Stanford Daily

Since March 25, hundreds of thousands of East Pakistanis have been killed, including women and children. The United States has been a major source of military' and economic aid to Pakistan since 1951, and this aid is now being used in the central government's repressive actions in the East. It is reported that even cargo planes recently sent by the U.S. to aid in the relief of East Pakistani cyclone victims are being used to transport soldiers and military supplies. Before the American government finds itself involved again in an Asian civil war, the American people need to learn the basic facts of the situation. The Tragedy of East Pakistan Since 1917, the majority of the people of Pakistan (75 million Bengalis living in East Pakistan) have been systematically ruled and exploited by the minority (55 million West Pakistanis). This exploitation has been economic, political, social, cultural and psychological. While the East Pakistanis earn a large portion of the country's foreign exchange ("as much as 80 or 90 percent in the early years"—New York Times, March 27, 1971), "four times as much foreign aid is spent in the West, three times as many imports are consumed there, twice as much development money is allocated there" (ibid.). While the Bengalis of East
Pakistan earn "on the average only half as much as their Western countrymen, the price of wheat and rice is twice as high in the East as in the West" (ibid.). More than 90 percent of the Pakistani army and all senior military members of the administration and about 87 percent of the senior officers in the Central civil services have been from West Pakistan. "Since 1951 Pakistan has been a major recipient of U.S. economic aid amounting to approximately $3 billion by 1969. "The bulk of this assistance has been used to support industrialization in West Pakistan with only a handful of projects undertaken in East Pakistan" (Report written by three Harvard University professors- Edward S. Mason, Robert Dorfman and Stephen A. Marglin, April 1971). The discontent in East Pakistan which has been growing throughout the years reached a climax when the West Pakistan Government denied the rights of East Pakistani leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (whose party Awami League won 167 of the region's 169 seats and an overall majority in the combined nation's 313-seat assembly chamber) to form the government of Pakistan. The brutal atrocities perpetrated by the West Pakistan army include the blasting down of dormitories at the Dacca
University where tank tracks led to the walls of the compound (Times of London, April 2, 1971), the burning of students of Dacca University who were hastily buried in a mass grave (Times of London, March 30, 1971), the firing of bazookas into the Dacca Medical College Hospital (ibid.), and the burning to the ground of the office, the popular Bengali language daily newspaper with 40 journalists inside (New York Times, March 30, 1971). The West Pakistani army has sought and killed students, intellectuals, professors, engineers, doctors and others of leadership caliber (New York Times April 14, 1971). The heads of departments of Philosophy, Political Science, English, Statistics, Physics and History and the Director of the Bangla Academy were shot to death. "In the apartments of the faculty staff, children were seen shot dead in their beds. The dead bodies of what appeared to be the entire family of a senior professor were found in another apartment. . .The conclusion drawn was that East Pakistan would be without political and intellectual leadership for at least a decade, and perhaps a generation" (Times of London, April 2, 1971). All this clearly constitutes an act of genocide against the
freedom-loving people of Bangla Desh. "The quantum of U.S. military aid to Pakistan is a classified figure but two estimates put it between $1.5 to $2 billion for the period between 1954 to 1965. The assistance has included F-104 Starfighters, Patton tanks, armoured personnel carriers, automatic and recoilless infantry weapons. This impressive array of modern weaponry was given expressively for defensive purposes. With Pakistan an early member of SEATO and CENTO this military aid was intended to bolster the armed containment of the Communist Bloc in the Dulles era of U.S. foreign policy but apart form the brief border war with India of 1965 the only active use of these sophisticated weapons has occured against the unarmed and defenseless civilian population of East Pakistan. The growth and maintenance of the superstructure of the armed forces which was built up with massive U.S. military aid continued even after 1965 when the United States decided to put an embargo on the delivery of arms to both Pakistan and India. This was possible by diverting resources from the much needed development projects. East Pakistan, poorer and less powerful politically than the West, suffered more by this irrational policy. Surprisingly, the United States has just recently (October 1970) made an exception to its embargo on military sales to Pakistan. According to the information available, the United States has offered to supply Pakistan the following items: a. Armored personnel carriers (approximately 300) b. Maritime reconnaissance aircraft (4) c. F-104 jet fighters(6) d. B-57 bombers (7) Fortunately, no sales or deliveries have yet been made. It is not too late to rescind the offer, a move that would be of practical as well as symbolic value." (From the paper written by Harvard professors mentioned above) However, very recently Robert J. McCloskey, the State Department spokesman disclosed in response to questions that sales of military items to Pakistan- both on commercial and on credit terms- had in fact been running at "just under $10 million a year." (New York Times, April 14, 1971). Thus, "Washington's pretense of non-intervention in Pakistan's tragic internal conflict has been shattered this week by State Department acknowledgement that the United States has been selling ammunition and other 'nonlethal' military 7 equipment to the repressive Pakistani government and by the Administration's persisting refusal to impose a ban on such sales. As long as these sales continue, the United States places itself alongside China on the side of the military regime in Islamabad and in effect, makes itself a party to the continuing slaughter of Pakistan's Bengali majority and to the suppression of the recently elected majority party in Pakistan's still unconvened National Assembly." (Editorial of New York Times April 15, 1971)