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Old Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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Default The Price of Aid by Anees Jailani (DAWN)

ON Sept 24, the US Senate unanimously passed the revised version of the Kerry-Lugar Bill, titled the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act 2009, which triples non-military aid to Pakistan to $1.5bn per annum. An identical version of the bill, pending in the House of Representatives, is expected to be passed soon.

If passed without amendments, it will be sent to President Barack Obama for signing into law. The announcement in this regard was made by the US president during his address to a meeting of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan at the UN headquarters in New York.

The government must be rejoicing and claiming the US Senate’s approval as a major victory and proof of the international community’s confidence in the present set-up. But they won’t point out that Section 203 of the act says that “for

fiscal years 2011 through 2014, no security-related assistance may be provided to Pakistan in a fiscal year until the US secretary of state, under the direction of the president, makes a certification” to the appropriate congressional committees that:

“The Government of Pakistan is continuing to cooperate with the United States in efforts to dismantle supplier networks relating to the acquisition of nuclear weapons-related materials, such as providing relevant information from or direct access to Pakistani nationals associated with such networks;

“The Government of Pakistan during the preceding fiscal year has demonstrated a sustained commitment to and is making significant efforts towards combating terrorist groups, consistent with the purposes of assistance, including taking into account the extent to which the Government of Pakistan has made progress on matters such as:

“Ceasing support, including by any elements within the Pakistan military or its intelligence agency, to extremist and terrorist groups, particularly to any group that has conducted attacks against the United States or coalition forces in Afghanistan, or against the territory or people of neighbouring countries;

“Preventing Al Qaeda, the Taliban and associated terrorist groups, such as Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Mohammed, from operating in the territory of Pakistan, including carrying out cross-border attacks into neighbouring countries, closing terrorist camps in Fata, dismantling terrorist bases of operations in other parts of the country, including Quetta and Muridke, and taking action when provided with intelligence about high-level terrorist targets; and

“Strengthening counter-terrorism and anti-money laundering laws; and

“The security forces of Pakistan are not materially and substantially subverting the political or judicial processes of Pakistan.”

The above makes it quite clear what the international community is thinking about Pakistan, its government — including the army — and its people. The first presumption is that Pakistan is involved in the proliferation of nuclear weapons-related materials. It has never been proven in a court of law, but the presumption now is part of US law.

The second presumption is that Pakistan is somehow involved in sponsoring terrorism, and it thus needs prompting from the US government to put a stop to it. As if this were not enough, there is an implication that Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies are involved in aiding terrorist groups, including those that are conducting attacks against the United States or coalition forces in Afghanistan, and against the territory or people of neighbouring countries, which obviously means India.

India’s ‘favourite organisations’ are specifically mentioned, namely Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Mohammed, and Pakistan is prohibited from letting them operate in its territory, including carrying out cross-border attacks into India. To sprinkle salt on the policymakers’ wounds, the law further requires the closure of terrorist camps in Fata and dismantling terrorist bases in other parts of the country, including Quetta and Muridke. The latter clearly implies that bases in these places exist and that they should be removed.

The message for the security forces of Pakistan is loud and clear. They must not “materially” and substantially subvert the political or judicial processes. Who can certify whether these forces are “materially” subverting the political or judicial processes?

One may agree with all the above objectives. But, at the same time, one wonders what direction the country’s sovereignty has taken. It is totally an internal matter whether Pakistan’s security forces subvert its political or judicial processes. All may oppose this, but does it make sense for foreign powers to dictate to another country how its political and judicial system should function?

This is the price that a country like Pakistan has to pay for taking aid from others. Either it says no, or signs on the dotted line with a wide grin on its face, as if this was the best thing that has happened to the country since independence.

The above refers only to one section of the Kerry-Lugar Bill. It contains many other restrictions, including placing limitations on arms transfers; requiring that all assistance can only be provided to civilian authorities of a civilian government of Pakistan; submission of a Pakistan Assistance Strategy Report within 45 days of the date of enactment of the act; development of a comprehensive inter-agency regional security strategy to eliminate terrorist threats and close terrorist safe havens in Pakistan, including by working with the Government of Pakistan and other relevant governments and organisations in the region and elsewhere to implement effective counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism efforts in and near the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, including Fata, the NWFP, parts of Balochistan and parts of Punjab; and the submission of monitoring reports.

Thank God, Kerry and Lugar did not think of getting the name of Pakistan changed!

aJ@Jillani.org
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