US, Pak officials working to find 'middle path' on Kerry-Lugar Bill issues India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Amid the widespread criticism the Kerry Lugar Bill has received in Pakistan, US and Pakistani officials and are working behind the scenes to work out a 'middle path' to end the crisis. Sources said that US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W Patterson and top military officials have been busy in letting President Barack Obama know the questionable clauses of the proposed aid bill, that has actually made the Pakistani political parties and the Army cry foul. According to The News, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen is in contact with General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, Pakistan's Army Chief, and has promised the latter that Pentagon would seek a solution of the issue to the satisfaction of the Pakistani people and the Armed Forces. "The bill would become a law with its current contents but the people of Pakistan would have a word from the President of the United States that America respects Pakistan's sovereignty with a request to the Congress to revisit the controversial clauses at the first opportunity," a top US official said. Sources, privy to all the developments, said John Kerry and Richard Lugar, the sponsors of the bill, are also working to seek a workable method to prevent the aid bill from being rejected and also see that it is accepted in its current but a tone down format.