Title: "US Aid to Pakistan Jeopardized by Nuclear Weapons." With mounting Congressional concern about Pakistan's possible development of nuclear weapon capabilities, a House
committee is considering a recommendation to cut off aid to Pakistan. (901003)
Author: JASPERSEN, M C (USIA STAFF WRITER)
Date: 19901003
Text:
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10/03/90 *
U.S. AID TO PAKISTAN JEOPARDIZED BY NUCLEAR WEAPONS (Congress considers aid to Pakistan) (990) By M. C. Jaspersen USIA Staff Writer
Washington -- With mounting congressional concern about Pakistan's possible development of nuclear weapon capabilities, a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives is considering a recommendation to cut off U.S. aid to Pakistan.
"We cannot continue to warn Pakistan of adverse consequences if it takes certain actions and then fail to follow through on our warnings," Representative Stephen J. Solarz (Democrat of New York), the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, told a packed hearing room October 2.
Under a U.S. law called the Pressler Amendment, the United States must either certify that Pakistan is not continuing its pursuit of nuclear weapons or discontinue aid to that country.
On September 19, Solarz wrote a letter to President Bush calling for an end to Pakistan aid, saying that it has continued to try to develop its nuclear weaponry. He warned that "the credibility of U.S. global nonproliferation policy would be undermined" should assistance be continued when U.S. law prohibits it.
The House Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs held two hearings October 2: In the morning, according to committee staff, subcommittee members were briefed in a closed-door session by "members of the intelligence community and the Department of State."
During the afternoon hearing, members heard testimony of public witnesses, representing the Nuclear Control Institute, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.
The afternoon hearing considered both the question of Pakistan's upcoming elections and former Prime Minister Bhutto's corruption trial by special tribunal, and the country's stance on nuclear nonproliferation.
"Each year since the Pressler Amendment became law, the White House has managed -- with progressively tortured
GE 2 nea324 analysis and expressions of increasing concern -- to make the required finding that allowed U.S. assistance to Pakistan to continue," Paul Leventhal, president of the Nuclear Control Institute, said.
Now, he added, it has become obvious that "continuing the aid package to Pakistan has not reduced the risk of Pakistan possessing a nuclear device; it has significantly increased it." Now, he continued, the U.S. objective should be "to move our non-proliferation interests to the head of the line of competing priorities -- ahead of (aid to) Afghanistan and of restoring democracy to Pakistan."
Unless the United States makes nuclear non-proliferation its top priority, Leventhal cautioned, it will be powerless to deter "a situation in the region that is fast moving out of control." He cited South Asia as "the first region of the developing world in which principal rivals (India and Pakistan) have achieved mutual nuclear deterrence." That, he warned, could trigger a new nuclear arms race.
Leonard S. Spector, senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, called for a different approach, a more deliberative U.S. position on continuing its aid to Pakistan.
"During the next two months or so, the United States should maximize its leverage with Pakistan by leaving Islamabad in doubt as to how President Bush plans to address the Pressler Amendment certification." By so doing, Spector said, it could "place the burden on Pakistan's new leaders to satisfy the Pressler standard."
"During the October-November interim, Congress should not take any steps," he said. "Ideally, the Senate should adopt the approach taken in the House appropriations bill and decline to earmark aid monies specifically for Pakistan," he added.
Then, Spector said, if the new government should refuse to comply with nuclear arms non-proliferation, the U.S. approach should be to "continue to treat Pakistan as a friendly state, which would continue to receive substantial U.S. assistance for several years, but we would simply no longer consider Pakistan to be a major security partner, entitled to rank as our third largest aid recipient."
All witnesses and subcommittee members noted the close cooperation between Pakistan and the United States, indicating that Pakistan's assistance with the Afghan war and most recently, the Iraqi crisis, has been invaluable.
On the subject of Pakistani democracy, Solarz asked when the special tribunals to hear corruption charges against government officials had been legalized. Witnesses said that there was precedent for their existence.
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Asked by Solarz why such tribunals had not been called to try previously alleged corruption in prior administrations, Thornton replied that while he believes that the present charges against Bhutto are, "in this instance, pretty petty," he does not think the United States should take a position on the proceedings now.
The United States, Thornton said, should not give up on democracy in Pakistan unless "matters go beyond the pale." That, he said, would include such things as "cancellation of elections, gross rigging of the elections, preventing the PPP (Pakistan People's Party) and its leader from participating freely in the elections or taking power if elected -- unless there is clear evidence of criminal malfeasance."
If that were to happen, Thornton said, the United States "should pull back from our relationship with Pakistan," granting "a recognition of the fact that Pakistan was not at this point a country with whose domestic arrangements we want to be associated."
Kenneth Wollack, executive vice president of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), also urged panel members to await the outcome of elections in Pakistan, where the NDI would be taking a team of election observers, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, to witness the electoral proceedings.
Wollack said that "there is a strong sentiment for democracy among Pakistan's people," but he added that "genuine democratization in Pakistan will take many years." Therefore, he said, "the international community should stand ready to assist all efforts to promote and sustain democratic institutions" there. NNNN
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