Bush’s please-Pak policy continues, curbs off, sops on
S Rajagopalan
(Washington, October 30)
A day after he receives Prime Minister Vajpayee here on November 9, President Bush will complete the balancing act by meeting Pakistani leader Gen Pervez Musharraf in New York and hosting a private dinner in his honour.
The White House's announcement is expected to mollify a section of the Pakistani establishment, which was peeved at the exclusive invitation to Vajpayee to visit Washington ahead of his sojourn to New York for the UN General Assembly session.
The administration has also readied further sops for its new-found ally in the war against terrorism. On Monday, Bush waived the remaining (coup-related) sanctions against Pakistan and cleared the decks for a new financial package of a substantial order.
To be announced later this week, the new aid flow is expected to be in the range of $300 million to $500 million. A sum of $100 million had been committed soon after Pakistan signed up for Bush's campaign against Afghanistan. The US has also rescheduled $379 million of Pakistan's debt.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the Bush-Mush-arraf meeting was "an important step in Bush's efforts to sustain an international coalition in the war against terror".
Fleischer said Bush would take up Pakistan's return to popular rule. He said the discussions would dwell on the anti-terrorism campaign, regi-onal security matters, economic cooperation, human rights, the scheduled Oct 2002 Pakistan elections, and ways to further strengthen US-Pakistani ties.
On sanctions, Pakistan has got a two-year breather on the coup-related curbs. Islamabad will have to restore democracy by September 2003, failing which the Presidential waiver will cease and the sanctions will revert. Musharraf, has assured US that elections will be completed by next October.
According to the State Department, the various programmes in the pipeline will add up to over a billion dollars by way of US aid.
The presidential waiver is not confined to resumption of financial aid. It will also facilitate "transfer of excess US defence articles to Pakistan".
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