LAKE SUCCESS: Chaudhri Mohammad Zafrullah Khan, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, speaking on the resumed debate on Hyderabad in the Security Council last night [May 19], refuted the Indian delegate’s stand that India’s action in Hyderabad was a matter of “domestic concern” and that Hyderabad had no international status and as such could not bring the matter before the Security Council. [Mr Khan] declared that the narrative of events showed that India’s action … “was entirely unjustified, that it did amount to a breach of international peace, that it amounts to a threat to the maintenance of peace and that it is a continuation of aggression which asks for redress.”

Denying India’s contention that Hyderabad had no international status, the … Minister asked if Hyderabad did not become independent after the Indian Independence Act, then what did it become? He continued: “It is obvious that if a particular state chose not to accede, it must remain independent.” …

The Indian delegate … said his Government contended that Hyderabad was not competent to bring the question before the Council. “India cannot agree to be dismembered … by allowing any of the states to claim international statehood,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2024