US panel rejects bid to end all Pakistan aid

The rival Republican Party controls the House and has drafted a measure, which remains in the spending bill, that would also cut off civilian aid unless Pakistan is certified to be fighting militants. - Photo by Reuters.

WASHINGTON: A US Congress panel on Thursday rejected a proposal to cut off all aid to Pakistan due to concerns over the country’s relationship with militants after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee easily rejected the measure, with five lawmakers voting yes and 39 voting no. But the bill in its current form would still impose tighter controls over aid, making it contingent on measurable progress by Pakistan.
Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California, had offered the amendment to a spending bill for the year starting in October that would have barred any US funds to provide assistance to Pakistan.
Rohrabacher raised questions about how Pakistan was using assistance from the United States at a time that Washington is seeking to curb spending to tame a ballooning debt.
President Barack Obama’s administration recently suspended about one-third of its $2.7 billion annual defense aid to Pakistan.
But it has assured Islamabad it is committed to a five-year, $7.5 billion civilian package approved in 2009 that aims to build schools, infrastructure and democratic institutions.
The rival Republican Party controls the House and has drafted a measure, which remains in the spending bill, that would also cut off civilian aid unless Pakistan is certified to be fighting militants.
But even if the full passes through the committee, the measure’s prospects are uncertain. Obama’s Democratic Party controls the Senate, where Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry is a staunch advocate of civilian support to Pakistan.
Democratic lawmakers argue that civilian aid is crucial in the long-run to strengthen democratic institutions and raise educational levels in Pakistan in hopes of reducing the appeal of extremists.

Musharraf says no complicity on bin Laden

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf delivers an address titled 'The State of the US-Pakistani Relationship' on July 21, 2011 at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. -AFP Photo

WASHINGTON: Former president Pervez Musharraf insisted Thursday that Pakistan did not provide assistance to Osama bin Laden as he renewed criticism of the US raid that killed the world’s most wanted man.
On a visit to Washington, Musharraf staunchly defended Pakistan’s military and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) service which have long come under US suspicion over their relationships with militants.
The former army chief, who seized power in a 1999 coup, said he would have known about assistance to bin Laden who apparently moved into a house in the garrison town of Abbottabad during Musharraf’s presidency.
“I confidently and surely say that it was not complicity because I am very aware of one thing, that I didn’t know, whether one believes it or not,” said Musharraf, who lives in self-imposed exile in London.
“Is it possible that the army and the ISI were hiding from me? No 100 times, not at all, not possible. Because I am from the army, they are my people,” he said at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Musharraf described bin Laden’s hideout as “a normal, slightly on the large side, house” and said it would not have naturally attracted suspicion.
“There are hundreds of houses available all over. If he was to be put there, wouldn’t there be some guards and some security that he doesn’t leave the place,” Musharraf said.
Musharraf said that the May 2 raid worsened Pakistani images of the United States as people saw it as a “violation of our sovereignty.”
The United States recently suspended around a third of its security assistance to Pakistan as it presses for more action against militants.
Pakistan recently threw out US trainers and Washington has been worried about the military’s ties with Afghanistan’s Taliban and anti-Indian groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba which allegedly planned the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
“While I cannot rule out for sure that there is not one element who may be sympathetic to the Taliban, I am very sure that the general direction of ISI and the military is very positive,” Musharraf said.

Gas pipeline to reach border next year: Iran

A handout picture released by the official website of the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him (R) meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari in Tehran on July 16, 2011. – Photo by AFP

TEHRAN: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday that Tehran was hopeful of completing its section of the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline by the end of next year.
“Construction of the pipeline to export Iranian gas to Pakistan is under way, and we hope it will reach the frontier by the end of 2012,” he said of the multi-billion-dollar project after a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari.
President Zardari, who arrived in Tehran on a day-long visit, held two rounds of talks with President Ahmadinejad — first delegation-level talks and then a one-on-one meeting.
The two leaders also reviewed progress on a proposal for the transmission of electricity from Iran to Balochistan.
They expressed confidence that joint efforts would prove helpful in countering terrorism, terming the menace a common enemy for the region and the world.
Mr Ahmadinejad said his country looked forward to a new era in relations with Pakistan.
“Iran is ready to reinforce its cooperation with Pakistan in every field,” the Iranian president said.
Mr Zardari said relations between the neighbours should be strengthened, and proposed that “trade between the two countries be conducted in local currency, and not the dollar, to curb smuggling”. He also proposed a bilateral free trade agreement.
The President said Pakistan was already in negotiations with Turkey, Sri Lanka and China for the currency swap arrangement.
He denounced “efforts by our enemies who seek to show that the Pakistan government is unstable by provoking trouble,” saying that those responsible would face justice.
President Zardari praised Iran’s constructive engagement in the trilateral process, recalling last month’s Pakistan-Iran-Afghanistan summit hosted by Tehran.
He urged the Iranian government to consider the creation of an integrated border management regime for tackling militancy and extremism. He said Pakistan and Iran had vital interests in stability and peace of the region.
Mr Zardari called for developing coordination between governments to curb narcotics and human trafficking in the region. He said Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan faced a common menace of drug trafficking and expressed the hope that a trilateral initiative would help counter the curse.
The President said Pakistan and Iran had the potential to undertake joint economic projects in Afghanistan to enhance connectivity, build infrastructure, rail and road links.
Mr Zardari said there was a need to raise bilateral trade to four billion dollars from one billion dollars. He called for working together to identify impediments to implementation of the Pakistan-Iran Preferential Trade Agreement, signed in 2006.
The Iranian president agreed to take full advantage of geo-strategic locations for “ushering in a new era of progress”.
About the Afghanistan issue, President Zardari said Pakistan supported the process initiated by President Hamid Karzai for reconciliation and peace. He said Pakistan supported a reconciliation process which must be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned, adding that Islamabad was ready to provide all possible assistance to Kabul in reconstruction efforts.
It was Mr Zardari’s second visit to Iran in less than a month. He visited Tehran last month to attend the counter-terrorism summit, on the sidelines of which the two countries and Afghanistan reached an agreement to augment cooperation in the fight against militancy.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Water and Power Minister Syed Naveed Qamar, Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain and presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar accompanied Mr Zardari.
KHAMENEI LAMBASTS US: Later Mr Zardari called on Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Fars news agency quoted Ayatollah Khamenei as telling the President: “The principal enemy of the Pakistani people and the unity of the country is the West, headed by the United States.”
Iranian officials have been vocal in their criticism of the prolonged US troop deployment in Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which are now set to be drawn down.—Agencies