A day after President Barack Obama signed the Kerry-Lugar Bill that will give Pakistan $7.5 billion in developmental aid over the next five years,a top US official said that sufficient measures had been built into the package to ensure that the funds were not misused by Islamabad. While New Delhi has been wary of aid packages given to Pakistan as they have been diverted to scale up its military against India,US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William J Burns,who is on a visit to the country,said that conditions attached to the Bill would ensure proper utilisation of funds. There are conditions attached to the Bill. We are focused that the money is used for the purpose intended, Burns said,interacting with the media after meeting several top Indian leaders,including Foreign Minister S M Krishna,in the capital. Reacting to concerns from India on the proper utilisation of funds allotted for non-military development $1.5 billion over the next five years Burns said that conditions attached to the Bill would ensure that the money went to the intended projects. We made it very clear that there were conditions attached to the legislation, he said. This comes after an uproar in Pakistan on conditions in the Bill that,according to some quarters,would impinge on the national security of the country. India has also expressed concern that aid given to Pakistan could be used to scale up its military hardware.
