United Nations Security Council Resolution 39

United Nations Security Council Resolution 39 was adopted on 20 January 1948. The Council established a commission to assist in the peaceful resolution of the situation in Kashmir.
Resolution 39 passed with nine votes to none. The Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR abstained.

Functions of the commission

The commission established by Resolution 39 was dispatched to Kashmir to address the allegations made by India in a letter from 1 January and by Pakistan in a submission from 15 January.
Pakistan's allegations were wide-ranging, including that India was attempting to undo partition, committing a genocide against muslims in East Punjab, Delhi, and other areas, forcefully occupying Junagadh, had occupied Jammu and Kashmir through "fraud and violence", and had threatened Pakistan with direct military action.

Negotiations and aftermath

Resolution 39 was moved by Belgium as the President of the United Nations Security Council and headed by Philip Noel-Baker, the British Minister for Commonwealth Relations.
The British delegation sought to persuade India to accept an impartial administration in Kashmir under the United Nations. The administration was to be led by a neutral chairman, and Kashmir was to be under a joint military occupation led by a neutral commander-in-chief, both appointed by the UN. These efforts were not supported by the United States. No move was made to create the commission until after the passage of Resolution 47. Eleven weeks passed before the commission was formed and dispatched to the Indian subcontinent.
Josef Korbel, a diplomat representing Czechoslovakia, criticized the United Nations' delay in forming the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan. He argued that the political and military situation in Kashmir had changed drastically between January and April 1948.
It was later discovered that Pakistan's failure to nominate a representative to the commission contributed to the delay.