Pak turns down ceasefire proposal

Karachi: Pakistan would not accept India’s proposal for a ceasefire and restoration of the status quo ante, a spokesman of the Pakistan foreign ministry told newsmen here last night.

He said that the Indian proposal meant that India could stay at Chhad Bet and possibly retain some kind of administration in the areas and that Pakistan could be forced to evacuate Biarbet and possibly Kanjarkot.

He said the northern half of the Rann belonged to Pakistan. It had been under the administrative control of the British India Government of Sind up to 1947, and, after partition, until in 1957 when “India started nibbling at this territory.”

He said that in 1956 India had forcibly occupied Chhad Bet, but that did not give her the legal or moral right to stay there.