US Congress passes Bill cutting aid to Islamabad

Pakistan might lose $50 million in US aid after an omnibus 2008 spending bill passed by the Congress...

Pakistan might lose $50 million in US aid after an omnibus 2008 spending bill passed by the Congress shaved off the chunk, also imposing conditions on the remaining $ 250 million of military assistance.

The Bush administration had originally requested $300 million in military aid to Islamabad but lawmakers cut $ 50 million until the time Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice can certify that Pakistan is restoring democratic rights, including an independent judiciary.

A massive appropriations bill, including the Pakistan aid package, which was passed by the lawmakers on Monday, has also said that the remaining $ 250 million set aside could only be used for anti-terrorism and law enforcement purposes. This effectively means the money could not be used for procuring F-16 jets or Sidewinder missiles, seen as nothing to do with the war on terror but only aimed at India.

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Lawmakers on the Capitol Hill have been sharply critical of the fashion in which President Pervez Musharraf has been going about, especially in the aftermath of the declaration of Emergency on November 3.

Earlier this month, the administration stopped an annual $ 200 million cash payment to the Pakistani Government, instead converting those funds to programmes for Pakistan that will be administered by the US Agency for International Development.

The omnibus spending bill was approved by the House and the Senate and sent to the President for signature.

Since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, Pakistan has been given about $ 10 billion in economic and military assistance, including reimbursements for the war on terror. In 2004, President George W Bush committed to a $ 6 billion, five-year programme to provide aid to Pakistan.

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The lawmakers not only withheld a portion of the money sought by the administration but strictly limited the use of the remaining part to “counter-terrorism and law enforcement activities directed against al-Qaeda and the Taliban and associated terrorist groups.”

This means that Islamabad cannot use the money for the F-16 jets or Sidewinder missiles. “This is going to be a problem,” an unnamed State Department official has told The Washington Post.