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Journalism of Courage
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and lawmakers has expressed concern over diversion of its aide money by Pakistan for other purposes,even as the United States has tried to build a firewall in this regard.
“Well,we certainly have constructed one,” Clinton told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing yesterday when Senator Jim Webb asked if the United States has developed a firewall in the financial aid going into Pakistan,so that they do not directly or indirectly assist in expansion of their nuclear programme.
“I think the fair question is: Even with a firewall,if you provide aid for other purposes,does that permit the government then to divert funds that should be spent for health,education,energy,etc to that programme? And it remains a serious concern of mine,Senator,” Clinton said.
She said that part of the ongoing dialogue with Pakistan is around the reforms they need to make for their own people,she said,adding that the latter over the years has invested a great deal in its military.
“They have invested the great bulk of their revenues into their military establishment,including their nuclear programme,to the great cost of providing basic education,health care,electricity the kinds of things that would demonstrate to the people of Pakistan they had a government that number one,cared about them; and number two,produced for them,” she said.
“So I can answer the direct question: Yes,we have a firewall,but that isn’t the end of the dialogue as you know very well. And we’re going to keep pressing hard to make sure that,you know,the IMF and the World Bank and we and others are working toward the kind of reforms that are going to stabilise Pakistan for the long term,” Clinton said.
Meanwhile,Senator Webb said that the Obama Administration has increased its financial aid to Pakistan in the fiscal 2013. Financial aid of USD 2.4 billion into the country actually reflects an increase in funding for its military as compared to last year.
Earlier in the day,testifying before the State,Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee,Clinton told Senators the US is aggressively pursuing sanctions against Iran.
“We are implementing the new Iran sanctions aggressively. The (US) President issued an executive order on February 6th that blocks assets under US jurisdiction of all Iranian banks; also makes it clear that both the Departments of Treasury and State are expected to enforce the sanctions absolutely,” she said.
“We have been travelling the world,high-level teams from Treasury,Energy and State,to explain what the sanctions are to counterparts around the world. We’re very frank in these discussions about the requirements of US law,” the US leader said.
Meanwhile,a broad range of countries are making decisions to reduce their dependence on Iranian crude,unwind their dealings with the central bank of Iran,she said.
“We are also pushing very hard to make it clear that we’ll help countries that have a significant dependence on Iranian crude to try to find alternatives. It is something that they have to look for. They can’t just stop cold turkey and not have anything fuelling their economies,” Clinton said.
While referring to the steps being taken by the European Union and Japan,the Secretary of State said that some of the major oil producers have set forth their willingness to try to make up the difference.
“We’ve seen increasing difficulty by Iran in importing and exporting products. They cannot purchase third-party liability coverage for their vessels. So we’ve stopped them from being insured,which means they can’t travel,” she said.
Clinton added that the Japan,which lost much of their electricity production because of the earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown,had reduced their imports from Iran in the range of 15 to 20 per cent since last year and is looking for new suppliers.
