Ackerman to introduce bill against F-16 sale to Pakistan

[candypreet]

Ackerman to introduce bill against F-16 sale to Pakistan:-
Washington | April 06, 2005 3:15:48 PM IST

Washington, Apr 6 : US Congressman Gary Ackerman, a longtime India ally, says he will introduce legislation that calls for prohibiting F-16 fighter plane sales to Pakistan unless Islamabad allows American investigators to question its nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan.

Ackerman, the Democratic Party co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, announced that the legislation he plans to bring to the floor does allow for assistance to Pakistan to encourage continued cooperation on counter-narcotics, anti-terrorism as well as peacekeeping.

In addition, the measure allows military to military contact programmes even as it prohibits sale of F-16. However, the Bush administration is going ahead with the sale.

Washington has promised the sale of these aircraft to both India and Pakistan. "The bill is still being drafted so we do not have a final version of it yet," Ackerman's spokesperson told IANS, ".... we expect to introduce it later this week, probably Thursday."

Late last month Ackerman co-signed a letter urging President Bush to oppose the sale of F-16s to Pakistan. The letter written with Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (the Republican Caucus Co-Chair) was signed by other members of the caucus as well.
-------
http://www.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=76078&n_date=20050406&cat=India

[candypreet]

Bill against F-16 sale expected next week

By Sridhar Krishnaswami



WASHINGTON, APRIL 8. The Ackerman Bill, blocking the sale of F-16s to Pakistan, is expected to be introduced next week in the House of Representatives and the draft of the Bill by the Democratic Congressman, Gary Ackerman of New York, makes it sufficiently clear that Congress would have to be satisfied that a number of stipulations have been met with before military assistance to Islamabad begins.

The draft bill speaks of a Presidential certification to appropriate Congressional committees on a number of fronts: that Islamabad has provided Washington with "unrestricted opportunities" to interview the Pakistan nuclear scientist, A.Q.Khan, with respect to his illegal nuclear proliferation network; that Pakistan has complied with requests for assistance from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the proliferation network, including provision of documents, materials, equipment and access to individuals.

The President has also to certify to the House International Relations and the Appropriations Committees and the Senate Foreign Relations and Appropriations Committees that the Government has determined the full scope of the activities and participants of the illegal nuclear proliferation network; the extent of this network's connection with the al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden; and in conjunction with the IAEA has confirmed that the illegal nuclear proliferation network has been completely dismantled.

In the Pakistan Proliferation Accountability Act of 2005 that is to be introduced, Congress has listed several findings, including that Dr. Khan established and operated an illegal network that sold nuclear weapons and related technologies to a number of countries, including North Korea, Libya and Iran; that Washington still does not know the extent of Dr. Khan's activities."
http://www.hindu.com/2005/04/09/stories/2005040908621300.htm

[Bman]

This is a good idea.. I hope they can get it to a vote...

At least make these guys go on record with their vote..

Bman

[candypreet]

I Hope So Too

[TrustButVerify]

I'm all for this as well - put those feet to the fire!

[candypreet]

bumpity bump

[candypreet]

Congressman Ackerman is a senior member of the House International Relations Committee where he plays major leadership roles in flash point areas of the world. Often, these involve national security, nuclear proliferation and terrorism issues in areas such as the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Latin America .

Ackerman is the Ranking Democrat on the International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia which has oversight on U.S. policy towards nations in the Middle East and Central Asia . He is also a member of and the most recent Democrat to chair the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, which has jurisdiction over United States policy towards countries in Asia .

Ackerman also serves on the powerful Financial Services Committee where he sits on two Subcommittees: Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, as well as Capital Markets, Insurance and Government-Sponsored Enterprises. The Financial Services Committee has jurisdiction over banking and financial institutions, housing programs, insurance regulations and monetary policy–issues that are critical to New York City and Long Island . Ackerman is a champion of consumer rights and a fighter for financial community reform.

A Representative’s representative, he was also Congress’ delegate to the United Nations. In addition, he is the Present Chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans.

