1971-12-13
Page: 16
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., Dec. 12—The Foreign Minister of India said in an interview today that his Government had no territorial designs in East Pakistan and did not want to destroy Pakistan.
Swarm Singh, a tall, bearded man wearing a white turban and a Nehru jacket, also said that India would never in any way be subservient to the Soviet Union or any other foreign power. He added that India hoped to have normal relations with China.
Mr. Swaran Singh, answering questions in his suite at the Carlyle Hotel, was asked whether he thought that the breakaway of East Pakistan as the independent nation of Bangla Desh could threaten the existence of Pakistan. He replied:
“I would not call this breakaway of East Pakistan. Geographically, the two units arc more than 1,000 miles apart, ethnically and linguistically they are different altogether. I do not see why West Pakistan should have any fear or apprehension if in the assertion of their right of self‐determination the people of Bangla Desh succeed in achieving independence for Bangla Dash.
‘Act of Self‐Denial’
“We are not out to destroy Pakistan. The leadership that agreed to the partition of India in 1947 is still living.”
Mr. Swaran Singh added that when India decided to recognize the government of Bangla Desh, “we made a clear announcement of India's intention not to have any territorial designs against the territory of Bangla Desh.
“It was an act of self‐denial,” he said. “We did not want to go there as an army of occupation or having any territorial designs on Bangla Desh.”
Mr. Swaran Singh spoke few moments before the White House, in issuing a call for new Security Council meeting, declared that the war on the subcontinent was taking on the character of an armed attack on “the very existence” of Pakistan.
He was asked for his reaction to charges made by the Chinese representative in the Security Council that the Soviet Union was using. India as a tool in a plan to encircle China, and whether he thought there was a threat of Chinese intervention if East Pakistan became independent.
He answered:
“I want, to say categorically and very clearly that there is no question of India being exclusively dependent on the U.S.S.R.
“India, ever since the independence, has established the Indian identity and Indian personality, has always refused and will always refuse to be a tool of any power whatsoever. We have our own policy. We have our own ways of working and our own objectives.