A NEW AGREEMENT ON US AID BASED ON ON GROUND REALITIES: The new American requests for for more “accountability” of aid to Pakistan is a fair demand. Because the aid agreement will have to be revised, the amount in the aid agreement has to be scrutinized.
Pakistan has been selling its services cheap and renting the soil at below cost. Pakistani officials should scrutinize the actuarial details and dispatch a revised invoice based on various factors:
US “AID” IS PEANUTS: Aid must be compared to that given to Israel and Egypt and that offered to Turkey for the Gulf war for transit facilities. US aid to Pakistan was not gratuity. Most it was payment for military bases, transit facilities, and army Subcontracting.
From 2001 to 2007, the United States extended $10.09 billion in assistance to Pakistan, the highest single year figure being $1.77 billion, which was remitted in 2007. The projected figure for 2008 is $840 million only. According to figures tabulated by the Congressional Research Service, the breakdown is as under:
- Total economic support funds $1.89 billion
- Other development aid $453 million
- Foreign military financing $1.27 billion
- Other security-related aid $377 million
- Coalition support funds $5.93 billion
- Total non-food aid plus coalition support funds ($9.9 billion)
- Food aid $177 million
This aid to Pakistan has to be looked at based on internationally recognized criteria.
1) Loss to the Pakistani economy. In 2001 American accounts in America calculated that the loss to Pakistan was about $10 Billion a year. This is the amount that should be reimbursed to Pakistan on an annual basis.
2) Benchmarking amounts paid to other “transit facilities: Turkey was offered $34 Billion for access rights into Iraq which the Turkish parliament turned down. Pakistani transit facilities have been used for the past four years. The bill for the transit facilities and bases should be $34 Billion per annum adjusted for inflation and other factors.
3) The Philippines had billed America for use of the bases. That amount benchmarked against the amounts paid to Germany, and Korea should be looked at. Because the six bases for America are in an actual war zone, the amount should be trebled.
4) Military aid. On top of the basics, the USA should provide a fleet of helicopters, a caravan of hovercrafts, squadrons of F-22s and vertical take off jets.
5) Pakistan needs a FTA with the USA and the EU and abolishment of quotas in textile exports to the EU and the USA.
6) Pakistan needs 500 new hospitals, 5000 new schools, and 500 new libraries.
7) American mercenaries are paid $150,000 per year to participate in the war in Iraq with full health insurance and loss of family member benefits.. Pakistani soldiers used in the “War on Terror” should be paid the same amount on a per soldier basis plus
Here is a list of requirements missing from the manifestos of all political parties:
WISH LIST FOR UNCLE SAM
- We want Bullet Trains running from the Karakorum’s and beyond to Gwader and beyond. $ 2 Billion
- We want a modern train system and underground railways for our cities. $ 2 Billion
- We want Water and sewage lines in our major cities and our towns and villages. $ 5 Billion
- We want 1000 proper schools for our children and we want $1 Billion
- 2500 brand new world class hospitals. $ 1 Billion.
- Compare to the USA: (Total Number of All U.S. Registered Hospitals 5,759. Total Staffed Beds in All U.S. Registered Hospitals 955,768)
- We want 500 modern libraries spread all over the country. Build a library larger than the one in Alexandria. $250 million compare to 117,378 libraries in the USA
- We want a Motorway system to link all cities of Pakistan, North and South, East and West. $10 billion
- We need 10 new major airports linked by High Speed Trains. $10 Billion
- We want 50 million “$100 computers” for Pakistanis in Urdu and all local languages. $100 million
- We want “kachi abadis” to disappear from our cities. We want to see skyscraper and government housing for all the poor who can be used for labor to build the building. $ 5 Billion
- We want 100 power plants to eliminate the shortage of electricity in the country.$ 500 million
- We want 5 major dams and 100 minor dams to prevent the acute water shortage in the country. $ 500 million
- We want 100 ships for the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation so that Pakistan can become a major sea faring nation able to handle the trade. $ 5 Billion
- We have to quadruple the yield for our Cotton, Milk and Wheat production benchmarked against the USA, Australia and Canada. $1 Billion
- Teach Urdu, English, Farsi, Arabic and Chinese in all schools. Also optional languages Punjabi, Kashmiri, Pahari, Hindkoh, Saraki, Pushto, Baluchi, Brahvi, Sindhi, Darri, Potohari. $ 50 million
- Get ship load of Sri Lankan teachers to eliminate illiteracy in Pakistan. $ 10 million
- Get boatloads of Malaysian manufacturers to setup electronic manufacturing in Pakistan
- Get train loads of Koreans to build 10 new planned cities in Pakistan. $ 10 Billion
- Get a plane load of the Swiss to build world class ski resorts and amusement parks and develop our archeological sites as wonders of the world. $ 2 Billion
- Get busloads of Chinese to build industrial parks in Pakistan. $ 10 Billion
- We want to reclaim millions of acres of desert in Baluchsitan for our future generations. $ 3 Billion
