29011948  Text of the Speech made by Mr. Noel Baker (United Kingdom) in the Security Council Meeting No. 237 held on 29 January, 1948

Text of the Speech made by Mr. Noel Baker (United Kingdom) in the Security Council Meeting No. 237 held on 29 January, 1948

The President decided that I was wrong, that we would do better to discuss together the question of the plebiscite and the question of stopping the actual fighting. For that reason the President has put forward these two draft resolutions. arguing, as he did so well this afternoon, that these are really two aspects of one question and that to try to separate them would be a mistake.

I am quite ready to accept the view of the President. I think that by accepting it, we escape the reproach to which we might otherwise be open in India: that we were fiddling with phrases while Kashmir burned. I not only accept the proposal of the President with regard to procedure, but I accept his draft resolutions. On behalf of my Government and as a member of the Security Council with its collective responsibility, I am sure that we shall do right to adopt the resolutions this afternoon.

Speaking also on behalf of my Government and as a member of the Security Council, with its collective responsibility to all the nations which belong to our Organisation, perhaps I may venture to make some reflections, I hope at not too great length, on the debate of yesterday and on the speeches made this afternoon.

I was very much struck by what the representative of the United States said yesterday about the question of the continuance of this dangerous situation. He reminded us of the fact and it has been mentioned again by several representatives, I think, this afternoon, and certainly by one that the spokesmen of India and Pakistan have won our attention to the fact that the situation is one which, if it continues, is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security.

The representative of the United States went on to point out that this has important results for the action of the Security Council. I think it is important because of the time factor. I venture to think that we have wasted no time in our proceeding in this matter in the Security Council, but I am sure that both parties will agree that we have no time to waste. If the negotiations which have taken place under the guidance, if the President do not lead within a very short time to some definite result or to some hope of a full settlement in the early future, I feel sure that it will become incumbent upon the Security Council to see whether it cannot help in some more direct and effective way.

Secondly, I am glad that members of the Security Council seem to share the view, which I have expressed more than once, that a general plan of full settlement of outstanding differences will in fact, be the quickest way to stop the fighting As the representative of the United States used this afternoon, one cannot have a cessation of violence unless one has an agreement that satisfies everybody that the plebiscite will be free and fair, and, therefore, one must have an agreement as to how the plebiscite is to be prepared. I hope, therefore, that the Security Council will move as rapidly as possible to such a full agreement.

I agree with what the representative of China said, of course, as we all must, that we must start by working out the principles upon which agreement can be built. If I understood him, he suggested that perhaps, when we had the broad general principles, we could then hand over the further task to the Commission, to be carried out on the spot.

My Government is doubtful as to whether it could be wise to leave too much Commission. Before we adopt the resolution by which the Commission was established, I suggested to the parties and to the Council that we should regard a primarily as a commission to apply a settlement which was made here in the Council [230th meeting). I shall not repeat my words; I have them before me, and I have said them more than once. Of course it is a matter of degree, and I am in full agreement with the representative of China that there will be many details which the Commission will work out with the two Governments on the spot-of course, it will. But I hope that before we end our work here, we shall have had not only the framework, but the full structure of a settlement which will clear this matter away and remove it entirely as a cause of misunderstanding between India and Pakistan.

In working towards that agreement, I am sure that the draft resolution on the plebiscite which the President has put forward will, when it has been adopted by the Security Council, be an important landmark on the road. Even since the first speeches were made on this subject in India and Pakistan months ago, I have been considering what significance could be attached to the phrase "under the auspices of the United Nations." The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that phrase must imply not only that the plebiscite must be fair in inself, but that it must seem fair to all concerned; not only that in fact justice shall be assured, as I am certain it would be assured by the sole action of any one Government at this table if it had a free hand, but that it must seem fair to both the Government of India and the Government of Pakistan, to all the members of the Security Council, to all the Members of the United Nations and, I add-and I think this is the crucial point in stopping the fighting, as I have said before that it must seem fair to the combatants, both Muslim and non-Muslim, in Kashmir itself.

Unless we can get such a system, I am sure that the Security Council would not be justified in undertaking any responsibility in the matter in the name of the United Nations. For that reason, I think the second paragraph of the President's draft resolution on the plebiscite is not only useful but essential. I do not think that the Security Council could give its authority in any similar case without retaining the final. control over what actually happens when the plebiscite occurs.

I agree with the representative of the United. Of course, the organisation of the plebiscite will involve considerations of administration, of the maintenance of law. and order, and so on. I do not doubt that we shall have to debate those matters, but I do not think it is necessary to do so at this moment in order to enable us to adopt the draft resolution which is before us.

I should like to bring up an idea which has appeared before. I think, in a draft resolution, and which I know has been put before us in different forms by the representative of India and Pakistan, namely, that for the satisfactory execution. of any plan the cooperation of the two Governments will, in fact, be required in many ways Therefore, our task is not only to make a scheme, but to help to bring the Governments to a state of mind such that they will desire to give their full cooperation in order to make that scheme succeed.

I have talked about the time factor. I am thinking not only of the danger of war, although I agree with the statement made yesterday by the representative of India that, day by day, the mere continuance of fighting makes the situation worse; I am thinking also of what the Government of India and Pakistan ought to be doing now if only they could get rid of this question of Kashmir which is on their backs. I am thinking of the general background of all their joint action for the promotion of the welfare of their peoples in time to come. At this moment they are both faced with enormous, crucial and almost terrifying economic problems. They must settle the refugee problem; it is immense task. They must work out for their mutual benefit what their general trade, tariff and financial arrangements are going to be. Each of them has a separate and difficult problem of organising its food supply; each of them has a programme for the development of its economic resources. Schemes have been prepared-1 had the advantage of seeing some of them in blueprint-for irrigation and water power, on a scale of which not even the United States would be ashamed, and which, if the programmes could be carried through, would, within a measurable period of years, change the face of the country and immensely. better the well-being of the people.

We hope that the great new forces which have been released in the Governments of India and Pakistan will very soon be free to get on to these great tasks which lie before them and that, as they cooperate with each other, so the frontier, wherever it may be, that lies between them will become less and less a barrier, and the common interest which bind them together in all matters will become more and more evident to both.

The representative of the United States spoke of world opinion and said that whatever settlement was made here, would gain great strength if it had the approbation of good people in all countries throughout the world. World opinion is a great weapon I am convinced that world opinion will be behind these resolutions. I ardently hope that it may also make possible early and rapid progress toward a settlement.