United States President George W Bush has decided to waive a domestic law for Pakistan to pump in US$ 300 million security assistance in the country.
Bush has decided to exempt Pakistan from a law, which restricts funding to countries where the legitimate head of state has been deposed in a military coup, with a view to facilitating the transition to democratic rule.
The White House said that it was important to US efforts to respond to, deter, or prevent acts of international terrorism. It said Bush, who had given the waiver to Pakistan every year since 2003, had asked the US Congress for about 300 million dollars for security assistance to Pakistan.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the Bush administration still had concerns about the human rights situation in Pakistan, where President Pervez Musharraf overthrew the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999, but stressed that the country was a key ally in the 'war on terror.'
"The Pakistani government is conducting military, police, and intelligence operations to fight terrorist groups on Pakistani soil and bring terrorists to justice," Johndroe said.
Bush, in a message to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, has said that he has made a determination to waive section 608 of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008.
