HERALD TRIBUNE (Paris) October 16, 1971
The Sipsah, an 8,000 ton Pakistani ship, has recently unloaded crates of North Korean small arms and ammunition at Karachi, well informed sources reported here yesterday. The vessel arrived at Karachi on September 18 from Hungnam, North Korea, the sources said.
They also reported that Pakistan and North Korea had signed agreements for the opening of consulates in each others countries. North Korea is about to open a consulate in Dacca, the provincial capital of East Pakistan, the Washington sources said. Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department has expressed concern over reports of increasing troop build-ups on both sides of the Indian-Pakistani border.
It said that it had been urging restraint on both governments. But Robert J- McCIoskey, the State Department spokesman, yesterday denied reports from Pakistan that the United States had offered to mediate in the civil war in East Pakistan. He said that the United States had urged the Pakistani government to seek political reconciliation. The reported arms delivery to Pakistan was the first from North Korea that officials here could recall. They said it was unclear whether the shipment was the result of a commercial sale or government transaction.
Pakistan is a member of the Central Treaty Organizations with the United States and has received $2 billion in arms from the United States since 1954, official said. Some officials here suggested that the Soviet Union, which recently signed a treaty of friendship with India, might be seeking to maintain friendly links with Pakistan as well by furnishing arms through North Korea. These officials stressed that the Soviet Union and North Korea closely coordinate their activities. Other well-informed sources discounted, however, the suggestion, saying that China was a more likely source of the arms.
“The Communist Chinese have been copying up to the North Koreans lately”, one source commented. “This would fit in with China’s standing policy of supplying arms to Pakistan but without publicity”.
The Sipsah, an 8,000 ton Pakistani ship, has recently unloaded crates of North Korean small arms and ammunition at Karachi, well informed sources reported here yesterday. The vessel arrived at Karachi on September 18 from Hungnam, North Korea, the sources said.
They also reported that Pakistan and North Korea had signed agreements for the opening of consulates in each others countries. North Korea is about to open a consulate in Dacca, the provincial capital of East Pakistan, the Washington sources said. Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department has expressed concern over reports of increasing troop build-ups on both sides of the Indian-Pakistani border.
It said that it had been urging restraint on both governments. But Robert J- McCIoskey, the State Department spokesman, yesterday denied reports from Pakistan that the United States had offered to mediate in the civil war in East Pakistan. He said that the United States had urged the Pakistani government to seek political reconciliation. The reported arms delivery to Pakistan was the first from North Korea that officials here could recall. They said it was unclear whether the shipment was the result of a commercial sale or government transaction.
Pakistan is a member of the Central Treaty Organizations with the United States and has received $2 billion in arms from the United States since 1954, official said. Some officials here suggested that the Soviet Union, which recently signed a treaty of friendship with India, might be seeking to maintain friendly links with Pakistan as well by furnishing arms through North Korea. These officials stressed that the Soviet Union and North Korea closely coordinate their activities. Other well-informed sources discounted, however, the suggestion, saying that China was a more likely source of the arms.
“The Communist Chinese have been copying up to the North Koreans lately”, one source commented. “This would fit in with China’s standing policy of supplying arms to Pakistan but without publicity”.
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