AGREEMENT REACHED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26641, 11 December 1947, Page 7

AGREEMENT REACHED

INDIA AND PAKISTAN OUTSTANDING PARTITION ISSUES N.Z.P.A.—Reuter—Copyright. Rec. 9 p.m. LONDON, Dec. 10. The Times New Delhi correspondent ■says the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Sardar Patel’s, announcement that an agreement had been reached between India and Pakistan on all outstanding issues relating to the partition, including those effecting the armed forces, will be welcomed by all who have been watching with apprehension the steady decline in felations between the two dominions, yet realism impels the admission that* Mr Patel made no mention of the dispute over Pakistan's recent imposition of export duty on raw jute leaving East Pakistan for manufacture in India. The Indian Government regards this as a violation of the standstill commercial agreement and holds that it should form part of a comprehensive Customs Union or a settlement yet to be negotiated. So long as this controversy persists, economic relations between the two dominions will be strained and there is evidence that already it has dislocated dealings in many other commodities. Similarly, the knowledge that the Kashmir dispute remains unresolved must moderate public satisfaction over the present agreement.

Mr Patel said India and Pakistan had agreed to division of assets and liabilities, including sterling balances, military stores, ordnance factories, and division of the cash balances, which the undivided Indian Government possessed on August 14, 1947 (the day before partition), and the ratio in which' the • uncovered debt of the undivided Government of India would be shared.