Army is also responsible for lion share killings of our own people. Those it can’t kill…makes them magically disappear. Hamari jadoogaar fujj…
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\09\26\story_26-9-2007_pg7_2
Army gets the lion’s share out of US assistance
- Aid should focus on people: Chamberlain
- Musharraf opened Pandora’s box: Oakley
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: Ninety percent of the current US assistance of $2 billion a year to Pakistan goes to the military, a meeting on Pakistan held to release a report on the country was told on Monday.
The report titled ‘Pakistan: a perilous course’, was unveiled at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The panel of speakers was made up of Teresita Schaffer of the CSIS, Robert Oakley, former US ambassador to Pakistan, and Wendy Chamberlain, also a former US ambassador to Pakistan, and now president of the Middle East Institute. The meeting was conducted by Rick Barton, a former senior official of the Geneva-based UN High Commission for Refugees.
Barton, introducing the report said that Washington had an “over-dependence” on President General Pervez Musharraf who was viewed as a “key partner”.
‘Aid should focus on the people’: Chamberlain said US aid should be focused on the people of Pakistan, rather than go to the military. This leads some to conclude that US aid is working against the people, not for them. “The stability of Pakistan is too important for the US and the region in which Pakistan is located,” she said and noted that in the wake of the October 2005 earthquake, US approval rating in Pakistan shot up from 23 percent to 45 percent, but by January 2006, it had fallen to 15 percent because of a US attack in the tribal area. The former ambassador said the US should support the democratic process in Pakistan, and not an individual.
‘Musharraf opened Pandora’s box’: Former ambassador Oakley while commenting on the current situation in Pakistan said Musharraf threw open a Pandora’s box, which he couldn’t now close the lid on. He said Musharraf had put the army in deadly confrontation with the extremists in FATA and it had lost many lives. He expressed satisfaction over the “quiet cooperation” between the two countries in the nuclear area in Pakistan, which remains military-controlled, and “we should see that it continues”. He also suggested that Washington should reconsider its opposition to the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline. Teresita Schaffer said the US should work “visibly” with “competing” leaders and it must work for democracy, instead of latching on to one person.
Turning to the possibility of an alliance between Musharraf and Bhutto, she said, “We are watching the last act of this drama”.
