U.K. National Archives

Conclusions of a meeting of the Cabinet held at 10 Downing Street, on Thursday, 21 October, 1971 at 11 a.m.

Attendees: E Heath; R Maudling; Hailsham; W Whitelaw; K Joseph; R Carr; G Campbell; P Walker; J Prior; A Douglas-Home; A Barber; Carrington; G Rippon; M Thatcher; Jellicoe; P Thomas; J Davies; F Corfield; F Pym.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary said that he had announced on 18 October a further allocation of £7 1/2 million for refugee relief in India and £1 million for relief in East Pakistan. These large payments were part of the price of the failure by the parties concerned to make progress with a political settlement; and we could not carry this burden indefinitely. The impending visit of the Indian Prime Minister, Mrs. Gandhi, to this country would provide us with an opportunity of seeking to establish India's real aims and to make some progress in reducing the numbers in refugee camps. The first requirement was to establish the facts. Present evidence was conflicting, the Indian Government maintaining that the flow of refugees still amounted to 40,000 a day, whereas the Pakistani authorities claimed that it had virtually ceased. He was pressing the Secretary-General of the United Nations, U Thant, to obtain reliable information on this point. In the political context the recent initiative by the President of Pakistan, Yahya Khan, towards establishing a civilian government in East Pakistan had had a mixed reception. The Bangladesh leaders were still insisting that their starting point in any discussion was that East Pakistan should be independent. Meanwhile, Indo-Pakistani relations remained tense; and, although it seemed unlikely that India would begin a war, the possibility that Pakistan might in desperation attack Kashmir could not be ruled out.

In the course of a brief discussion it was noted that it would be difficult to refer the situation to the United Nations as a threat to peace, since neither India nor Pakistan accepted that there was such a threat. Consideration should perhaps be given, however, to arranging some judicious publicity for the political efforts which we were making to reduce the present tensions.