No direct funding to PPP Govt : US

The United States made it absolutely clear on Friday, days before President Asif Ali Zardari is to meet President Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in New York, that bulk of the money it will provide under the Kerry-Lugar Bill will not go directly to the PPP government, but to specific projects and purposes for which it is intended.

Senior journalist, Shaheen Sehbai in a dispatch here said that the US government was still grappling with the issue of a huge trust deficit and would not feel comfortable with aid money getting into the hands of the PPP government despite efforts in Washington to repair and whitewash the image of PPP leaders.

US State Department Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources, Jacob J. Lew in his briefing told this. 

Jacob Lew told the briefing: “On the question of aid, there, as any of you who have seen the press releases put out would know, they’re very much anxious to have as much of the assistance as possible flow directly to the Pakistani government.

“We made clear that we’re looking at a variety of approaches, that we certainly intend to be supportive of Pakistani ministries where the programmes are ready to accept that support effectively, but that we also needed to look at the provincial level and to work with the traditional NGO community, and it wouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all approach.”

The official made it obvious that instead of providing aid to the government to spend wherever it liked, they would look at the ministry projects, which are ready on a case-to- case basis and also provide direct aid to provinces and NGOs. That is what he meant by saying that “it would not be a one-size-fits-all approach.”

Jacob Lew also spoke about his visit to Pakistan in general. “We focused on a number of issues. I think, as you all know, with the Kerry-Lugar programme being worked through now in Congress and the budget process working through, in terms of the appropriations, we’re ready to take the next step and put a detailed programme out there that really goes and specifies what forms of assistance will be provided. 

This is the latest indication that the U.S. government is still struggling to overcome with its trust deficit symptom and is not willing to give the funds on account of aid directly in the hands of the People’s Party, despite the Pakistani officials in U.S. trying hard for improving the image of the PPP leaders.