US Senate votes to triple aid to Pakistan, India protests

_{Published by: Noor Khan}
^{Published: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 at 13:09 IST}

Lalit K Jha and Betwa Sharma

Washington/New York, Sep 25 (PTI) The US Senate today voted unanimously to triple non-military aid to Pakistan to USD 1.5 billion dollars per annum till 2014, triggering fresh concerns for India, which warned that such funds have been diverted to support hostile operations against states and needs to be monitored.

The announcement to the tripling of annual aid from USD 50 million to USD 1.5 billion was made by President Barack Obama during his address to a meeting of the 'Friends of Democratic Pakistan' at the UN headquarters in New York, attended by a grouping of 26 countries and international organisations.

Obama's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, called the unanimous vote on Kerry-Luger Bill "a very important step forward" for US-Pakistan ties.

"For the first time in modern era the US congress has made a multi-year commitment to Pakistan," he said.

http://www.samaylive.com/news/us-senate-votes-to-triple-aid-to-pakistan-india-protests/658701.html

U.S. ignores doubts, pledges billions more for Pakistan

By SAEED SHAH

McClatchy Newspapers

The U.S. Senate approved legislation Thursday to triple civilian financial aid to Pakistan to $7.5 billion over five years, underscoring the country's vital role in the war in Afghanistan and the broader fight against international terrorism.

The legislation had been held up for months amid partisan wrangling, and the breakthrough came as the Friends of Democratic Pakistan assistance forum met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, co-chaired by President Barack Obama.

As the U.S.-led campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan falters, cooperation from neighboring Pakistan is crucial because Pakistan is the headquarters, a refuge and a source of financing and other support for al-Qaida, for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and for other Afghan insurgent groups.

Pakistan's inconsistent role in the war on terrorism, however, was highlighted again Thursday when it became clear that despite claims to the contrary, Pakistani officials haven't arrested Hafiz Saeed, the leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the banned jihadist group that's blamed for last year's terrorist attack in Mumbai, India.

"He goes about anywhere he likes. There's no restraint against him," A.K. Dogar, Saeed's lawyer, told McClatchy Newspapers. "This is all misinformation. He is a free man."

Reports earlier this week that Saeed had been arrested, citing police officials, seemed to be an effort to make Pakistan appear serious about combating Islamic extremism before the donors' meeting.

"It is the (extremist) mindset we're fighting. Afghan Taliban, Pakistan Taliban or al-Qaida, wherever they are. We want to tell them ... that we will not tolerate it," Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said Thursday in New York. "We intend to bring democracy, to bring Pakistani people peace and be a responsible nation in the world."

Separately on Thursday, an anti-bribery watchdog, Transparency International, warned that Pakistan has dismantled its laws against official corruption, a development that's likely to concern Washington and other countries that are pledging billions in additional aid to Pakistan.

The aid bill, sponsored by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., would provide $1.5 billion a year for five years, plus "such sums as are necessary" in military aid. It was the first time that the U.S. has made a multi-year commitment to Pakistan, said Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The bill stipulates that nuclear-armed Pakistan must show that it's cooperating in efforts to dismantle nuclear weapons supply networks, that it's committed to fighting terrorist groups and that its security forces aren't subverting the country's political or judicial processes.

"It isn't in my view enough ... but it is a very big commitment," Holbrooke told a news conference in New York after the Friends of Democratic Pakistan meeting. "If you study the history of Congress in recent years, you will not see other countries getting multi-year, bipartisan" support.

The U.S. pledged $1 billion to Pakistan earlier this year through the Friends of Democratic Pakistan forum, part of $5.6 billion that 20 international allies vowed to give the country for longer-term development projects.

Washington also provided $330 million for an internal refugee crisis this year that followed a military offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in the northwestern Swat valley. In addition, Pakistan demanded another $1.6 billion this week that it says it's owed under a military assistance program that dates to the presidency of George W. Bush.

Pakistan has been hit by a severe economic crisis, and it's remained afloat largely on emergency assistance from the International Monetary Fund as inefficiency, corruption and extremist violence have left it dependent on the U.S. and other donors.

On Thursday, extremists attacked Pakistani citizens who'd taken up arms against the Taliban. Eleven members of anti-Taliban militias died in two ambushes, nine of them near Bannu, a town on the edge of the tribal border zone with Afghanistan, and two in Swat, north of the capital, Islamabad.

