81. We associate ourselves with the representatives of the other Member States in sing our deep satisfaction that Mr. Slim was unanimously elected to preside over this session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. The very close and friendly relations that have throughout subsisted between Tunisia and Pakistan make his election a matter of particular gratification to our delegation and our Government, On behalf of Pakistan, its Government and its people, I have the honour to offer him our sincere felicitations. We pray that he may be rightly guided in all matters in the discharge of the heavy responsibilities of his exalted office and that, under his guidance, the Assembly, during the course of this session, may be enabled to grapple successfully with the outstanding problems with which it is faced and to arrive at conclusions which may prove truly beneficial for all concerned.
82. The sixteenth annual session of the General Assembly has opened under the shadow of a poignant tragedy. Dag Hammarskjold personified the spirit of the United Nations and the ideals embodied in its Charter. From the moment of his assumption of office as Secretary-General, he dedicated himself to the service of mankind through his constant endeavour to uphold the authority of the United Nations, to expand its activities, to strengthen its authority and to exalt its status. His life was a shining example of singleness of high-minded purpose regardless of grave risks and menacing threats. In death he has bequeathed
to us a sacred trust: that we continue to hold aloft the banner of peace, freedom, justice and the dignity of man, rising above the conflict of ideologies, the rivalries of nations, the ambitions of individuals and all that may seek to divide mankind into sections, grades and classes. We must resolve that we shall discharge that trust to the uttermost.
83. Our first task is to provide that the direction of the Organization be committed to the charge of one who, by reason of his capacity, experience and temperament, shall be deemed worthy of being invested with that high responsibility and who may be trusted to discharge it without fear or favour. That decision must be speedily made. The Organization, the centre of mankind's hopes for the preservation of peace and the fostering of human welfare, must not be permitted to drift along exposed to the mercy of every wind that blows, nor to become an arena of great Power conflicts. Rather must it be strengthened, to discharge with increasing success and in progressive achievement the purposes of which it was created. To that end, it is necessary that its direction shall be committed into the hands of a single individual who must take his directions from the Organization and from no single Power or group of Powers.
84. While on this subject, I might be permitted to add that my Government views with extreme disfavour and apprehension any classification of Member States of the Organization apart from that expressly recognized by the Charter itself with reference to the Security Council, which is composed of permanent and non-permanent members. The broad regional distribution of membership is obvious and has to be taken into account for certain purposes. Beyond this, any classification or grouping would be arbitrary. Any attempt at arriving at such a classification, for instance into "non-committed", "non-aligned" or "neutral" states and "committed" or "aligned" States, would run counter to the sovereign equality of Member States, would be mischievous, would set in motion strains and stresses which might threaten the very existence of the Organization and would, in any case, seriously discount its effectiveness. We wish to make it quite clear that we are not prepared to recognize or countenance any such classification, and we trust that no such distinction would be sought to be imported or recognized for any purpose whatever so far as the Organization is concerned.
85. We are at this session faced with many grave problems, some of them old, others new. It is not our purpose to attempt a review of all or most of them at this stags. We shall confine ourselves on this occasion to a brief expression of our views concerning such of them whose immediacy presses heavily upon us.
86. The very first is the situation created by the resumption of nuclear tests. While every other problem or situation that might constitute a threat to the maintenance of peace leaves some room for reflection, discussion, negotiation and adjustment, the resumption of nuclear tests constitutes a present, operative and progressive danger to human health and welfare and the very continuation of human life upon earth. As President Kennedy reminded the Assembly the other day [1013rd meeting], test ban negotiations need not and should not await general disarmament talks. We urge, therefore, that the two items relating to this subject on the agenda of the Assembly should receive priority of discussion over all other items in the First Committee, to which they have been allotted
87. The international situation is tense. International peace is precariously balanced and hangs by a slender thread. Mankind at large is caught up on a vortex of crises endlessly chasing each other and constantly increasing in volume and complexity. While every effort must be continued towards easing- and resolving international tensions, it appears to be agreed that the ultimate and effective solution of the problems that threaten peace is to be found in total disarmament. It is a happy augury, but we feel no more than an augury, that an agreement has been reached on the principles [see A/4879] upon which a disarmament agreement could be constructed, and that this makes it possible to resume negotiations towards that end.
