The Bush administration has decided to reduce military aid to Pakistan in the current fiscal year while citing lack of respect for human rights.
ISLAMABAD: Tasneem Aslam, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson, declined to comment on the concern expressed by the US House of Representatives Committee about “the government of Pakistan’s increasing lack of respect for human rights, especially women’s rights, and the lack of progress on improving democratic governance and rule of law.” The Committee has noted that the level of violence and discrimination against women has not significantly abated and women’s groups and advocates who bring attention to abuses against women are often threatened by officials.
The Committee further directed the secretary to report to the US Congress, not later than 180 days after enactment, on the steps taken by the government of Pakistan to establish a transparent system of judicial appointments to the high courts; an assessment how the special anti-terrorism and accountability courts in Pakistan have been incorporated into the ordinary judiciary; steps taken by the government to ensure that law-enforcement and judicial processes at all levels respect international human rights, and make efforts to mitigate traditional and religious practices imposed by tribal and village councils that are harmful to women; status of an independent federal election commission; an analysis of the data on incidences of unlawful arrests, detentions and other harassment of opposition leaders to determine if there has been a decline in such incidences over the past five years.
The Bush administration has decided to reduce military aid to Pakistan in the current fiscal year while citing the “increasing lack of respect for human rights and the lack of progress by the government to improve democratic governance and rule of law” as chief reasons.
The US House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations recommended on Friday, a Foreign Military Financing programme of $200 million for Pakistan, with a decrease of $100 million from the fiscal year 2007 request and a decrease of $97 million from the fiscal year 2006 enacted level. According to the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill for the federal year 2007, passed by the House of Representatives by a 373-34 vote, the intention of reduction is to incrementally finance Pakistan’s foreign military acquisition programme.
The committee directed Department of State and Department of Defence to review implementation of Pakistan’s fiscal year 2006 FMF programme as well as the fiscal year 2007 programme to ensure full funding of weapons systems acquisition. The committee has recommended $300 million for Economic Support Fund (ESF) programmes in Pakistan, a decrease of $50 million from the request and the same as the 2006 enacted level.
However, the Pakistani Foreign Office maintains that the American House of Representatives had approved the budget presented by the US government with some reduction, which had caused the cut in aid to Pakistan. The Foreign Office spokesperson Mrs Tasneem Aslam says the US Congress had applied a similar cut in last year’s budget, but the Bush administration had subsequently restored allocation.
She pointed out that while reducing the military aid, the US House of Representatives Committee noted that “Pakistan has been a reliable ally of the US in the war on terrorism and the reduction is not a reflection of a lessening of the American appreciation for the country’s support”.
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