পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (ত্রয়োদশ খণ্ড).pdf/৪৭০

উইকিসংকলন থেকে
এই পাতাটির মুদ্রণ সংশোধন করা প্রয়োজন।

442 ংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খন্ড শিরোনাম সূত্র তারিখ পাকিস্তানের জন্য মার্কিন যুদ্ধ জাহাজঃ সিনেটের কার্যবিবরণী ১৪ ডিসেম্পর, ১৯৭১ সিনেটর ষ্টিভেনশন-এর বিবৃতি December 14, 1971 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE S 21629 U. S. Naval Ships for Pakistan Mr. STEVENSON. Mr. President, in the name of neutrality toward India and Pakistan, the administration has called for a cease-fire accompanied by withdrawal of military forces from foreign territory. It is a strange brand of neutrality that favors one party more than the other. The Bengali victims of a new wave of West Pakistani genocide will not view our policy as neutrality. If the birth of a new nation is aborted, those who have fought and bled for the creation of that nation will not view our policy as one of neutrality. A policy which thwarts self-determination and alienates the largest democratic nation in the world is not neutral, it is utterly wrong. Others have catalogued a variety of ways in which we have been neutral in favor of Pakistan. Our professed neutrality is made even more doubtful by the fact that two U.S. Navy vessels are serving with the Pakistani Navy at the present time. One of these vessels, an attack submarine, is on loan without the loan agreement required by congressional legislation. They are the Diablo, a 31 1-foot, 2,400-ton attack submarine, with 10 torpedo tubes; and the Mission Santa Clara, a 530-foot, 16,650-ton capacity, 160-man crew naval cargo ship. The Pakistanis have rechristened them as the Ghazi and the Dacca respectively. These ships were provided to Pakistan under the ship-loan programs of the U.S. Government, through which 295 U.S. Navy vessels are now on loan to 37 nations. In the case of Pakistan, it is difficult to understand how the loan of these vessels could have been justified, even assuming that it is sound to attempt to counter Chinese and Soviet influence in South Asia by providing Pakistan with military support. The fact is that these vessels were given to a nation which does not share navigable waters with China or the Soviet Union, but does share them with India. The result is not a lessening of Soviet influence in South Asia-quite the contrary. By providing Pakistan with ships, tanks, and other military equipment which can be used only in conflict with India, we enhance Soviet influence in India and create a situation in which the superpowers engage in a vicarious arms race on the subcontinent. As we have seen in recent weeks, it is the innocent people of India and Pakistan who ultimately pay the price. The loan of ships to Pakistan underscores a serious defect in our entire ship loan program. If ships owned by the United States are loaned to another nation and