Prominent lawyer S M Zafar said he expected that new Congress of the United States would soon reintroduce the bill S-3263, popularly known as 'Biden-Lugar Bill', which was legally dead due to the expiration of the previous Congress before it was debated.
Biden Lugar Bill, popularly known as "Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act 2008" was introduced in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by its then chairman Sen Joseph Biden and Sen Richard Lugar, recognising the role of Pakistan as US ally and the frontline state in combating terrorism.
Under the Bill, it was proposed to provide $15 billion economic assistance to Pakistan over the next 10 years, beginning from 2009, is legally dead even before it was debated and voted by either chamber of the US bicameral legislature.
Business Recorder on Sunday sought comments from the S M Zafar over the latest development. He said that the Bill had lapsed due to technical reason, and it had nothing to do with any other speculations as it could not be debated in the previous Congress, and lapsed under US law. He said he hoped that the new Congress would soon take it up.
He was of the view that the key introducer of the Bill, the then Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Joseph Biden who is now Vice President of United States, and as President Barak Obama was also co-sponsor of the Bill, would take special interest in re-introducing and its passage.
Zafar suggested that the government of Pakistan would have to reactive its diplomatic channels in this regard to reintroduce and subsequently materialising it. He said that possibilities of imposition of more conditions or grating extra relaxations are there, when it would be redrafted, adding that the Congress has authority to clap whatever it wants. However, he was more optimistic about positive side.
According to the previous Bill, the assistance was to be used for tangible progress in a number of areas, including an independent judiciary, greater accountability by the central government, respect for human rights, and civilian control of the levers of power, including the military and the intelligence agencies.