Text of the Speech made by the President in the Security Council Meeting No. 269 held on 18 March, 1948

Text of the Speech made by the President in the Security Council Meeting No. 269 held on 18 March, 1948

Part of the question raised by the representative of Colombia was put to me by the representative of Pakistan when he raised the question of procedure. I shall answer first the question asked by the representative of Pakistan. There are indeed a number of draft resolutions before the Security. Council beginning with those introduced by the representative of Belgium [document S/667]. All those resolutions will be dealt with according to our rules of procedure.

In regard to the general handling of this question, the members of the Security Council will remember that I inherited the present method from my two predecessors. At the very first meeting this month which was devoted to this question, I consulted the members of the Security Council as to whether or not they wished that procedure to be continued So far as I am concerned, I should welcome abandonment of the present procedure and adoption of the procedure which is used by the Security Council in connexion with all other questions.

I should like to add, however, that the draft resolution which I have presented today is the result of considerable consultation with the delegations of India and Pakistan. While it has not been found acceptable by both delegations, I think I am correct in saying that the representative of Pakistan did not say that the provisions of the resolution are unacceptable as far as they go. If I understood his criticism correctly, he meant that those provisions do not go far enough and do not provide adequate safeguards. He was not in favour of dropping any of the safeguards provided in the draft resolution. If my understanding is correct, his position was that he would accept the resolution if certain other provisions were added to it. Wish that I could have produced a draft resolution entirely acceptable to both parties.

My forecast is this: Whether the detailed work involved in this kind of preliminary survey and consultation is carried on by the President of the Security Council by another member or by several members, it will be very difficult to produce a resolution entirely acceptable to both parties. I think the Security Council should aim at the maximum agreement possible between the two delegations. There will be a margin of disagreement. So far as that margin is concerned, I hope that in the end the two parties will accept what the sense of fairness of the Security Council recommends.