Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXV, South Asia

223. Memorandum From the White House Situation Room to President Johnson¹

Washington, September 23, 1965, 7:10 a.m.

India-Pakistan

The India-Pakistan cease-fire was honored without incident at 6:00 PM last evening and there have been no reported violations since it went it into effect.

Even in “peace” however, Indian and Pakistani statements continue to be diametrically opposed. Indian charges that Pakistan bombed Amritsar—killing 50 civilians a few hours after agreeing to a cease-fire—are refuted by Pakistani statements that the claims are baseless and in fact the Pak Air Force hit only military targets along the road to Amritsar.

Embassy New Delhi estimates that Pakistan has probably had 2,500–3,000 killed and 12,000–15,000 wounded during the fighting while India lost some 2,000 killed and 10,000 wounded.

UN Secretary Thant is wasting no time in gathering a 100-man team of military observers to send to the disputed area. So far Denmark and Canada have each agreed to send ten officers. The new observer group is to be known as UNIPOM, or United Nations India-Pakistan Observer Mission.

The Chinese Communists have allowed their deadline to pass without taking any action against the Indian frontier. Instead, an authoritative People’s Daily observer article on 22 September claims that Peking’s ultimatum has forced the Indians to comply with its demand that they destroy their “military works” on the Chinese side of the border.

The article attempts to keep open the threat of action by claiming that other demands—for a return of livestock and allegedly kidnapped border inhabitants—are still outstanding, and therefore, the “matter is far from closed and accounts must be settled.” This language, however, is similar to claims made by Peking for years and does not carry with it the immediacy contained in the recent ultimatum.

The first signs of a relaxation in Chinese Communist military alert status in Western Sinkiang and Tibet may now be in evidence, according to field analysis of Chinese military communications.

[Here follows a brief report about developments in South Vietnam.]

Arthur McCafferty

1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, India, Vol. V, Cables, 6/65–9/65. Secret. Prepared by McCafferty. A handwritten “L” on the memorandum indicates the President saw it.