LONDON: Pakistan’s support for the principle of no independence for Rhodesia before the majority rule was reaffirmed at yesterday’s [Oct 28] meeting here of the Commonwealth Sanctions Committee at which Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania and some other African countries warned Britain against the abandonment of this principle.

Britain’s Minister without Portfolio, Mr George Thomson, who is in charge of the Rhodesian Affairs, told the meeting that further negotiations with the illegal Smith regime would depend on a signal awaited from Salisbury. The Sanctions Committee decided to meet again in the second half of November in preparation for the conference in January of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers and Presidents.

The Commonwealth Sanctions Committee’s warning to Britain came only three days after the United Nations General Assembly resolution reiterating no independence before the majority rule principle. Canada’s vote for the resolution demonstrated that Britain cannot count on solid support of all White Com­monwealth members support for its Rhodesian policy.

Although the terms of Ian Smith’s preliminary reply to Premier Wilson’s proposals for a Rhodesia settlement have not yet been divulged, it is clear that the Salisbury regime has not deviated from its racist policies. Ian Smith still believes that there can be no majority rule during his lifetime and he is unwilling to furnish the guarantees against erosion of constitutional safeguards for Africans. — Correspondent

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2018