The administration has been appallingly equivocal in its approach to the Pakistani civil war. To be sure. the President. after nearly 8 months of delay. last week finally shut off arms shipments to Yahya Khan. And. the United States has led all nations in providing relief supplies to the refugees. But more needs to be done. To begin with. the civil war must be ended on an equitable basis. The present American attitude toward the Pakistani regime has only catered to continued violence and intransigence. I propose that we reverse this policy and let Khan and the world know that we. in no uncertain terms. condemn his brutal military policies. We should shut off all forms of assistance to the Islamabad government. except for relief supplies to refugees. If necessary we should organize an international boycott of Pakistan until Yahya Khan comes to an equitable settlement with the Bengalis. Only in the face of outspoken international condemnation will he cease his aggression against Bangla Desh. In the interim. more must be done to relieve the plight of the 10million refugees rotting in the DP camps around Calcutta. As Senator KENNEDY has pointed out. India will require $800 million in the year ahead to provide for the refugees. Hundreds of millions more dollars are necessary to aid war victims still in East Pakistan. It is our moral duty to provide a large portion of these funds and to pressure other governments in the developed world to contribute substantially more than they have. India simply does not have the resources to care for these refugees by herself. and I doubt that Yahya Khan could care less. so it is up to the developed nations to step into the breach. Mr. Speaker.
Keywords matched
refugees