Pakistan is contemplating to reject the recently approved US economic assistance, but not without making a request to the Obama administration to understand Pakistan’s right to decide issues of national security and foreign policy.
According to sources in Islamabad, almost a week after the Kerry-Lugar Bill was passed the US Congress, Pakistan civil and military leadership has developed concerns over certain provisions through which US allegedly seeks to oversee key components of Pakistani foreign policy and national security.
The controversial aspects of the bill, leaked last week, has sparked outrage in Pakistan. The ,opposition led by Nawaz Sharif, have rejected the bill, saying it more like a ‘treaty of surrender’. The bill also apparently prejudges Pakistan as a state allowing bases for terrorist operations.
The most provocative clause of the bill dictates an upside down approach to turn the way the military and civilian authorities function in their well defined domains in Pakistan, official sources observed.
Prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has refused an official response on the bill until it is fully examined by parliament and the country’s military. The sources said an initial review of the bill by military strategists cast a negative perception on various clauses. The apprehension is being conveyed to US army.
Officials said the military- and security-related elements of the bill would soon be placed before the corps commanders of the Pakistani army as well as the three services at the Joint Staff Headquarters level to assist the prime minister in drafting Pakistan’s official response.
A suspicion is gaining strength in civil and military leadership that elements of the bill aim specifically at creating a deep wedge between the civilian authority and the General Headquarters by raising well-settled issues and linking them with aid.
