In what is being seen as a move to rebuild ties with Pakistan after acute periodic strains in recent years, the United States is reported to have “quietly decided” to release to Islamabad more than $1.6 billion of suspended military and economic aid.
News of the decision to release the huge sum comes on the eve of Pakistan Prime Minister’s arrival in Washington for a meeting with President Barack Obama here on Wednesday. At the request of the Obama administration, the US Congress has “cleared most of the money, and it should start moving early next year”, The Associated Press reported on Saturday, citing US officials and congressional aides.
The report referred to the State Department briefings for Congress in July-August, outlining the plan to resume a wide range of assistance to help Islamabad with counter-insurgency operations in western Pakistan even as US proceeds with the pullout of its forces from Afghanistan. State Department officials are said to have made the case for enhancing Pakistan’s anti-terrorism capabilities through better communications, night vision capabilities, maritime security and precision striking with F-16 fighter jets.
Suspension of US aid to Pakistan had begun in July 2011 as bilateral tensions rapidly mounted over America’s commando operation that killed Osama bin laden in Abbottabad on May 1 that year without Pakistan’s knowledge. Prior to that, the two had been locked in a protracted diplomatic and legal row over the arrest of a CIA contractor who had killed two Pakistanis. These were followed by an extended standoff over the US mistakenly killing two dozen Pakistani soldiers in an operation in November 2011.
Sharif’s trip to Washington comes just weeks after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit, during which Obama shared India’s acute concerns over renewed acts of terrorism even as Singh stressed that Pakistan continued to be the epicentre of terrorism in the region. India-Pakistan ties are expected to figure in the course of the Obama-Sharif talks against the backdrop of the sharp increase in Pakistan’s cross-border infiltration and violation of ceasefire along the line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir in recent months.
“Countering violent extremism” will be among the issues that will be discussed at the meeting even as it would “highlight the importance and resilience of the US-Pakistan relationship”, the White House said. “The President looks forward to discussions with Prime Minister Sharif on ways we can advance our shared interest of a stable, secure, and prosperous Pakistan,” it said.
Meanwhile, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom has urged President Obama to raise with Sharif concerns about the “dire religious freedom situation in Pakistan, with both Muslims and religious minorities consistently confronting violence or jail”. “Based on USCIRF findings, Pakistan represents one of the worst situations in the world for religious freedom,” said commission chairman Robert George said, highlighting the September attack on All Saints Church that killed close to 100 worshippers.
“The violence extremists perpetuate threatens all Pakistanis, including Shias, Christians, Ahmadis, and Hindus, as well as those members of the Sunni majority who dare to challenge extremists,” the commission said, demanding that Pakistan adopt “a holistic approach that both ensures that perpetrators of violence are jailed and addresses laws that foster vigilante violence, such as the blasphemy law and anti-Ahmadi laws”.