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PML-N says Kerry-Lugar Bill is ‘peanuts’

* Ahsan says govt should not compromise on country’s sovereignty
* Parliament wont be supreme until 17th Amendment’s repeal

By Aamir Yasin

ISLAMABAD: Criticising the Kerry-Lugar Bill adopted in the US Senate, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Monday termed the US aid to Pakistan ‘peanuts’ and demanded the government present the conditions of the new aid package to the National Assembly and accept it only after parliamentary approval.

Addressing a press briefing, PML-N spokesman Ahsan Iqbal said the government should take parliament into confidence before making any decisions. “If the US government took its people into confidence before giving this aid to Pakistan then why does the Pakistani government hesitate to take its parliament into confidence?” he asked, adding that if the government did not present the conditions of the Kerry-Lugar Bill in parliament the PML-N would, in collaboration with other parties, chalk out a plan to restore the supremacy of parliament.

No compromise: He said the aid for improving the country’s social sector was a positive move but warned that the government should not compromise on the country’s sovereignty. He said parliament was supposed to be the supreme authority and it was the duty of the government to take such decisions after parliamentary approval.

He said Pakistan was going through one of the worst times in its history as the world, investors, politicians and people did not trust the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led government. He said this trust deficit was caused by the government’s lack of transparency, poor governance, and cronyism.

“The lack of trust in the Pakistani government expressed by the world community at the Friends of Democratic Pakistan meeting was embarrassing for the country,” he said.

The PML-N leader criticised the government’s rental power projects, saying the government was awarding contracts to establish rental projects to former president Pervez Musharraf’s front man Iqbal Z Ahmed and former Oklohoma governor David Walters.

Not supreme: To a question, the PML-N spokesman said parliament could not fulfil its role as long as the 17th Amendment was in effect.

“Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is a toothless PM, much like Shaukat Aziz. The president is running the country’s affairs,” he said.

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