ISLAMABAD, Feb 15: The Pakistan Muslim League’s central information secretary, Mohammad Siddiqul Farooq, has termed as misleading the claim of finance minister Shaukat Aziz that the US would waive off one billion dollars of the debt owed to it by the Pakistani government.

According to a press release of the PML-N, Mr Farooq said on Friday that contrary to the Musharraf government’s claims, the government had announced an economic assistance of a mere $200 million for servicing the $2.8 billion debt. He advised the Musharraf government to avoid misleading the nation.

He said that according to comments by experts of international repute, it was unclear whether the promised $200 million economic assistance would be in the form of a loan or a grant.

He said even if the US Senate okayed the economic assistance, it would help Pakistan service the debt it owed to the US for just three to four years.

He said the chairman of US Senate was on record as having linked the economic assistance with holding fair and free elections in October this year, de-escalating tension with India and rooting out terrorism in accordance with the wishes of US administration. This, he added, showed that the assistance would not be delivered if the Musharraf government failed to come up to US expectations.