Obama signs K-L Bill amid Pak rejection of 'explanatory note' India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Pakistan's Senators have rejected the explanatory memo attached to the Kerry Lugar Bill even as US President Barack Obama signed it into law thereby tripling non-military aid to Islamabad to about 7.5 billion dollars over the next five years. Pakistan's National Assembly continued to debate over the controversial bill and stressed that clauses stringed with the bill were a deliberate attempt by Washington to interfere in the country's internal matters. The senators rejected the bill terming it 'a complete failure of the Gilani government and its lobbyists in the US'. "Pakistan would not be facing the US lawmakers' demeaning attitude if the country had a strong lobby in Washington to point out the controversial clauses when the bill was being formulated," The Daily Times quoted Senator Fauzia Fakruz Zaman, as saying. Zaman said it was a futile attempt to have a debate over the bill as the US Congress has already passed it. Meanwhile, President Obama signed the Kerry Lugar bill into a legislation before embarking on a trip to New Orleans. The White House said the bipartisan bill is aimed at broadening US support to Pakistan. "This law is the tangible manifestation of broad support for Pakistan in the US, as evidenced by its bipartisan, bicameral, unanimous passage in Congress," White House spokesman Robert Wood said. Wood said non-military aid would help improve the living condition of the Pakistanis, and strengthen the country's democracy. "This act formalizes that partnership, based on a shared commitment to improving the living conditions of the people of Pakistan through sustainable economic development, strengthening democracy and the rule of law, and combating the extremism that threatens Pakistan and the United States," he said. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi expressed the hope that the chaos being created over the bill by different political quarters would subside following Obama's stamp. Qureshi said the furore at home would ease as the US lawmakers have guaranteed that the bill has not intention to violate Pakistan's sovereignty. It may be noted that the US Congress, while attaching the memo had stressed that Washington has no intentions to micromanage Pakistani affairs, nor does it want to impugn its sovereignty and national security, nevertheless, the text of the added note explains that the Obama administration's concerns over Pakistan's covert support to terror groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and nuclear proliferation remains the same.