India has again offered to Pakistan to discuss all outstanding issues between the two countries including the Kashmir dispute. The corresponding ending with the Indian Foreign Minister’s reply to the Pakistan Foreign Minister dated May 6 released to the Press in New Delhi to-day [May 18], clearly establishes that President Ayub Khan’s anguish at the increasing defence expenditure between India and Pakistan was just a propaganda stunt and that Pakistan was not interested in coming to any agreement on the question of reduction of arms expenditure. Mr. Chagla took advantage of President Ayub Khan’s sorrow at the diversion of the available resources by India and Pakistan for defence when the economic needs cried for immediate action and promptly wrote to his opposite number in Pakistan that the representatives of the two countries should meet immediately to discuss the question of reduction of defence expenditure by the two countries. But the Pakistan Foreign Minister replied that the question of reduction of arms expenditure was inseparably linked up with the settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. Mr. Chagla expressing his disappointment over the Pakistan Government’s attitude, commented in his latest letter that “the question of arms reduction by both countries patently stands on its own merits. Any such reduction is good in itself and is bound to have a wholesome effect on the economyof both countries and to create a better atmosphere all around between the two countries.
