WASHINGTON, Jan 31: The US licence for military assistance and arms sales to Pakistan expires this year which explains why some lobbies on Capitol Hill have suddenly increased their efforts to impose new restrictions on Islamabad.

Congressman Frank Pallone Jr referred to this on Tuesday night when he said on the floor of the House that the administration should end the US military assistance and arms sales licensing to Pakistan in the fiscal year 2007-08. The budget for the fiscal year 2006-07 has already been approved and the new budget for 2008 will come up for hearing later this year.

The arms licence was issued in 2003 for five years.

“This measure, coupled with international pressure, would convince President Musharraf to take immediate action against Taliban militants in his country,” said Mr Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat and founder of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans.

Pakistani diplomats and lawmakers visiting Washington see these moves as aimed at creating a new mechanism for increasing pressure on Pakistan.

Sources told Dawn that the administration had assured Pakistan that it would try to convince the Senate to strike out the requirement for an annual presidential certification from the proposed legislation. The bill the House approved earlier this month requires the US president to certify that Pakistan is doing its best to fight the Taliban every time a request for military assistance to Islamabad is sent to Congress.

Another disturbing development for Pakistan is a sudden increase in India’s influence on the Hill after the midterm elections. Several members of the Indian caucus now control key congressional committees. Tom Lantos, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a prominent member of the India caucus. So is Ike Skelton, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Congressmen Lantos and Skelton returned this week from a trip to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan where they also met President Musharraf. On Tuesday, Mr Lantos told a news briefing in Washington that Pakistan was not doing enough to prevent cross-border infiltration from fuelling the Afghan insurgency. “There are many things the Pakistanis are doing well but it is self-evident that they have not yet succeeded in closing the frontier to Taliban terrorist groups,” he said.

Congressman David Hobson, a Republican member of the delegation, urged more aggressive action to stop the cross-border infiltration while Mr Skelton demanded more Nato troops in the area.

But it was Mr Pallone who demanded ending US military assistance and arms licensing to Pakistan by the end of this year when the current licence expires.

Senator Mushahid Hussain, Chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, who is currently visiting Washington and has met several key US legislators to convey Pakistan’s position on this issue, disagrees.

He said that the bill passed this month by the US House of Representatives, linking US military assistance to Pakistan’s efforts to fight the Taliban, should be "withdrawn in the interests of Pakistan-American relations, and in the broader interests of the anti-terrorism campaign."