Senator LDWARD M. KENNEDY: Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Refugees has spoken on this subject........
Mr. CHIURCII: Then, too, the Pakistan Government, in constantly blaming India for its troubles, has internationalized the issue, thus aggravating the danger of spreading the war. A New York Times editorial on April 21 stated this danger well:
There is ample evidence to justify a strong plea by the world community for an immediate end to the bloodshed and for the admission of international relief agencies into East Pakistan.
The Pakistani Government itself has made this conflict an International issue by attempting to place the blame for Bengali resistance on neighboring India. If deep-rooted-and now profoundly aggravated-Bengali grievances are allowed to fester, mounting tensions between India and Pakistan could explode into a war that might quickly involve one or more of the major powers. The United Nations Security Council and its member states have not only the right but the responsibility to do all that is in their power to try to forestall such a development.
A particularly heavy burden of responsibility falls on the United States Government since Washington's arms provide the principal muscle of West Pakistan's military power and American economic aid will become increasingly cructed for the Pakistan Governments survival. Washington has the leverage to support democratic and peaceful development in Pakistan. Continued bilad backing for the military regime in Islamabad can only lead to disaster for this country's substantial interests on the Indian subcontinent.
Third, our military assistance program has exacerbated trouble some situations before. The pages of recent history are full of the well-known role American arms have played in fueling existing tensions between Greece and Turkey, Jourdan and Israel, Honduras and EL Salvador, Iran and Iraq, India and Pakistan, Franch and Algeria, Portugal and its African colonies, to mentions a few. “Guns provided others.” editorialized the Baltimore Sun, “will in all probability be discharged, but not necessarily discharged against the target of your prescriptions.” This is the reason Congress needs to alter drastically the export of American arms in the future. Certainly the Pakistan example is a flagrant casc in point. I plan to offer such legislation later this year, in the hope that the United States will end its addiction to arsenal diplomacy, and stop pressing armaments on other nations through grants.
For, now, however, adoption of the pending resolution is a place to start.
