~I UNITED NATIONS Distr. SECURITY G:blNERAL 8/5028 COUNCIL 18

ORIGINAL: ENGLISH

LE'ITER DATED 16 DECEMBER 1961 FROi-1 TEE PEBMANENT BEPRESENTATIVE OF FOR~UGAL ADDBEGSED TO THE P:RB8IDElf.L' OF TBE SECURITY COUNCn.

. Hith reference to the Note sent to Your Excellency by the Permanent Representative of the Indian Union, ~ted the 12th of December, 1961, I have the honour, under instructions of my Government, to communicate to Your Excellency the following: 2. The Government of the Indian Union has stated that, having obtained the independence of its country in 194'-:, it naturally expected that the remaining , foreign territories existing in the Indian subcontinent would be transferred to the Indian Union. The Portuguese Government is not aware that the Ind.ian Union, by becoming independent of the United Kingdom, acquired by that fact at the same time a natural right to incorporate in its territory other territories which did not depend on British sovereignty either at that time or at any time. Nor is the Portuguese GoverrJment aware that any such right, which the Goverrrment of the Indian Union seems to regard as inherent to it for reasons based on geography alone and therefore without validity, might be exercised only in respect of the Portuguese territories, unless such exercise constitutes only the first step for the future application of the same right of to all the other independent countries which exist at present in the Indian subcontinent and were, moreover, formerly subject to British sovereignty, vThich was not the case of the Portuguese territories. 3. The Indian Government classifies the Portuguese territories of , Daman and Diu as IIcoloniesll. The Portuguese Government fails to understand why Portuguese sovereignty lends to a partiCUlar tel"ritory the quality of a "colony", 'vhile Indian sovereignty, as it vTo1..1.ld seem, automatically vTould talce that character away from it. In any case, the Portuguese Government firmly rejects that classification.

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4. The Indian Government expresses its fetth in the independence of colonial territories through p:!acefuJ. negotiations. It i\"8.6 the belief of the Portuguese

Government - which is stated here fo!' argt..l1(;:nt I s sake, since the Portuguese state of is not a colonial territory - that such negotiations could take place only between a colonial territory, "nere it exists, and the country responsible for it. Nevertheless, the Portuguese Government notes that, when the Indian Government seeks to annex an alleged colonial territory, it demands that such negotiations ought to consist in the transfer of the territory from the sovereignty to which it belongs to the sovereignty of the Indian Union. Since Indian sovereignty is neither superior nor inferior to Portuguese sovereignty, the Portuguese Government fails to understand how and why, in the case of , the territory would become any more independent than it is by the fact of its abandoning Portuguese sovereignty in order to l)e incorporated in the Indian sovereignty. As far as the Portuguese Government is concerned, it is naturallJr irrelevant to invoke attitudes adopted in this respect by other countries. 5. However, in keeping vith its own reasoning, the Government of the Indian Union refers to the negotiations which 'Jt wished to initiate with the Portuguese Government with a view to the transfer of the Portuguese territories of Goa, Dams.n and D~u to the Indian sovereignty. The P01'1tuguese Government wishes to express its satisfaction over the fact the Indian Government thus expressly recognizea once again that sovereignty in those three territories does not belong to the Indian Union and that such a transfer could be legitimately made only by a voluntary act of the Portuguese Government. The Portuguese Government has not done this, becauEle it does not consider the requests of the Indian Government as legitimate.

