THE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1971
14 PAKISTANI AIDES QUIT MISSIONS IN U.S.
Bengalis Charge Crimes by the Yahya Government-Some
Request Asylum
By Benjamin Welles
Special to The New York Times
Washington, August 4-Fourteen Pakistani diplomats-all of Bengali originresigned today from their embassy here or from the mission to the United Nations in protest against what they caned, “crimes against humanity” in East Pakistan by the Government of President Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan.
A spokesman for the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service said that some of the Pakistani diplomats who resigned had applied for permission to remain in the country under political asylum.
The spokesman said the State Department would be asked for its views as soon as personal data on the diplomats were collected. Although State Department spokesman declined comment on the matter, there were indications that the Bengali diplomats whose cause has strong support in Congress, would be permitted to remain.
A. M. A. Muhith, economic counselor of the Pakistani Embassy and leader of the group, said at a news conference at the National Press Club that he and his colleagues felt they could no longer remain silent while the Pakistan Government “violates elementary norms of civilized conduct and commits crimes against humanity.”
The group announced that it would shift its allegiance to the “Government of Bangladesh,” or “Bengal Nation,” which it said represented the “hopes and aspirations” of the majority of the people of “what used to be Pakistan.”
The Pakistan Army moved last March to crush a movement for political autonomy in East Pakistan. Some of the movement’s leaders subsequently proclaimed independence for Bangladesh, and guerrilla resistance against the troops in the east has been reported.
East Pakistan, which is separated from West Pakistan by 1,000 miles of Indian territory has 72 minion people, mostly of Bengali stock. West Pakistan has a population of 55 million, mostly Punjabis and Pathans.
The resignations appeared to reduce the Pakistani Embassy’s staff here by half. Of 10 civilian attaches listed in the State Department’s Diplomatic List, six have resigned.
Atrocities Are Alleged
Mr. Muhith declared that Bengalis in East Pakistan are being hunted down by the army. Villages are being put to the torch, he said, women are being abducted and raped and young people were being “bayoneted or bled to death.”
“Not only has a reign of terror been established, but it is heightened every day.” Mr. Muhith said, “Yahya’s ‘final solution’ of the Bengali question has since taken on an added sinister dimension-denial of food to starve Bengalis into submission. A famine of unimaginable proportion is threatening Bangladesh which will leave at least 30 per cent of the population starving.”
Among the other diplomats who resigned today were S. A. Karim, deputy permanent representative at the United Nations; E. Karim, a minister at the Embassy who is reported ill; A.M.S. Kibria, educational counselor; A.R. Chaudhury, embassy finance and accounts officer, and S.M. Ali, third secretary.
Favor Aid Ban
The resigning diplomats alluded to yesterday’s House of Representatives vote in favor of suspending aid to Pakistan and Greece as it authorized $6.9-billion in total United States foreign economic and military aid for the next two years.
“They’re absolutely cannot be any question of economic or military assistance to West Pakistan now,” they said. “Such assistance will only have the effect of perpetuating genocide.”
Within an hour of the diplomats’ news conference. President Nixon, after a meeting with Secretary of State William P. Rogers and Henry A. Kissinger, the President’s national security adviser, criticized the proposed ban on aid to Pakistan which now goes to the Senate for action.
Rogers Flans Meetings
Mr. Nixon said a suspension was likely to aggravate the problem of relief for East Pakistan refugees. He said it would hamper Pakistan’s ability to work with the United Nations “as it presently has indicated it is willing to do in distributing the food supplies.”
Calling for continuing economic aid to Pakis tan as the way to “influence the course of events” in the Indian subcontinent, Mr. Nixon announced that Secretary Rogers would confer next week at the United Nations with Prince Sadruddin Khan, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and with other officials.
No Public Pressure
Rejecting rising Congressional and public pressure for public condemnation of Pakistan’s military actions in East Pakistan Mr. Nixon declared:
“We are not going to engage in public pressure on the Government of West Pakistan. That would be totally counterproductive. These are matters that we will discuss only in private channels.”