ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in a letter to the UN Secretary-General, Dr Kurt Waldheim, has exposed Afghan attempt to secure [UN] cover for interference in Pakistan’s internal affairs. The Prime Minister described as preposterous Afghan President Daud’s suggestion for setting up a fact-finding mission to investigate the situation in Baluchistan, and termed it as an attempt to secure UN cover for its interference in our affairs. — News agencies

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies from Bangkok,] under a hail of rifle and rocket fire and protected by American marines, 276 people — mostly Cambodians including [the] junta’s last member, acting President Khoy — were evacuated today [April 12] by a fleet of 36 helicopters from the battered Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. The hurried withdr­a­wal appeared to signal the end of the road for the Phnom Penh junta Government. President Saukham Khoy and the entire American Em­­bassy contingent were plucked out of the besi­eged city and brought by helicopter to Ame­rican carriers in the Gulf of Thailand. … The American Government decided to close down the Embassy after Prince Norodom Sihanouk asked it to do so.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2025