INDIA WILL NOT BE NEUTRAL IN EVENT OF THREAT TO FREEDOM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27212, 15 October 1949, Page 7

INDIA WILL NOT BE NEUTRAL IN EVENT OF THREAT TO FREEDOM

NZPA—Copyright WASHINGTON, Rec. 9 p.m. Oct. 13. The Indian Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru, told Congress to-day that India “cannot be, and shall not be neutral” in the event of any world aggression or threat to freedom. In identical speeches to the House and Senate, Pandit Nehru said: •“Every prayer an Indian raises ends with an invocation to peace.” Mahatma Gandhi, he said, had taught Indians the technique of action which was peaceful, yet effective, and yielded results which led India not only to freedom, but also to 1 friendship with those with whom she had been in conflict. )

Pleading for understanding of India’s foreign policy of aloofness in the “cold war,” Pandit Nehru said:-“We have to achieve freedom and defend

it. We have to meet aggression and resist it, and-the force employed must be adequate to the purpose. But even when preparing to resist aggression, the ultimate objective of peace and reconciliation must never be lost sight of. The heart and mind must be attuned to this supreme aim and not swayed or clouded by hatred or, fear. This is the basis and goal of our foreign policy. We arc neither blind to reality nor do we propose ,to acquiesce in any challenge to man’s freedom, from whatever quarter it may come. Where freedom is menaced or justice threatened, or where aggression takes place we cannot be, and shall not be, neutral.”