Shastri Dies After Peace Pact

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30956, 12 January 1966, Page 11

Shastri Dies After Peace Pact

(N.Z P.A. Reuter—Copyright) NEW DELHI, January 11. The body of the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Lal Bahadur Shastri, arrived in New Delhi today after being flown from Tashkent, Russia. Mr Shastri, aged 61, died at Tashkent early today of a heart attack only 12 hours after he had signed a historic declaration with Pakistan renouncing the use of force between the two nations. News of the Prime Minister’s death brought Soviet officials and reporters from their beds to rush to his villa on the outskirts of Tashkent.

Mr Shastri was stricken soon after he returned from a gala summit farewell banquet given by the Soviet Premier, Mr Alexei Kosygin. A doctor was summoned, but Mr Shastri died 40 minutes afterwards.

Mr Shastri, who had a history of heart trouble, suffered a serious heart attack in 1959 but he paid little heed to the urgings of his family and friends not to work too hard Sobbing from the waiting crowd could be heard as the body was slowly brought down from the aircraft. Police had a hard time restraining the crowd from breaking through to the plane to have a closer darshan (sacred sight) of their dead leader.

A police officer said they have strict instructions not to use force.

Heading the grieving crowd were the President, Mr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the VicePresident, Mr Zakir Hussain, the new Prime Minister, Mr Gulzarilal Nanda and his Cabinet colleagues, the three service chiefs and diplomaticrepresentatives of all the foreign missions in New Delhi. To Shun War

The crowd at the airport was only a part of the millions lined along the sevenmile route leading to Mr Shastri’s home where his body will lie in state until it is taken for cremation on the banks of the sacred river Jumna tomorrow. Had he lived the multitudes would still have been there—to extend a hero’s welcome for the historic declaration Mr Shastri signed on Soviet soil yesterday with President Ayub Khan. of Pakistan.

The declaration reached after diplomatic coaxing from Mr Kosygin—bound both leaders to shun war as a means of settling their disputes.

A bodyguard said Mr Shastri’s last words were in Hindi, “Mere bat” (“My father”) and “Hey Ram (“My God”).

Mr Shastri’s body was borne through Tashkent on a Soviet gun carriage today with President Ayub as a leading pallbearer. A fellow pall-bearer was Mr Kosygin.

A gun salute boomed out over the frosty airport as the body was put aboard a Soviet plane for the journey to New Delhi.

President Ayub made an immediate gesture to India. He sent his Trade Minister and Defence adviser, Mr Ghulam Faruque, and Pakistan’s High Commissioner in India, Mr Arshad Hussain, to New Delhi aboard the airliner carrying the body. Mr Gulzarilil Nanda, the Home Affairs Minister, was sworn in as Acting-Prime Minister.

India’s Congress Party is to meet on Friday and shortly afterwards the Parliamentary Party is expected to choose a

permanent successor to Mr Shastri. From, around the world, expressions of sorrow swiftly poured in. President Johnson said Mr Shastri’s death was a grievous blow to the hopes of mankind for peace and progress. Mr Wilson, of Britain, said in Lagos, where he had arrived to attend a Commonwealth meeting: “India, the Commonwealth and the world will mourn him deeply.” Mr Kosygin said: “He was a good man and a humanist of our time.” Queen’s Message The Queen sent a message to New Delhi, saying “I have learned with profound regret of the tragic death of the Prime Minister. “As head of the Commonwealth, I send my deep and sincere sympathy to the Government and people of India, and to his family. “My husband shares with me the sense of loss which will be felt throughout the world." The United Nations Secretary-General, U Thant, said the whole world would mourn the death of Mr Shastri. “The United Nations will carry a full share of that bur-

den of grief,” he said. President Ayub said he was profoundly shaken and grieved by the sudden death of Mr Shastri. He said he had been deeply impressed during the last few days by the Indian leader's sincerity and dedication to the cause of settling outstanding Indian-Pakistani questions.

Other tributes poured in by the hundred. The funeral was set for tomorrow.

The body will be burnt on a pyre with Hindu rites by the banks of the Jumna river near the spot where Nehru and Mahatma Ghandi were cremated. The Press Association reported from Wellington that the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) said the Tashkent agreement between India and Pakistan would stand as a monument to Mr Shastri. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Kirk) said in Takaka that Mr Shastri’s death “is a tragedy that has robbed India of a great leader, the Commonwealth of an eminent and honoured Prime Minister, and those who work for peace everywhere, of an inspiration.” (Mr Shastri’s obituary, Page 6)