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U.S. aid package kicks up controversy
Islamabad, Pakistan (UPI) Oct 13, 2009 Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari's government could do a great deal with the windfall $7.5 billion to fix the country's crippled economy, much of whose meager resources are being swallowed to finance the fight against the escalating militant violence. But the money, which will come from the United States under the Kerry-Lugar non-military aid bill at $1.5 billion a year for the next five years, thus far has only caused headaches at home for the Zardari government, which had claimed the measure as a major foreign policy success. The package, which will triple the civilian financial aid to Pakistan, also threatens to upset the U.S. objectives behind the offer, i.e. to help strengthen Pakistan's democratic institutions, promote human rights, make its military answerable to the civilian government, bring economic relief to the suffering masses and even temper the growing anti-American sentiment there. It is some of the aid package's provisions relating to the Pakistani military establishment that have kicked up the unexpected furor in that country. And this comes at a time when the United States, bogged down in Afghanistan, badly needs the military's support to fight the terror groups such as al-Qaida and Mullah Mohammed Omar's Taliban who are believed to be holed up in sanctuaries in the lawless tribal regions along the Pakistan-Afghan border. The powerful military establishment, which has ruled Pakistan during half of its six decades of independent existence, has expressed strong reservations about the Kerry-Lugar measure despite the Zardari government's insistence it is a "pro-democracy aid package." The measure, whose main authors are U.S. Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., has finally been approved by both the Senate and the House about a year after it was proposed. In a rare public statement issued after their meeting last week under the chairmanship of Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Pakistan's top corps commanders expressed "serious concern" over the provisions they said have "national security" implications, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported. Some main opposition parties in Pakistan, seeing a chance to gain an upper hand, are adding fuel to the controversy by telling the people the provisions amount to interference in Pakistan's internal affairs, affecting its sovereignty. One of the opposition members called the Kerry-Lugar bill a "national insult," Pakistan's Daily Times reported. The provisions in the aid package that have riled the generals include those requiring the U.S. secretary of state to periodically certify the exercise of civilian control of the military, including oversight and approval of military budgets and the chain of command. The measure also requires the military to curb any cross-border activities of terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba, accused of masterminding last November's Mumbai terror attacks in India, and allowing U.S. investigators to have direct access to Pakistani nationals connected with nuclear-proliferation networks. The BBC reported the money in the aid package would be handled through the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and not given directly to Pakistan. Zardari spokesman Farhatullah Baba, seeking to calm the concerns, says the aid package is only a piece of U.S. legislation to which there is "no commitment by the Pakistani government." He rejected any suggestion that accepting the package would amount to Pakistan admitting its military and spy agencies were supporting terrorists, Dawn reported. During Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's visit to Washington last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters the United States has no intention of interfering in Pakistan's internal affairs. She said the aid package is a sincere effort of Congress "with the full support of President Obama and myself to assist the people of Pakistan," Voice of America reported. Responding, Qureshi said he was "very clear (the United States has) no intentions of micromanaging Pakistan. Nor will Pakistan permit micromanagement." It is not clear how the two countries will finally resolve the terms and conditions of the aid package, which Pakistan badly needs. Quoting a source in the Pakistani Foreign Office, Dawn reported that Qureshi, who returned home last Friday, was rushing back to the United States to convey his country's concerns about the aid package. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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