Pakistan: Will the parliamentarians rise up to the occasion?

Will the parliamentarians rise up to the occasion?
Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Nasim Zehra writes in The News International of October 07, 2009,

The ball is now in the court of Pakistan's elected legislators. As they formulate a response they must recognise that if Pakistan faces a financial crunch, the United States faces a strategic one. For the US to walk away from Pakistan is a virtual impossibility at this juncture. It is far more unaffordable for them since Pakistan occupies more than 50 per cent of the space in their strategic calculation. Meanwhile $1.5 billion accounts for roughly three per cent of Pakistan's federal and provincial annual budgets.

If Pakistan's legislators are able to rise to the occasion and craft a consensus response to the Kerry-Lugar bill, they will have proved their worth as men and women who are capable of promoting and protecting the interests and dignity of the citizens of the country. Otherwise, whether democracy or dictatorship, Pakistan's parliament is merely a rubber stamp which follows the will of a handful of individuals who exercise their authority overlooking constitutionally defined institutional mechanisms like the Cabinet, defence committee the parliament.

How right Nasim Zehra is. It's indeed a momentous occasion for the parliamentarians to rise up to the occasion setting aside their petty differences and speak out their conscious which may or may not be as per their party's policy. Security and integrity of Pakistan are far more important than $ 1.5 bn.

Labels: US Aid, US Pakistan Relations