India And Pakistan

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31187, 11 October 1966, Page 16

India And Pakistan

It has been cynically remarked that political relations between India and Pakistan are back to normal. An exchange of Notes between the two Governments in the last few months gives no reason to hope that the Kashmir issue can be discussed with any prospect of an agreed solution. The Tashkent Declaration, signed at talks held under Russian sponsorship after last year’s fighting over Kashmir, provided for regular meetings at ministerial level to examine problems affecting relations between India and Pakistan. A meeting of the Foreign Ministers held in Rawalpindi last March produced no semblance of common ground on Kashmir, and exchanges since have convinced Pakistan that India has no intention of discussing Kashmir on any basis other than acceptance by Pakistan of Kashmir’s accession to India —an impossible condition, as must be well understood in New Delhi Recently each Government has charged the other with deliberately rearming for a renewal of hostilities. Pakistan, in the Indian view, is in “ nuclear “ collusion ” with China. India, according to Pakistan, is not only rearming with Russian assistance, but is making ready for nuclear weapons tests and generally organising for “ aggression ”.

It is clear that both Governments are spending more on defence than they can afford. The Indian Budget, for example, provides for a defence expenditure of £6OO million this year, largely resulting from the persisting fear of Chinese attack in the Himalayas. In Washington the signs have prompted examination of proposals whereby sales of arms, suspended after the fighting a year ago, might be resumed to both India and Pakistan on the understanding that purchases be kept within sharply prescribed limits. The re-establishment of American influence in both countries, it is argued, would be preferable to seeing Pakistan pressed into a closer association with China and India increasing her reliance on Russia for arms. The expectation is that a proposal on these lines will be put forward in Washington next month during a visit by the president of the Indian Congress Party, Mr Kamaraj. The State Department’s view is understood to be that the sharing of American weapons on an agreed basis could lead to a considerable easing of tension between India and Pakistan. President Ayub Khan, however, would certainly want firm assurances regarding Kashmir. For her part, Mrs Gandhi, looking to the election next February and already under pressure in the Congress over domestic issues, would be in no position to compromise over Kashmir even if she were willing to do so. In the prevailing atmosphere of mutual suspicion, it would seem foolishly optimistic to expect any agreement on a limited arms build-up that might lead to a relaxation of border tensions.