May 6, 1971
Page 13884
DISASTER IN EAST PAKISTAN
Mr. MONDALE. Mr. President, the people of East Pakistan – already ravaged by cyclone and civil war – are now threatened by a new disaster of incredible magnitude.
Only the most urgent action by the United States and other governments can save millions from dying of starvation.
The evidence of gathering tragedy was summarized in a letter printed by the New York Times, May 2.
Over 35 million Bengalis depend on imported food to maintain a precarious balance between life and death.
Food imports have been interrupted since February. Internal distribution has stopped.
History has given us the clearest warning of tragedy. In 1943, when the food shortage in the area was one-third what it is now, a similar break-down of food shipments meant the death of over a million people.
Famine will not wait on publicity or bureaucratic inertia. A massive relief effort must be mounted now to revive the distribution system and reach the needy before meager food reserves are gone.
By the time we see the pictures of starving children, it will be too late to save them.
Yet, in the face of this horror, the U.S. Government has stood by in unconscionable negligence.
We have made a vague, general offer of help, but failed to press the Government of Pakistan in any way to undertake the necessary relief effort.
We were silent when International Red Cross observers – whose impartial humanitarian mission is recognized by world community – were recently denied entry into East Pakistan.
The Department of State's "Pakistan Working Group," created when the civil war broke out, has been disbanded now that the fighting has subsided. Apparently the danger of millions starving was not deemed an occasion for a "special effort" by this Government.
But something can be done.
The Consortium of Governments giving economic aid to Pakistan are now in the process of meeting. They are being asked for considerable financial aid to bail Pakistan out of an acute foreign exchange crisis.
Joined by a bipartisan group of Senators, I yesterday wired Secretary Rogers to make clear that the United States will not meet that request, and will ask other donors to refuse likewise, unless, first, the Pakistani authorities undertake an emergency relief effort equal to the crisis in East Pakistan, and second, representatives of the International Red Cross are granted prompt entry to East Pakistan to plan a coordinated international food distribution and medical relief effort with Pakistani authorities.
I would hope the Secretary would also make clear the readiness of the U.S. Government to make available a generous share of emergency food aid and vehicles for distribution, including helicopters and transport aircraft to be loaned to Pakistani relief authorities or the International Red Cross.
Unbelievably, we seem on the verge of another Biafra – another combination of rationalized inaction and moral insensitivity which could cost millions of lives.
If America's claim to moral and humane values means anything, if the Government of Pakistan deserves to be recognized as the responsible authority in East Pakistan, the only course for both governments is the strongest humanitarian action now – before we watch the burial of another generation of babies.
I ask unanimously that a telegram to Secretary Rogers and a letter from the New York Times be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the items were ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
MAY 4, 1971.
Hon. WILLIAM P. ROGERS,
U.S. Secretary of State,
U.S. Interests Section, care of Spanish Embassy,
Cairo,
United Arab Republic.
DEAR Mr. SECRETARY: Tens of millions face starvation in East Pakistan without emergency efforts to restore full supply and distribution of food imports.
We urge you to instruct U.S. Rep. at Pakistan Consortium Talks to refuse further foreign exchange assistance, and ask other donors to refuse likewise, unless Government of Pakistan (1) mounts immediate emergency relief effort in east commensurate with potential need, and (2) grants ICRC observers entry to East to plan coordinated international food distribution and medical relief efforts with Pakistani authorities.
We recognize these are extraordinary actions but feel they are compelled by horrible prospects of millions starving in East Pakistan while governments have means to prevent it.
Sincerely,
Walter F. Mondale, Clifford P. Case, Fred R. Harris, Thomas F. Eagleton, George McGovern, William Proxmire, Harold E. Hughes, Hubert H. Humphrey, Birch Bayh, and Edmund S. Muskie.
[From the Sunday New York Times, May 2, 1971]
BENGAL: A THREAT OF FAMINE
To the Editor:
The exclusion of the foreign press and observers from East Pakistan has meant the loss of vital information on the course of events there and will deprive us of the dramatic facts that rouse individuals and governments to action. But there is enough conclusive evidence from past and recent history to predict the result of the present conflict on the food position of the province.
The food grains that sustain a large part of the Bengali population come from abroad. Their distribution depends on the effective functioning of the port of Chittagong and on internal transportation and administrative services.
East Pakistan, with a population of more than seventy million, expected 2.5 million tons of imported food grains this year. That is about one-sixth of the total food requirements for the province, enough to feed twelve million people. However, a far greater number is actually affected by an interruption in the steady flow of food. For the 50 per cent of the population living barely at subsistence level, these supplies maintain the balance between life and death.
Bengal has always been extremely susceptible to famine. The last such disaster occurred in 1943 when food expected from Burma did not arrive because of the Japanese occupation of that country. At that time military demands on the Indian transportation system prevented the timely distribution of the food that was available. The food deficit that year was 6 per cent; this year it is 16 per cent. Deaths in 1943 numbered 1.5 million, and the famine left social problems from which Bengal has yet to recover fully. A crisis was imminent in 1965 when the Indo-Pakistani war stopped imports. It was avoided when the great powers used their influence to bring that conflict to a speedy close. Recovery was aided by normal internal supply activities, which had been unaffected by the war.
Today, in contrast, not only has the import of food been cut off, but the internal administrative and transport services have ceased to function normally. In addition, military action at planting time will reduce the coming harvest.
The regular import of food has been interrupted since February. Even if the conflict were to end today, the months required to return the system to normal would probably exceed the time during which the food reserves could sustain the population. The factors that determine mass famine are irreversible after a certain point.
When the first stories and photographs of starving families are published, it will be too late to protect thousands of others. International action, immediate and strong, is perhaps the only defense the people of East Bengal now have.
DANIEL C. DUNHAM.
NEW YORK,
April 20, 1971.