1. Mr. President, the fact that you were unanimously elected to preside over the deliberations of the fourteenth session of the General Assembly is a high tribute to your great services to this Organization and to the outstanding contribution which the Latin-American countries have made towards the realization, under the aegis of the United Nations, of an international legal and political order based on justice and freedom. It is only fitting that one of the most learned and eloquent spokesmen of the hopes and ideals which stir all the peoples of the world should be so honoured.
2. I should also like to pay a tribute to Mr. Charles Malik, the President of the thirteenth session of the General Assembly, for the distinguished service which he has rendered in the long course of his association with the United Nations.
3. The Secretary-General has drawn our attention; in the introduction to his annual report on the work of the Organization [A/4132/Add.1], to the evolution of his office within the framework of the Charter. His initiative in the direction of evolving procedures of a diplomatic, operational and good offices character without altering the constitutional balance among the various organs of the United Nations, and his efforts to build up an independent influence for our Organization by expressing an independent judgement on questions of international concern must be welcomed by all Member States. In particular, the not-so-powerful nations have especial reason to endorse Mr. Hammarskjold’s independent role on matters which, though of primary concern to the great Powers, also affect the interests of the rest of the world.
4. The world today is dominated by two extremely powerful blocs with a tremendous potential for destruction. Each has misgivings about the real intentions of the other. Both make declarations of their peaceful intentions. There is, however, no way of being certain that what is declared is actually intended by those who declare it, and that, even if it is intended by those who declare it today, those who take their place tomorrow will also abide by it.
5. So long, therefore, as the capacity to destroy remains, suspicions that it might be used must also remain and must be taken into account as an inseparable part of the reality of the situation,
6. The rest of the world consists of States at varying stages of economic and political development. At one end are States politically as mature and economically as developed as any of the most powerful; while at the other end are States politically in their cradle and economically at the stage where recorded history began. Some of them have tried to stay out of the way of the two giants, hoping to be left alone in safety. Some have tried to play one against the other, hoping to gain advantages from both by making each pay a price for their not going over to the other. Some have tried to seek shelter with the giant of their choice, in whom they could put their trust.
7. The spectacle of the community of States of the world today, in essence, is what the spectacle of any community must have been at the threshold of organized and orderly life. Peoples who find themselves placed in such close proximity to one another sooner or later make the discovery that co-operation is better than conflict. Organs and institutions to ensure cooperation and to eliminate conflicts then begin to appear and grow. Science today, by surmounting geographical barriers, has brought all the peoples of the world together to share the same environment and the same destiny.
8. There is, however, an important difference between the past and the present. In the conditions of the past, it did not very much matter when that discovery was made, or whether it was acted upon later or sooner. Life could be trusted to go on in spite of conflicts.
9. That assumption no longer holds good. Conflict today can be on so devastating a scale as to destroy or damage mankind as a whole. It is of the utmost importance, therefore, that the discovery be made and acted upon while there is yet time. The beginnings of that discovery have already been made. This august body is a manifestation of it.
10. It would be presumptuous on my part If I, coming here for the first time and speaking on behalf of a State yet engaged in finding ways and means of attaining internal stability in accordance with the will of its people as expressed through their chosen representatives, attempted to expound to those whose experience, learning and ability are acknowledged and acclaimed all over the world the ways and means of securing lasting international stability in accordance with the will of the nations. At the same time, I think it is necessary to emphasize the imperative nature of the need for finding those ways and means — a need which cannot be overemphasized, because the future of all of us depends on finding them — expeditiously.
11. The existence of the capacity to destroy, if balanced on both sides, acts as a deterrent, but not a very dependable deterrent. If it fails to deter, the alternative is mutual destruction. Theoretically, therefore, the choice is obvious. The difficulty lies- in translating the theoretical choice into a workable formula which would ensure that, at the end of the process, neither side would — if I may be pardoned for using a colloquial expression — have something up its sleeve, and that, during the process, at all stages, the balance that acts as a deterrent would be ensured in order to obviate the possibility that either side might take advantage of a transitory lack of equilibrium.
12. Let us earnestly hope that each of the ten nations on the Disarmament Committee, set up as a result of an agreement between the Foreign Ministers of the great Powers, will realize the fateful nature of the task confronting them, and with a sense of the gravity of the consequences of their decisions — on which will depend the fate of many others who will not be there to speak for themselves — will work out a scheme ensuring disarmament as complete as that envisaged by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Mr. Khrushchev, and under controls as effective as those emphasized by the Secretary of State of the United States, Mr. Herter. While expressing this hope, my delegation is only too conscious of the technical and political difficulties of the problem before the Committee, more especially as to the establishment of effective inspection over the Various fields of disarmament.
