DEPARTMENT OF STATE Memorandum of Conversation
DATE: April, 5, 1950
SUBJECT: Indo-Pakistan and Afghan-Pakistan Relations
PARTICIPANTS: The Secretary Sir Mohammed Zafrulla Khan, Foreign Minister of Pakistan Mr. M. A. H. Ispahani, Ambassador of Pakistan SCA - Mr. Weil
COPIES TO: S/S, NEA Embassies: London Ambassador Jessup SOA Moscow UNP Karachi USUN Kabul DRN New Delhi CIA
Sir Zafrulla called at his request at 4:30 p.m. He said his Government appreciated the "push" I had given the McNaughton proposals. I remarked, with a smile, that this had got me into trouble with some of my Indian friends.
Referring to the co-sponsor's agreement the preceding day to recommend Sir Owen Dixon as the UN representative in the Kashmir dispute, Sir Zafrulla said that when the name had first been discussed he had tried to explain to our Government and to the British that while the Pakistan Government had nothing against Sir own they were apprehensive over the possibility of such an appointment. He said India had made no secret of the fact that although it had accepted the UN resolution it intended to raise all manner of objections, and that Sheik Abdullah's recent statement was undoubtedly indicative of the stand India intended to take. He said Pakistan was keen to have a man with military experience because the task in Kashmir was a military job. He said appointment of a military man would also serve as an indication that the SC believed the services of a military man were needed.
Sir Zafrulla went on to say that India might view the selection of Sir Owen as a concession; that he was somewhat downcast over selection, and that his Government's reactions were "far from favorable". He said that when he had asked for his appointment with me he had hoped to persuade me of the merits of the Pakistan point of view. He said India continued to feel out the situation, looking for weak points, and would not attach much importance to the appointment of a representative unless he enjoyed real prestige. He said he was apprehensive because India might "delay matters and block progress"; that the Indians might succeed in getting Sir Owen so involved in legalistic arguments that he would fail to solve the practical problems. I told Sir Zafrulla that I know Sir Owen very well indeed; that we had worked together during the war when he was Australian Minister and I was Assistant Secretary; that Sir Owen had dealt in a forthright manner with a great variety of problems including those arising from the stationing of our forces in Australia. I said Sir Owen was a man of force and of great patience but not "silly patience"; that he was a man of courage, and that when he was in Washington he had taken no nonsense from Mr. Evatt, his minister of External Affairs.
I told Mr. Zafrulla that I believed no one could bamboozle Sir Owen and that I had great confidence in him. I said Sir Owen would be the first to see it if it became apparent that he needed some one to assist him in carrying out demilitarization.
I observed that I had told Mr. Bevin that I could not understand India's objections to Admiral Nimitz but that if the two parties could not agree we could not suggest another candidate. I said this would not have been fair to Admiral Nimitz or to ourselves and would have ruined Admiral Nimitz for subsequent jobs of a similar nature. I expressed the opinion that the Indians would not succeed in interfering with the accomplishment of Sir Owen's duties.
Sir Zafrulla said all this was very encouraging. He said he recalled meeting with Sir Owen and said he like him. He remarked that he hoped Sir Owen would have the support of his sponsors. I told Sir Zafrulla he would have it from me; that we realized how important settlement of the Kashmir dispute was to the whole world.
Referring to the tension in East and West Bengal, Sir Zafrulla said this question was of course being discussed by Liaquat Ali Khan and Mr. Nehru in Delhi, but he did want to point out that the communal situation was exactly the reverse of that reported from Indian sources. He said the disturbances had really started in West Bengal; that he was gratified at the success of the East Bengal Government in bringing the disturbances there under control, but that in India-even in the vicinity of Calcutta-disturbances continued.
I told Sir Zafrulla that in a telephone conversation two days earlier the President had told me he was tremendously gratified over the decision to hold a conference, and that we were likewise gratified over Liaquat Ali Khan's willingness, after issuing an invitation to Mr. Nehru, to overlook questions of prestige and to agree to a meeting in Delhi. I also expressed gratification over the Pakistan Government's efforts to prevent broadcasting in East Bengal of reports regarding recent troubles in East Bengal.
Sir Zafrulla remarked that since Liaq1uat Ali Khan had proposed a meeting with Mr. Nehru "he was bound to come over to Delhi". He added that he had known from the first that Liaquat Ali Khan would not stand on ceremony.
Sir Zafrulla then turned to the question of Pakistan's relations with Afghanistan. He said he had been pleased to learn from the Department that reports had been received to the effect that Afghan oil trucks were now moving. He said the British oil companies had originally called on his Government to enforce safety regulations affecting the trucks; that in view of their suspicions of Pakistan's motives the Afghans may have taken it amiss that the Government of Pakistan had requested applications of certain safety measures on oil trucks. He said that after Dr. Jessup's visit to Kabul instructions had been issued to Pakistan officials to be lenient in examining the Afghan trucks.
He said there had also been some difficulty regarding a request by an American construction company for a certain type of railway car.* Sir Zafrulla said he would not deny that the Afghans were "troublesome".
I told Sir Zafrulla that Dr. Jessup and I had discussed the question of Afghan-Pakistan relations fully and that Dr. Jessup had referred to the insubstantiality of the Afghan position.
Sir Zafrulla said that following the settlement of the border incident last summer, when a Pakistan plane dropped bombs on Afghan territory, he had persuaded his Government to issue instructions to all Pakistan radio stations to refrain from anti-Afghan propaganda for a month but that during this period the Afghans, apparently regarding this action as a sign of weakness, actually stepped up their propaganda.
In closing, Sir Zafrulla said he wished to make a final appeal. He said the people of Pakistan felt the Kashmir case was one of the United States' obligations and he hoped that the US would back the UN representative regardless of his nationality. He said if the US continued to "reinforce" the representative he might be able to carry it off. I again assured Sir Zafrulla that the representative would have our support.
*Morrison-Knudsen, Afghanistan, has recently had difficulty in moving blasting powder out of Karachi but, following representations by the Embassy at Karachi, has now arranged to ship blasting powder into Afghanistan.
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