It has always been India’s policy to promote peace, stability, co-operation and good-neighbourly relations among the countries of this area on the basis of equality, sovereignty and respect for independence and territorial integrity of all States. Despite the unfortunate past, we have made special efforts to bring about normalisation and reconciliation with Pakistan. Thanks to these efforts, we have succeeded to some extent in improving relations between the two countries in spite of the slow progress in the implementation of the Simla Agreement. These hopeful trends will be jeopardised and the promise of co-operation replaced by the spectre of confrontation by and American decision to induct sophisticated weapons into the sub-continent. It will not only create new tension between India and Pakistan but also receive old misgivings about the United States role in the region.
In the recent months, both India and the United States have made sincere efforts to improve their relations. The Secretary of State himself stated while in India last year that the United States does not wish to encourage an arms race in the sub-continent. In view of the past history of the Indo-American relations, it is our earnest hope that the United States will carefully consider all implications its decision to supply weapons to Pakistan will have on the relations between our two countries. We also trust that the United States Government will not reverse its present policy of non-induction of weapons into the subcontinent as this could not be in the interests of the United States, India, Pakistan, or peace of this region.
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Shri Y B. Chavan : Mr. Deputy Chairman, Sir, Prakash Vir Shastri, has raised practically all the aspects of this problem and I will briefly deal with all of them, one by one. It is not only one party or one Member of this House or the other House, but the entire nation is of one voice in saying that the American arms supply to Pakistan is going to have and adverse effect on the normalisation process that has started in the sub-continent and on the relations between the USA and India. I have no doubt that America will take note of this one particular aspect of the problem. It is not an ordinary thing and I can assure the hon. Member that the letter that I wrote to Mr. Kissinger, US Secretary of State was a letter which gave him a very clear idea of the strong reaction that this country will have as a whole.
So, there was no question of writing any love letters to anybody in the matter.
The other point that he raised was the American policy in the Indian Ocean and, as a matter of fact, in the entire Asian region, what are its effects going to be and what is our assessment about it. I think it is much better if we see, what the factors were, which were responsible for these ups and downs in Indo-American relations. And this was basically the fact that they always tried to play a sort of balance of power politics in the sub-continent. They had this idea of parity of military strength between India and Pakistan. When the Secretary of State was here, knowing this attitude was responsible for this sort of things, we specially raised this particular aspect with him. He was very categorical in this ‘ matter when he spoke about it and said that it is not the U.S. Government’s policy. I am only repeating what he said. He said that they do not any longer believe in this policy of having a balance of power between the two countries. Then he also said that it is not their intention to start any arms race. And this is the occasion, when we will have to test them on this particular matter, whether they mean what he said or not.
