asked the Minister of Overseas Development what grants or loans she has made to India, Pakistan and Kashmir over the past eight months, and what further aid she is contemplating.

Since March this year, two loans together amounting to £15 million have been made to India. No loans to Pakistan were made in this period. There is no separate British aid programme to Kashmir. A further loan of £4 million to India and a loan for a similar sum to Pakistan are expected to be signed shortly.

Will the Minister try to find some way to assist Kashmir, which is a depressed police State, and rather a blot on the escutcheon of the British Commonwealth of Nations?

That, of course, is not a matter for my Department.