US aid for Pakistan unlikely to come with harsh conditions : US Diplomat

Islamabad, Apr.23 (ANI): The 1.5 million dollars aid package which the United States plans to offer Pakistan over the next five years is unlikely to be accompanied with harsh conditions as was proposed earlier, said a US diplomat.

"I don't think that we are going to see very harsh conditions," the Dawn quoted a senior diplomat, as saying.

Sources said that the Obama Administration believes that there is a need to build strong and close ties with Pakistan rather than to isolate it.

"The US is cognizant about the concerns expressed about too many conditions in these programmes," they added.

The United States had incorporated conditions for Pakistan that it would not lend support to any group or person conspiring against India, before the Obama Administration gives a green signal to the multi-billion dollar assistance to it for the next five years.

The Pakistan aid bill named the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement or the PEACE Act of 2009, was tabled in the US House of Representatives on April 2.

Furthermore, the bill states that Pakistan should ensure access of US investigators to individuals suspected of engaging in worldwide proliferation of nuclear materials.

Islamabad had expressed its discontent over some of the 'strings' attached to the aid, and saw them as highly derogatory and intrusive.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had also said it would be against the country's self respect to accept the 'stringed' US aid. (ANI)