Daily Times

Pakistani Ambassador to the United States, Masood Khan, met a number of American lawmakers in the past week to thank them for rejecting a proposal aimed at cutting off funds to Pakistan on the ground that some of its policies have been contrary to U.S. interests.

Apart from personally meeting Congressmen and Senators, both Democrats and Republicans, he also wrote letters to many of them expressing his appreciation for their support in defeating Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles’s amendment to the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPS) Act, 2024, seeking to prohibit assistance to Pakistan, according to a Pakistani embassy press release. The final tally was 298 members voting against Ogles’s amendment, while 132 cast ‘yes’ votes, an overwhelming rejection of the anti-Pakistan move.

The lawmaker Masood Khan met included Senator Bill Hagerty, Senator Jon Ossoff, Congressman Jim Banks, Co-Chair of he Pakistan Congressional Caucus, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and Congressman Jason Crow.

The Ambassador also thanked US Congressman Mike McCaul, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Chairperson of the Congressional Pakistan Caucus, Congressman Dean Phillips, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland, Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, and Congressman Lance Gooden for showing strong support to Pakistan. “We appreciate your intercession and counsel that ensured that the vote against the amendment enjoyed bi-partisan support,” the Ambassador wrote in his letter.

 He said that the assistance for earmarked under SFOPS would go to critical areas of cooperation including economic support, counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, military education training and health programs. “In the years to come, we would work harder to promote parliamentary exchanges and strengthen bilateral ties between our two nations. In this endeavor, we would always work with you closely,” the Ambassador added.