88. We welcome the outlining by President Kennedy, in his statement of 25 September, of the first six stages of the disarmament programme. We do not consider that there need be much controversy with regard to them, so far as they go. In this context we would wish to draw the attention of the Assembly to the statement issued by the Commonwealth Prime Ministers on 17 March 1961, setting out the aim and principles of disarmament and urging that:
"The principal military Powers should resume direct negotiations without delay in close contact with the United Nations, which is responsible for disarmament under the Charter. Since peace is the concern of the whole world, other nations should also be associated with the disarmament negotiations, either directly or through some special machinery to be set-up by the United Nations, or by both means." [A/4868, para. 5.]
89. The statement, which has been made a United Nations document, constitutes, in our view, a fair and workable basis for a disarmament agreement. We trust, therefore, that a fresh start can be made on negotiations for reaching agreement on disarmament. We recognize that the problem has many interlocking facets and that its solution may be found as difficult as it is essential for the security and indeed for the survival of mankind. We venture to submit that the approach to the problem should not be confined to the consideration and evaluation of the technicalities bearing upon national and regional security, but should also take into account the fears, suspicions and misunderstandings relating to each other's policies, designs and motives. Both sides must make an earnest effort at understanding and satisfying each other's needs and allaying each other's apprehensions. In other words, each side should be concerned not only to safeguard its own position but also to endeavour that the other side should feel that there is a real desire to safeguard it also against undue risks and uncalculated hazards. This would entail a realistic appraisal of all aspects of the problem, and an all-out effort by each side to put itself in the position of the other and to help the other to appreciate all aspects. The issues involved are so tremendous and so fateful that we earnestly hope that all concerned will succeed in carrying out what amounts to almost a revolution in their approach and methods in dealing with this life and death problem.
90. We would venture to suggest further that efforts at resolving concrete disputes not only between the great Powers but also those between other States, whether Members of the United Nations or not, must be intensified, inasmuch as the settlement of every difference, whether great or small, would generate greater confidence between the parties and in the
Organization, and would iii turn facilitate and forward the process of settlement of other disputes. Lack of trust and confidence is the most serious handicap against which we have to contend. The restoration and maintenance of trust and confidence is the most important single factor which can help to bring about agreement on the major issues and help resolve the major conflicts. Trust and confidence are delicate plants and need careful nurture. To create confidence one must have confidence, to create trust one must be prepared to trust. The first requisite is that each of us must carry out, in the letter and in the spirit, that which we have undertaken to do, in full assurance that the Organization and the Member States will see • that if one party to an agreement is ready to do its part in carrying it into effect, the other party shall not lag behind.
91. The United Nations and Member States must all seek to strengthen their moral authority by bringing their policies into accord with the principles and purposes of the Charter and conforming their conduct to those principles and purposes. Peace and security will not be achieved merely through disarmament. That is only one step—chough a very important and essential step—in the process of safeguarding peace and security. Security will be achieved when our word in effect becomes our bond, not only, in the sphere of private relations but also in public affairs and in international dealing with each other. That is an aspect to which adequate attention is not yet being devoted.
92. Our most pressing and concrete problems at the moment are the Berlin and East German questions. The first essential there is that existing agreements must be scrupulously honoured. Any desired modification must be achieved through consent and agreement. It must, however, be recognized by all concerned, governments as well as peoples, that in a dynamic world, insistence on the maintenance of static positions ties down progress and becomes a source of friction and conflict. Where new factors have arisen, they must be recognized and provided for. The machinery for making such provision, however, must be that of negotiation rather than of ultimatums and faits accomplis. Here, too, perhaps, a fresh appraisal is necessary and new approaches to problems, resulting from such appraisal, would be helpful. But, as we have stated, it must be recognized and agreed that any change must depend upon consent and agreement.
93. The issue of colonialism is fortunately moving towards solution. We have had the great pleasure and satisfaction of welcoming Sierra Leone into the membership of this association of sovereign States [1019th meeting]. We hope to be able to welcome Tanganyika to our fellowship by the middle of December. There are strong indications that negotiations will soon be resumed for recognizing and giving effect to the independence of Algeria. We earnestly hope that these negotiations will move speedily to the consummation of that most desired and urgent objective and that we may be able to welcome Algeria as a Member of the United Nations before the close of the sixteenth session of the Assembly. Nevertheless, several difficult hurdles remain to be negotiated before the colonial problem can be regarded as having been completely resolved.
94. One of the many lessons that our experience in the Congo has taught us is that along with the insistence that colonialism shall be terminated and
wound up as early as possible, we must also require that; the peoples of the territories and areas still under colonial administration should be rapidly trained in the exercise of political authority and in the due discharge of the responsibilities pertaining to sovereign States, so that the transfer of sovereignty can in each case be smoothly achieved and the newly sovereign States can set forth upon a course of consolidation, reconstruction and nation-building in confidence and Security.