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6. The -Indian Government fcrml.lla.~esa ce-r~a~n number of accu8t:1.ti~ns regarding the situa.tion which it I1.llege~ to eX,ist i~l the territories of Goe.., Daman and Diu. The Portuguese Government categarically repudiates such accusations. Nevert~eles3, it cannot a.void' observing that, even if thcae accusations were well grounded, that fact would not give the Indian Union any particular rights, unless the Government of the 'Indian Union attributes to itself special duties to supervise international society and assumes prerogatives o'rer the administration of other countries. The ~ortuguese Government has no blowledge of any such attributes of the Indian ' Government. Nevertheless, the.Portuguese Government does not hesitate ,to set' the concern of the Indian Government at rest and to assure it that the entire'. population of the rortugueae territories in the Indian subcontinent is fully self..administering And enjoys full political ~d pUblic rights on a footing of absolute equality of opfortunities and guaranteea. It may interest the Indian Union to know that these rights are exp.tcised Without any,racial discrlmi~ation~ The I'ortuguese Governm~nt does 'not. know' whether the Indian Government thinks that, the intr~duction of the practice of racial and religious discrimination,prevailing in the Indian'Union would benefit the inhabitants of the Portuguese territories and wo'~ld reiriforce their civil, pUblic and political rights.,' 7. The '=Indian note alludes to some resolutious I'l.pproved by the GL::leral Assembly regardi n~ non-self-governing territories and colonialism. The Portuguese Govcfn~e~t uoes not see ~ny connection between such resolutions and the sUbject of the present'not~. nut, after carefully reading the texts in question, ,the rortuguese Government did not reach the conclusion that they envisage 'the ind~~endence of any territories through 'their annexation by the Indian Union. Even if it ~ere argued that the territories in question were non-selt-governing; it would have to be noted tha.t the Charter of the United Nations and the rescluti'Jus of the Assembly envisage that certain principles be ,observed' for 3uch territories to attain their independence. Violent annexation by the Ind.i~n Union is certaiuly not one of these princirles. Sinc~ the Indian Union voted in favour of those principles, it surely ought not to have' any difficulty in agreeing with this point of view. Neverthele~s, it now appears that the Ind,ian Government has given s.nothe'r inter~retation to the problem and, c\i;nsequently,'the Portuguese Government wonders if the Indian Union proposes 8/5028 English Page 4 to annex only alleged non-self-governing territories which are contiguous to it or even other territories which are geographically distant. This question seems to be pertinent, because no reason can be seen why the Indian Union will not apply to any non-self-governing territory the same attitude which it considers I lawful in respect of the Portuguese territories which do not have that statute. Finally) the Portuguese Government does not recognize that the Indian Government has a position to call upon any country to carry out any resolutions so long as the Indian Government itself does not abide by the judgement of the International Court of Justice, given on 12th April, 1960, which recognized the legitimacy of the Portnguese sovereignty in Goa, Daman and Diu and the right of passs.ge to Dadra and Nagar-Aveli, and by the numerous resolutions approved by the United Nations in connecUon wit.h Kashmir. Indeed the PO:i.'tuguese Government knows "by its own er~erience how the Government of the Indian Union flouts the authority of. the International organs and the will of the populations which the Indian Union seeks to subjugate, whether these populations are Portuguese, Nagas or others. 8. The Portuguese Government does not know if it would be worthwhile referring to the accuse:tions regarding 8sgresive acts or provocaticms which are alleged to have come from the Portuguese side against the Indian Union. The Portuguese Gove::'l1Inent fonnal:J.y and vehemently denies those accu3ations and regards them simply as demagogic propaganda to justify and create an atmosphere 'V1hich may b.e propitious to aggressive acts by the Indian Government. But the Portuguese Government cannot avoid stressing that the Indian Government, through its "peaceful political methods" and in keeping Idth the moral teachership which it arrogates to itself, succeeds in fact in maintaining tense, hostile and bellicose relations with its neighbours. Lastly, the Portuguese Government is at a loss to understand why the Government of the Indian Union, which alleges provocations and violations of frontier from the Portuguese side, does noi", see the advantage which it would derive by accepting the Portuguese proposal for sending independent international observers immediately to the Indo-Portuguess frontier. The Portuguese Government does not see any reason why the Indian Government, which apparently places itself in the position of a victim, should fear to accept an impartial observation of the facts. / ... 8/5028 English Page 5

9. The Portuguese G1"Ivernment eXJ:\resses its sa't1sfaction over the circumstancr.­ that the Indian Government has reiteratnd its adherence to the principles of the United Nati~s which iznroses reSJ.'ect for the national unity and territorial in~grity of countries.. The Portuguese C'rovernment is hapllY to note that both the PDrtugueoo 'N~tion and the Indian N:ltion, find in those principles full justi£ication f~r their r~~ctive' territorial compositions, since b~hconsist of geographi.callysepara~dterritories.. This is th~' case ~f many otlwr. . . . countric.s and ..nfli:; only'in the Indian "Subcontinent. 10. Under ins~ructions of my {',overnment., I have,' the-·honour to ~quest Your Excellency to ho.ve th~.s commun:Ls.:ati-on: circula.teo: immediately among :Ulthe M~mbers of tha Security' Council. 11. I avail myself of .this ..opP'rtunitye-tc....

" (Signed)' ., Vasco "Vie±:re GARIN' Permanent .Represent~GiveofPortugal to the Unitea. Ne.tions

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