Congressmen seek cuts to US funds for Musharraf

NEW YORK: Three powerful Congressmen introduced an amendment this week to the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations legislation, seeking cuts to the financial aid bestowed on General Pervez Musharraf who remains a clear favourite of the Bush administration.

The amendment introduced by Jim McDermott (D-WA), Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) seeks to redirect $50 million dollars from the foreign military financing account earmarked for Pakistan’s military to the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance account for Iraqi refugees.

“The United States must be realistic and firm in its relationship with Pakistan. The appalling treatment of the judiciary and peaceful protesters argues for, at a minimum, some reduction in our military aid package and its redirection to higher priorities, like the widening refugee crisis in Iraq,” said Blumenauer. 

Congressman Jim McDermott, a senior Democrat leader who is one of the five founders of the jumbo-sized Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, argued that the money would be better spent in rebuilding Iraq; “This is a recognition of the humanitarian crisis that we created by invading Iraq and the moral responsibility that we have to address it.”

Crowley pressed the point that there should be deep cuts in aid because Pakistan’s military campaign has failed abysmally to root out Al-Qaeda militants from its tribal region which runs for more than 500 miles along the rugged Afghan border.

“By cutting aid for Pakistan, the US is sending a clear message to the Pakistani government to step up to the plate and work to contain the terrorist threat of the resurgent Taliban and al Qaeda forces,” Crowley said.