Pakistan MPs reject US aid package

Pakistani MPs have in majority rejected the US financial aid package, urging the government to withdraw from the Kerry Lugar Bill (KLB) by respecting public opinion and verdict of the country's parliament.

In a debate during a session of Pakistan's upper house of the parliament, senators of the opposition benches pressed the government to withdraw its support from America's war against terror, a Press TV correspondent reported Tuesday.

"We have suffered losses of $35 billion in the war on terror during the last eight years while the US has provided us with just $15 billion”, senator Ibrahim from Jamaat-e-Islami told the house.

He said that politicians who had stashed money in offshore accounts should bring it back to the country instead of accepting the US aid to the detriment of national interests.

“If our capitalists and corrupt politicians bring back their money stashed in foreign banks, several problems facing the country will stand resolved”, the senator said.

Senator Salim Saifullah belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) said certain clauses of KLB had been incorporated therein at the desire of India.

Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani said the rejection of the KLB by the majority of senators was a success. Our government should honor public opinion and punish those who were behind the lobbying of this bill, he demanded.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Mehmood Qureshi has traveled to Washington to convey Islamabad's concerns over accepting the generous, but conditional US 'security' aid package.

The bill, recently approved by US Congress, offers $7.5 billion in assistance to Islamabad. It, however, insists on controlling the way the money is channeled, expressing distrust of the Pakistani military and intelligence agency ISI.

" Pakistani military or its intelligence agency ceases support to terrorist groups that have conducted attacks against the US or its coalition forces in Afghanistan or the people in neighboring countries," reads one clause in the bill.

Pakistan would neither compromise on its sovereignty nor would it allow a micromanagement of our internal affairs,” Qureshi said.

The developments come as the US also considers extending to Pakistan its military campaign in Afghanistan, which, despite bringing about thousands of civilian casualties, has fallen short of arresting or eliminating any key militant leaders.