13. It is on this rock of effective inspection that many a scheme of disarmament, whether comprehensive or partial, has foundered. The record of the disarmament negotiations shows that a control system to ensure the complete elimination of stockpiles of nuclear weapons of mass destruction is not yet feasible. If it is true that any kind of inspection which it may be possible to agree upon in this field would leave a margin of error which would expose one side to the risk that the other might evade it, it would seem that the prospects for total disarmament are no nearer than before. In that case, it would be more realistic to proceed to negotiate initially on the basis of comprehensive disarmament as outlined to us by the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, Mr. Selwyn Lloyd, last week [798th meeting]. The scope of the negotiations could then be enlarged to include complete and general disarmament, together with the development of techniques to bring the question of hidden nuclear stockpiles within the sphere of detection and control.
14. In regard to the other aspects of disarmament — namely, the cessation of the production of fissionable materials for the manufacture of weapons; the reduction of stockpiles of nuclear weapons, armed forces and conventional armaments; and the institution of measures against the possibility of surprise attack — every conceivable scheme must necessarily have some component area in which it has to be assumed that the parties will do what they undertake. With reference to that area at least, both parties have to take the risk of trusting each other in some measure. The solution, therefore, lies in reducing that area to the smallest possible size and then in taking a calculated risk. However large that risk might seem, it cannot be larger than the one involved in an accelerating armaments race.
15. Since 1957, the emphasis in disarmament plans has shifted from comprehensive schemes to partial measures in view of the scientific barrier to devising a system of effective control which would altogether eliminate stockpiles of nuclear weapons. In the context of a partial or first-stage plan, the Pakistan delegation has been urging that the reduction of armed forces and conventional armaments, along with certain other measures of disarmament, should be given priority.
16. Agreement in principle has been reached between the four great Powers on the ceilings of their respective armed forces in the meetings in London of the Sub-Committee of the Disarmament Commission in 1957. It should be possible to move forward in this direction without upsetting the existing balance in the military strength of the great Powers to the prejudice of the security of either side. If this could be done, it would enable all Member States to devote the resulting savings in military expenditures to raising the living standard of their own peoples as well as that of the more than two-thirds of the world’s population who live in the less developed countries.
17. My delegation hopes that the ten-Power Disarmament Committee will give the earliest possible consideration to setting up groups of experts to study, along with other questions, the technical aspects of controlling conventional armaments and armed forces. Encouraged by the ’’rapprochement” which has already taken place in the positions of the Western Powers and the Soviet Union, we would venture to suggest that the ten-Power Committee should make every effort to reach agreement on the reduction of the armed forces and conventional armaments of the great Powers and should also give consideration to the convening of a special session of the General Assembly within two years to effect a reduction of the standing armies and armaments of all other Member States to appropriate levels.
18. Nuclear test explosions, apart from their bearing on the question of disarmament, have another aspect also, which makes it necessary that they be given special and prior consideration. These explosions are followed by after-effects which are injurious to living organisms. A part of my country is situated in the belt of the greatest concentration of radio-active fall out. Furthermore, rice, which absorbs radio-active substances to a much larger extent than other crops, forms the staple food of the majority of our population. It is gratifying to note that the great Powers have themselves suspended nuclear tests for the time being, but this suspension rests on a precarious basis. It is our earnest hope that in the forthcoming talks between President Eisenhower and Prime Minister Khrushchev, as well as in the negotiations to be resumed in three weeks, a way will be found permanently to put a stop to all nuclear explosions. Meanwhile, we hope that neither side will resume testing pending the conclusion of a permanent agreement.
19. My Government also shares the deep concern of the Governments and peoples of Africa over the effects of an impending atomic explosion in the Sahara.
20. The Minister for External Affairs of Ireland, Mr. Frank Aiken, has rendered a great service to the cause of peace by inviting attention to the dangers inherent in the wider dissemination of nuclear weapons [805th meeting]. The United Nations should urgently take all possible steps to prevent nuclear armaments from coming into the hands of countries which do not now possess them.
21. The staggering achievement of the Soviet Union in sending a rocket to the moon underscores the urgency of reaching an international agreement to prohibit, under international control, the use of outer space for military purposes and to devote it exclusively to peaceful uses. The first aspect is a part of the problem of general disarmament. We regret to note that the recommendation in General Assembly resolution 1148 (XU) with regard to the undertaking of a joint study of an inspection system to ensure that outer space should not be used for military purposes has not so far been acted upon.
