PML-N’s points four objections to Kerry-Lugar Law

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: The Nawaz Sharif-led delegation of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which met US Senator John Kerry in Islamabad early this week, focused on four major reservations over the Kerry-Lugar Law.

A PML-N source told The News that the first objection projected in the session related to the disagreeable wordings of the act, which caused widespread resentment in Pakistan and brought embarrassment to Washington as well.

The second reservation pertained to the deep intrusive nature of the legislation that even extended to the Pakistan Army, the budget making process of Pakistan and its other internal affairs.

According to the source, the PML-N’s next reservation was that the KLL compromised Pakistan’s sovereignty.

The fourth objection, he said, was that the comprehensive explanatory note issued by the sponsors of the act to pacify the intense public hue and cry in Pakistan was not made part of the legislation.

“We aired in the meeting what we have stated in public about the US legislation. We did not pursue any double standards by saying one thing openly and another in the closed-door discussion,” the source said.

The PML-N’s stand thus projected, he said, was also precisely confirmed by Kerry himself when the senator publicly stated after his meetings in Pakistan that the civilian and military leadership was on the same page as far as the Kerry-Lugar Law was concerned but the PML-N had serious reservations over it.

The PML-N delegation found Senator Kerry a friend of Pakistan and said that although he was also following the policy of his own country, suiting Washington and guarding its interests, he was polite and understanding, not offensive as George Bush used to be.

The team further observed that Vice President Joe Biden was also a friend of Pakistan unlike some US officials, who were under the great influence of the Indian lobby, which played a leading role in getting highly detrimental language incorporated into the act.

The delegation urged that Pakistan should be given respect and dignity that it deserved for rendering matchless sacrifices in the US-led war on terrorism. Such treatment, it said, may also help shave off the negative impression about the United States that is rising in Pakistan.

Before Senator Kerry’s visit to Pakistan that he undertook to assuage harsh sentiments about the US legislation, Nawaz Sharif had not only totally discarded the Kerry-Lugar Law, but also the explanatory note, and declared that it was unacceptable with its present conditions.

But on the contrary, the recent federal cabinet meeting endorsed the government’s policy in accepting the legislation. While Nawaz Sharif urged the Pakistan government to reject this law, Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi described the explanatory note as historic and a great success of Pakistan’s foreign policy.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=205014