পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/১৫৫

বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড He explained that while the Administration had halted the granting of export licenses military items under its four-year-old program of credit and cash sales after the outbreak of hostilities in East Pakistan last March 24, the permits issued before that date would not be revoked. Other Administration sources had reported, however, that this decision was made last week by the National Security Council after newspaper disclosures showed that at least three Pakistani ships carried military equipment from New York to Karachi despite what the State Department had originally described as ban on all shipments. Kennedy Protests The State Department later issued a clarification, saying that the ban did not apply to equipment purchased by the Pakistanis before March. Under questioning by Senator Kennedy. Mr. Van Hollen conceded that the State Department's earlier public statements on the matter were "confusing" and "misleading." Later in the day, State Department officials confirmed reports that the Pakistani freighter Kaptai, due in New York today would sail for Karachi about July 2, "presumably with items on the munitions control list," and that between four and five other ships would sail with similar cargos before mid-August. This information led Senator Kennedy late afternoon to telephone Joseph J. Sisco, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, to protest the new shipments. Mr. Kennedy then issued a statement charging that the hearings before his subcommittee this morning had indicated that the Administration's policy on, military supplies to Pakistan was "misleading and contradictory. ' "In violation of the understanding conveyed to me and others in Congress, our Government has freely tolerated at least three shipments of military equipment to Pakistan over the past two months," he said. "Today, after the hearings, we learned that still another ship, the Kaptai, is docking in New York to be loaded with still more military hardware for Pakistan and four to five more ships are expected to be loaded in the coming weeks. "I've asked the Administration to stop the policy of shipping arms to Pakistan." At the subcommittee hearing, Mr. Von Hollen justified the decision to continue economic aid to Pakistan and to maintain the validity of the military export licenses on the ground that to do otherwise in a situation of "civil strife" in East Pakistan would "be seen as sanctions and intrusion in internal problems." He said that the United States had decided to keep selling "nonlethal" military items to Pakistan so that President Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan would not turn to other sources of supply, such as Communist China. He acknowledged, however, that China had been supplying arms lo Pakistan all along.