Delhi, July 12
Relations between India and the United States deteriorated further today when Mr Swaran Singh, the Indian Foreign Minister, making a strong protest against the American decision to supply Pakistan with arms, accused President Nixon of condoning genocide and the atrocities in East Bengal.

Replying to angry demands for the recall of the Indian Ambassador in Washington, Mr Singh told the lower house of Parliament today that India did not want to take that drastic step, but the Foreign Office had lodged a strong protest note with the American Government.

“The Government shares the concern of all sections of this house about the continued supply of military equipment by the United States to Pakistan. I would like to assure the House that our view on the subject has been conveyed in unequivocal terms to the United States Government.

“The Government feels that the supply of arms to Pakistan by any country in the present context amounts to condonation of genocide in Bangla Desh and the encouragement of the continuation of the atrocities by the military rulers of Pakistan.

“It also amounts to an intervention on the side of the military rulers of West Pakistan against the people of Bangla Desh. We have left the United States Government in no doubt about the dangerous implications of such a policy on the situation in Bangla Desh and on the peace and stability of the sub-continent as a whole”.

The Foreign Minister said that the Government believed that America was planning to sell $35m (£14m) worth of military equipment to Pakistan. It is possible that the figure may not be far from correct.

Equipment purchased from certain governmental sources is valued much below the normal market price, Mr Singh declared.

He said that India had continually warned the Americans that arms supplied to Pakistan would not be used against Communist countries but that they would certainly be used against India. He was not sure of the current statistics, but he informed the House that the United States had provided Pakistan with military assistance to the tune of $2,000m (£830m) between 1954 and 1965.

Mr Singh admitted that President Nixon’s adviser on national security, Dr Henry Kissinger, had failed to give Mrs Gandhi any assurance that arms aid to Pakistan would stop. “We have asked for an assurance at a higher level, but it is not forthcoming” Mr Singh said.

I learnt today from a highly placed diplomat that the Americans have decided to continue to supply Pakistan with arms because they believe that they will be able to continue to talk to President Yahya Khan and persuade him to accept a realistic political settlement.

Delhi, July 12.-— In a major policy statement to the Lower House today Mr Jagjiran Ram, the Defence Minister, said that a new nation of Bangla Desh “will ultimately ” be established in what is now East Pakistan. He said he expected the East Pakistan liberation forces to win their independence.— AP.
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