PAKISTAN CLOSES U.S. POSTS

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31045, 28 April 1966, Page 17

PAKISTAN CLOSES U.S. POSTS

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) WASHINGTON, April 27. The United States has been forced to close some of its listening posts in northern Pakistan near the borders of Russia and China, it has been disclosed. The installations were used for remote monitoring of nuclear tests and rocket launchings and were part of; a organisation run by the United States in Pakistan. American equipment most of it commercially available and none of it involving anything secret, had to be left behind when the shut-down order came, it was said. According to reliable sources, Pakistan withdrew permission for some of the stations to be used after the United States suspended its military aid last September. United States military aid to both Pakistan and India was halted shortly after the shooting war began between the two countries over Kashmir. Kept Secret The monitoring organisation has been one of the semi-secrets of the cold war —widely known but never officially discussed. Some of the monitoring devices could detect rocket launchings deep inside the Soviet Union by the heat produced by the rocket blasts. United Press Internationa] said. The shut-down of the

stations has become part of a controversy within the Johnson Administration about how quickly to resume United States military aid to Pakistan. Officials in the Defence Department and the Central Intelligence Agency have urged a more rapid resumption of military aid programmes in order to get the monitoring stations reopened. Ties With Peking They also argue that the United States has given more than 1000 million dollars in military aid to Pakistan over the years and that this in-

vestment should not be allowed to go “down the drain” or be absorbed in [ Chinese military assistance. In recent months Pakistan has been forging closer ties with [ Peking. > The State Department, on . the other hand, has argued . that the United States should . never again permit itself to be put in the position it was last August and September when it transpired that Pakisi tan and India were using s United States equipment—ini tended as a defence against • Communist aggression ■ against each other.