PAKISTAN

WASHINGTON – Sami Ibrahim: US especial envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke has said Friday there are certain elements in Pakistan who have been raising concerns over Kerry-Lugar US aid bill to Pakistan.

Holbrooke said that the military aid to Pakistan was without any conditions and the US Congress, like the Kerry-Lugar Law (KLL), had bound the US administration to fulfill the reporting requirement to Congress before the aid goes to Pakistan.

This he said to a press briefing here. Holbrooke said those elements have their vested interests in criticizing Kerry-Lugar Law (KLL).

US trusts Pakistan army determination in combating terrorism, he asserted maintaining, there are some conditions upon officials in US on reporting military aid bill.

Responding to Geo news correspondent Sami Ibrahim question, Holbrooke said there is no condition applied upon Pakistan through US military aid bill and there is a group comprising certain elements who have their vested interest in criticizing US bill on military assistance.

Pervez Musharraf is now former president of Pakistan and he is allowed to assert his point of view as he wants, he said adding, there are no conditions on Pakistan through military aid.

We have observed decline in concerns on KLB in Pakistan, he added.

Briefing the media at the State Department here on Friday, Holbrooke said Secretary Clinton would be visiting Pakistan but the details about her activity there and dates were not being disclosed due to security reasons.

But she will be having discussions with the military and political leadership, including the opposition leaders, he said. Answering a question whether or not the US was still confident that Pakistan’s nuclear installations were safe even after attacks on several military installations, including the GHQ, in recent days, Holbrooke said, “yes” he believes that unclear installations of Pakistan are safe.

When asked whether these attacks on military installations suggest that the militants had inside links within the military, the special representative said he was not in a position to answer that and only the Pakistani military could answer it. But what he knew was that the Pakistani military did an excellent job in fighting the attackers, who stormed the GHQ and other places.

Answering another question about the success of Waziristan operation, he said the operation there has just started and he could not comment on it. However, during the forthcoming trip of Secretary Clinton progress in the war on terror and Waziristan operation are expected to come under discussion.

When asked as to what sparked the strong resentment over the KLL in Pakistan, Holbrooke said it was wrong to assume that it sparked any resentment. The KLB was an excellent piece of legislation to help the people of Pakistan, he added.

He said there was a certain group of people, who was looking for an excuse to criticise the US and then the bill was caught in domestic politics. The Pakistani parliament wanted to pass it but it was misunderstood then. He believed that the KLB issue was then over.

He said it was his effort to improve the working of NGOs and government contractors because he wanted to use the US taxpayers’ money for the betterment of the people of Pakistan to bridge the gap between the two countries.