PARIS: The Security Council, in two unanimous votes [on Oct 19], called on Arabs and Jews to stop fighting immediately in the Negeb area of south Palestine and to allow United Nations observers … movement throughout the Holy Land. The decisions were taken on two proposals, one by Dr Ralphe Bunche, acting Mediator, and the other … by Britain and China. The vote … arose from a Soviet suggestion to take a decision on the “cease fire” plan alone. Russia and Ukraine abstained… . —News agencies

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies in Srinagar,] the so-called Jammu and Kashmir Government have declared Pakistan to be enemy country and that persons evacuated to Pakistan will not be allowed to return to Kashmir till the hostilities cease… . The third and last convoy of refugees, who expressed their desire to rejoin their families in Pakistan, will leave Srinagar on Oct 22.

[Separately, Dawn’s special correspondent in Trakhal reported that] Mahsud patrols inflicted severe casualties on a better equipped Indian detachment in … Danna, northern Uri and forced it to retreat.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2023