May I be permitted to start such brief observations as I desire to submit to the Assembly this afternoon by congratulating the Assembly on the choice of its President for its ninth regular session. Mr. van Kleffens has, during his distinguished career, in peace and war, given ample proof of those high qualities which, I am confident, will enable him to guide and regulate the deliberations of the Assembly during this session with the requisite ability, tact and dignity to the complete satisfaction of all concerned. May I also add my tribute to that paid by other speakers to Mrs. Pandit for the ability, dignity and skill with which she presided over the eighth session of the Assembly.
37. The United Nations is approaching the close of the first decade of its existence. People everywhere feel impelled to take stock of its achievements and failures and to ask themselves whether it has justified itself. To this general question we, for our part, are able, without hesitation, to make an affirmative reply. In so expressing ourselves we are not unmindful of the shortcomings of the Organization which have revealed themselves in certain directions, and, still more, of the inadequacy of its action in certain others. Nevertheless, we are convinced that the Organization has done and continue to do invaluable beneficent work in the economic, social, cultural and humanitarian fields. Its record in respect of the development of friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples is also, bearing in mind all the difficulties that are encountered and have to be overcome, not a discouraging one. In this context, we welcome the initiative taken by New Zealand in respect of the convening of the proposed constitutional convention in Western Samoa. This is a step which might well serve as a pattern to be usefully and profitably followed in other similar cases. But here, too, we are conscious of occasional fallings from grace and even blunders of a grave character, as witness, for instance, a million homeless and destitute Arabs whose misery is a standing and poignant reproach to the Organization, being attributable directly to United Nations action taken in defiance of clear and repeated warnings of the fate that would surely and inevitably overtake the Arabs population of Palestine if partition were persisted in. But this and other instances only serve to emphasize that the United Nations suffers from a degree of imperfection which is a measure of the shortcomings and imperfections of its membership.
38. Many of us are anxious to see progress in respect of the self-determination of peoples sharply accelerated. We believe that once a people has become conscious and impatient of its position of dependence, and eager to assume the duties and responsibilities of self-government, continued denial of freedom thereafter compels recourse to subversive activities which immediately develop into an active threat to the maintenance of peace and security. On the other hand, a dependent people can, in the nature of things, not have the same eager interest in the maintenance of peace and the fight against aggression as a people enjoying the blessings of freedom has in the defence of its freedom and all that it imports and signifies. Nor can a dependent people be expected to suffer privations and to make sacrifices cheerfully for the purpose merely of maintaining the dominance to which it is subject, however grave the alternative that may threaten. We consider, therefore, that the acceleration of the process of self-determination is one of the principal means of strengthening the edifice of international peace, and would, as it progresses, remove what at present constitutes a potent incitement to aggression. The fewer the number of what may even mistakenly be regarded as colonial prizes, the smaller will be the temptation to make bids for winning them; the greater the number of free nations and peoples, the larger will be the muster in support of the defence of freedom, the suppression of subversion and the halting of aggression.
39. It is, however, in respect of the fulfilment of its main purposes, namely the maintenance of international peace and security, the prevention and removal of threats to the peace and the suppression of acts of aggression and other breaches of the peace that, notwithstanding its action in Korea, there prevails a sense of disappointment and frustration concerning the United Nations. But it must be recognized that the Organization has, during the greater part of its brief existence, operated under a severe handicap. The Charter of the United Nations presupposes, arid indeed bases itself on, a reasonable degree of accord and unity between the great Powers in support of the purposes and principles of the Organization as proclaimed in the Charter. This accord and unity have, alas, been lacking. It is no matter for wonder, therefore, that the Organization has failed to fulfil completely its primary and pre-eminent purpose. In fact, it is this discord between the great Powers that constitutes the principal threat to international peace and security. It has compelled some of the great and several of the small Powers to seek methods of regional organization and co-operation, as is contemplated in Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, in support of the maintenance of peace and security. These efforts are the inevitable outcome of the lack of accord between the great Powers — particularly on such question as disarmament and the control of atomic weapons — which has fostered grave apprehensions concerning not only the maintenance of peace and security but the very survival of civilization and culture and, indeed, of the human race itself. Those who are disposed to cavil or look askance at these arrangements appear to us to ignore the clear lessons of history and to shut their eyes to the events of the last few years.
