The fulfillment of this humanitarian purpose is itself dependent on the reduction of tension between India and Pakistan. We appreciate that in the present circumstances the creation of an atmosphere of compromise and negotiation's made especially difficult.
We all readily appreciate that the essential problems at the heart of the refugee crisis are not easy to solve, and have been made incomparably more difficult by the events which have marked recent months. None of us outside the region is in a position to offer suggestions on the nature of a solution. What can be done, however, through the Council is to focus attention on the need, for an atmosphere of negotiation and compromise and for a longer-term settlement. The problem is already of unprecedented magnitude. If the international community do not face up to it now they will have to do so latter when its dimensions are greater and more serious.
It is with that fundamental requirement in mind that I especially commend the efforts of the High Commissioner for Refugees. I can assure him of or full support in his continuing endeavors to attain the welfare and rehabilitation of the East Pakistan refugees.
