U.S. Congress Cuts Pakistan Aid, Bush Nose

US Congress cuts Pak aid, Bush nose

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/a...ow/1637691.cms

CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA
Monday, June 12, 2006

WASHINGTON: The US Congress and Bush administration may be parting ways over how to treat America's client state, Pakistan.

While the administration continues to lavish financial rewards and praise for services ostensibly rendered by Islamabad, the US House on Friday sharply cut economic and military aid to Pakistan by nearly $ 150 million for its poor human rights record, lack of democracy, and its nuclear shenanigans, while demanding more accountability from both Washington and Islamabad.

In the foreign operations appropriations bill for FY2007, economic support for Pakistan was cut by $ 50 million (to $ 300 million) and military aid was reduced by $ 100 million (to $ 200 million) from the current fiscal year.

"Committee is concerned about... 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 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," lawmakers observed while passing the appropriations bill.

But there is speculation in Congressional circles that the cuts are also aimed at punishing Pakistan for its dubious role in the war on terrorism and for not allowing full access to the nuclear smuggler A.Q.Khan to enable Washington bring Iran to account.

The House action was welcomed by critics of the administration's Pakistan policy, many of whom feel Gen.Musharraf has been stringing President Bush along by pretending to fight against terrorism while running a government supported by sympathisers of Osama bin Laden and Taliban.

"From the full pardon that President Musharraf granted Abdul Qadeer Khan, who admitted to spreading nuclear weapons technology to Iran and North Korea, to frequent reports of human rights abuses, Pakistan cannot expect full support from the United States without providing answers to some serious questions," New York Congressman, Democrat Joseph Crowley, said in a statement relating to the cuts.

"By reducing this aid to Pakistan, we are sending a message that democracy must eventually be restored and that human rights must be upheld. Even with our allies, the United States firmly is committed to seeing that all people are treated with the respect and dignity of the rule of law," he added.

But any celebration by constituencies opposed to Pakistan's militarisation and military regime would be premature. The administration still has various ways of restoring money to Pakistan, although some conspiracy theorists say administration itself has set up Congress to rap Islamabad on the knuckles.

Pakistan was recently told it can expect more than $ 6 billion in World Bank soft loans over the next four years, thanks mainly to support from the United States.

However, there is all round concern, even among Pakistani commentators, that the international community is just pouring money down a black hole in Pakistan while not holding the military government accountable for proper spending.

Pakistan has received more than $ 3 billion since 9/11 when it turned around and pretended it was a frontline ally in the war on terrorism despite being a hospitable stomping ground for terrorists from all over the world.

But most of the money has gone towards arming its bloated military at the expense of civil society and democratic institutions even as the Bush administration has winked at this. In recent months, interlocutors from Pakistan's civil society have spoken in Washington about how the country has become a garrison state with the military cornering most of the resources.

Although U.S lawmakers said their cut in military funding aimed at ensuring greater transparency and accountability rather than question punish Pakistan on the terrorism issue, they offered the administration minute guidelines on how to spend some of the aid.

This includes spending $ 1 million for rural access, health and education needs in South and North Waziristan Provinces and $ 10 million to be provided through local and international NGOs working on human rights, women's empowerment and justice sector reform issues in Pakistan.

Pakistan's military-dominated government however has been presenting a spectacular picture of the economy, including an almost doubling of its per capita income after 9/11, a rise that would require the country to have grown at around 25 per cent annually.

In recent weeks, Pakistani leaders have presented the country's per capita income at $ 800, $ 825, $ 847 in a steady progression.

"This is a country that does not even know its own population numbers. How can it calculate the per capita income?" a critic of the Musharraf regime recently complained to his U.S interlocutors.

Convinced of Pakistan's role as a key ally, if only to stop it from imploding, such arguments have not made an impact on the administration. But evidently the U.S Congress feels differently.

It gave the administration a laundry list of tasks while overseeing Pakistan, directing the Secretary to report on the following:

(1) Steps taken by the Government of Pakistan to establish a transparent system of judicial appointments to the High Courts that expands accountability for such appointments; (2) An assessment whether and how the special anti-terrorism and accountability courts in Pakistan have been incorporated into the ordinary judiciary; (3) Steps taken by the Government of Pakistan to ensure that law enforcement and judicial processes at all levels respect international human rights, including the rights of women, and make efforts to mitigate traditional and religious practices imposed by tribal and village councils that are harmful to women; (4) Status of the establishment of an independent federal election commission; (5) 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