To go on arming Pakistan
WAHSHINGTON, July 9.-A United States official has said that a single State Department telephone call to customs authorities could stop further U.S. Military shipments to Pakistan, reports AP.
“As of now, no such stop order is in the works,” the informant said yesterday.
He was discussing the Nixon Administration’s controvesial supply of arms to Pakistan.
His statement meant that it was deliberate U.S. policy at this time to go on giving military aid to General Yahya Khan’s autocratic regime. According to the informant the Administration hopes thereby to preserve the option of resuming military collaboration on a bigger scale if and when Pakistan’s internal situation quietens.
One reason for this, according to the informant, is that Pakistan now is obtaining most of the arms it needs from China. The USA wants to ensure that Pakistan’s present reliance on Peking does not become permanent.
The informant, who declined use of his name, went on : We are currently engaged in an inter-departmental review of all the factors involved in continuing U.S. military and other aid to Pakistan. It may take weeks before final conclusions emerge.”
A major element in that review is Mr. Nixon’s adviser on National Security Affairs. Mr. Henry Kissingers’ talks with Gen. Yahya Khan. Mr. Kissinger arrived in Rawalpindi yesterday from New Delhi where he had discussed the East Bengal situation with the Indian Prime Minister.
In both capitals, the USA has been stressing three policy aims :
To ensure that both India and Pakistan exercise great restraint in a crisis that could engulf the entire Indian sub-continent;
To encourage a political settlement of the feud between East Bengal and West Pakistan;
To arrange for the safety and repatriation of the estimated six million East Bengalis who have crossed into India.
Meanwhile, American suppliers are free to go on shipping new military equipment ordered by Pakistan and licensed by the USA before March 25, the day the administration banned further licensing of military goods for Pakistan.
Administration officials have said military orders still outstanding for Pakistan were small in value and in lethal signifience, but they have refused to put a value on these orders beyond saying there could be four or five more shiploads.
A State Department spokesman Mr. Charies Bray, questioned about Gen. Frank Churche’s figure said he believed it was on the high side but he could not say precisely what the value of further arms shipments to Pakistan would be, adds Reuter.
Mr. Bray said it was impossible to put a value on arms equipment that might eventually go to Pakistan.
The reason, he said, was that when a licence was taken out, it did not necessarily follow that the equipment would actually be purchased and delivered.
The State Department spokesman said he did not know the total value of the equipment for which licences had been granted. (The licences were said to have been granted before the Pak Army crackdown on East Bengalis).
Military sales to Pakistan in recent years have averaged $10 million (Rs. 7.5 crores) to $15 million (Rs. 11.25 crores) a year. Mr. Bray said.
Reference: Hindustan Standard 10.07.1971