NEW YORK: US Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, introduced a resolution Nov 15 that condemns the imposition of martial law in Pakistan. The measure also calls on President Bush to suspend military assistance to Pakistan. "The Bush Administration has for too long relied on one man to achieve our anti-terrorism objectives in Pakistan," said Ackerman.

 "The President has ignored democratic development there and turned a blind eye as Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf," he said. "He has manipulated the political process to ensure his continued tenure in office. "He has made and broken repeated promises to step down as Army chief and to restore legitimate civilian democratic government to Pakistan.

"He made deals with al Qaeda supporters in North and South Waziristan and those deals strengthened our enemies. Officials in his government sold nuclear secrets to Libya, North Korea and Iran. "Yet at every turn General Musharraf has received a pass from President Bush. Instead of arresting the terrorists who pose an existential threat to his regime if not the nation, General Musharraf is arresting the very people with whom he could have worked to develop the political support necessary to rid Pakistan of extremists."

During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last week, Ackerman blasted the Bush Administration for the current unrest in Pakistan. The Congressman criticized the President’s policy towards General Musharraf during testimony from Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte. Ackerman’s resolution also calls on General Musharraf to reinstate the constitution, release all those arrested during his crackdown, allow independent media to re-open, schedule parliamentary elections for January and step down as Army Chief of Staff. In addition, the measure calls on President Bush to suspend all military assistance to Pakistan as well as all sales and transfers of military equipment until the conditions described in the resolution have been met.

"The pictures from Islamabad don’t show any al Qaeda or Taliban terrorists being arrested but they do show that General Musharraf is intent on keeping his job by engaging in a brutal crackdown on opposition politicians, lawyers and human rights activists" added Ackerman. "Press reports don’t tell us the Pakistani Army is tracking down al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists along the border with Afghanistan but they do tell us of the removal of seven Supreme Court justices, and the closure of independent media outlets, the suspension of the constitution and the postponement of January’s parliamentary elections."

Ackerman, who in the past has visited Pakistan and met with Musharraf, has long been a critic of the Pakistani President. The Congressman has sponsored several pieces of legislation to impose conditions on US aid and military sales to Pakistan due to Musharraf’s failure to arrest and dismantle terrorist networks in his country.

In addition, Ackerman’s subcommittee – the panel with jurisdiction over US policy towards South Asia - has held several hearings this year on Pakistan.