HC Deb 30 March 1965 vol 709 cc1373-4
12. Mr. Jackson

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations whether he will now visit India and Pakistan.

Mr. Bottomley

I last went to India and Pakistan in 1962 and I hope I shall be able to visit those countries again before very long. I shall be visiting Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia during the Easter Recess.

Mr. Jackson

I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Will he bear in mind that, in the present critical stage of the Far Eastern crisis and in view of the latest news of atrocities in Saigon, it is vitally important that Her Majesty's Government should be in the closest personal contact with the Governments in Rawalpindi and New Delhi? Secondly, can he perhaps suggest in a delicate fashion to the Prime Minister that he should make such contact a very high priority, bearing in mind the great tradition of the British Labour Party in bringing freedom to that country?

Mr. Bottomley

My hon. Friend will be aware that the Indian Prime Minister was here just before the end of last year and that the Pakistan Foreign Minister was here at the beginning of this year, so that we have had the opportunity of very close personal talks with them. I entirely share his views and I will pass on his comments to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister.

Sir Knox Cunningham

Is the right hon. Gentleman to join Mr. Patrick Gordon Walker in the Far East?