10021948 Text of the Speech made by Mr. Noef Baker (United Kingdom) in the Security on Council Meeting No. 243 held 10 February, 1948

 Text of the Speech made by Mr. Noef Baker (United Kingdom) in the Security on Council Meeting No. 243 held 10 February, 1948

The President and the Rapporteur, the representative of Belgium, have asked the Security Council-and this is the first thing they put to us-whether, in the draft resolution which they have circulated, they have adequately translated the general thought of the Security Council on the right solution for the problem which is before it.

The representatives of Argentina, Syria and, if I understood him, France, have answered this question affirmatively. They think that this resolution does sum up the views of the Security Council as they have been expressed in our debates hitherto; that we ought now to intimate to the President and the Rapporteur our gratitude for their work, and our approval of what they have done; and that, in the phrase of the representative of Argentina, we ought to consider that such a resolution would be a useful basis for further discussion.

Since we met last, I have spent a lot of time reading over the whole of the verbatim records from the time we began our work on this question. I have studied with particular care the constructive proposals which have been put forward by various members of the Security Council, including, if I may say so, with special attention, the memorandum put forward by the representative of Colombia.

I have come to the conclusion that, while of course the statement of the President is not more than an outline, nevertheless, it is a faithful translation into broad principles of the way in which the Security Council thinks-that we ought to proceed towards a settlement of the difficult, dangerous and immediately important question of Kashmir. When I say that it is only an outline, perhaps I may illustrate what I mean by reference to sub-paragraph (a) following Alternative B of the document submitted by the President, which states: "Acts of violence and hostility must end."

Under that heading, the representative of India has asked and I think, as I have said more than one, with justification for a decision that when a settlement is made, Pakistan must take drastic action to bring the fighting to an end, and to keep order and peace thereafter. Pakistan must fully cooperate in many ways.

But that one line evidently needs a good deal of elaboration. That leads me to say that if we are to have an interruption of our debates here on this matter, I think that interruption might be put to useful purpose by the President and by the Rapporteur, in consultation with others if they so desire but I think they could certainly do it-if they were to study this outline of principles in order to see if they could work out a more complete scheme. That would prejudice nothing. It would prejudge none of the difficulties which the delegation of India now feels should the principles themselves But if, in fact, when they come back to us very soon, they could indicate certain changes that may be made, but that they were able to go forward on this or on some broadly similar kind of basis, then, if the thing had been more worked out, we might be a good deal further forward.

Therefore, I hope that the President and the Rapporteur may be able to do that in the intervening time. I think it would be of general advantage if they could. I say that with more confidence because my Government adheres very strongly to the view that much the best chance of getting a real settlement of this matter-and by that I do not mean a temporary stoppage of hostilities; I mean taking this out of the politics of the sub-continent so that India and Pakistan are never again in difference about the problem of Kashmir, but that on the contrary, full confidence and co-operation are established between them-is, as I have said before, that we should make a plan here in the Security Council itself and make it the primary duty of the Commission, which I hope will be established very soon, to apply that decision when it gets out to the sub-continent.

On more occasions than that one, I have had the ungrateful task of talking about the time factor. But I confess that I think the representative of Syria was wisely advised to recall to the Security Council that it has heard very recently that the situation is dangerous, and that it might turn for the worse at any time. The Indian representative has called to our attention serious raids which he said had taken place. We have had news from the press of a considerable battle with if the reports and the claims made by one side and the other are true very considerable loss of life. We have already had a number of interruptions in our consideration of the question. I hope that whatever interruption we have now may be very short. I confess that I agree with the view that whoever from the Indian delegation may have to go home-and I feel sure the head of the Indian delegation will have to go-we should have an Indian delegation left here with whom we can deal if serious developments should occur.