10021964 Text of the Speech made by Mr. Sidi Baba (Morocco) in the Security Council Meeting No. 1090 held on 10 February 1964

Text of the Speech made by Mr. Sidi Baba (Morocco) in the Security Council Meeting No. 1090 held on 10 February 1964

My delegation has listened with particular attention to the statements made to the Council by the distinguished representatives of Pakistan and India.

Relations between these two great countries with respect to the thorny question we are considering have been highly unsatisfactory for a number of years, and this is indisputably one of the problems which causes my country most concern. My Government has very close relations with the Governments of both Pakistan and India, based on strong ties of brotherhood and friendship and on the lofty principles of Afro-Asian solidarity. As His Majesty the King of Morocco has said on various occasions, the principles, largely inspired by the thinking of great men like Gandhi and Prime Minister Pandit Nehru, constitute the guiding idea which underlies our concept of non-alignment and all our activities in the international sphere.

My country will always remember the effective help which these two great sister nations gave to our struggle for national liberation and the major contribution which they were able to make, after becoming independent, to the struggle carried on by the other peoples of Africa and Asia in the name of freedom and independence.

I also take pleasure in recalling here that it was in this same spirit of solidarity that my country, like so many others, fully supported India at the time of its decision to terminate Portuguese colonial rule in the enclave of Goa.

This being so, I need hardly tell you to what extent we, as friends, are affected by the repercussions of this acute crisis and how relieved we would be if the two parties to the dispute should one day reach a solution which was just and equitable and hence capable of giving satisfaction to all concerned, including the population of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

In that way the two countries could, for the greater good of their peoples, inaugurate a new era in their relations, establishing a policy of good-neighbourliness and friendly and fraternal cooperation-a policy based, moreover, on a community of culture and civilization and on particularly strong bonds of Kinship. We shall not cease to hope and pray for this result.

In the interests of finding a solution to this grave problem and of limiting the scope of the crisis as much as possible, my delegation considers it highly desirable for the two Governments henceforth to refrain from taking any kind of unilateral action that might give rise to new complications or in any way call in question the decisions which the Security Council has already taken in agreement with the parties concerned and in the application of which they agreed, at one time, to cooperate.

We feel that, in the interests of peace and security in this sensitive part of the world, each of the parties to the dispute should do what is necessary to lessen the danger and bring about the "detente" which is essential if the problem is to be resolved by negotiation. That, in my delegation's view, is the minimum which, in the circumstances, the Council should ask for.

The gravity of the problem which the Council is now considering at the request of Pakistan is certainly nothing new. The stakes, on the other hand, seem recently to have assumed larger proportions as a result of intensive military and diplomatic efforts, and this, unfortunately, appears to have made the situation even more complex. Finally, there is the fact that time, instead of helping to decrease the tension, as might have been hoped at the outset, has served only to widen the gap between the two positions.

In these circumstances, we believe that the time has come for one and all to realise the danger which threatens peace and to weigh their full responsibilities. My delegation, for its part, is convinced that the statesmen of Karachi and New Delhi, because of the great moral and spiritual values. which they represent and which are built up of tolerance, justice and patience, will realise the advantages of discussion between them and will undertake the search for a peaceful solution to this problem with all the requisite zeal and energy. In this way they will spare their peoples the serious consequences of a tension which, despite all the efforts made by United Nations, has become permanent. At the same time they will eliminate the threat of a tragedy whose consequences, not only for their own countries but surely for mankind as a whole, be incalculable.

In this matter, involving as it does a conflict between two sister States, it goes without saying that many countries, including my own, would prefer not to take sides-considering it the part of wisdom and good sense for the common friends of Pakistan and India to do everything possible to enable the dispute eventually to be settled through peaceful negotiations in a spirit which is one of mutual concession and of conformity with the earlier resolutions. My Government's determination to leave no stone unturned in its efforts to help overcome the difficulties arising from this conflict is equalled only by our desire that the two parties should agree to sit down together and reach a solution based on respect for rights, including the right of peoples to decide their own future. It is interesting to note, indeed, that the parties to the dispute have on numerous occasions and in various circumstances defined, each as concerns itself, positions favourable to a formula which would permit the people involved to decide its own destiny.

In my delegation's view, it is only on this basis perhaps, that a valid and at the same time lasting solution can be found for this serious dispute which has, unfortunately, developed from a specific situation recognized by all as having given rise to serious controversy. Thus the two parties, assisted by all their friends and with the help of the United Nations, will succeed in terminating the existence of a problem that of the State of Jammu and Kashmir-which is so

prejudicial to all of us. They will thereby remove a source of tension which for more than sixteen years has been an obstacle to rapprochement between their two neighbouring countries.