Pakistan Views

The United States should cut off military aid to Pakistan if upcoming parliamentary elections are not free, fair and transparent, a senior senator in a Congressional team travelling to monitor the polls said on Friday.
Democratic Senator Joseph Biden, who is head of the influential Senate foreign relations committee, also forecast riots throughout Pakistan if Monday’s elections were found to be “patently rigged.”
He noted that Washington’s “only real leverage” against the administration of President Musharraf was military aid.
Asked what would be the consequences of unfair elections, he said, “I would move to cut off aid to Pakistan, military aid.”
He specifically cited the sale of F-16 fighter jets and P3 long-range maritime surveillance aircraft.
Since 2001 the United States has given 10 billion dollars in aid to Pakistan, most of it in military assistance to combat al Qaeda and Taliban militants.
The United States is facing a dilemma amid persistent reports that the elections would be rigged.
The State Department itself acknowledged that there would be “some” fraud in the election.
Any escalating violence following Monday’s polls may trigger a confrontation between Musharraf or the powerful military and moderate democratic forces that could force Washington to make a difficult choice on who to back, experts say.
“If these elections are patently rigged, unfair, I think you are going to see rioting on the streets throughout the country and I really don’t think Pakistan military chief General Ashfaq Kayani or the military is all anxious to fire upon the population in this country,” Biden said.
“I think there is considerable pressure — at least I hope he is listening — on Musharraf to at least have an election that the majority of the people in Pakistan think give them their voice,” he said.
The State Department said Friday that the US embassy in Islamabad would send observers to various locations throughout Pakistan to monitor the elections.
“The Pakistani people should have a reasonable degree of assurance that their ballot will, in fact, be reflected in the results and that the overall will of the Pakistani people is reflected in these results,” department spokesman Sean McCormack said.