22. The report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space [A/4141], which was set up at the thirteenth session to consider the area of international co-operation and programmes which could be undertaken in that field under the auspices of the United Nations, is a useful exploratory study of the problem. My delegation hopes that it will be possible at this session to take positive action in regard to the machinery of international co-operation suggested by the Committee.
23. It is desirable that, from the very beginning of the space age, certain basic legal norms in regard to the nature and uses of outer space should be firmly established. We entirely share the views of those States Members of the United Nations which maintain that the principles of classical international law concerning territory, sovereignty and occupation cannot he regarded as applicable to outer space and celestial bodies. It would be a tragedy if outer space were used to destroy mankind through the extension of national and ideological rivalries into the new dimension. To avert this danger, it would be the path of wisdom to establish at the outset of the space age that outer space belongs in its entirely to the whole world, to he freely used by all States without interference and on the principle of sovereign equality.
24. The sources of ineffectiveness in this Organization must be removed if it is to fulfil its great task of establishing lasting peace in the world. Existing disputes between States cause serious friction. The organs of the United Nations which are intended to deal with them have not; always been capable of settling them.
25. There is, for example, the dispute which my country has with its great neighbour India, relating to the State of Jammu and Kashmir, on which, we are convinced, hinges the destiny of the two countries and the future of Asia and, it may well be, of an even larger area of the world.
26. Eleven years ago, the United Nations brought about & cease-fire in the State. The Security Council and the parties concerned, namely India and Pakistan, undertook a solemn commitment that the dispute would he decided by means of a plebiscite held under the auspices of the United Nations. That plebiscite has not yet been held. Throughout this period, Pakistan has steadfastly adhered to the principle that the disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir must be made in accordance with the wishes of its people and that those wishes must be ascertained impartially and in conditions which do not permit any coercion or intimidation by either side. This is the substance of our demand. We ask no favour, impose no conditions, seek no bargain.
27. The right of self-determination for the people of Kashmir has been laid down and consistently upheld by the United Nations in all its resolutions on the subject, which both India and Pakistan have accepted. The implementation of these resolutions would therefore be no more than the discharge of our solemn obligations under the United Nations Charter.
28. At this historical stage, opportunities are presenting themselves which, if grasped, can assure the stability of Asia, but if neglected, can ruin the future of its peoples. We, on our part, are keenly conscious of this fact, and it was in this spirit that, on his own initiative, the President of Pakistan met the Prime Minister of India a few weeks ago. We look forward to further improvement in our relations with India,
29. The Kashmir dispute brings out in sharp focus the urgent need to strengthen the United Nations procedures for the peaceful settlement of disputes in order to avert danger to international peace and security. The threat of veto which hangs over any action that the Security Cornell might propose to take in this direction renders the Council impotent to fulfil its commitments. Is it not time for the great Powers voluntarily to undertake to refrain from resorting to the practice of veto in matters falling within the purview of Chapter VI of our Charter, so that the high purposes of our Organization may not be frustrated?
30. In cases of friction between States which cannot be removed through negotiations, it is essential that the States should have recourse to independent third parties to compose their differences lest international peace and security be endangered. The Pakistan delegation has always maintained that no State should arrogate to itself the role of a judge in its own cause, but that all States should abide by the verdict of disinterested and impartial individuals or organs of the United Nations. We have faithfully adhered to this principle of international conduct.
31. It is in this spirit that we gratefully accepted the offer of the good offices of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development made several years ago by its President, Mr. Eugene Black, in our dispute with India over the continuance to Pakistan of the historic supplies of water from the tributaries of the Indus River. After seven years of untiring work, Mr. Black, Mr. Riff and their associates succeeded in narrowing the area of disagreement. If their good offices are crowned with success, as we sincerely hope they will be, they will have added, as the Secretary-General observes [A/4132/Add.1], a valuable new element in support of the general efforts of the United Nations.
32. My delegation shares the regret and concern expressed by the Secretary-General, in the introduction to his annual report, on the failure of many Member States to accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice or to resort to the Court more freely for a judicial determination of legal questions. Had it been otherwise, it might have been possible to settle our disputes with our neighbour without the frictions and frustrations which have caused so much bitterness and threatened so much misery. An extension of the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court would enable Member States to take international conflicts capable of being adjudicated to that forum, even when the organs of the United Nations charged with the responsibility for preserving peace prove unequal to the task.
