Statement on Kashmir on March 5, 1973

It appears from press reports that some talks are being held in New Delhi between the emissaries of the Prime Minister of India and some Kashmiri politicians for opening what is called a new chapter in relations between India and Kashmir”.

Pakistan’s attitude with regard to these talks as to any other development concerning the future status of the State of Jammu and Kashmir is governed by the position which it has steadfastly maintained through the existence in the resolution of the United Nation on the question. It is a principle which was recognized by India as well.

The basic principle is that the question of the accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan shall be determined in accordance with the will of the people of the State through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite. If follows that no action or arrangement which attempts to determine the future shape and affiliation of the State, or any part thereof, without an impartial ascertainment of popular will would constitute a disposition of the State in Accordance with this principle.

The inescapable corollary of the principle of self-determination is universally recognized and, in the case of Jammu and Kashmir, has been expressly affirmed in resolutions of the Security Council unanimously adopted on 30th. March 1951 and 14th January 1957.

It is evident from the Security Council resolutions. As indeed from the nature and history of the dispute, that there are three parties to it; India, Pakistan and, above all, the people of Kashmir. No settlement of this dispute which attempt to bypass one of the parties, or is not acceptable to all the three, can be final or enduring. Pakistan will continue to stand by its commitment to the right of self determination of the people of Kashmir because the question is not of territory nor of frontiers but one Which involves a people’s integrity, life and historic destiny.

This is the recognized position of Pakistan which has been explicitly safe, guarded by the Simla Agreement.

The Government of Pakistan is acutely conscious of the sufferings of the people of Kashmir under Indian occupation. It is one of the functions of alien occupation that the occupying power, driven by its search for some local support, installs in power a small native coterie which exploits the situation to its own advantage. While Pakistan would welcome any development which would case the hardship of the people of Kashmir under the regimes foisted on them by India, it is firmly convinced that no settlement which compromised the principle of self-determination can be of any lasting benefit to them. At best, it can lead only to a temporary superficial amelioration of their condition but at the grievous cost of the consolidation of the alien stranglehold.