40. In the state of uncertainty that prevails today, fraught with such grave peril to all that man values and holds dear, it is clearly the duty of those upon whom responsibility lies to take every reasonable precaution and to make all reasonable preparation for the safeguarding of national, as well as regional and international, security. So long as the real purpose and object of these arrangements is the suppression of aggression and the maintenance of peace and security, they need arouse no apprehension in any quarter. Having myself no aggressive designs against my neighbour, if I observe that he is taking measures to safeguard his security, this may perhaps cause me amusement but need occasion no apprehension or alarm. It is only if my own designs are aggressive or if I contemplate the use of force in gaining my ends or achieving my purposes, however justified or desirable these ends or purposes may appear in my own estimation, that I would look upon my neighbour’s preparations with annoyance, chagrin or possibly alarm. It may, of course, be that my neighbour, while loudly proclaiming the peaceful character of his intentions, is clearly harbouring aggressive designs. If I had solid grounds for relating his activities to such designs, my apprehension and alarm would be justified. But we venture to submit that such is not the case in respect of the measures to which I have made reference. We would offer one test which we consider adequate: there is nothing in any of these arrangements that is secret or is sought to be imposed under compulsion or constraint of any description. All is open, free and voluntary. The declared and the real purpose are identical. The only object is the maintenance of security and the suppression of aggression.
41. It is being progressively realized that armed attack is only the culminating step in the pattern of aggression that has unfolded itself during the last few years. The antecedent steps are infiltration and the creation of confusion followed by subversion. The social pattern and economic and political conditions prevailing over a large part of the continents of Asia and Africa are only too favourable to the successful prosecution of such designs.
42. We recognize that arrangements of a military character are necessary to overcome manifestations of aggression through the use of arms. But economic causes may render these arrangements inadequate for this purpose. Without a sound economy, no country can build up or continue to support an adequate system of defence. A high Western authority has recently observed: “A defence programme which overburdens the economy of the country is an unstable defence programme. . . . Many countries, though independent and capable of a sound economy in a peaceful world, find themselves with inadequate technical and financial resources to build up the defences necessary in the world as they find it today”.
43. The obvious remedy is that they must, within as short a period as possible, be assisted in attaining a position in which they can develop their economic, technical and financial resources to a degree adequate to enable them to carry the burden of an appropriate defence system, without subjecting their economy to an undue strain.
44. Rapid economic development of under-developed countries is, however, demanded even more insistently by considerations of a more primary character. It is the only answer to infiltration, confusion and subversion. The bait most often and most persistently held out to the “have not” or “have little” masses of these countries by the instruments of chaos, confusion and subversion is that an upsetting of the social, economic and political order of the country and its reshaping along patterns advocated by them would usher in an era of universal prosperity, with its attendant blessings of health, leisure, amusement and gainful technical instruction and training. This kind of activity has already initiated strong currents in the minds of hundreds of millions of the peoples of Asia and Africa who sustain a precarious existence on the verge of starvation, in the darkness of ignorance, continuously a prey to diseases and disorders of various descriptions. Here is a vast field for beneficent co-operation between the East and the West. Such co-operation can furnish an answer to the crucial question with which the teeming millions of Asia and Africa are being persistently confronted. To quote once more the high Western authority to whom I have already referred: “The struggle against the spread of communism will be determined in many cases by the estimate of the people in under-developed countries as to whether they have a better chance, while satisfying their national aspirations, of raising their own standards of life through the adoption of the Western or the communist ideas of organizing society; by the acceptance of Western or communist help... The outcome will be determined by whether our deeds and our behaviour convince or fail to convince these uncommitted peoples of Asia that they have a better chance of satisfying their national aspirations and raising their standards of life and well-being by association with the West.”
45. We acknowledge with deep gratitude all that has so far been achieved and is projected in this direction by the United Nations and its agencies, the United States technical assistance and other aid programmes, the Colombo Plan, and the efforts of other countries, agencies, foundations and individuals, not only through the promotion of permanent or long-term measures and projects, but also by way of ad hoc relief and assistance during periods of famine, floods and other visitations. The promptness and volume of the aid and relief provided for the stricken people of east Pakistan from so many directions, particularly by the defence forces of the United States, during the recent calamitous and unprecedented floods in that part of the country, subjecting over 25 million people to acute misery and near destitution, have created a heart-warming reaction among all classes of the people of Pakistan, and have left a profound impression on their minds, even in the remotest corners of the country.
46. Assistance and co-operation in all these fields is a token of the spirit that is drawing together the peoples of all regions, the East and the West, the North and the South, in one common bond of brotherhood, and is a good augury for the future of mankind on this rapidly shrinking planet. Though all this is very welcome, much, very much, still remains to be done. Not only must effort in this direction not be relaxed, but it must be greatly intensified and enhanced.
47. We welcome the emphasis laid on this matter in a speech made yesterday [480th meeting] by the Foreign Minister of the Netherlands. We strongly support his proposal for the establishment of a special United Nations fund for economic development, a proposal which the Pakistan delegation to the Economic and Social Council has already very strongly urged and which has also been advocated by us in the Second Committee of the General Assembly last year. But on the other hand, one has noticed that occasional expression is given to a feeling in certain quarters that effort and co-operation of this description are in the nature of charitable handouts that have a tendency to encourage sloth and to discourage self-reliance rather than to stimulate initiative; or that there is a lack of adequate appreciation on behalf of those who have so far been the beneficiaries of such efforts; or that the burden and the sacrifice are beginning to be irksome; or that there is a danger that such aid and assistance may be misconstrued as political bribery. Believe me, there is little foundation in fact for these or similar other misconceptions.
