Parliamentary Correspondent Westminster, Tuesday
Under pressure from Mr Wilson and other Labour MPs the Government agreed today to alter business in the Commons tomorrow to allow a debate on the situation in Pakistan. This will last about four hours until 8 pm when the scheduled debate on overseas aid will begin and continue until 11 pm.

In spite of reminders by Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, that 40 per cent of the help given so far had come from the United Kingdom, many Opposition MPs, led by Mr Wilson and Mrs Hart, Labour's spokeman on overseas development, were clearly not satisfied with either the speed at which help was being sent or the amount of the aid.

Mr Wilson described the disaster as the worst human tragedy the world had known since the war, apart from war itself. There had been too much concern with protocol, he said, instead of with the question of getting on with the aid.

Sir Alec agreed that this was one of the most terrible tragedies the world had suffered for many a day. Nobody had tried to disguise this and he pledged that Britain would supply anything that was asked for in addition to what was already being sent.

With some bitterness Sir Alec hoped that Mr Wilson, instead of criticizing what this country was doing, might use his influence to persuade other people to subscribe to international aid. Later he promised that no limit would be placed on the additional money that Britain would give but first it was necessary to see what was wanted.

In a statement to the House, Sir Aiec said that the British Government had so far given £1,750,000 for food and relief and would give more when told by those on the spot what assistance was most urgently needed. They were now arranging for large tents and marquees to be sent from Singapore and were prepared to pay for cholera vaccine. syringes and saline fluid so that finance need cause no delay.

The Government had also made available the transport aircraft required to make sure that supplies arrived and continued to do so. U Thant, the United Nations Secretary-General, had been told that the Government were ready to supply medical and administrative staff. In addition, the British charities had sent two mass injectors, more than a million doses of vaccine and a mobile hospital. Sir Alec emphasized that responsibility for coordination and direction must be assumed by the United Nations.

He gave warning of the danger of widespread starvation in East Pakistan later in the year because of the disruption of communications and a shortfall in the rice harvest. There was an urgent need to make plans to meet this danger.

To anxious MPs of all parties, Sir Alec said that all the transport required could be provided and there was some to spare if further requests were made in the next few days. He promised that if the Indian Government needed help to prevent the refugees from getting into Calcutta and spreading cholera there they had only to ask for it.

Sir Alec told a questioner that the administration of relief was not in a state of collapse. The Indian Government was doing a great deal.

From the Labour front bench Mrs Hart said that given the sheer scale of the suffering the £2m sent by the Government was not sufficient. Substantially more should be. given. She suggested that the emergency was no longer a matter of purely internal concern for Pakistan and that the Government should consider raising it with the Security Council as a matter of urgency.

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John Grover writes: The Labour Party International Committee yesterday expressed deep concern about the crisis in Pakistan and India and formally urged on the Government the steps which Mrs Hart pressed on Sir Alec later in the Commons.
Huge task facing UN, page 6
Parliamentary report, page 8
Leading article, page 15