95. It is a matter of profound regret for us that the dispute between Indonesia and the Netherlands over West New Guinea has not yet been settled. Were it not that that difficulty still persists, we would acclaim the proposal put forward by the Foreign Minister of the Netherlands in his speech on 26 September 1961 [ 1016th meeting] as a landmark in the progress towards resolving the colonial problem. We consider that the procedure that the Netherlands has proposed with regard to West New Guinea deserves to be carefully studied as a model to be adopted in the case of all colonial territories which have not yet arrived at the threshold of independence and the people of which have to be prepared for the assumption and exercise of the manifold responsibilities of statehood. That procedure is well designed to meet the need to which we have just made reference.
96. On the main issue of the winding up of the colonial system, Pakistan will, as always, continue to lend its support to all proposals of a practical nature designed to help the rapid march of dependent peoples toward the attainment of sovereignty.
97. These are only some of the problems that press heavily upon us at this moment,, There are others, the existence of some of which is recognised, and progressive effort is being directed towards achieving their solution. We have in mind the economic and social needs of a vast section of mankind. The intensity of these problems is increasing daily, but the efforts hitherto assembled to deal with them are not only inadequate but are progressively falling behind while the problems race ahead.' The crucial struggle here is against poverty, disease and ignorance. The thousands of millions afflicted by these ills are becoming increasingly conscious of the privations and -''stress which they and theirs are called upon to endure, while a small fraction monopolizes the enjoyment of the fat things and fruits of the earth and access to infinite bounties of knowledge, learning and skill in every field.
98. I trust we shall be forgiven if we give expression to the feeling that, with all that is being said and done in this context, the attitude towards these grave problems is in many cases still one of comparative complacence. We much fear that the matter is treated more often than not as one of benevolence or charity and hot one of obligation. It is true that the obligation involved is moral, as indeed are all obligations in the international field, but it is not, for that reason, any the less binding. If the problem were approached in the right spirit it would fee realized that it is one of utmost urgency even from the point of view of what has been described as "enlightened self-interest" and indeed is one of self-preservation. It might sound a paradox, but is a truism, that the prosperity of the few is fed and supported by the needs of the many, The choice before the many is being rapidly reduced to deciding that life is not worth living on the terms on which it is offered to them, or be stirring themselves to appropriate for themselves through violence that which they lack and which they feel they are entitled to share in, Either choice would destroy all present values, the just along with the unjust, and the beneficial along with the injurious. If the thousands of millions of the "have-nots were to embark upon a course, either of self-annihilation by giving up the hopeless struggle for existence, or of violent appropriation, humanity and all that it holds dear in the fields of art, culture, science, knowledge, learning and moral and spiritual values would be disrupted and destroyed as effectively as by the use of nuclear weapons of war.
99. It is time that not only this Organization but also Governments and authorities around the globe recognized their inescapable obligation in this field. Those that are already contributing much must prepare themselves to give more out of their plenty and those that are contributing little must yield up progressively more even out of their penury. We cannot all contribute in the same measure or in the same kind, but we can all make valuable contributions at various levels. Service of our brethren around the globe should be one of our major concerns, as this is the only way of serving God and rendering thanks to Him for al* His bounties, material, moral and spiritual. Let us then take heed that we devise speedily adequate measures to meet this vast and seemingly unlimited need before destitution, disease and ignorance have time to ferment into a devouring madness consuming and destroying all. It is this field that calls for the application of nuclear energy for the purpose of curing these ills which afflict humanity so sorely and of leading it into the sunshine of health, prosperity, knowledge and wisdom. We are glad to note that, in the words of the late Secretary-General, in the introduction [A/ 4800/Add.l] to his annual report on the work of the Organization:
"...the General Assembly will have before it proposals initiated by the Scientific Advisory Committee and endorsed by the Economic and Social Council, for a conference under United Nations aegis, intended to provide possibilities for a breakthrough in the application of the technical achievements of present times to the problems of the economically less developed countries".
We trust this proposal will meet with the unanimous approval of the General Assembly.
100. Let us resolve here and now to divert our daily augmenting stores of knowledge, science, technology and energy from destructive uses and purposes to the beneficent service of our fellow beings so that life here below shall become for every one of us a full, rich and happy experience, rather than remain an unending vista of suffering, misery and frustration for the vast majority of mankind as it is today.