Musharraf had recently admitted that he had diverted the aid coming from the United States to fight militancy in the tribal areas to the Eastern border in a bid to strengthen defence against its traditional rival India. The fresh confession made by the former ruler and key ally on the war against terror again created confusion and controversy between the two key allies and certain quarters in the US Congress including think tank have already expressed apprehension about the blatant misuse of the aid money by Pakistan.
It is for the first time that a former President and a key US ally publicly admitted that he diverted the aid to strengthen the defence against India, the accusation which had continuously been denied by Pakistani authorities. The US had already taken note of the eight years long assistance to Pakistan was given to fight the war on terror but the fresh admission by the former President would create complications in getting further unconditional assistance from the super power.
Certain Congressmen, think tanks and US civil society have already pointed fingers at what they termed the 'blank cheque' given to Pakistan without maintaining any account, audit and transparent records.
It is the sole reason that the Obama administration has stressed on the need for maintaining complete record, audit and accountability and the US administration has decided to give money directly to provincial governments and the non-governmental organisations as it would appoint the US officials at the key positions to keep a check the spending of the aid money provided to achieve their targets.
In the recent past, the US officials including Special Representatives to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, USAID Director Robert J. Wilson and US Co-ordinator for Economic Development and Assistance to Pakistan Ambassador Ribon Rophen visited Pakistan and seemed much careful about the transparency and intended to ensure an effective accountability mechanism as far as spending of aid is concerned.
The analyst was of the view that the remarks of former President Musharraf would create further hurdles in getting soft and unconditional aid from the US. Lieutenant General Talat Masood (Retd), a renowned defence analyst while talking to Business Recorder said that the acceptance of the former President to use the security equipment against India would give further justification to the Congressmen working for Israeli and Indian lobbies in the US congress to intensify adverse propaganda against Pakistan.
Such things also help those who attach tight conditions for giving aid as is being done in case of the proposed 'Kerry-Lugar Bill' raising the issue of transparency in usage of aid by Pakistan. The former top military officer said that the US should not have any objection in case of Pakistan as the super power had itself provided a lot of ammunition and defence equipment to India for using against Pakistan. Contradicting the impression, Talat opined that the military equipment given to fight militants on Western border was totally different from the equipment needed to safeguard the Eastern border.
He was critical of what he termed 'stupidity' of the former military men who have damaged the country to an irreparable level by giving such irrational statements. There is an Official Secret Act for serving people but there should be a moral responsibility and obligation of the retired security officials to shirk from giving such anti-state statements.
He questioned that how they permitted a score of military personnel including former army chief Mirza Aslam Beg, Major Aamir, Brigadier Imtiaz, to give such irresponsible statements putting national security and sovereignty at stake. At this stage, he said, all Pakistanis needed to be careful and sensitive about the national interests, believing that the country was again on the rise after going through a worse crisis. Meanwhile, India also reacted to the fresh statement of the former President.
Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said that he was not surprised by former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's admission that the military aid the US gave to Pakistan was used to strengthen defence against India rather than fighting the war on terror. "We know Pakistan has been misusing US aid for years. This confirms India's stand on the misuse of aid. The United States should monitor aid given to Pakistan more carefully", he said.