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Journalism of Courage
Even as a key Congress Committee deleted direct reference to India while passing a law on US aid to Pakistan keeping in mind Islamabads sensitivities,the bill imposes tough conditions on the Pakistani army and spy agencies and considers LeT,JeM and al-Qaeda as part of the same global terrorist network.
The Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement PEACE Act,passed on May 20 by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs of which Berman is the Chairman,proposes 9.1 billion of civil and military assistance to Pakistan from 2010 to 2013 almost double of the aid to Islamabad as compared to the previous Bush Administration.
In fact,the PEACE Act brings LeT and JeM on a par with the Taliban and al-Qaeda and considers all of them as part of the same global terrorist network. It mentions Muridke,where the JuDs headquarters is situated near Lahore,as a terrorist sanctuary,and strongly expects Pakistani intelligence agencies to break all their relationship with these terrorist networks,which so far had been promoted and supported by them against India.
Given its past experience,where the money given to it was used by Pakistan to build up its army against India,the PEACE Act mandates that at least 75 per cent of the security assistance fund would be used by Islamabad only for counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations. It rules that Pakistan cannot buy F-16s through these funds as has happened during the Bush era.
The Act says one of the prime objectives of the US through this bill is to establish a counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism strategy to prevent any territory of Pakistan from being used as a base or conduit for terrorist attacks in Pakistan,or elsewhere.
The PEACE Act also mandates the US President to annually give a presidential declaration that Pakistan is continuing to cooperate with the US in efforts to dismantle supplier networks relating to the acquisition of nuclear weapons-related materials,including,as necessary,providing direct access to Pakistani nationals associated with such networks.
