Washington not Stopping Aid to Pakistan
WASHINGTON, June 27.-The USA will not withhold further economic aid to Pakistan for political reasons, officials said here yesterday, reports Reuter.
The officials also denied that major aid-giving countries had agreed to postpone indefinitely any new economic assistance to Pakistan, but said that consideration of new aid had been put off for several months.
Observers said that one reasons for this appeared to be a belief that Pakistan could not use foreign aid effectively at this stage.
Earlier yesterday, the Washington Post reported that the 11 membercountries of an international aid consortium to Pakistan agreed at a meeting last Monday in Paris to postpone indefinitely any new economic assistance.
The newspaper said that the informal decision was taken after a mission from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund reported after a visit that Pakistan economic shambles.
The World Bank refused to comment, because of the sensitive situation.
Official U.S. sources here said last night that no agreement had been made to put off new assistance indefinitely.
The aid-giving countries, which include the USA, the U.K., France, West Germany and Japan, agreed to consider holding a formal meeting in September or October to review Pakistan’s aid requirements, the sources said.
The countries apparently hope that there will be an improvement in the situation in Pakistan by then.
The observers also believe the aid-giving countries hope that by holding out the possibility of further aid later this year, they will spur the Pakistani Government to making social improvements and diverting money from military spending to urgent domestic needs.
But reliable sources here said: “The USA is not withholding economic aid pending a political solution (in Pakistan) and the consortium did not adopt a position that it should withhold aid for political reasons.”
The U.S. position is that it is prepared to provide Pakistan with further aid when it shows that it is able to receive and use it to improve social conditions in the country the sources said.
According to the Washington Post, the international mission that visited the country suspects that Pakistan is spending what is left of its foreign exchange to buy arms abroad.
Reference: Hindustan Standard 28.6.1971