Author: ANI
Publication: MSN News
Date: June 14, 2009
URL: http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3042128
In what may be seen as a major concession
to Pakistan, the US House of Representatives has dropped demands of access
to the disgraced nuclear scientist Dr A.Q. Khan and preventing terrorist attacks
against India as conditions from the aid bill offering Islamabad 1.5 billion
dollars for the next five years.
When the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and
Cooperation Enhancement Act' (PEACE) was first tabled in the Congress in April,
it required Pakistan to fulfill some major requirements in order to qualify
for the aid.
The act asked Pakistan to improve relations
with India, and stop supporting the cross border terrorism.
It also asked Islamabad to provide 'access
to Pakistani nationals' and especially to Dr. A.Q. Khan who is connected to
proliferation networks.
However, the House Foreign Affairs Committee
has now omitted the part that named Dr Khan, The Dawn reports.
Even though, the language of the US aid bill
has been reworked, it still has certain benchmarks in place for Pakistan.
According to the restrictions included in
the PEACE act, an evaluation of efforts would be undertaken by the Pakistan
government to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other
extremist and terrorist groups in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
(FATA) and other regions.
The act also asks for a crackdown on all terrorist
camps operating inside Pakistan, including those of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD),
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
One of the major conditions put forth in the
PEACE act is to cease all support for extremist and terrorist groups, and
increase oversight over curriculum in madrasas.
It also asks for the closing down of all the
madrasas which are directly linked to the Taliban and other militant organizations.
The assistance could also stop if the US president
fails to certify that Pakistan is cooperating with nuclear non-proliferation
efforts.
