Allow me to add my personal and my Government's congratulations to the many already tendered to the President on his election to the high office which indeed he so richly deserves. The General Assembly is fortunate that its deliberation in this session will be guided by a statesman of such high calibre and experience.
2. I should also like to say a few words of tribute to the skill and wisdom of his distinguished predecessor, Prince Wan Waithayakon, to whose lot it befell to preside over the last session of the General Assembly at a time when the world had been plunged into one of the worst crises of the last decade.
3. Mr. Hammarskjold's unanimous re-election by the Security Council and the General Assembly for another term is a befitting recognition of the historic role which he played in enhancing the effectiveness and prestige of the United Nations at a perilous juncture in its existence. To the many tributes paid to him last week, I should like to add my own; and I should like to assure him of the warm good wishes of my delegation.
4. My delegation shares the special pleasure of the members of the Commonwealth on the admission of the Federation of Malaya to the universal fellowship of the United Nations. Besides the common values which bind together all members of the Commonwealth, Pakistan has common ties of religion and culture with the multiracial society of Malaya and therefore its membership in this Organization is a matter of special gratification to us.
5. From time to time, one hears varying opinions expressed as to the value of the United Nations. For myself, I am not one of those who decry this Organization. In my view, the United Nations can look back with a degree of satisfaction on substantial achievements. Its worth is not to be measured by the number of unsolved problems on its agenda — and some of these problems have been discussed by us at every session of the Assembly. Its worth is to be measured by one yardstick only, and that is "What would the state of the world have been without the United Nations?".
6. In fact, it would be difficult to visualize world order without a world instrument to avert conflicts and to harmonize the differing views and interests of governments and peoples. An international organization such as the United Nations is a historical necessity. The age of power diplomacy when nations and groups of nations arrogated to themselves the right to impose their will and judgement on the rest of the world by the use or threat of their might has had its day. The strong among nations must now learn, in their dealings with the weak, to rely on the dictates of moral law and not on the apparatus of power. The United Nations is both the visible symbol of this new fact of international life and an instrument of the new world order.
7. The Secretary-General has drawn our attention, in the introduction of his annual report [A/3594/Add.l], to the limitations on the power of the Organization to bring about peaceful settlement of disputes within the framework of the Charter and in accordance with the principles of justice and international law.
8. My delegation has been made only too painfully aware, as a result of our own experience, of the limitations of the United Nations in upholding the rule of law and meting out justice in disputes between large and small nations. The "diplomacy of reconciliation", as the Secretary-General calls it, has been tried in the Kashmir dispute by the Security Council for nearly a decade. However, in spite of the fact that both law and justice demand that the people of Kashmir should be enabled to exercise their inalienable and fundamental right to freedom, they continue to be denied the right to self-determination by the coercive apparatus of a police state propped up by an alien military occupation. Human rights, which are sanctified by rules of international law and are the subject of universal declarations, solemn proclamations, numerous resolutions by the General Assembly and the provisions of the Charter itself, continue to be denied to the people of Kashmir. Their leader, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, a former comrade in arms of the Prime Minister of India, who used to call him a brother, has been languishing in prison, without a trial, in solitary confinement, for the last four years, for the sole crime of fighting for the rights of his people.
9. I would like to ask why the United Nations is silent over the incarceration of this fighter for freedom? Not long ago voices were raised in protest, in this very hall, over the detention of Cardinal Mindszenty, the Primate of Hungary. Will mine be the only voice to invoke justice, law and the conscience of the world on behalf of Sheikh Abdullah? I will not dilate on this problem at length because the Security Council is seized of the Kashmir dispute.
10. I have set forth only one illustration of the views of the Secretary-General on the limitations of our Organization as an instrument for peaceful settlement of disputes. There are also other examples of conflicts which have persisted for long periods without an agreed solution. I would like to make specific mention of Palestine and of Algeria.
11. The problem of Palestine is no nearer settlement than it was ten years ago. Sometimes we hear voices which sound as if Member nations would like to wash their hands of their responsibility for the situation which, if I may say so, has been one of their own making. The Secretary-General has done well to remind us of our continuing obligation to work towards a restoration of the armistice agreements and to give constructive help to the Arab refugees. The tragic plight of this uprooted homeless humanity must lie heavily on the conscience of the international community so long as the mandates of the General Assembly concerning their right to repatriation and compensation are not implemented. We regret to say that the Members of the United Nations, and in particular the permanent members of the Security Council, whose authority and influence alone brought about the partition of Palestine, have not thrown the full weight of their power behind the efforts to secure compliance with the resolutions of the General Assembly and to restore the fundamental human rights of the Arab refugees and to safeguard peace and stability in the Middle East. These objectives of the United Nations cannot be achieved by the Arab States alone. The Organization must continue and intensify its efforts to reduce tension and remove causes of conflict in this area which is of critical importance to world peace.
12. The problem of Algeria will be discussed in the Assembly for the third year in succession. Here again, the war between France and the people of Algeria is of great concern to the world and, in the nature of things, especially to the nations of Asia and Africa. The mutual reprisals and some of the methods of suppression of the Algerian struggle for independence have roused strong feelings in France itself, as indeed throughout the world. My delegation takes note of the intentions of the metropolitan Power to forge a new relationship with the people of Algeria on the basis of a larger freedom. In all goodwill, may I say that the efforts now being made by France to devise a solution must be both bold and magnanimous to win acceptance in Algeria. The longer a solution is delayed, the more difficult it will be to work out a settlement within the framework of association with France.
