S/PV.315 Security Council

The reason for convening this meeting, as 1 explained yesterday [314th' meeting], is because of thè letter dated 5 June 1948,.received by the President of the Security Council. from the Indian delegation, conveying amessage frorn Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister and Minister for External Affairs for )'ndia [document 8/825]. This message contains certain urgent matters which should be brought to the attention of the SecurityCouncil, so that il .may take a stand on them. 1 do not think that itiS necessary to have. that letter read because it has been in the hands· of the repre- .sentatives for sonie tUne. Th~ subjects mentioned in this letter refer to the most recent resolutions of the Security Council on the India-PakiStan question, the first being that adopted on 21 April 1948 [286t~ meeting], and the other that of 3 June 1948 [312th meeting]. It wasintended in the first resolution [document 8/726], by which the Commission wasconstituted bv t.l].e Securitv Council, that the Commission·s1:J.ouÏd perfonn ~ediatory and conciliatory functions in connexion with the question of the Stàte c-f Jammu and, Kashmir. The second tesolution [document 8/819] extended the task of that Commission to studying the other three IÎ1.att~rS which are raised by· the delegation of Pakistan, namely,'those concerning Junagadh, genocide and.·non-implementation of certain agreements. As to the second consideration, there is nô urgency with regard to it. Theunderstanding is simply that this study should bemade after the:; settlementofthe question of Kashmir;and that it is to be done in that arder. Certainly, at the present tinle, there is no work to be done on that, and disctetion is thus left ta the Commission as ta the timewhen it is to take up the other thr<::e points that may be dealt with later. This is an important and urgent point which, I. think, should be' examined by the Security Council, so that it may take a stand on the subject. The Prime Minister of India wishes to have a reply to this letter. . 1now put this matter before the Security Council ·so that it may determine what steps are to be taken in this respect. , · le · .pas Mr. TSIANG (China): In co~ideringthe letter from the Prime Minister and Minister for External Affairs fOf India, it appears to niy delegation that wc should keep in mind two fundamental points. The·first point is that the Mediation Commission which· is about to go to Indiâ needs aIl the good will which we can create for l't. Sending a mission of that type to any. part of the world is like launching a big ship. NaturaIly that ship goes into the water with aIl our good wishes. It ha'l a long voyage, sometimes through stormy seas. The existence of good will will go far to determine the success or failure of that voyage. That is one point which we should aIl keep in mind. There is a second point: the dignity and prestige of the Security Council. 1think aIl Members of the United Nations wish the Cotmcil to maintain its dignity and its prestige. 1 am somewhat puzzled by this letter. 1 cannot helpthinking that it is based in part upon a misapprehension. ActuaIly what the Security Council did when· it last met on this. question [312th meeting] was to tell the Commission to go ahead, to deal first with the Kashmir question, and fl:len, ·when it deemed it appropriate, to study and report on the other three questions raised by the delegation of Pakistan. 0 The stand of my delegation, on those three questions is well known to the Security Council. 1 do not need ta repeat what 1 said in my last statement. Although'l thought that it was not necessary to refer those three·questions immediately to the Commission, and although.~did not vote for the resc!ution [document 8/819] which the Presidentplaeed beforeus, 1 must confess that l see nothing wrong in it. 1 cannot and do not see any implication in that resolution of criticism against· the Inman Government. It w~, to my nind, in aIl ways the normal procedure. The 1 should' regret it very much if such a letter should call for a heated debate in the Sccurity Council. -I think a simple message from the President of the Council coulddear up this matter. AU we need to say to 'the Prime Minister of India is that the Security Counôl has not come Ito a decision on those three questions;that it has only instructed the Commission, when it deems appropriate, to gather further information conce~g them and to report. A straightforward explanation of that kinci would . remove any misunderstanding to the efIectthat the Security ,Couneil has