05 October 2001

U.S. Senate Committee Recommends Lifting Pakistan Sanctions

Washington -- The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on October 4, approved a bill lifting the remaining sanctions against Islamabad for two years, clearing the way for U.S. assistance to Pakistan.

The legislation, authored by Senator Sam Brownback, passed unanimously in the committee, and must now be approved by the full Senate, and by the House of Representatives.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden said, "Pakistan has chosen to stand with the United States. We need to assist this important front-line state."

Last month President Bush waived sanctions on both India and Pakistan that had been imposed after both countries conducted their first nuclear tests in 1998.

Sanctions related to the 1999 overthrow of the government in Pakistan, however, remain in place, and it is those sanctions that are the subject of the current bill.

The current bill, S.1465, lifts sanctions imposed on Pakistan following the 1999 coup that overthrew a democratically elected government and brought General Pervez Musharraf to power. The sanctions bar the United States from providing economic and military assistance to Pakistan.

The bill waives the restriction against assistance to countries where a democratic government has been overthrown by a military coup, for fiscal year 2002. Once the bill is passed, President Bush may waive the restriction in fiscal year 2003 if he determines that doing so would facilitate the transition to democratic rule in Pakistan, and if it is important in the fight against terrorism.

In addition, the Brownback bill permits an expeditious waiver of sanctions imposed last fall against Pakistan's Ministry of Defense for violations of the Missile Technology Control Regime. Under current law, the president may waive these sanctions in the interest of national security, provided he notifies Congress 45 working days before doing so. This bill allows the president to exercise the waiver without delay.

Finally, the bill waives provisions of law, which restrict assistance to nations in arrears on their payments of official debt to the United States. The United States just rescheduled some of Pakistan's debt, but that rescheduling does not take effect for 30 days, so this provision allows assistance to flow to Pakistan in the meantime.

"Today the Senate took one step closer to helping solidify our national coalition against terrorism," Senator Brownback said on October 4. "This represents significant progress on an issue that is so important to freeing the administration's hand in working with Pakistan."