Words Over Kashmir
oJust what good did Mr. Nehru and Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan think they were doing by their exchange of discourtesies last week-end? Is it a proper occupation for two Dominion Prime Ministers, both of whom protest—with obvious truth and con- yiction—tbat they do not want war, to make speeches full of fighting words and to recite in public differences of opinion over the Kashmir question at a time when the United Nations mediator, Dr. Graham, is trying -to work out a mutually satis- factory solution. to that dispute? The determination of the Indian Government to behave as if Kashmir were indisputably Part of India and the justifiable impatience of the Pakistan !Government with this stubborn denial of the existence of an important question are both familiar. There is no need to harp On them. Nor is there any need to haggle over the exact signifi- cance of the troop movements which have undoubtedly taken :place in the neighbourhood of the frontier, when the whole world is willing to accept the assurances of the parties that these move- ments are not aggressive. The main danger to peace arises not from troop movements but from the communal tension which puts 40 million Moslems in India and 12 million Hindus in Pakistan in fear of their lives and has already led many thousands of Hindus from Eastern Pakistan to seek safety in East Bengal. It is the business of responsible statesmen to allay these fears— not to make them worse. Both Prime Ministers might well take a leaf from the book of President Prasad, who, in opening the 'pew session of the Indian Parliament, put the main weight not on ;the differences between the two Dominions, but on'their common nterests. They then might come to see that the most immediate f those interests lies in the achievement, with Dr. Graham's aid, 'of a stable settlement in Kashmir—even ir, that involves real 'sacrifices on both sides.
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