WASHINGTON: President Nixon today [Dec 12] called on India to immediately halt its “armed attack” on Pakistan and requested a new UN Security Council meeting to deal with the war in the subcontinent. In a communique … Mr. Nixon charged India with “defiance of world opinion” by continuing military penetration of East Pakistan. “With East Pakistan virtually occupied by Indian troops, continuation of the war would take on increasingly the character of the armed attack on the very existence of a member State of the United Nations”, the Presidential statement said. US Permanent Representative George Bush had been instructed to request an immediate meeting of the Security Council to order a ceasefire and withdrawal of Indian forces from East Pakistan, White House spokesman Ronald Ziegler said. The White House said India’s defiance of the UN General Assembly vote urging an immediate cease-fire in … is a “threat to world peace”. — News agencies

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies in Islamabad,] The Central Government have pro­mulgated under the Defence of Pakistan Rules, the Essential Commodities Control Order, 1971, under which the Central Government may fix specific maximum prices of essential commodities, may impose restrictions on the possession, disposal and movement of essential commodities.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2021