WASHINGTON, Dec 14: A US Senator has made a strong plea for easing US restrictions on the import of Pakistani textiles to prevent thousands of Pakistani workers from losing their jobs and the national economy from being destabilized.

Sen. Jon Kyl, Republican from Arizona, who is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a senior member of the Judiciary sub-committee on terrorism, technology and government information, wrote in an article in Washington Times on Thursday that America should realise that the war on terrorism was also being waged in Pakistan where its leaders are working hard to show Pakistan’s citizens that they made the right choice in standing with the United States against the forces of terror .

The US lawmaker said Pakistan’s support was of tremendous importance as terrorists could no longer now call the current campaign a war against Islam. However, this also gave the US an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to a loyal friend. He said Pakistan’s economy was built on exports, mostly apparel and textiles, and its biggest single customer was the United States which imported textiles from Pakistan worth $2.2 billion last year. However, because of US importers fears of potential instability in the region, they had cut down on their orders from Pakistan. In the first three weeks of the conflict, US orders dropped by 40 percent and 10,000 workers lost their jobs. If US buyers did not come back, Pakistan would stand to lose about $2 billion yearly.

The senator said he had visited Pakistan a few months ago and could confirm that Pakistan’s economy was operating normally. The factories were running, the roads were open and ships were being loaded. Pakistan was not Afghanistan, he added, despite its proximity to that country.

Another problem facing Pakistan was the steep hike in insurance and shipping costs because of its location in the war zone. The Pakistani textile industry operated on a low profit margin and could not afford additional costs. Many leading US textile importers had asked the government to find some way to ease spiralling insurance costs for US companies doing business with Pakistan. The US could help level the playing field, the Senator suggested, by lowering duties and easing quotas on goods imported from Pakistan. The European Union had already acted, eliminating close to $150 million in tariffs on Pakistani clothing and increasing quotas by 15 per cent.

US textile tariffs were around 17 per cent and eliminating them would help Pakistani exporters overcome higher shipping and insurance costs. It would also mean US customers would have to pay less for Pakistani textile products. Kyl said he was encouraged by the fact that the Bush administration had asked Congress to suspend duties on Pakistani textiles and apparel. He quoted Pakistani ambassador Dr Maleeha Lodhi who said recently, The time to act is now. You don’t act when an ind