made.up its mind on these matters or has intended to cast sc.ne slur or slight on the Governmentof India. Thaï isnoc our intention; andit certainly can- 'nothe fOlmd in the record aï the .last meeting. Sucha procedure would meet the contîngency raised by this letter. Therè is anotlier point whieh we should cover. The letter euels as follows: "If the' Commission isto visitIndia, they (the Government of India) would like,to knowmadvancethe point or poin~ on whieh it would wish to confer with them." Withregard to th~t particular.sentence, would §uggest that we transmit,'this letterto our Commissioll .and ask it to .reply directly to the Government of India. The Commission is about to meet in Geneva. .Its members themselves, havmg.studied the questions~ may decide on .some line ofappr9aeh. 1 think it would bé best for the Security Couneil to allow the Commission to , answer' that question. Therefore,. 1 suggest that the President give·the Prime, Minister a simple straightforWard answer to the first part of the letter,and refèr the last parttothe Commission with instructions to s~nd a direct answer. . . 1 certainly hopetllat this letter will not be th~ occasion fora heated debate, which might make the work of the Commission moredifficult. The PRES~ENT: If no representative wishes tospeak on this subject, 1shall consider that the S~curity Councilagrees with the rema:rks of the If the Security Council agrees with this procedure, it can be followed immediately. The letter from the Prime Minister of fudia has aIready been communicated to the Cominission, and the Commission will be given instructions to proceed quickly with it<; wDrk and to appioach the 'Government ofIndia and confer with the Prime Minister on the points mentionedin the last phrase of his letter, in the hope that they will be able to come to an agreement onthese points. Ml'. ARCE (Argentina) (translated from Spanish): The President has proposéd a decision without any specific vote.. The Argentine deIegationcannot accept this solution and therefore· wishes to state at once that it will abstain from t~g any position on this question, su;,ce it con~ SIdera that the President of the Council should not give any explanations of the kind suggested. The letter from the Government of India is perfectly cIear, particularly in regard to the three points at issue. But l have no. desire ta hinder, ID any way, the coursethat the President wishes to adopt in·this matter,especially in view of the explanations given by the representative of China.

.1 invited the members' of the Security Council to give their opinions on this subject. Only the representative of China expressed his views. 1 then said that, if no ·.other member of the Council wished to take part in the . discussion, 1 had before me only the suggestion made by the representative of China. 1 suggested that, if it were agreeable to the members of the Council, Icould make a résumé of the .remarks of the representative of China in the form of aletter to be sent to the P'L'ime\Minister of India, Now that the representative of Argentina has given his views on the procedure, should like to hear from him" what he proposes 'should bedone by the Security Council with regard to the letter we have received. 1 should also he very glad to hear the views of other members on the subject. This is an important matter, and 1 convoked this meeting of the Coùncil so that the rnembers· could eXPress their views and so that the SecurityCouncil could take a positive and clear stand on the question. Mr. ARCl!: (Argentina) (translated trom 8panish): 1 only wish to add that ne;ther the President nor the other members .of the Security Counèil should forget that my country is a member of this ConuÎlission, which means that we mq.st be very careful in any statements made in the ·Council. Consequently,.1 have mere1y abstained, and only incidentally stated my opinion that the President's intendedattitude to a perfect1yexplicit letter seems unsatisfactory. ThePREsIDENT: There·appear tobeno other speakers on the subject. In thatcase, 1 think it would be proper to prepare a reply to the Prime Minister of India and present it to. the Security 'Council at sorne future occasion; so that aIl the members of the Council would know what is to be ,",TÎtten and wouldagree oil theterms of that reply. At the same tÏIn.e~·it wou1d perhaps De convenient to insert in that reply certain remarks about the rejection bythe Gov"._ ment of India of theCouncil's r~solution of 3 June [document 8/819], since they do not acqui~ceto it, as they say c1early. . , .' As to.the 