Indian Treaty Series

Karachi, 1 January and 20 February 1953

Note addressed to the Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations, Karachi, by the High Commission) for India in Pakistan, Karachi (No. F.79(2)/52-Geni. date( I January 1953)

The High Commission for India in Pakistan presents the compliments to the Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations, and has the honour to refer tc the discussions between the representatives of the Government ol India and representatives of the Government of Pakistan at Karachi from the 8th to the 10th December, 1952, relating to the flight of Indian aircraft to Afghanistan across the territory of West Pakistan and landing in such territory for non-traffic purposes. At the meeting, the representatives of the Government of Pakistan intimated that their Government were unable at present to agree to the routes proposed by India, namely Delhi-Lahore-Peshwar-Kabul and India via Karachi and Quetta to Kandahar but offered, instead, the following routes and facilities for the operation of air services by Indian aircraft :

(a) The route India-Lahore and thence along a corridor twenty miles wide with its centre line on the direct rhumb line track between Lahore and Kandahar. This corridor would permit Indian aircraft to turn off at a point approximately 31* 45N and 69* OOE on to a direct track to Kabul over Afghan territory;

(b) The route India-Karachi and thence along a corridor twenty miles wide with the centre line on the direct rhumb line track between Karachi and Kandahar ;

(c) The Government of Pakistan would release, for export to Afghanistan, a quantity of fuel required for the Indian airline(s) which is estimated not to exceed 2,500 gallons per month and ;

(d) Certain operational facilities on the above mentioned routes, as specified in the record of discussions jointly signed by the representatives of the two Governments on the 10th December, 1952, at Karachi. The offer of the Government of Pakistan is an improvement on the existing conditions. It will, however, be appreciated that the direct route from Delhi to Kabul via Peshawar is not only much shorter in length than that at (a) above, but also, having regard to the terrain and navigational facilities, would ensure greater safety of operations which is a most important consideration in civil air transport. Surface transport has been continuous since ancient times through Peshawar to Afghanistan and extension of air corridor facilities by about sixteen statute miles from Peshawar to the Afghan border ought to be available also to air transport as a matter of course. Since, however, the Government of Pakistan are not at present disposed to agree to the operation of air services over the Peshawar route, the Government of India, in the interest of mutual understanding, are prepared to accept the offer of the Government of Pakistan described in paragraph 2 above, without prejudice to their right to raise the issue of a direct service to Kabul through Lahore and Peshawar at a later date. They trust that the Government of Pakistan will re-consider the matter at an early date and will agree to the natural, direct route. The Government of India will now forward to the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization a copy of this Note and also a copy of the aforesaid jointly signed record of discussions and will request the Council to take appropriate action. The High Commission avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the Government of Pakistan the assurances of its highest consideration.

II Note addressed to the High Commissioner for India in Pakistan, by the Government ofPakistan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations (N. UN. (l)-9/6/52; dated 20th February 1953). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations presents its compliments to the High Commission for India in Pakistan and has the honour to refer to the High Commission's note No. F. 79(2)/52-Genl., dated the January 2, 1953 regarding the flight of Indian aircraft to Afghanistan across the territories of West Pakistan and landing in such territory for non-traffic purposes. The Government of Pakistan are glad to note that the Government of India have accepted their offer in regard to the flights of Indian aircraft to Afghanistan via Lahore-Kandhar and Karachi-Kandhar as contained in the jointly signed record of discussions between the representatives of the two Governments, and that the representatives of the Government of India on January 19, 1953, made it clear to the Council of ICA0 that the acceptance of the Government of India of the offer of the two routes in the terms set out in the record of discussions was unconditional. The Government of Pakistan regret that, as already explained, they cannot make any commitment for the future regarding the question of opening the Delhi-Peshwar-Kabul route. The Ministry avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the High Commission the assurance of its highest consideration.

RECORD OF DISCUSSION BETWEEN THE INDIAN AND PAKISTAN DELEGATIONS

As requested by the Working Committee of ICAO, reference their letter No. C-WP/1341, dated 26-11-52, a Delegation of the Civil Aviation Authorities in India met. a corresponding Delegation of Pakistan in Karachi. The meetings took place over the period December 8th, 1952 to December 10th 1952. The Pakistan representatives confirmed that their Government is prepared to open two air corridors across the prohibited areas in West Pakistan as follows :

(1) A corridor 20 miles wide with its centre line on the direct rhumb line track between Lahore and Kandahar. This corridor would permit Indian aircraft to turn off at a position approximately 31°45N and 69°00E onto a direct track to Kabul over Afghan territory.

(2) The second corridor was similarly 20 miles wide on the centre line of the direct rhumb line track between Karachi and Kandahar. These two corridors were offered to serve two different routes which it is understood India wishes to operate, namely, Delhi to Kabul and Bombay or Ahmedabad to Kabul, one of these touching at Kandahar. The Indian Delegation explained that they were interested in a short direct route which was economic and operationally feasible and not necessarily over a particular area which Pakistan considered prohibited for reasons of security. They just wanted a corridor along which they could operate. The discussions then devolved on the operational aspects of the routes offered. It was agreed that the route from Delhi via Lahore and the turning point'%" (approximate position 31*45N and 69*OOE) to Kabul was 787 statute miles in length compared to a distance of 644 statute miles from Delhi via Lahore and Peshawar. The difference was therefore 143 statute miles shown in the annex. The Indian Delegation explained that one of their difficulties in operating services to Kabul was lack of aviation fuel in Afghanistan. To facilitate the operation on the routes proposed the Pakistan Delegation offered to release for export to Afghanistan a quantity of fuel (which is estimated not to exceed 2500 gallons per month) required by the Indian Airline(s). The Indian Delegation expressed their gratitude in regard to the offer of Pakistan for the facilitation of fuel supply in Afghanistan. They, however, considered that the route along the proposed corridor up to point "X" involved considerable deviation from the direct natural route and therefore requested that Pakistan may kindly consider placing the corridor further North. The Pakistan Representatives regretted their inability to do this and added that the petrol facility at Kabul was being specially offered to help the operation on the routes proposed. As regards the operational facilities on this route, Pakistan advised that the civil airport of Multan would be available as an alternate to Lahore and that as this was not a customs airport it would, therefore, have to be used on the usual strict undertaking against the off-loading and embarking of passengers and freight etc. Also the emergency landing ground at Dera Ismail Khan would be available for use in emergencies only and could be reached by following the Eastern bank of the Indus river to Dera Ismail Khan itself. It was agreed that the operation of this route would be during day time only; Air Traffic Control within the boundaries of the Karachi Flight Information Region would be exercised by Karachi and the communications and navigational facilities at Karachi, Lahore and Multan would be available to Indian aircraft. The Indian Delegation requested that the normal procedures regarding clearing of a flight on account of weather and/or terminal airport available should be waived in the case of flights to Afghanistan in view of the lack of information available in that area. The check procedure would be promulgated in the form of a Notice to Airmen when the corridors are officially opened. On the second route i.e., Karachi-Kandahar-Kabul the Indian Delegation requested Pakistan to investigate whether any airport with refuelling facilities could be made available close to the corridor beyond Karachi. The Pakistan Delegation pointed out that there was no customs airport in this area and that the other civil airports in the vicinity, e.g. Jocobabad and Sibi, were not, at present, manned and therefore there were no facilities available there. The Pakistan Delegation requested that the reactions of the Indian Government to the Pakistan proposals should be communicated to the Pakistan Government as early as possible, preferably not later than the first of January 1953, to enable a report to be forwarded to ICAO in time. The Indian Delegation agreed.