[SEVIL DOG]

Selling F-16's to the Pakistan, you just as well sell them to Iran! :mad_08:

[candypreet]

:sad_01:
Selling F-16's to the Pakistan, you just as well sell them to Iran! :mad_08:
yes i agree:sad_01:

[candypreet]

Pakistan to complete F16 fighter deal with US in Islamabad
By Isambard Wilkinson
(Filed: 14/04/2006)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/14/wpak14.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/04/14/ixworld.html


Pakistan said yesterday it would complete a deal to buy F16 fighters from America, brushing aside criticism that the money should have been directed towards the victims of last year's earthquake
The deal was held up for months after popular outrage and opposition attacks on President Pervez Musharraf.

He was told he ought to have been spending the undisclosed cost of the contract on rebuilding the areas of Pakistan worst hit by the Oct 8 earthquake, which killed 73,000 people and displaced more than three million.

But the period of mourning was declared over yesterday.

"The federal cabinet on Wednesday allowed the purchase of F16 aircraft from the United States," said Sheikh Rashid, the information minister, without saying how many jets had been bought.

The government also approved the purchase from China of a batch of FC10 fighters and some JF17 thunder jets being jointly built by Pakistan and China.

Washington approved the sale of the F16s in March 2005 after blocking it for 15 years in protest at the country's nuclear weapons programme.

The US has pledged $1.5 billion (£860 million) in military aid to Pakistan over the next five years. India, which has fought three wars with Pakistan since independence in 1947, says the deal will upset the military balance in the region.

[candypreet]

September 05, 2006 Tuesday Sha'aban 11, 1427

Balochistan situation not to affect F-16 deal: US




By Our Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Sept 4: Pakistan’s military action in Balochistan will not affect a $5 billion US deal for selling F-16 fighter jets to the country, the US state department said. The department’s comments follow media reports that Pakistan has used against the rebels some of the weapons it received from the US for fighting Al Qaeda sympathisers and drug smugglers.

“The current events in Balochistan are unlikely to have any effect on the sale of F-16s to that country,” a state department official told reporters in Washington.

The official said the US administration believed slain Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti “wanted to take control of natural resources in Balochistan through violent means and this is something that the US does not condone

[candypreet]

Pakistan overwhelmingly anti-US: Gallup survey

By Indo Asian News Service

Islamabad, Nov 19 (IANS) Despite being touted by the US as its 'front line ally' in the global war against terrorism, Pakistan remains overwhelmingly anti-US, says a Gallup International Survey.Although 76 percent Pakistanis think that terrorism is a major threat to the country, some 61 percent believed the US is playing a negative role in the fight against terror.

In Pakistan, 13 percent of the people questioned did not consider terrorism a threat. While 14 percent believed that the US role was positive in the war on terror, 13 percent said the US had played a neutral role and 12 percent did not know about it, says The Daily Times newspaper.

According to the survey conducted in 63 countries, only Israelis (82 percent) and Danes (58 percent) think that the US was playing a positive role in the war on terror.

President George W. Bush and his British ally Prime Minister Tony Blair have time and again hailed Pakistan as a 'front line ally' in the global war against terrorism.

Bush, particularly, has given full credit to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf for the 'valiant' fight against terrorism.

However, many governments, think tanks and the media do not share this unequivocal praise and have questioned not only the Musharraf regime's performance but also intent, with its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) continuing to nurture the Taliban and foreign mercenaries who operate from the tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Musharraf has denied that his government or the ISI had any role in fomenting terrorism.

However, in an interview to British TV Channel 4 last week, Musharraf agreed that the Taliban could be finding recruits from among the 450,000 Afghan refugees living in camps in and around Quetta in Balochistan province.

The overall outlook regarding Washington's role is somewhat balanced. The survey said that around 44 percent of the global population believed the US had played a positive role, whereas 36 percent considered its role negative, while 15 percent maintained that it had been neutral.

Copyright Indo-Asian News Service

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/83531.php

[candypreet]

wishing everybody here a happy and peacefull new year:add09: :)

[candypreet]

US gives 30 military helicopters to Pakistan


http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/22/asia/AS-GEN-Pakistan-US-Helicopters.php