15021957 Text of the speech made by the President Mr. Gunnar Jarring as representative of Sweden in the Security Council Meeting No. 769 held on 15 February 1957.

Text of the speech made by the President Mr. Gunnar Jarring as representative of Sweden in the Security Council Meeting No. 769 held on 15 February 1957.

I shall now speak in my capacity as representative. of SWEDEN.

In the course of my intervention at an earlier stage of our debate on the India-Pakistan question, I pointed out that the Swedish Government does not consider itself committed to any particular way of dealing with the problem before us [765th meeting, paras. 78 to 80].

We have studied carefully the various aspects of the question, and it is our sincere wish to try and assist in the endeavours to bring to an end this unhappy situation which has for so long troubled the relations between India and Pakistan-two countries with which we entertain the most friendly relations and both of which we hold in the highest esteem.

As we see it, there are, in principle, two courses open to us along which progress may be made towards the ultimate goal which it seems to us, must be an agreement between the parties on a political basis. Only by such an agreement would lasting peace and security in Kashmir be ensured. course to reach an agreement would be, as has been done in the past, to bring the parties together for negotiation either directly or through some intermediary. The other course is One this if it should be found that the question cannot at the present time be solved through negotiations, might be useful to have certain underlying problems of a legal character progressively clarified in order to create better conditions for an agreement.

Now that nine years have elapsed without any progress being in sight for an agreement between the parties, we would have thought that the time had come to try the alternative. In the opinion of my Government, this could then best be done by referring some of the legal aspects of the matter to the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion. However, we recognize that there is a general feeling that another effort should now be made to explore the possibilities of finding a solution through negotiations in the light of later developments. We feel that this idea has much to commend itself, particularly in view of the fact that several years have passed since such negotiations last took place. We are therefore fully prepared to accept the idea behind the draft resolution which is before the Council. In the event, however, that it should not prove possible to advance the solution of the problem in such a way and the question consequently will come before the Council once again, my Government might at that time deem it advisable to have the legal background of the question clarified.