THE WASHINGTON POST, AUGUST 19, 1971
PAKISTAN USING U.S. JETLINERS TO HELP MOVE MEN
TO BENGAL
Two jet airliners leased from an American company have been integrated into the Pakistani International Airlines fleet, which Pakistan’s central government has been using to move troops and material in and out of its strife tom province of Bengal, it was learned from official sources.
The planes, both Boeing 707s, are under lease from World Airways, which describes itself as the largest U.S. charter airlines. It does half its business with the U.S. armed forces.
The lease was arranged with the knowledge and explicit authorization of the State Department, the Commerce Department and the Civil Aeronautics Board.
According to American sources recently returned from East Pakistan both U.S. officials and private individuals-PIA jetliners are used to carry wounded troops out to West Pakistan and to bring in replacements.
PIA, Pakistan’s official flag carrier, has seven of its own Boeing 707s, plus the two leased craft. The airline flies commercial routes between Pakistan’s east and west wings, as well as extensive international routes.
The two leased planes, for which PIA is paying the Oakland, Calif., based World Airways S 170,000 a month, have enabled the Pakistanis to continue commercial service as well as diverting other for military duty in the campaign to crush the Bangladesh independence movement.
World Airways is under contract to the U.S. Military Airlift Command, and is a prime charter carrier of American troops to and from Vietnam.
World Airways had U.S. military contracts for nearly $26 million last year and over $51 million in 1969, a company official said.
The two planes which World provided to Pakistan in June were replacements for two similar 707s leased last summer. They are equipped to handle passengers as well as freight, according to CAB sources.
PIA used the planes last summer to augment their normal commercial services. Application for renewal of the arrangement was made at about the beginning of June. The Commerce Department issued a new license on June 18 nearly two months after the Pakistani army crackdown against the Bengalis. It was clear by them that the extra planes enabled the Pakistanis to use commercial liners for military transport.
A Commerce Department source said the licenses were subject to revocation and that the leases would be invalid without license.
As to whether the leased, American-owned planes were being used by the Pakistanis for military purposes, the company official said only that he is personably sure that they are not.
He said American crewmen of other World Airways planes periodically meet Pakistani crewmen of the leased aircraft in various Asian countries. “They tell our people they don’t fly troops,” the official said.
However, he added, “I can understand why they’d say that, no matter what.”
The Pakistani airline’s air traffic rights entitle it to fly between East and West Pakistan, as well as overseas. A World official said that by flying the leased planes into a “war zone,” PIA would be breaking the terms of their contracts.
“Whether East Pakistan is in fact a war zone I really couldn’t say.” he added.
Two U.S. government sources who recently left Dacca, capital of East Pakistan, said they had seen armed Pakistani soldiers disembarking from PIA Boeing 707s and wounded troops being placed aboard.
Neither was able to say whether the planes they saw were the leased aircraft. A World officer noted that the company’s markings were removed and replaced by PIA identification.
“But it’s really a moot point,” one of the sources slated. “The fact is that because they’ve got those two American-owned planes they’re able to divert jets from commercial use to military use, and no matter how you slice it, we’re helping them.”
A State Department source said the U.S. government viewed the deal “as a commercial matter.” He said there were no U.S. government restrictions on the use of the planes.
“We did not anticipate that these planes would be used for other then commercial purposes,” the source said. “If we get other information, we will have to re-examine the matter. But I don’t know what, in fact, we’d do.”
-Lewis M. Simons