there from.

I would be grateful if this letter is circulated as a Security Council document.

(Signed) A. SHAHI Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations

(Source: UN Document No. S/8692).