Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, chairman of Pakistan's People's Party and a possible future leader of that country, is advocating the removal of the United Nations headquarters from New York if the Americans reduce their financial support for the world body following last week's vote on China. Instead, the organization could be moved to “a cheaper place in Asia” — Karachi or Rawalpindi, perhaps?

Bhutto, who is known for his pro-Peking sympathies and is closely acquainted with Chou Enlai and other Chinese leaders, does not expect the Chinese to launch into spectacular action at the United Nations. Their initial interest, he feels, will be centred on international disarmament and Afro-Asian problems. “Bereft of Chinas leadership at the United Nations, a tormented Asia has been the worst victim of the global intrigue which kept China out.”

The arch-rival of Shaikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League, Bhutto is currently on a European tour—Geneva, Paris, Rome—which very pointedly by-passes London. No doubt it would have been embarrassing for the British Government to have had him and Indira Gandhi here at the same time. But Bhutto says he “deliberately omitted” Britain from his itinerary because of what he describes as the “partisan attitude of the British Government and press towards the Pakistan crisis”. He could have expected a lively reception if he had come.