NEW YORK: US President Gerald Ford war­n­­ed … that prospects for war in the Middle East are very, very serious. An interview published in “Time” magazine quoted the Pre­si­dent as adding that the seriousness “increases every day that we don’t get some action for further progress in the settlement of some of those disputes”. In the interview, he also de­­clined to give Israel a guarantee … and said: “We have to judge what is in our national int­erest above any and all other considerations.” He also said that he backed the view expres­sed by Secre­tary of State Henry Kissinger who … refused to rule out the use of force in the Middle East if the “free” or industrialised world faced strangulation.

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies from Lahore,] Mir Afzal Khan, Federal Mi­­n­ister for Commerce, has categorically stated that no drastic revision of import policy was under Government consideration and people in trade and industry should not pay attention to any rumour, whatsoever, in this connection. … The Minister observed that since there [were] no abnormal imports, the Gov­e­rnment had no intention to tighten up the pre­­­sent liberal character of the import policy.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2025