48. Whatever sacrifices the continuation of these efforts may entail — and it must be recognized that in a large number of cases they do mean heavy sacrifices, not the less real because they are cheerfully borne — they do in reality constitute investment of a most profitable and beneficent character, though it may take some time for the profit and the beneficence to become manifest. They are, in addition, a very valuable insurance. Not only does the goodwill created form a most valuable asset; the salvage, rehabilitation, reconstruction and stimulation of every form of economic activity in such wide and widely separated areas and in so many diverse forms and shapes is bound to multiply needs, purchasing power and markets in geometrical progression.
49. The increased prosperity and well-being of even a section of the people of one country or area must operate to sustain and strengthen the prosperity and well-being of many in widely scattered parts of the earth. Those who today possess the initiative and occupy advanced positions in the fields of manufacture, industry and commerce, are bound to be the largest beneficiaries of this newly created prosperity. Those, therefore, who are so fortunate as to be able to participate in this investment, as I have termed it, should congratulate themselves on their good fortune in finding themselves in that position, rather than commiserate with themselves for the sacrifices which they are called upon to make. Indeed, if they were to let themselves be carried away by the kind of thinking underlying the query, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”, they may at no distant date wake up to the mournful reality that in today’s world he who will not accept the responsibility and burden, if burden it involve, of becoming his brother’s keeper, will push both his brother and himself to the brink of disaster.
50. Those of us who advance pleas of this kind on behalf of the under-developed countries and regions, find no joy or pleasure in doing so. We would gladly dispense with such pleas if the prospect with which all of us are threatened were to let us. The demands of the situation of today are, however, insistent and inexorable. If we will not do voluntarily, cheerfully and eagerly that which needs to be done, a destructive travesty of it will be attempted to be carried out by compulsion in spite of us. Let us make no mistake. This is the only choice. Either we must all join together to foster human prosperity and well-being in freedom; or we shall not only be deprived of the means of achieving this objective but we shall also lose all that we have and value and which we may seek to hold back. It has been said that mankind cannot endure half free and half slave. Equally it cannot endure half full and half hungry, half clothed and half naked, half healthy and half ill, half prosperous and half destitute, half in the sunshine of knowledge and half in the darkness of ignorance. This is the challenge of today. It must be met and met speedily. If we fail, the lean kine shall surely swallow up the fat kine.
51. In this connexion, we welcome the announcement made by Mr. Dulles on 23 September [475th meeting] in his statement here that the United States intends to proceed with President Eisenhower’s scheme for the pooling of atomic energy resources for peaceful uses. We appreciate that the development and exploitation of atomic energy for peaceful uses will take time. But we are glad that it is proposed to take the first steps in that direction at an early date. It is too early to attempt an estimate of the results that may be hoped for from the application of atomic energy to civilian uses. Warnings have been uttered against the entertainment of over-optimistic expectations. We have been told we must not expect miracles. But this is the age of miracles. Much of what has become the merest commonplace today was a matter for wonder and awe only a hundred years ago or less. We have become conscious of great needs. This is the surest indication that provision for the fulfilment of those needs is close at hand. What is required is that our search for the means of fulfilment shall continue to be diligently pursued in every direction.
52. It is ironic that the first manifestation of the use of atomic energy was destructive. Atomic energy has, in consequence, become associated in men’s minds primarily with terror, destruction and devastation. While efforts must continue to be made to safeguard mankind against the destructive uses of atomic energy, we must direct our minds more and more towards the harnessing of this new source of power to the beneficent service of man. As its peaceful uses begin to manifest themselves, it will begin to lose some of the terror which its very mention tends to inspire in the minds of men. In the course of time our search in this direction might reveal the means of obtaining power for the servicing of man’s growing and manifold needs at a comparatively low and even negligible cost. Such a consummation alone would enable us to meet speedily and adequately the challenge that I have mentioned. The divergence between the economies of the developed and the under-developed countries can be narrowed only by ample power becoming available at low cost. Failing such a development, this divergence will tend to increase rather than to diminish. The pooling of resources of atomic energy for civilian uses holds out the hope that the objective which we have in mind may be compassed through this means. We shall, therefore, co-operate eagerly with other States so minded in forwarding the scheme, the preliminary stages of which were outlined by Mr. Dulles in his speech here on 23 September.
53. Pakistan was admitted to membership in this Organization within a few week of its coming into being. During the period of its membership, it has given ample proof that it loyally upholds the ideals of the United Nations as set out in the Charter. It has striven to the utmost to fulfil its obligations under the Charter in every respect. This record is a guarantee that Pakistan will continue to uphold these ideals, to foster these purposes, and to fulfil these obligations in the future to the utmost of its capacity.
54. Our last observation is “all praise is due to God the Sustainer of all the Universes”.