Problems grow for Pakistan

THERE IS little joy for on the 25th anniversary of Pakistan's formal independence from Britain.

Following its defeat in the war with India and Bangla Desh in December last year, Pakistan's economic situation is deteriorating rapidly producing constant conflict in the factories and political conflict in the provinces.

The massive 56.7 per cent devaluation of the rupee three months ago has given rise to a steep increase in the cost of living, raised unemployment and sent up the cost of imported capital goods. But it has done almost nothing to stimulate exports and overcome the country's huge foreign debt.

Deprived of its captive market in Bangla Desh, Pakistan's industry is in no position to compete for markets elsewhere.

its own thanks to a bumper crop over the last 12 months. But the other major export, sugar, was not exported at all last year.

Ominously, however, the bulk of the cotton exports are now going to China and Eastern Europe, while sales to the main capitalist countries have declined.

The government officially admits that a quarter of the 4.6 million industrial labour force is unemployed.

This is wildly conservative. At least 2 million are unemployed in the towns and their numbers are augmented every day by a fresh influx of peasants leaving the land There is virtually no new investment both because of the depressed state of markets and the political uncertainty following the war. Faced with a wave of strikes, the manufacturers are demanding restoration of 'discipline' in the factories and complaining about the low quality of their own products.

They blame strikes and 'saboreality is that workers, bast 2e lace workers. oUT years they, have relled on exporting inferior goods to the former East Pakistan. A recent ministerial conference concluded that unless quality and production levels could be improved any potential benefits from the rupee devaluation would be lost.

Bhutto's own position is bolstered by his demagogic denunciations of the ousted Yahya Khan. But the new president is himself resorting increasingly to dictatorial forms of rule.

He recently ordered the arrest of over 100 of his political opponents in Sind province where there have been riots over language issues. The arrests were carried out under the Defence of Pakistan rules, which allow internment without trial and have provided the main legal basis for military dictatorship in Pakistan. NATO defoliants threat BY OUR OWN REPORTER TOP secret NATO plans for the use of herbicides and defoliants in Western Europe and other parts of the world have been exposed in Washington.

They include proposals for the destruction of vegetation in Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg in the event of a threatened war with the According to the NATO experts, defoliation and crop destruction would reduce the number of NATO troops required by forcing the 'enemy' out into the open and stripping the cover from his staging areas and lines of advance.

This technique has been used on a vast scale in IndoChina. The Americans have sprayed over 5 million acres destroving over 12 per cent e, the country's land area.

In Indo-China, these techniques have permanently altered the natural balance of entire regions, destroying rice, timber and mangrove forests and ruining almost 4 million acres of arable land.

The chemical defoliants and herbicides in the US arsenal can also cause genetic damage, giving rise to the birth of malto Europe formed babies.

According to the NATO report, revealed by Washington journalist Daniel Greenberg in his 'Science and Government Report', 'the use of herbicides permits NATO forces to prepare successive defensive positions by selecting defoliating areas where the attacking forces must assemble.' But the defoliants take several days to strip the vegetaLiberation forces still hit hard in Vietnam tion and must be applied in advance if they are to be effective. They are likely to be more useful to an attacker than to a defender.

The report states that the enemy's crops can be destroyed in a matter of hours or days at suitable times in their growing cycle'. The NATO planners also examined the possible use of anti-crop weapons in Cuba, Korea, Ethiopia and Venezuela.

purge fire or sappers had blown up the dump-but it was probably sappers, who had already triggered damaging explosions elseTwo bigger dumps near Saigon were blown up on Sunday in raids which cost the government more stockpiled ammunition than ever before in the 42-month liberation offensive.

An estimated 6,000 tons of ammunition went up in smoke at Long Binh base, 18 miles north of the capital on Sunday morning and later another 100 tons were . destroyed at Thanh Tuy Ha, six miles east of Saigon.

On the northern front there was no significant change in the position of South Vietnamese marine and airborne troops fighting around Quang Tri city. Their six-week counter-offensive aimed at retaking the provincial capital was ground to a halt outside the strongly-defended town.

American presidential adviser Henry Kissinger held a new round of secret talks with North Vietnamese officials in Paris yesterday to find a formula for ending the Vietnam war, the White House announced. It was the third meeting since talks resumed two months ago in Paris.