541 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড Mr. Ahmed said he was introducing the budget in circumstances of exceptional adversity. There had been a severe drop in the country reserves of four-hundred million rupees. Revenue collected was 1,164 million rupees less than budgetted for; and spending on development had fallen far short of the target. The main reason for the poor performance of Pakistan's economy during the year 1970-71 was the disruption of economic life in East Pakistan caused by the floods, the cyclone and the civil disorders. Mr. Ahmed warned that the country would have to learn to be more self-reliant because the aid prospects for the coming year were very uncertain. He said the country had already reduced its dependence on foreign aid and he introduced new measures to promote exports. On the internal front he did not announce any major new taxes but concentrated mainly on increases in direct taxation company taxation, and a high-yielding increase in tax on better quality cigarettes. Mr. Ahmed has nevertheless had to cut back on development expenditure and rely on deficit financing of 360 million rupees which is over half the total amount he is raising in new taxes. The defense budget has not been increased significantly. Whether the budget is sufficiently drastic to deal with the economic problems facing Pakistan depends a lot on three imponderables-the situation in East Pakistan, the flow of foreign aid, the ability of the revenue authorities to collect new taxes. 3) : 23rd August, 1971 ΗJ.S. ΑΤΤΙΤUΙΟΕS ΤΟ ΡΑΚΙSΤΑΝ In the United States there are divided views over what America's policy should be towards Pakistan after the recent troubles in the Eastern Wing of the State. From Washington Jhon Osman. The word genocide is banded about in America to describe what's happened in East Pakistan, the allegation being that the government has let loose unbridled racial murder against its own subjects to punish them for their secessionism. The senator from Massachusetts, Edward Kennedy is among the most influential to charge the Pakistanis with genocide. The other is the former United States Ambassador to India. Chester Bowles. Kennedy perhaps is less ill informed than most people about the situation though he has it's true only been able to study the problem from the Indian side of the Border. He was to have visited Pakistan but permission to go there was cancelled because by then, according to the Pakistanis, he had already shown himself biased against Pakistan. On reading Kennedy's reported statements it's difficult to take issue with the Pakistanis on this because it's fairly evident that the Senator would not have gone there with an entirely open mind. Though it’s true, as Kennedy says, that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's trial is an outrage to every concept of international law its equally surely a matter of opinion that, as the Senator would have it, the only crime that Mujib is guilty of winning an election. To the Pakistan government he was leading more than half the nation to break away, an act possibly of self determination also possibly of high treason. All these points casting doubt on the Kennedy assessment of events are made by administration officials here though they themselves are plainly divided on how best to cope with the problem. Chester Bowie's ideas are discounted as being too proIndian.
