The Bush Administration is in the final stages of a plan to restructure assistance to Pakistan in the face of intense pressure from several quarters to cut aid.
WASHINGTON: The Bush Administration is in the final stages of a plan to restructure assistance to Pakistan in the face of intense pressure from several quarters to cut aid to the country following imposition of emergency, officials said here.
The forthcoming plan is also looking at ways in which the assistance to Pakistan is further controlled or made subject to additional oversight, without actually reducing the aid, media reports said quoting unnamed Administration officials.
Ever since President Pervez Musharraf clamped emergency rule, the Administration has been saying that its aid package is under tight and comprehensive scrutiny but at the same time senior officials have been emphasising on the importance of Islamabad and Musharraf in the US-led war on terror.
In the proposed fiscal 2008 budget of America, Pakistan is to receive a baseline amount of $785 million in aid and the Administration has asked for another USD 60 million in a supplemental request.
Of the total, some $200 million is delivered directly to the government by the State Department. Hundreds of millions more come from the Pentagon.
The estimates vary but it is generally assumed that since 2001, Pakistan has been the beneficiary of between $9 and 10 billions of American aid.
On top of the millions of dollars that the Pentagon has been "reimbursing" Pakistan for the war on terror, the Defence Department has also announced that it is seeking to train and equip Pakistan's Frontier Corps for counter-insurgency. The tab for this is nearly $100 million.
The Bush Administration is under increasing pressure from lawmakers cutting across party lines in both the Senate and the House of Representatives on the issue of Pakistan.
The Administration is being told to cut all assistance off, especially on the military front, unless Musharraf repeals all repressive laws.
Congressman Gary Ackerman, the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, has introduced a resolution that condemns the imposition of emergency in Pakistan and calls on President George W Bush to suspend military assistance.
"The Bush Administration has for too long relied on one man to achieve our anti-terrorism objectives in Pakistan," Ackerman said in a statement.
"The President has ignored democratic development there and turned a blind eye as Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has manipulated the political process to ensure his continuedtenure in office," the New York lawmaker said adding, the General has broken repeated promises to step down as Army Chief and restore a legitimate civilian democratic government.
Ackerman's resolution calls on Musharraf to reinstate the constitution, release all those arrested during his crackdown, and allow independent media to re-open, schedule parliamentary elections for January and step down as Army Chief of Staff. In addition, the measure calls on President Bush to suspend all military assistance to Pakistan as well as all sales and transfers of military equipment until the conditions described in the resolution have been met.
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