HC Deb 22 November 1971 vol 826 cc950-1
35. Mr. Cronin

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the progress of distribution of aid to refugees from East Pakistan in India and to those needing aid in East Pakistan.

Mr. Kershaw

Of the £14¾ million offered for the relief of the refugees in India, £7¾ million has been spent or committed mainly on food, tents and tarpaulins, medical supplies and freight.

Of the £2 million for humanitarian aid in East Pakistan, £500,000 has been spent on trucks for U.N.I.C.E.F., medical supplies for the World Health Organisation and the transport of rice from Japan; and further sums will be spent on shallow draught vessels for the distribution of relief supplies under the supervision of the United Nations. We are discussing with the U.N. how the remainder of our contributions can be spent most effectively.

Mr. Cronin

I thank the hon. Gentleman for those helpful figures. Would it not be helpful to the refugees if more co-operation were obtainable from Pakistan itself? Would it be worth-while suggesting to President Yahya Khan that he should restore to East Bengal the former Governor, Vice-Admiral Ahsan, who has the complete confidence of the Bengalis and has always behaved with great humanity and good sense?

Mr. Kershaw

The hon. Gentleman knows that we are in the closest touch with the Pakistan Government about these matters. As to whether we should make detailed suggestions like that, I could not say.

37. Mr. George Cunningham

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is now the accumulated total of expected disbursements to India this year of aid towards the refugee problem in Bengal; what is his current estimate of disbursements of all levies of aid to India this year; and whether the need for refugee assistance is reducing the development aid available to India.

Mr. Kershaw

We expect that all the £14¾ million offered for the relief of the refugees in India will be disbursed this year and that disbursements of development aid—excluding food aid and technical assistance—will be substantially higher than last year's level of £41¾ million. In addition we expect to disburse about £800,000 of food aid and to maintain our technical assistance programme at its normal level. We have not reduced our development aid to India on account of the need for refugee aid.

Mr. Cunningham

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on that situation which reflects the great need of India for development assistance apart from its need in relation to the refugees. Will he keep in mind that a number of aid donors separate the financing of their humanitarian assistance from development assistance in order that, when a catastrophe like that in East Bengal occurs, it does not result in an overall reduction in development assistance? Will he confirm that what he has just said, while meaning that India may get no less development assistance as a result of these happenings, means that all the other developing countries are bound to get less?

Mr. Kershaw

The hon. Gentleman knows from his past experience that it is sometimes difficult to disburse the full amount of aid available in one year. So far we have managed to use the slack, so to speak, for this year for this humanitarian aid. However, I assure the hon. Gentleman that we will make sure that our contribution to India does not fall below what it was. In fact, we expect and hope to be able to provide over £50 million in aid to India this year.