PAKISTAN AND INDIA

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 150, 11 April 1950, Page 3

PAKISTAN AND INDIA

SECURITY OF MINORITIES DETAILS OF AGREEMENT (N.Z.P. A.—Copyright) LONDON, April 10. . The Prime Minister (Pandit Nenru) announced m the Indian Parliament to-day the details of the agreement guaranteeing the security of minorities in India ana PaKistan, says the New Delhi correspondent of the Associated Press. The agreement permits migration across tne Pakistan-Indian border, and establishes inquiry commissions and minority commissions on both sides of the frontier. Under the agreement, the Governmente of Pakistan and India agree lo prevent the dissemination of news and mischievous opinion which may arouse “communal passion,” and to ban propaganda directed against the territorial integrity of either country, or inciting war between them. The agreement also provides for a deputation of two Ministers one from each Government—to stay in the riot-affected areas of East and West Bengal, Assam, and Tripura, on India’s eastern border, for as long as necessary. Representatives of minority communities are to he included in the Cabinets of East and West Bengal and Assam. Both these measures are intended to restore confidence among minority communities, so that refugees may return to their homes. The agreement was the outcome of seven-day talks between Pandit Nehru and the Prime Minister of Pakistan (Mr Liaquat Ali Khan) in New Delhi. Presenting the agreement .to- the Indian Parliament, Pandit Nehru said that its contents and timing had peculiar significance and importance. “Our future depends upon the measure of compliance in Pakistan and India,” he continued. “I invited Mr Liaquat Ali Khan here because the time had come when we had a final effort to stop this rot, or drift inevitably towards catastrophe. “We have stopped ourselves at the edge of the precipice, and turned our back to it. That by itself fs a definite gain.” Pandit Nehru called on the Governments and peoples of both countries to “put an end to the vicious atmosphere that has surrounded us for these 2h years, since India and Pakistan became independent.” Pandit Nehru added: “The matter is not merely political or economic, but an essentially human problem, in which human lives and human suffering are involved in a measure that is almost unthinkable.” Mr Liaquat Ali Khan told the Pakistan Parliament to-day that he believed that the agreement with India, if properly implemented, would “lead to the eradication of the fear, and suspicion which stalk through this subcontinent.”