Himalayan Times (1962)

Match 25; 1962

Himalayan Times

1 hrwfriv

SETTLING SINO-INDIAN BORDER DISPUTE

Arbitratirn Not Ruled Out By Nehru

New Delhi, March 22

Addressing an unusually
large Press conffrence here
yesterday, Mr. N 0 h 1 u
spoke for the first time,
but in indefinite termB,
of arbitration »s a possible
way of settling the border
dispute between India
and China

At one stage he said:
"I would hot rule out
arbitration in proper cir-
oumstances and if suita-
ble parties agree. ' But
before the conference
ended he made it clear
that "1 have not been
thinking of arbitration at
all. I do not see it
anywhere on th» horizon".
No oue bad shown any
willingness to arbitrate
Dor had. any suggestion
been made

He did not rule out
arbitration, he repeated
two or three timet: but
although the'subjeot name
up again and again aa
correspondents asked
questions about a reoent
statement by Mr. J. P.
Narain suggesting arbitra-
tion, the Press conference
yielded no firm indication
of whether this method
was likely to be tried
cut. Mr. Nsirw* would say
little more than that 'there
are many factors'.

The Prime Minister
said there had been no
talk nr suggestion for a
meeting between him and
Mr. Chou En-lai.

While reiterating his
view that the dispute
should be settled by peace-
ful negotiations,Mr. Nehru
said the negotiations could
only be oo the basis of
the report of the official
level discussions. This re-
port, he pointed out, had
not been publised yet in
China and it did not ap-
pear to have been consi-
dered yet by the Chinese
Government.

About the offer of
negotiations for a new
treaty, the Prime Minister
said India's position was
that a new treaty was
not worthwhile as the old
treaty had not been ful-
filled. Mr. Nehru added:
''it is rather difficult for
me to use language whioh
would not be somewhat
iniaund'-rstood. What I
mean is, on the one hand,
we are quite firm in re-
gard to our position. On
the other hand we are
always willing for nego-
tiations. We do not take
up a rigid attitude. It is
ridiculous between' any
two oountries at any times.

We must seek opportune
ties but in doing so one .
must not do something
which might make' the
position worse."

DEVASTATING FIRE IN
BIRATNAGAR
Kathmandu, March 22
Biratnagar, in south-
eastern Nepal, is now m
town of wailing humanity. '
On Monday a fire, uUpr*^'" '
cedenterf for its fury,""
devastated 1,500 houses,
rendering thousands home,
less.

The cause of the blaze
is not known; This morn-
ing King Mahendra depu-
ted the Finanoe Minister,
Mr. Kishikesh Shah, to
go to the stricken town -
and conduct an on-the-
spot investigation.

Biratnagar is one of
the few industrial oeutrsa
in Nepal.:

One report places the
damage at over 1 Re. 1
crore, '•

The fire started at 1
p. m. on Monday in the
house of a goldsmith ori
the Biratnagar-Dharao
highway and was brought
under oon<;rol only at
about 8 a.m. on Tuesday.

Hundreds of people,
inoluding troops of the
Royal Nepalese Army and
units of the British bri
gade of Gurkhas «tat?on*fl a'
at the British Recruiting
Depot at Bharin,'fought'*
the blaze. '