NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Nehru stressed upon the historic ties between India and Pakistan in an interview with a Washington Post correspondent and said: “Confederation remains our ultimate goal, though if we say it they are alarmed and say we want to swallow them up.”

Mr Nehru has accused Pakistan of “displaying an attitude of blackmail” in seeking to make a settlement over Kashmir a precondition for assurance of peace on the Indo-Pakistan border.

In the interview, which was carried today (Dec 20) by the Press Trust of India with a New York dateline, the Indian Prime Minister said that the Western Powers were “to some extent parties to this blackmail though perhaps they do not yet realise”.He was reminded by the correspondent that the Western Powers were also pressing for settlement of the Kashmir dispute.

The correspondent quoted Mr Nehru as cautioning against “pressure tactics” by the United States and Britain to induce Indian withdrawal from Kashmir valley as the price for an enlarged Western military assistance programme.

Mr Nehru said, “We want and we welcome Western aid, but if it does not come, that does not mean we are going to surrender to the Chinese.”—Agencies