Tilting with Bhutto

For a man who has spent the past 21 months busily trying to revive and inspire his defeated country, Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was remarkably relaxed on his state visit to Washington last week. Proposing a toast at a White House dinner, he noted that his discussions with President Nixon had covered economic, cultural and military affairs. "The cultural and military matters got intertwined," he joked, "perhaps because Dr. Kissinger was there."

Some of the heavy U.S. artillery had already been committed, Bhutto added.

"Jill St. John is booked for the Soviet Union. Raquel Welch is earmarked for China." Pakistan? It was down for Tallulah Bankhead (who died in 1968).

Laughingly, Bhutto concluded: "Our interest is not in obsolete spare parts but in red-hot weapons."

Though his taste in humor might be questioned, Bhutto's allusion was clear:

his talks with Nixon had failed to change the U.S. arms policy toward Pakistan, which is anxious to replace materiel lost in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war. The U.S. shipment of armored personnel carriers during the conflict provoked charges that Washington was favoring Pakistan. The Administration denied it--until Columnist Jack Anderson leaked the now famous memo quoting Henry Kissinger as saying, "The President wants to tilt in favor of Pakistan." The U.S. currently supplies Bhutto with "nonlethal" equipment such as trucks, uniforms and spare parts, and will consider requests for ammunition only on a case-by-case basis. Actually, Nixon's firm stand against supplying weapons probably did not surprise Bhutto. Before leaving Islamabad, he had warned: "I do not want my visit to be represented simply as an arms-buying trip."

So what else was it? Essentially, it was part of Bhutto's drive to restore respect for Pakistan both at home and abroad. The visit underscored Washington's continued policy of tilting in favor of Pakistan, since Nixon did promise Bhutto economic and political support. At the same time, Washington managed to avoid alarming New Delhi. After Nixon refused to supply Pakistan with new arms, the Indian press congratulated him for not being "taken in" by Bhutto.

India was less pleased, though, with Bhutto's declaration to the United Nations last week that Pakistan would oppose the admission of Bangladesh until all Pakistani prisoners of war are returned. Indian Foreign Minister Swaran Singh accused Bhutto of making "a crude attempt to nibble" at the agreement signed by India and Pakistan last month for the exchange of all prisoners except 195 charged with war crimes.

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