http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-aid-...security-pakistan-military-20091008-gozu.html
US aid bill threatens national security: Pakistan military
ISLAMABAD: A US aid package has put the Pakistani Government at odds with its military and triggered an unexpected political crisis.
The Kerry-Lugar bill passed the US Congress last week, promising to triple annual spending on aid for Pakistan's poor to $US1.5 billion ($1.7 billion).
But conditions apply, and the military has taken the unusual step of making public its trenchant opposition to those conditions public.
On Wednesday night it issued a statement expressing ''serious concern regarding clauses impacting on national security'' and said ''formal input is being provided to the Government'', without further explanation.
The military chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, is understood to have described the bill at a meeting of top military leaders on Wednesday as ''intrusive''.
It includes a requirement that Pakistan shut down terrorist groups operating on its soil and ensure the military does not interfere with civilian politics.
In the statement, apparently aimed at the US, General Kayani is quoted as saying ''Pakistan is a sovereign state and has all the rights to analyse and respond to the threat in accordance with her own national interests''.
The nation has been under military rule for about half of its 62-year existence and any intervention by the army in civilian politics is viewed with suspicion.
The President, Asif Ali Zardari, has championed the bill, pitting him against the army brass, opposition political parties and many Pakistani analysts and commentators.
Instead of being a political triumph for the governing Pakistan Peoples Party, which leads a fragile coalition, the bill has turned into a headache. Smaller parties that support the coalition have distanced themselves. Critics say the conditions compromise national sovereignty and imply that Pakistan has aided and abetted terrorism.
Talat Masood, a former general and respected security analyst in Islamabad, said the tone was unnecessarily dictatorial. ''It somewhat hurts Pakistan's national ego,'' he told the Herald. ''If it is really going to be a long-term partnership the wording should be more nuanced.''
Mushahid Hussain, secretary general of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, a party aligned with the former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, said the bill accused Pakistan ''of all sins under the sun including cross-border terrorism and nuclear proliferation'' and had ''put Pakistan and its people in the dock''.
Mr Zardari said the bill did not compromise sovereignty and was needed to promote development and stability. But despite its promise of improvements in health and education, public opinion appears to have swung firmly against it. The US President, Barrack Obama, has delayed signing it while the debate rages.
In a parliamentary debate called by opposition parties on Wednesday, the Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, defended Government support for the bill and said it was not a binding contract.
They might add keeping their farking hands out of the cookie jar.
US aid bill threatens national security: Pakistan military
ISLAMABAD: A US aid package has put the Pakistani Government at odds with its military and triggered an unexpected political crisis.
The Kerry-Lugar bill passed the US Congress last week, promising to triple annual spending on aid for Pakistan's poor to $US1.5 billion ($1.7 billion).
But conditions apply, and the military has taken the unusual step of making public its trenchant opposition to those conditions public.
On Wednesday night it issued a statement expressing ''serious concern regarding clauses impacting on national security'' and said ''formal input is being provided to the Government'', without further explanation.
The military chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, is understood to have described the bill at a meeting of top military leaders on Wednesday as ''intrusive''.
It includes a requirement that Pakistan shut down terrorist groups operating on its soil and ensure the military does not interfere with civilian politics.
In the statement, apparently aimed at the US, General Kayani is quoted as saying ''Pakistan is a sovereign state and has all the rights to analyse and respond to the threat in accordance with her own national interests''.
The nation has been under military rule for about half of its 62-year existence and any intervention by the army in civilian politics is viewed with suspicion.
The President, Asif Ali Zardari, has championed the bill, pitting him against the army brass, opposition political parties and many Pakistani analysts and commentators.
Instead of being a political triumph for the governing Pakistan Peoples Party, which leads a fragile coalition, the bill has turned into a headache. Smaller parties that support the coalition have distanced themselves. Critics say the conditions compromise national sovereignty and imply that Pakistan has aided and abetted terrorism.
Talat Masood, a former general and respected security analyst in Islamabad, said the tone was unnecessarily dictatorial. ''It somewhat hurts Pakistan's national ego,'' he told the Herald. ''If it is really going to be a long-term partnership the wording should be more nuanced.''
Mushahid Hussain, secretary general of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, a party aligned with the former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, said the bill accused Pakistan ''of all sins under the sun including cross-border terrorism and nuclear proliferation'' and had ''put Pakistan and its people in the dock''.
Mr Zardari said the bill did not compromise sovereignty and was needed to promote development and stability. But despite its promise of improvements in health and education, public opinion appears to have swung firmly against it. The US President, Barrack Obama, has delayed signing it while the debate rages.
In a parliamentary debate called by opposition parties on Wednesday, the Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, defended Government support for the bill and said it was not a binding contract.
They might add keeping their farking hands out of the cookie jar.
