Islamabad, July 19: A new US law adding new conditions to the aid package given to pakistan, including curbs on cross-border infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir, has exposed president pervez musharraff's "tall claims" about his visit to the United States, the pakistan people's party (PPP) led by former premier Benazir Bhutto has said. "The overwhelming vote in the US House of Representatives on Thursday, adding new conditions to the so-called aid package to pakistan is a rebuff to General Musharraff's policies," Deputy Secretary General Mian Raza Rabbani said in a statement.

Rabbani also noted an announcement by American lawmakers that they think Musharraf is providing a platform for terrorism rather than curbing it.

The new condition attached to the aid package asks President George W Bush to report on the extent to which Pakistan has closed all terrorist camps operating in Pakistan and in "Pakistan-held Kashmir."

"The fact that the new law was passed by an overwhelming majority and referred to Azad Kashmir as "pakistani-held kashmir" has far-reaching implications which can be ignored only by a dictator," Rabbani said. It also requires Bush to ensure Pakistan has established serious and identifiable measures to prohibit infiltration across Line of Control (LoC) into India, and has ceased the transfer of weapons of mass destruction, including any associated technologies, to any third country or a terrorist organisation.

This law confirms the worst fears of Pakistan's democratic forces that Musharraf had undertaken to prolong his rule, the ppp statement said.

Bureau Report