30031951 Text of the Speech made by Mr. Gross (United States of America) in the Security Council Meeting No. 599 held on 30 March, 1951
Text of the Speech made by Mr. Gross (United States of America) in the Security Council Meeting No. 599 held on 30 March, 1951
The statements made yesterday and earlier this morning by my distinguished colleagues on the Security Council have been clear and extensive. I believe there is little I can add which might aid the Council in reaching a conclusion on the revised draft resolution submitted jointly by the United Kingdom and the United States. However, may I be permitted to address myself to one point raised by Sir Benegal Rau in the statement he made yesterday?
The distinguished representative of India objects to the operative part of the draft resolution, because, as I understand it, he interprets paragraphs 3 and 6 of the draft resolution as giving to Pakistan rights of consultation which had not existed under the August 1948 resolution of the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan. Sir Benegal, I believe, said that the draft resolution now before the Security Council reopened issues which had been settled by the August 1948 resolution; that it sought to give Pakistan a voice in matters in which it had been denied any voice previously; and that it sought to transfer to arbitrators the right to make decisions which previously had required the agreement of India. The Government of India, as I understand it, objects therefore to paragraph 6 of the draft resolution, calling for acceptance of arbitration on unresolved issues, as a violation of the agreed resolution August can only say that the revised draft resolution submitted to the Security Council on 21 March would instruct the United Nations representative, after consulting the Governments of India and Pakistan, to effect demilitarisation. on the basis of the two agreed United Nations Commission resolutions. For this purpose, obviously, he must consult the Government of Pakistan as well as the Government of India in order to obtain their views. The very preamble to part II of the 13 August 1948 resolution says:
"Simultaneously with the acceptance of the proposal for the immediate cessation of hostilities as outlined in part I, both governments accept the following principles as the basis for the formulation of a truce agreement, the details of which shall be worked out in discussion between their representatives and the Commission."
The United Nations representative must be free to consult with the Government of Pakistan as well as India in working out the necessary details.
As we see it, the two United Nations Commission resolutions provide a framework which remains to be added in. These resolutions do not set forth a complete plan for accomplishing demilitarisation and a plebiscite. The parties will have to develop and consider with the United Nations representative the details which fill out this framework, in order to honour their commitment to settle the issue of accession to India or Pakistan by a fair and impartial plebiscite under United Nations auspices. If the parties do not agree upon these details in filling out the framework established by the two United Nations Commission resolutions, it will be because the parties gave differing interpretations. In such a case there will be some way of resolving the dilemma, and we have suggested arbitration as that way..
It seems to us that the commitment of the parties. and the legitimate interests of the Security Council in seeing and this dispute settled do not stop with these two resolutions. They are not the end of the road. The sentiment of the Governments of both India and Pakistan is to settle the question of accession by a free and impartial plebiscite.
The representative of the Netherlands, Mr. Von Balluseck, pointed out very clearly yesterday that once the right of self-determination for the people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir is recognized, as it has been by both parties, then it must be possible to find a procedure which will enable the people of Kashmir to make their choice as to whether they will accede to India or to Pakistan. It seems to us that we are face to face with the necessity of finding a procedure which will enable the parties to carry out this basic and ultimate commitment. It is, as I have said before, to create the conditions whereby the people of Kashmir can vote without fear of intimidation upon the question of accession. If resort to arbitration of any matters which stand in the way of this result is objected to, how can the dangerous deadlock be broken?
All members of the Security Council who have spoken have illuminated the spirit in which the resolution has been. offered. That spirit springs from the sincere belief that the Security Council must aid the parties to advance toward a solution of the dispute by providing reasonable means through which issues which the parties cannot themselves resolve may. be brought to a speedy and mutually acceptable solution.
The PRESIDENT: Before calling upon the last speaker, I wish to remind the Security Council that it is my intention to put the revised joint draft resolution now before us to the vote immediately after we have heard that speaker.