357. AB/4–152: Telegram
The Consul at Geneva (Oakley) to the Department of State1
priority
739. RepSA. Fol text was handed me today by Graham for transmission to Dept:
“The concern expressed Mar 29 is definitely appreciated by me as are the negotiating suggestions passed on earlier. These suggestions, as well as many other possibilities, have been thoroughly considered and I have become convinced of the necessity of a new procedure.
“If you have obtained assurances that the position of the parties has changed substantially since I left the subcontinent and that they are now prepared to take additional forward steps toward agreement of the quantum of forces and on the question of the plebiscite administrator I wld be quite ready to hold conversations with both parties at UN Hqtrs before the report is submitted. Before making this decision I wld need more definite indications than I now have of changes in the positions of the parties.
“Upon my arrival in NY and before officially submitting the report I will meet with reps of the govts of India and Pak to the UN conveying to them my suggestions for further negots. Shld the parties agree to these suggestions I wld be glad to pursue the negots with the two govts at a place to be agreed upon and in the ltr submitting the report mention cld be made that in agreement with the parties the UNRIP is continuing the negots within the lines set forth in the report and under the terms of ref given to him by SC.
“It seems to me most important during the next few days that both parties be impressed with the vital importance of a peaceful solution”.
Although Jackson of Graham’s staff had told me Sun night that there wld be a communication for Dept Mon, he called me late Mon morning advising that they are expecting a msg later in the day from sub-continent by way of Bern, and that they wished to see it before taking any decision. I asked Jackson whether the msg was from one of their people in the sub-continent, to which he replied no, it is from one of the parties.
After reading the above text, I asked Graham whether this meant that he had decided definitely against returning to the sub-continent for the time being. He replied that was correct. He gave me no indication of what the report referred to in his text wld contain, or what its nature was, beyond the fact that it was what they were now working on in Geneva. Apparently he does not expect to submit any communication of any kind to the SC as of Apr 1, not even an interim report or a communication to the effect that he is working on a report. Graham said further that he did not think it necessary for the Security Council to meet at this time on this sub, and that he wld be in Geneva a few days more.
[Page 1216]In response to my inquiry, Graham said that he was handing to the UK perm rep the text of the same statement which is transmitted above.
- This telegram was repeated for information to New Delhi, London, Karachi. and New York.↩