US aid divides military, govt in Pakistan

john_kerry_photo_6US Senator John Kerry is dashing into Pakistani capital next week to defuse deepening rift between the powerful military and a weak civilian  government over a multi-billion dollar aid package, officials said Thursday.

The US Congress last week approved a five-year 7.5 billion dollar aid package for Pakistan to build schools, roads and democratic
institutions in the country reeling from militant violence for siding with the United States in its war on terror, but it has angered
opposition parties and the military for being intrusive to its sovereignty and national security.

"Yes Senator Kerry is due to arrive in Islamabad next week," a senior government official told this correspondent. The US embassy, however, refused to comment citing security reasons.



This visit by Senator Kerry, the co-author of Kerry-Lugar Bill, is taking place amid growing rift between the military and the government who see it as both detrimental for national security and a big achievement respectively.

Alarm bells starting ringing Wednesday after a military statement said that a meeting of the army Corps Commanders presided over by army chief General Kayani at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi expressed "serious concern" over certain clauses of the bill impacting national security.

"Kerry Lugar bill also came under discussion during the conference. The forum expressed serious concern regarding clauses impacting on national security," the military statement said after the meeting.

It said that a formal input is being provided to the government. However it said that in the considered view of the forum, it is the
parliament, that represents the will of the people of Pakistan, which would deliberate on the issue, enabling the government to develop a national response.

A few hours after furious opposition parties during a parliamentary debate over the "intrusive" US legislation criticised the government.
Leader of the opposition in National Assembly, the lower house of the federal parliament, said that "each and every line of the Kerry-Lugar Bill was insulting for Pakistan and the US should be given a message that it will be damaging for the US's own interests."

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani however tried to ward off apprehensions about possible adverse action by the military during his
address to the national assembly saying that he had taken into confidence Kayani and President Asif Ali Zardari.

"This country is ours. Parliament is ours. Army is ours. Our army is pro-democracy and highly professional," Gilani said.

The Kerry-Lugar bill sets certain conditions like restricting the funding from being used to support extremists or to attack
neighbouring countries, namely India with whom Pakistan has fought three wars since 1947. The US legislation also demands that Pakistan take action against extremists on its soil and curtail the militantly anti-Indian movements Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

It also calls for a halt to half of the assistance unless the US special envoy on Pakistan and Afghanistan determines each fiscal year
that Pakistan is cooperating for nuclear non-proliferation and working toward US strategic goals.

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