Text of the Speech made by Mr. De Beus (Netherlands) in the Security Council Meeting No. 1242 held on 20 September 1965
Text of the Speech made by Mr. De Beus (Netherlands) in the Security Council Meeting No. 1242 held on 20 September 1965
On behalf of the delegation of the Netherlands, I have the pleasure to introduce a draft resolution [S/6694] on the conflict between India and Pakistan. I should add at once that although the draft resolution is presented in the name of Netherlands, it would not have been possible for us to arrive at the text of this draft resolution if it had not been for the cooperation of the other non-permanent members and the unanimous support of the permanent members. Therefore, the contents of this draft resolution are the outcome of informal consultations with all these members. As members will have understood from the many hours which they have had to spend waiting, it has not been easy to obtain agreement on a text which could command a wide degree of agreement in the Council. That it nevertheless has been possible at all to obtain such a degree of agreement on the present text is due to the fact, and only to the fact, that all members of the Council have been guided by one overriding consideration-a consideration which we felt had to weigh more heavily than all the others namely, the absolute need, in view of the international situation in Asia, to stop the fighting before it could spread to other areas. That is the first and main object of this draft resolution.
Its second main object is to open up an avenue to the parties for renewing negotiations on their underlying political problem from which the present fighting originated.
For both these purposes-the cease-fire and the negotiations-the draft resolution offers the assistance of the United Nations.
With regard to the cease-fire, I should furthermore like to point out that the draft resolution this time uses stronger language than before. After having twice "appealed" for a cease-fire, the Security Council now "demands" it to take effect on a given date and at a given hour. I should explain that the hour mentioned in the draft resolution is this coming Wednesday, 22 September 1965, at 0700 hour GMT, which corresponds to 1130 hours Rawalpindi time, to 12 noon New Delhi time, and to 3 o'clock in the morning New York daylight saving time, which means that it will give a little more than forty-eight hours to carry out the orders for the cease-fire which we hope will take place.
The draft resolution, I think, speaks for itself. I have little to aid to the text. It is a draft resolution which neither condemn nor condones; it deals with the past less than with the future; it does not try to look backward but forward; it does not assess fault to the parties, but offers assistance to them: assistance in supervising the carrying out of the cease-fire, and assistance in subsequent negotiations.
The authors of the draft resolution fully realise that there are serious disappointments involved in this draft resolution for both parties. One party, we know, would have liked no mention at all of certain aspects; the other party would have preferred far more and stronger mention of those aspects. The authors, I can assure them, have had no choice but to adopt the middle course which was achievable. This means that neither India nor Pakistan gets all that it wanted. All I can say is that this is the essence of compromise; it is inevitable in any peaceful settlement. In return, we believe that they do get two invaluable things: the first is peace for their nations, and the second is an opportunity to start talks again on the main problem which has envenomed relations between India and Pakistan ever since their birth.
My delegation and all those who stand behind this draft resolution therefore ardently hope that both parties will accept and execute it notwithstanding certain objections which they will undoubtedly have against it. In so doing they will make sacrifices, but these sacrifices, we believe, are the most honourable contributions that Pakistan and India can make to the peace of the world.
In view of the lengthy informal consultations which have preceded the present draft resolution, and in view of the blood shed which is going on at this very moment, I would suggest that we vote on this draft resolution as soon as possible. We hope that it will be passed by the Council this morning, with as many votes as possible, and above all with the unanimity of the permanent members.
I have only this to add. There has been much talk in the past about the crisis of the United Nations and about the paralysis of the Security Council because of a lack of unanimity among the permanent members. If the Security Council takes this decisive action at this critical hour in this very difficult matter, it will have proven, we believe, that the United Nations has overcome its crisis and that the Security Council can indeed exercise its primary responsibility for international peace and security.