The Webster’s Dictionary describes a straitjacket as a “garment of strong material used to bind the body, and especially the arms closely restraining” the movements of a violent, usually insane, person who could harm himself or others. The Kerry-Lugar aid bill with strings attached passed by the US Senate a few days ago, by which Pakistan will get $1.5 billion per year for the next five years, is just such a jacket. It is designed to prevent the country from ‘harming itself or others’. The conditions attached to the US aid seem to be the first of their kind in international diplomacy.
Every year, the US aid will flow ‘only’ after the US Secretary of State has certified to the appropriate Senate committees that the Government of Pakistan (GoP):
- Has ceased support, including by any elements within the Pakistani military or its intelligence agency, to terrorist groups, particularly to any group that has conducted attacks against the US or its coalition forces in Afghanistan and against the territory or the people of neighbouring countries.
- [Has been] preventing Al-Qaeda, Taliban and associated terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad from operating in the territory of Pakistan, including cross-border raids into neighbouring countries.
- Has closed terrorist camps in FATA, and is dismantling terrorist bases in other parts of the country including Quetta and Muridke.
- Has strengthened counter-terrorist and anti-money laundering laws.
- That the security forces of Pakistan are not materially and substantially subverting the political or judicial processes of Pakistan.
- That Pakistan is continuing to cooperate with the United States in an effort to dismantle supplier networks relating to the acquisition of nuclear weapon related materials, [and] providing direct access to Pakistani nationals associated with such networks [an obvious reference to Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan].
For determining Pakistan’s continuing eligibility for assistance, every year the secretary of state shall submit, to the Congressional committees, a record on the myriad subjects like civil liberties, political rights, voice and accountability, government effectiveness, rule of law, control of corruption, immunisation rates, public expenditure on health, girls’ primary education completion rate, public expenditure on primary education, national resource management, business start-up, land rights and access, trade policy, regulatory quality, inflation control, and fiscal policy!
[The only item left out seems to be the relations between husbands and wives in the country.]
I have often felt that we should say to the British: “You left us too suddenly; we were not ready for it to happen. Please come back, train us for the next ten years, and then go away.” However, it seems that even without our asking the Americans, they plan to do exactly that.
So let’s continue with the Kerry-Lugar bill, monitoring will include, inter alia:
- Any incidents or reports of waste, fraud, and abuse of expenditures!
- An assessment of the extent to which the Government of Pakistan exercises effective civilian control of the military, including a description of the extent to which the civilian executive leaders and the Parliament exercise oversight and approval of the military budgets, the chain of command, the process of promotion for senior military leaders, civilian involvement in strategic guidance and planning, and military involvement in civilian administration.
Needless to say that if our government was unaware of the contents of this bill, it shows their ignorance. However, if the bill has been prepared with their knowledge and concurrence, it shows their abject surrender to American dictation.
After reading about the conditions mentioned above, I could not make head or tail of it until at last the penny dropped: the real government of this country is in Washington DC. What we have in Islamabad is a local body, reporting to and answerable to the former. The conditionalities of the Kerry-Lugar bill are such as even the federal governments, perhaps, do not expect local governments to fulfil.
Having said that, money slips through our fingers so fast that at least as far as expenditures on projects are concerned, we definitely need such a straitjacket. In any case, it seems to me we should accept the fact that so long as we have the kind of leaders we have, we will have to face such humiliations.
The writer a former principal of the King Edward Medical College, Lahore, and former president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Pakistan.The Kerry-Lugar straitjacket By Dr Ijaz Ahsan | Published: October 2, 2009
![Wall Street - Money Never Dies [Zardari Version]](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/5045452425_aa4d58c7a5_m.jpg){kind=small}
