WASHINGTON: President Johnson said yesterday [Dec 19] he was in favour of unofficial discussions between the South Viet-Namese Government and the Viet-Cong and named five conditions for the restoration of peace in Viet-Nam.

The two main conditions were that the Demilitarised Zone be respected and “North Viet-Namese troops” be withdrawn from Laos.

Speaking in a nationally televised interview, the US President said the Viet-Nam war could be ended in a few weeks if the Communists were prepared to accept these conditions which were:

The Demilitarised Zone must be respected “as the 1954 agreements require”. North Viet-Namese forces must get out of Laos and stop infiltrating Laos. “That is what the 1954 agreement required and it must be respected.”

“The 20 per cent of the population now under Viet-Cong control” must live under a one-man-one-vote constitutional system if there is to be peace.

“The overwhelming majority of the people of South Viet-Nam want, a one-man-one-vote constitutional Government,” said the President. “About 70 per cent of all citizens who might have voted in South Viet-Nam registered in the (last) election, and about 60 per cent of them voted.” — Agency

[Meanwhile, as reported by an agency in Lahore,] the Pakistan Amateur Athletics Federation has arranged a six-week pre-Olympic training cum intensive competition tour of European countries by national contingent on the way to Mexico for the Olympic Games scheduled to commence there on Oct 12, 1968.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2017