ISLAMABAD, March 15: US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher on Wednesday described the current judicial crisis in Pakistan as ‘sensitive’ and said it needed to be handled carefully.

"We understand the sensitivity of accusations and this needs to be handled very carefully," he told a news conference after holding talks with President Pervez Musharraf.

"These are speculations and I would not like to talk more on that," the assistant secretary said when asked if the action could lead to the imposition of emergency or postponement of general elections in Pakistan.

In his opening remarks, Mr Boucher said that he was on a tour of the region. "It's very important to us, as we try to work in Washington on things involving this region, especially Pakistan, which we understand from people here what the situation is on the ground."

He said that he had discussed with Afghan and Pakistani governments Islamabad's plan to fence and mine areas bordering Afghanistan to restrict the movement of the Taliban and other militants. "The question is how best Pakistan can prevent this cross-border movement," Boucher said, adding that those who were killing the Afghans and Pakistanis must be effectively dealt with.

Asked whether the legislation approved by the US Senate on Wednesday would lead to restrictions of aid to Pakistan, Mr Boucher said a final legislation was still to be adopted by the Congress, and as such, it was premature to talk about it.

"But this is not Pressler and we are working with both the US houses to ensure that there is no aid cut to Pakistan," he said. Pakistan, he said, was a strong US ally against war on terror and would continue to be supported by the Bush administration."

Let me say one more thing that I think is perhaps a little misunderstood here. That is the action in the US Congress. The House passed a bill that would require certification from the administration before certain aid money is disbursed. This bill is then taken up by the Senate. And our Senate has dropped that provision and has not put that provision in the legislation," he said.

The House and the Senate, he said, would sit together and figure out the final legislation. "But I am not very fearful. I am fairly confident that we will not see something from the US Congress that will undermine our relationship," he pointed out.

When asked if the US government could favour more peace deals with tribal chiefs in North and South Waziristan, he said so far this deal did not work to halt the cross-border movement.

$750M US ASSISTANCE: The US assistant secretary said that he had informed President Musharraf that the United States would provide an assistance of $750 million over the next five years to support the tribal area development strategy.

"It is a comprehensive plan to provide economic development, education and other opportunities to the people of the border region."

In addition, he said, the defence department had asked the authority to spend $75 million this year to support the military development and transformation of the Frontier Corps.

Mr Boucher said the new assistance would be for five years which included $150 million every year. But for the current year, the US administration would offer $110 million, he added. “The whole funding will be used to promote education, health and other development activities in the tribal areas of Pakistan.”

The new assistance is in addition to a $3 billion five-year military and economic assistance package already extended by the United States.

Border regions of Pakistan, he pointed out, needed to be developed for which the US government would provide all necessary assistance.

The United States has been paying $86 million a month for the military operation in tribal areas. The Pakistan Army has lost nearly 750 troops in the operation.

In reply to a query, the assistant secretary said that diplomatic effort was being made by the United States to avoid clash with Iran over its nuclear programme.

"We plan to purse the issue in a diplomatic manner. We do not have any problem with Iranian people but with the Iranian government. We have our concerns about the development of nuclear weapons by Iran," he said, accusing Iran of creating security problems in the region.

LEGISLATION ON ROZs: The Bush administration will soon introduce a draft legislation on reconstruction opportunity zones (ROZs) in the US Congress which has also been requested for funding of the Fata development plan.

This was revealed by the US assistant secretary of state during a meeting with Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan here on Thursday.

According to a statement, the draft legislation on implementation of the 9/11 Commission recommendations was also discussed.