INDIAN STALEMATE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26626, 24 November 1947, Page 5

INDIAN STALEMATE

INTER-DOMINION RELATIONS TERRITORIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS Rec. 11 p.m. LONDON, Nov. 22. The New Delhi correspondent of The Times says that a kind of stalemate exists in the relations between the Dominions of India and Pakistan, with neither side able or willing to make any move lest it compromise its position or vis-a-vis the other. This stalemate applies not merely to problems concerning the Indian States, of which Kashmir and Junagadh are the most vexed, but also to matters such as Customs, railways, banking and commerce, op which the economy of the whole sub-continent is based. , The two Prime Ministers did meet several times to discuss vital questions, but since the abortive Lahore conference of November 1, which got nowhere, there has been no further attempt to come together and thresh out differences by personal consultation. The immediate stumbling block appears to be Pakistan’s demand that Indian armed forces should be withdrawn from Kashmir forthwith. The Indian Government’s view is that it is unreasonable to ask its army to withdraw until the raiders are cleared out of Kashmir territory and order restored. The present position is that there is no immediate prospect of the two Prime Ministers meeting to discuss their differences, nor is it likely that either the Indian troops or raiders will leave Kashmir for some months to come.

Five hundred armed raiders suffered severe casualties during an attack on an Indian Army column in the Jammu district of Kashmir, says an Indian Defence Ministry communique. Indian troops dispersed the raiders and are making progress through thickly-wooded hill country, clearing the raiders from the Poonch district.

It is officially announced that Major-general K. N. Cariappa. senior Indian officer of the Indian Army, succeeds Lieutenant-general Sir Francis Tuker as Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Command. Major-general Cariappa is the first Indian to-become an army commander.