http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/12-us-senate-takes-up-aid+-to-pakistan-bill--bi-01?pagedesign=Dawn_PrintlyFriendlyPageUS Senate takes up aid to Pakistan bill
By Anwar Iqbal and Masood Haider
Tuesday, 05 May, 2009 | 12:21 AM PST |
WASHINGTON: The US Congress made a friendly gesture to President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday, introducing a bill to triple American aid to Pakistan on the day he arrives in the US capital on a four-day visit.
Two influential senators – Democrat John Kerry and Republican Richard Lugar – introduced the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement or the PEACE Act of 2009, in the Senate on Monday afternoon after a long delay.
‘The legislation intents to help transform the relationship between the US and Pakistan from a transactional, tactically-driven set of short-term exercises in crisis-management, into a deeper, broader, long-term strategic engagement,’ said a statement issued by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
The bill, first introduced in the 110th Congress, proposes to give Pakistan $7.5 billion over five years —$1.5 billion a year —and an additional $7.5 billion over the following five years.
Senator Kerry, the 2004 presidential candidate who now chairs the Senate committee, is a strong supporter of US economic assistance to Pakistan.
In an earlier interview to Dawn about his efforts to increase US assistance to Pakistan, Senator Kerry argued that the military alone could not defeat the extremists. The final victory, he said, could only be achieved by removing the root-cause: economic deprivation and unemployment.
Senator Kerry also opposed imposing new restrictions on Pakistan in return for US economic assistance, recalling that similar restrictions imposed in 1990 did cause an irreparable damage to US-Pakistan relations.
Mr Kerry, however, backed the requirements that seek total commitment from Pakistan in the fight against extremists and advocate strict accountability of the funds given to Islamabad.
He also backed placing some restrictions on the military assistance but said these were not new.
The announcement came two days before US President Barack Obama hosts presidents Zardari and Hamid Karzai for a trilateral summit aimed at improving relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In a news conference on Wednesday, President Obama pushed for more cooperation between these two key allies in the fight against extremism and expressed concern about the fragility of Pakistan’s eight-month-old civilian government which has made concessions to the Taliban.
Although details of the bill introduced in the Senate are still coming, it does not seem to contain too many contentious requirements.
The Pakistanis, however, fear that another bill to be introduced later in the House of Representatives would be more difficult for them.
Besides Pakistan’s compliance in the fight against terrorists, the House bill also requires Islamabad to mend its relations with India, stop all Kashmiri militant groups from operating from the Pakistani soil and to give an undertaking that it will not allow its territory to be used for any armed attack against or inside India.
Another provision could enable the United States to seek direct access to Dr A. Q. Khan.
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