33. There is another matter relating to the role of this Organization which needs special attention. As the Secretary-General has said, the time has arrived for the United Nations to deal more directly with the formulation of international economic policies, or at least, to serve in a more systematic way as a forum for the consideration of such policies. In our opinion such a development is essential if international economic co-operation is to be a reality.
34. The problem facing us in this field is urgent. Of the eighty-two States Members of the United Nations, no less than sixty have an average income of $120 per person, as contrasted with an average income in the more advanced countries of about $800 per person. The dangers inherent in this disparity, which is not only great but growing, have been seen by many leading statesmen, who consider the potentialities of this situation to be far more explosive than those of the cold war itself. No solution of this situation can be visualized until the flow of international investment for capital formation in the under-developed countries is substantially increased.
35. There are, we think, two main factors which militate against the raising of the standard of living in the under-developed countries. The first is the rate of population growth. The second concerns the current fluctuation in the primary commodity market. The price-index of primary commodities has fallen in the last few years, resulting in the reduction of export earnings by 7 per cent to 8 per cent. This drop, coinciding with a rise in the import prices of manufactured goods, represents a loss in the import capacity of the under-developed countries equivalent to about one- sixth of the official gold and foreign-exchange holdings of these countries, that is, to about six years' lending to them by the International Bank.
36. The critical nature of this situation has brought about a .certain measure of understanding of the problem. It is being recognized that commodity problems must be considered from the point of view of the development of the under-developed countries, and not as a contest between producers and consumers of the commodities.
37. While on the subject of economic development, may I draw attention to another area of activity which deserves close consideration? This concerns the progress of the under-developed countries in land reform. As pointed out in several resolutions of the General Assembly and of the Economic and Social Council, improvements in the agrarian structure of a country not only help to promote social progress and raise the standard of living, but also tend to stimulate agricultural production and general economic development by providing an integrated approach to the task of development.
38. Pakistan has taken a significant step in this field in the course of the current year. A ceiling on land holding has been fixed. Lands in excess of the ceiling over 3 million acres — will be taken over by the Government on payment of compensation to their owners, for redistribution among landless tenants and other deserving claimants. This measure of agrarian reform will, we hope, provide the tiller of the soil with the necessary incentive to increase its output by assuring him of ownership. It is also expected to have far-reaching consequences in the social and political spheres.
39. May I now turn to a few specific questions.
40. My delegation has taken note of the historic statement of 16 September by the President of France, General de Gaulle, in which three choices were offered to the people of Algeria: secession and independence; complete integration with metropolitan France; or semi-autonomous status in close union with France. The full implications of his statement can be grasped only when the clarifications, which have been sought by many, are given. My delegation fervently hopes that President de Gaulle's offer may set into motion a process of negotiation and reconciliation leading to an early cessation of fighting, an end to suffering and bloodshed in Algeria, and a fulfilment of the aspirations of its people.
41. In February of this year, the Governments of Turkey, Greece and the United Kingdom and the leaders of the two national communities in Cyprus demonstrated a capacity for statesmanship of the highest order by subscribing to an agreed foundation for the final settlement of the problem of Cyprus. It is the earnest hope of my delegation that the constitutional structure envisaged in the agreement between the parties concerned, based on a division of sovereignty between the two ethnic groups in Cyprus, will guarantee equal protection of the fundamental rights of both the Greek and the Turkish populations.
42. Pakistan wishes Godspeed to the republic of Cyprus in meeting the challenge of independence and looks forward to its admission to the United Nations.
43. The action taken by the Security Council earlier this month on the request of the Royal Government of Laos for an emergency force was both timely and appropriate. In appointing a Sub-Committee to ascertain and report the facts of the situation in the northeastern provinces of Laos, the Security Council did not do more than set up a fact-finding body. It could have done no less. It could not have turned a deaf ear to the plea of Laos without seriously undermining the faith of small Member States in this Organization.
44. Pakistan is deeply concerned over the situation in Laos. A threat to the inviolability or the integrity of the territory or the political independence of Laos is necessarily a matter of concern to other countries of the area as it must be to all Members of the United Nations.
45. We have been shocked to hear of the attempt on the life of the Prime Minister of Ceylon today. Mr. Bandaranaike was due to address this Assembly on 2 October. We pray for his recovery and offer our deep sympathy to the delegation of Ceylon.
46. The movement for independence is sweeping across Africa with the force of a tidal wave. When the Charter of the United Nations was written there were, apart from the Union of South Africa, only three independent African States. Today, there are nine. In the coming year, four more will achieve independence. Political evolution in that continent is simultaneously moving towards larger political unions to ensure the survival, prosperity and liberty of the new African States.
