Author: Chidanand Rajghatta
Publication: The Times of India
Date: May 22, 2009
While diluting the bill on economic aid to
Pakistan, the US House foreign affairs committee (HFAC), in a token gesture,
has reworked the language to say Islamabad would have to provide "access
to Pakistani nationals'' connected to proliferation networks, "cease
support, including by any elements within the Pakistan military or its intelligence
agency, to extremist and terrorist groups'' and "prevent cross-border
attacks into neighbouring countries'' as conditions for US security assistance.
It was the best the administration could extract
from the committee after Pakistani lawmakers remonstrated about the benchmarks
they said were degrading. "We need aid, but aid with dignity,'' Marvi
Memon, a visiting Pakistani legislator said in a C-Span interview. "There
are some no-go areas that are totally not acceptable.'' She identified the
legislative demand for access to A Q Khan as one such area.
But US lawmakers remained unimpressed by what
some Congressional sources said were Pakistan's tantrums. "For far too
long, Pakistan has taken US assistance with one hand while undoing US efforts
to bring stability to Afghanistan with the other. For far too long, Pakistan
has been receiving US aid to fight terrorism while keeping its army aimed
at India. This legislation lays down the principle-that Pakistani actions
will have consequences,'' Ed Royce, a Republican member from California, said.
Citing that the bill would still hold Pakistan
accountable on specific benchmarks, Royce said that "Congress is sending
an important signal-that we must see progress on A Q Khan, the ISI, and terrorists
targeting US troops and neighbouring India''.
The House committee bill now goes before the
full House even as similar legislation, which is much lighter on benchmarks,
makes its way through the US Senate. The two bills will be discussed at a
conference to arrive at one bill which will be voted and sent to the President.
