690D.91/7–3051
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State
Subject: Pakistan Government Views on Recent Indian Troop Movements
| Participants: | Mr. M. A. H. Ispahani, Ambassador of Pakistan |
| The Secretary | |
| SOA—Mr. Gatewood |
The Ambassador called at his request to report his government’s grave apprehension over recent Indian troops movements and stayed for twenty minutes.
He said that almost all India’s fighting forces had now been concentrated near the borders of Pakistan and that his government (which had been forced to take defensive measures of its own) attaches the greatest importance to the earliest withdrawal of Indian troops. He pointed out that the Pakistan Prime Minister, in his recent five-point proposal to ensure peace between the two countries, had made it clear that the troops on both sides should be withdrawn simultaneously, but that no reply had yet been received from the Indian Prime Minister to Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan’s invitation to visit Karachi to discuss these Peace proposals. Accordingly, the Ambassador expressed the hope that the Secretary could use “his good offices” to the best advantage in [Page 1799] reducing the extreme tension now prevailing between India and Pakistan, so as to avoid the imminent risk of a war which might result from almost any untoward incident on either side.
I said that we had expressed our serious concern over the existing situation to both governments and indicated that I was familiar with the Pakistan Prime Minister’s reply to our approach, which stated that he would favor simultaneous withdrawal of troops. I said that it had seemed hopeful that both Prime Ministers were in communication with each other and that I had thought a meeting between them might be arranged that would lead to a mutually satisfactory solution of the present serious tensions between the two countries. I inquired whether we had yet received any reply from the Indian Prime Minister. Mr. Gatewood informed me that we had not. I then asked the Ambassador to outline the five points of Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan’s proposal to Mr. Nehru.
The Ambassador said that the five points were: 1) withdrawal of troops (which could be negotiated, in the Ambassador’s opinion, without great difficulty); 2) renunciation by both governments of the use of force in settling any of their disputes, together with an agreement to refer such disputes to arbitration if they were not resolved by negotiation or mediation; 3) reaffirmation that the governments would not permit propaganda in either country to be directed against territorial integrity of the other; 4) reaffirmation that the question of Kashmir would be decided by the United Nations; and 5) a declaration by both governments that they would never attack each other. The Ambassador said that, at the moment, he was unaware of any official Indian reply to this proposal though there had been rumors in the American press that it would be refused. These rumors, the Ambassador thought, might derive some substance from Mr. Nehru’s recent speech at a Congress Party rally, at which he boldly stated that the Indian position both on the Kashmir issue and all other Indo-Pakistan matters had always been correct, whereas Pakistan had always been wrong.
The Ambassador pointed out that, regardless of what Mr. Nehru might say, it was Pakistan that most feared an outbreak of war, as it was the weaker party, and that Pakistan Prime Minister’s five-point proposal had been intended to make it amply clear that his country wished to carry out its obligations as a loyal member of the United Nations.
I said that Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan’s proposal appeared reasonable and statesmanlike and that we would continue to follow with particular care all developments that might arise.
As the conversation ended, I asked the Ambassador to convey my regards to Sir Zafrulla Khan and inquired whether I might expect to [Page 1800] see the Pakistan Foreign Minister at San Francisco (for the signature of the Japanese Peace treaty). The Ambassador replied he thought Sir Zafrulla would probably come to San Francisco, provided the course of Indo-Pakistan relations did not take a turn for the worse.