(Shah is a McClatchy Newspapers special correspondent.)

http://www.kansascity.com/451/story/1467242.html

UPDATE 2-US Senate approves compromise bill on Pakistan aid

Thu Sep 24, 2009 5:19pm EDT

* Legislation will trip non-military aid

* Obama announces move to applause in New York

* Richard Holbrooke says move is "step forward" (Adds Obama announcing passage; Holbrooke; bill details)

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved legislation to triple non-military aid to Pakistan to about $1.5 billion a year for the next five years as part of a plan to fight extremism.

President Barack Obama had urged passage of the measure to promote stability in a nuclear-armed country that is key to the U.S. war in neighboring Afghanistan -- despite concerns the Pakistan military may support extremist groups.

Obama got word of the Senate's decision while in New York, and announced it at a meeting of donor nations to Pakistan on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, drawing applause from other leaders.

"It was the only spontaneous applause of the meeting," said Richard Holbrooke, U.S. envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, who called the vote "a big step forward."

The bill, approved on a voice vote, had been agreed by Senate and House sponsors of legislation passed during the summer. The sponsors were Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar and Representative Howard Berman.

The measure, which has the "full support" of the Obama administration, expected to be approved soon by the House of Representatives.

Obama had also proposed creating "reconstruction opportunity zones" in border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, from which goods could be exported duty-free to the United States. But this was not part of the compromise reached on Thursday.

ECONOMIC TURMOIL

Pakistan has been struggling to stem Islamist violence and bolster an economy kept afloat by foreign donations and a $11.3 billion International Monetary Fund loan.

The U.S. aid, which must be approved by congressional appropriators annually from 2010 to 2014, will fund a wide range of development projects from Pakistani schools and roads to the judicial system.

While not stipulating dollar amounts of military aid, the legislation sets out conditions for such assistance, including Pakistani cooperation to dismantle nuclear supplier networks and combat terrorists, a Senate summary of the bill said.

Another condition requires Pakistani security forces not to subvert judicial processes.

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2446030420090924

Anti-Pakistan report launched by pro-Indian lobbyists in Transparency International.

Publication of TI report ahead of Friends of Pakistan meeting is a sheer hostility against country: Fouzia Wahab

Transparency’s corruption report anti-Pakistan: Fouzia

Friday, 25 Sep, 200

KARACHI: Central Secretary Information, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Fouzia Wahab on Thursday strongly criticising a recent report of Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) about corruption in Pakistan has said the report is against our national interests.

Addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club, Fouzia Wahab said the objective of the TIP's report about corruption in Pakistan is to influence the public opinion.

She said the issuance of Transparency's report at such a time, when the meetings of Friends of Pakistan (FOP) are underway, is not only against the government, but it is also against the country and our national interests.

Rejecting the TIP report's alleged findings with regard to lack of accountability laws in the country, Fouzia Wahab noted that Pakistan is a functional state, where the departments are intact and the anti-corruption departments and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) are also working.

She said we welcome the criticism but the people have given us their votes and we have to protect their rights.

The PPP leader raised a question as to why such a report had not been published in the past and its issuance at the time of the meetings of Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP) is animosity with the country.

She also raised questions about the credibility as well as the aims of the patrons and financers of Transparency International.

She said the TIP's report about corruption in Pakistan is published simultaneously from New York and Islamabad with intentions against the country.

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A relevant comment: (source pkpolitics)

saira85 said:

.... an interesting story about transparency international, a puppet of imperialist powers. In year 2008 Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, was given the lowest possible ranking by transparency international on the basis that it did not produce properly audited accounts and was withholding basic financial information about revenues, taxes and royalties. Unsurprisingly, TI’s report was seized upon by the opposition as evidence in support of their claims. PDVSA was a “company of low transparency”, and although TI did not directly suggest that PDVSA was corrupt, they do say that companies that withhold basic information from the public “leave the door open to corruption”.

But TI’s report was wrong. Not just any old wrong. But completely, utterly, glaringly wrong. All the information that TI claimed PDVSA was refusing to disclose was freely available in their Report and Accounts and published on their website and in the press.

This is the reality of TI. How one can believe on such an organization famed for publishing dubious report. Although what could be the aim of TI to issue such statement when Pakistan is about to get aid. Be Pakistani and think like Pakistani. We are so stupid that does not believe in our own men but believe in third world organization and people who can never be well wisher of this soil.

One can read full report by clicking.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/3553