47. Pakistan rejoices in the emancipation of Africa. The goals of self-government and independence set forth in the Charter for the dependent peoples of the Non-Self-Governing and Trust Territories give added momentum to the demand of all other African peoples for freedom and equality.
48. The transformation of the French colonial territories in Africa into autonomous States within the multinational French Community is but a part of the game gigantic political evolution. The pledge by the administering Power to build democratic institutions in the Belgian Congo to prepare the Territory for sovereignty is a welcome recognition of the historical process which is at work.
49. One of the worst concomitants of colonial rule is the sense of humiliation which is burnt into the souls. of subject peoples. Where there is domination, there can be no equality. Where there is no equality, there is discrimination. There is nothing so intolerable as to be humiliated in one’s own native land by alien masters.
50. To our sorrow, discrimination is till practised by one group against another in large areas of Africa today. In the Union of South Africa, the people of Indian and Pakistan origin are subjected, together with their African brethren, to a treatment which offends against, the great traditions of law and government in the British Commonwealth. It is repugnant to the principle of encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms incorporated in the Charter of the United Nations. Sooner or later, we hope, the Union of South Africa will recognize that the colour of the skin is not a rational basis for classification in respect of civil rights and social status.
51. Turning to the Middle East, may I refer to the establishment of the United Nations Emergency Force, which, born in the midst of turmoil, has lived to play a vital part in the maintenance of peace in that region. Its success should enable us to give further consideration to the idea of a United Nations stand-by force. My delegation recognizes the practical difficulties involved, but we are convinced that some initial steps by Member States for earmarking contingents can at this time be taken. Studies of the technical aspects of the question can be pursued simultaneously.
52. Pakistan, as a Moslem country, shares the great common heritage and tradition of the Moslem peoples and communities throughout the world. We share their aspirations for the future and are in deep sympathy with their problems of the present.
53. It is with great regret, therefore, that we note that, although over a decade has passed, the victims of international injustice in Palestine who took refuge elsewhere are still denied repatriation, which was guaranteed to them by successive resolutions of the General Assembly,
54. The one million Palestine refugees have continued to live on the charity of others for the past ten years, nourished only by the hope that one day they will return to their homeland and pick up the threads of their disrupted lives. With every passing year this hope has grown dimmer and the frustrations of the refugees have grown greater. Next year even the agency through which relief has so far been channelled to these unfortunate people is to be wound up unless the General Assembly decides otherwise. We think UNRWA should continue in existence. The United Nations cannot at this stage give up its direct responsibility for the relief of these people. It seems to us that, so long as the refugee problem remains, the machinery which has been built up over the years should also continue.
55. In the Spirit of the World Refugee Year, Members of the United Nations must give concentrated attention to the solution of the problem of these one million refugees. So long as this problem remains unsolved, peace cannot return to that region.
56. As the Secretary-General remarked in the introduction to his annual report, the World Refugee Year has begun auspiciously. We sincerely hope that it will give an impetus to a final solution of the problems of these unfortunate people.
57. Pakistan has its own refugee problem, different both in kind and in degree from that coming within the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Although the overwhelming majority of the 10 million refugees have successfully integrated themselves into the life of the nation by their own efforts, vast numbers have remained for many years without homes and without regular work. The Government of Pakistan has set itself a time limit to solve this gigantic problem, a solution which is long overdue. Happily our efforts have coincided with the World Refugee Year. To give an idea of the pace at which we are proceeding, and in order to explain why we are not able to do more for the refugees in other parts of the world, I might mention that 15,000 housing units have been constructed in just one township near Karachi, in a period of less than six months. Refugees are being moved into them at the rate of 100 families every day. Pakistan is therefore able to make only a token contribution to the programme of the World Refugee Year — in addition to its usual contribution to the rehabilitation of the Palestine refugees — in order to show its sympathy and deep concern for all the refugees of the world, wherever they may be.
58. Finally, may I revert to the all-important question of the day. The struggle between the two systems has now entered a dangerous phase. We have come to the Great Divide of history. Will the struggle have a peaceful outcome or will it precipitate a nuclear catastrophe?
59. Genghis Khan, it is said, sought counsel from a religious divine as to how he could ensure the survival of his laws. The divine replied that systems endured only while populations survived. How could his laws remain when those for whom they were intended were destroyed?
60. May those who have in their hands the awesome power to destroy the world take this utterance of the divine to heart.