'other points·of the resolution of 21 'April (document 8/726] in regard to Kashmir, Mr. JESSUP (United States of America): 1 am sure that the members of the Security Council appreciate the President's desire to conform strictly to the wishes of the Council, and that they take, in that spirit, his suggestion that a draft letter be submitted to it. But 1 would suggest that, after the representative of China had made bis suggestion, and after the representative of Argentina had indicated that he desired to abstain in connexion with the action on this matter, the other members of the Security Council indicated, by their acquiescence, that they approved of the suggestion the President made previously. This suggestion was that the President would, without objection, proceed to write sueh a letter. All of this indicates a desire of the Security Council that the President should proceed, and 1 believe that the Security Council would have complete confidence in the President and in the letter whieh he wouJd dispateh on behalf of the Seeurity Couneil in accordance with the 'discussion which is taking place. 1think that the agenda of the Security Council during the ensuing days of this week may be rather full. It may be desirable that this letter to which the President has referred should be sent forthwith. 1 should hope, therefore, that the President might be willing to proceed· according to his original indication and dispatch the letter without tèe necessity of having it submitted to the Council before it is sent. tira mettre 115. Credentials of the representative of the United States of: Amêrica ' . The PRESIDENT: Before adjournirig the meetmg, 1 should like to ask ·the Assistant Secretary- General t~ read the report concerning the letter of cred.entials of the alternate representative of theUlllted States of America, Mr. Jessup [document 8/827]. Monsieur rapport -sup Unis Mr. KERNO (Assistant Secrefary-General in charge of Legal Affairs): The report by the des Le sécurité les Unis intérieur désire Secret~rY-Gener~1to the President ofthe Security Council co?,cernmg the credentials of the deputy representatIve of the United· States on the Security Couneil is as follows: ' "P.ursuant to rule 15 of the provisional rules ofprocedurè of the Security Council, 1 wish to report that 1 have received a note dated 4 June

We hope at the same time that we will not miss >the appreciated services of Mr. Austin and expect that Mr. Jessup, being professor, of internationallaw, will' he very helpfuI tG the Security Council, especially illrespect to matters of internationallaw. As to the main' question we have been discussing, 1 may say that the statements made by the representatives of China, Argentina and the United States will be taken into consideration in the drafting of the letter to the Prime Minister of India. 1 think the matter may be closed on that note. " AUSTRALIA-AUSTRALIE H. A. Goddard Pty. Ltd. 255a George Street SYDNEY, N. S. W. FINLAND-FINLANDE Akateeminen Kirjakauppa 2, Keskuskatu HELSINKI BELGIUM-BELGIQUE Agence et Messageries de la Presse, S. A. 14·22 rue du Persil BRUXELLES FRANCE Editions A. Pedone 13.. :me Souffiot PÀRIS, YB GREECE-GRECE "Eleftheroudakis" Librairie internationale Place de la Constitution ATHÈNES BOLIVIA-BOLIVIE Libreria Cientifica y Literaria Avenida 16 de Julio, 216 Casilla 972 LA PAZ GUA!EMALA José Goubaud Goubaud & Ciao Sucesor 5a Av. Sur No. GUATEMALA CANADA The Ryerson Press i':RO~~~= Stre" W," CHILE-CHILI Edmundo Pizarro Merced 846 HAITI Max Bouchereau Librairie "A la Boîte postale 111·n PORT·AU·PRINCE C~:::~HINE The Commercial Press Ltd. 211 Honan Road SHANGHAI iNDIA-INDE Oxford Book & Scindia House NEw DELHI COLOMBIA-COLOMBIE . Libreria Latina Ltda. Apartado Aéreo 4011 ROGOTA IRAN Bongahe Piaderow 731 Shah Avenue TEHERAN COSTA RICA-COSTA-RICA Trejos Hermanos Apartado 1313 SAN JOsÉ IRAQ-IRAK Mackenzie & Mackenzie The Bookshop BAGHDAD CUBA La Casa .Jelga René de Smedt O'Reilly 455 LA HABANA .LEBANON-UBAN Librairie universelle BEYROUTH CZECHOSLOVAKIA- TCHECOSLOVAQUIE F. Topic Narodni Trida 9 PRAHA 1 LUXEMBOURG LibraIrie J. Schummer Place Guillaume LUXEMBOURG 'DE:NMARK-DANEMARK Einar Munskgaard Nôrregade 6 KJOBENHAVN NETHERLAND5-PAYS-BAS N. Y. Martinus Lange Yoorhout s'GRAVENHAGE DOMINICAN REPUBLlC- REPUBLIQUE DOMINICAINE Libreria Dominicana Calle Mercedes No. 49 Apartado 656 CIUDAD TRUJILLO NEW ZEALAND- NOUVELLE-ZELANDE Gordon & Gotch, Waring Taylor WELL~NGTON ECUADOR-EQUATEUR Mufioz Hermanos y Ciao Nueve de Octubre 703 Casilla 10·24 GUAYAQUIL NICARAGUA Ramiro Ramirez Agencia de Publicaciones MANAGUA, D.