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| 26 March 2004 | Friday | 04 Safar 1425 |
US waives curbs on Pakistan: Way cleared for more assistance
WASHINGTON, March 25: US President George W. Bush on Wednesday waived sanctions on Pakistan imposed after President Pervez Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999.
The waiver clears the way for Pakistan to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in economic assistance from the United States. Diplomatic circles in Washington see the waiver as the Bush administration's reward for a key ally in the war against terror.
"Lifting of the sanctions would facilitate the transition to democratic rule in Pakistan; and is important to US efforts to respond to, deter, or prevent acts of international terrorism," said a written statement issued by the White House on Wednesday evening.
Although the coup that brought President Musharraf to power was generally welcomed by Pakistanis, the Clinton administration imposed severe sanctions on Islamabad for replacing an elected government with a military regime.
Pakistan was already heavily sanctioned for conducting nuclear tests in May 1998, although Islamabad was only responding to similar tests carried out by India.
Most of the nuclear sanctions, however, were lifted after September 11 attacks on the US landmarks and last year President Bush announced a $3.1 billion package for Pakistan during President Musharraf's visit to the Camp David presidential resort.
Under this arrangement, Pakistan is receiving more than $390 million during the current fiscal year, which expires in October. The Bush administration has already requested Congress to almost double this amount to $701 million for the next financial year.
During a congressional hearing in Washington earlier this week several senior US officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, acknowledged that the sanctions on Pakistan had become counter-productive and prevented the US administration from pursuing Osama bin Laden, Mullah Mohammed Omar and other Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders.
As Mr Powell indicated in his testimony, Washington's policies towards Islamabad changed drastically after the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the United States when Pakistan shunned its Taliban allies and joined the US-led war on terror.
The United States wanted to take direct military action in Afghanistan to punish the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces for the Sept 11 terrorist attacks but, as Mr Powell said, this could not have been done without Pakistan's help.
"We had realized that a serious effort to remove Al Qaeda's safe haven in Afghanistan might well require introducing military forces, especially ground forces. This, without the cooperation of Pakistan, would be out of the question," said the US secretary of State.
And diplomatic observers say that Pakistan's help is still vital if the US administration wants to catch Osama bin Laden and destroy his terror network. The Bush administration announced last week that Pakistan will be named a major non-NATO ally, making it easier for the country to acquire US arms.
And on Wednesday evening, President Bush sent a letter to Mr Powell asking him to convey to Congress that he was lifting democracy-related sanctions on Pakistan.
The letter said: "Pursuant to the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, including Public Law 107-57, as amended by Section 2213 of Public Law 108-106, I hereby determine that, with respect to Pakistan, a waiver of any provision of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2004 (section 508 of Public Law 108-199, Division D), that prohibits direct assistance to the government of any country whose duly elected head of government was deposed by decree or military coup:
(1) would facilitate the transition to democratic rule in Pakistan; and (2) is important to US efforts to respond to, deter, or prevent acts of international terrorism.
"Accordingly, I hereby waive, with respect to Pakistan, any such provision. "You are authorized and directed to transmit this determination to the Congress and to arrange for its publication in the Federal Register."
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