Text of the Speech made by M. Nunez Portuondo (Cuba) in the Security Council Meeting No. 765 held on 24 January 1957

 Text of the Speech made by M. Nunez Portuondo (Cuba) in the Security Council Meeting No. 765 held on 24 January 1957

The delegation of Cuba wishes to pay a tribute to the magnificent oratorical efforts of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan and the Ambassador of India, whose statements will undoubtedly be of great value when we come to discuss and consider the substance of this problem.

The proposal which we have presented in our draft resolution and which is now before you in what might be called a preventive measure, that is to say, a measure which is to a certain extent provisional. In passing, I might say that the delegation of Cuba would have preferred this draft resolution to be presented after the representative of India had finished his statement. However, we do not believe that the representative of India can have any reason to oppose this draft. The first part of it refers to the views of the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Nehru, for whom I have the greatest respect and admiration, who stated in a telegram of 8 November 1947 to the Prime Minister of Pakistan :

"It will thus be seen that our proposals which we have repeatedly stated are (1) that the Government of Pakistan should publicly undertake to do its utmost to compel the raiders to withdraw from Kashmir; (2) that the Government of India should repeat its declaration that it will withdraw its troops from Kashmir soil as soon as raiders have withdrawn and law and order are restored; (3) that the Governments of India and Pakistan should make a joint request to the United Nations to undertake a plebiscite in Kashmir at the earliest possible date."

This statement by the Prime Minister of India, which does him very great honour and is fully in accordance with the principles of the Charter and with the right of peoples to self determination, is exactly what we propose in the first part of our draft resolution when we say that "the final disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations".

Our draft resolution therefore introduces nothing new but simply reaffirms the earlier resolutions of the Council and accepts that which, at one time, was also accepted by the representatives of both Pakistan and India.

I likewise see no reason why the second part of the resolution cannot be accepted by the Indian delegation, because the representative of India has repeatedly stated that the recent decisions of the Constituent Assembly in regard to Kashmir could not affect the final disposition of Kashmir since in his view Kashmir formed part of India as a result of actions prior to the establishment of that Assembly. If, therefore, he really believes that is the situation in regard to Kashmir is a view which is not shared by many members of the Security Council - then the second part of the draft resolution should likewise not affect that situation in any way.

The delegation of Cuba therefore considers that the draft resolution is a reaffirmation of the Council's position, of the clear and binding provisions of the Charter, and of the right of peoples to self-determination. At a later stage, of course, the Council shall have to consider the time and circumstances. of this plebiscite, which must be held-and here I agree, of course, with the representative of India - once the proper conditions have been met, that is to say when it can be held in such a way that the people will be freely able to express their choice and their will and decide whether to join Pakistan or India.

Because this is a provisional measure and a rea-ffirmation of our earlier decisions, which at one time were acceptable to India and Pakistan, the delegation of Cuba has co-sponsored this draft resolution and will vote in favour of it.

As regards the substance of the problem, the delegation of Cuba will naturally require more time to study all the facts and all that has been said by the representatives of Pakistan and of India. These representatives have made long statements with many references to authorities, documents, rules of international law and so on, which will have to be weighed and analysed before any final conclusion can be reached.

The delegation of Cuba will express its views in the course of the general discussion.