13. The Hungarian question was considered by the resumed eleventh session of the General Assembly only recently. I do not wish to repeat here what my Government has already stated as the considered expression of its views except to reiterate that the people of Hungary are entitled to have a government of their own choice which reflects their democratic will and aspirations.
14. The question of Cyprus will be discussed again at the present session. In the view of my delegation, no settlement of this question can be regarded as just or lasting without the agreement of Turkey, which has historic and security interests in the Island as well as a close and intimate concern with the future well-being of the large section of population of Turkish origin.
15. In the general debate last year, my delegation expressed strong support for the idea of a permanent United Nations force as an instrument for giving effect to the mandates of the United Nations. It is therefore with no small degree of satisfaction that we take note of the favourable report of the Secretary-General on the value of such a force in situations like that which recently arose in the Middle East. We have no doubt that all Member States are greatly interested in the study undertaken by the Secretariat of the experience, in all its aspects, of the United Nations Emergency Force improvised last year to cope with the Suez crisis.
16. Pakistan is a strong supporter of the concept of a United Nations peace force which, in the words of the Secretary-General, "could be activated on short notice in future emergencies to serve in similar ways". Until such time as unanimity of the permanent members of the Security Council makes it possible for the Security Council to have at its disposal the armed forces to be made available by Member States under Chapter VII of the Charter, a United Nations peace force would be a practical, if not wholly adequate, substitute. Such a force could be created through appropriate action by the General Assembly in furtherance of the primary objective of the United Nations to maintain peace and tranquillity. It need not be a large force. When deployed with the moral authority of the United Nations behind it, it will not be an ineffective deterrent to a potential aggressor. It will enhance the effectiveness of the United Nations in achieving peaceful adjustment of disputes and emergency situations.
17. Before I turn to the crucial question of disarmament, I would like to express my Government’s appreciation of the useful work of the specialized agencies of the United Nations in Pakistan. The United Nations Technical Assistance Administration, the World Health Organization, the International Labour Office and the Food and Agriculture Organization are making important contributions to the economic development and social welfare of the world.
18. In particular, I would emphasize the beneficent activities of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). This organization, which is financed by voluntary contributions from different countries and organizations, has this year a budget of $24,000,000, a considerable increase over last year's budget. It hopes, through continuous efforts, to abolish malaria throughout the world in about ten years' time, having made considerable progress in this direction already. What this means to the poorer nations living in unfavourable climates can be imagined only by us who live there. In Pakistan, the UNICEF has set up a DDT factory which is already in production. It is also setting up a penicillin factory which will soon go into production. This antibiotic is in very short supply in the eastern countries. In fact, it is almost unobtainable because of the shortage of foreign exchange. The UNICEF's investigations in dietetics will, I have no doubt, help us to balance the diet of our people and to improve national physical standard's. My delegation takes this opportunity to thank all those countries and organizations that have contributed freely to the work of this humanitarian body.
19. I now turn to the fateful issue of disarmament. It is not necessary for me to elaborate upon the terrible prospect of mass annihilation which faces mankind as a result of the perfection of thermonuclear weapons and the means of their delivery. Warnings have been uttered during the past few years that the problem of disarmament is a race against time, since science and technology are placing weapons of mass destruction in the hands of man faster than his ability to devise measures of control or defence against them. The admission by the “nuclear" Powers that an adequate and reliable system of control over nuclear disarmament is not possible at the moment because of the impossibility of detecting hidden stockpiles of nuclear weapons is most disconcerting. Through frittering away precious time in mutual suspicion and distrust, have we been carried beyond the point of no return? However, nothing will more surely spell the doom of our existence than a fatal acceptance of that inevitability. All Members of the United Nations must therefore bend their urgent efforts to narrow the differences between the Western Powers and the Soviet Union over the question of achieving comprehensive disarmament under an effective system of inspection and control.
20. My delegation has been encouraged by the statement of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom in this debate [685th meeting] that the disarmament talks are not necessarily at a stage of deadlock and that there is real prospect of common ground. Is it too much to hope that the members of the Sub-Committee of the Disarmament Commission, putting aside for the time being their continuing differences over those parts of the first-stage disarmament plan on which they disagree, will nevertheless proceed to conclude an agreement on those measures on which they are close to each other's views? I have in mind specifically the proposals concerning surprise attack, the levels of armed forces and the exchange of concrete lists of armaments to be reduced. If agreement on these measures could be achieved and acted upon, it would in a large measure promote that mutual confidence which is indispensable to disarmament and the elimination of hydrogen and atomic threats.
21. The Pakistan delegation attaches great importance to such a partial agreement. A reduction of armed forces and conventional armaments of the great Powers cannot but remain the first preoccupation of those nations which are not among the "nuclear" Powers. If such a reduction could be agreed upon between themselves initially, appropriate reductions could be brought about in the armed forces and conventional armaments of all the nations of the world. Tensions would be relaxed and the danger of local wars which might develop into a world conflict would be reduced. A large part of the world would be relieved of the crushing burden of unproductive expenditures which could then be devoted to constructive purposes. I conclude with the earnest hope that this session may bring us all closer to that event.