Obama signs KLB into law

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama signed a 7.5 billion dollar Kerry-Lugar aid package bill for Pakistan into law Thursday, after Congress offered assurances the plan did not violate Pakistani sovereignty.

Obama signed the bill, which has come under fierce criticism in Pakistan, without fanfare before leaving on a trip to New Orleans.

"This law is the tangible manifestation of broad support for Pakistan in the U.S., as evidenced by its bipartisan, bicameral, unanimous passage in Congress," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Obama signed the legislation after his administration and U.S. lawmakers sought to allay concerns in Pakistan over conditions linked to billions of dollars in U.S. aid, while making clear the legislation would not be changed.

Gibbs said Obama wants to engage Pakistan on the basis of a strategic partnership "grounded in support for Pakistan’s democratic institutions and the Pakistani people."

"This act formalizes that partnership, based on a shared commitment to improving the living conditions of the people of Pakistan through sustainable economic development, strengthening democracy and the rule of law, and combating the extremism that threatens Pakistan and the United States," he said.

It also came hours after the latest wave of attacks on the Pakistani police force by militants who killed 40 people, underscoring the insurgent challenge to the government the US package is intended to help meet.

"This law is the tangible manifestation of broad support for Pakistan in the US, as evidenced by its bipartisan, bicameral, unanimous passage in Congress," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

The package is intended to bolster Pakistan's battle against extremism as it faces the increasingly bloody domestic insurgency and has been placed by Obama at the center of the US battle against Al-Qaeda.

The measure offers 1.5 billion dollars a year for five years to improve Pakistani schools, to fund groups that defend the rights of women and children, and money to train and modernize the Pakistani peace force.

It also includes an attempt to cement civilian control in nuclear-armed Pakistan, and supports voter education, civil society and improvements in the functioning of parliament.

But opponents in Pakistan balked at what they saw as conditions on how the money could be spent, including calls for action in curtailing the anti-Indian militant movements Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The bill also called for a cut-off in security assistance if Pakistan fails to crack down on extremists.

The requirements sparked uproar in the Pakistani parliament, and were used by opponents of the government's anti-terror alliance with the United States to hammer President Asif Ali Zardari.

Fears for the package's future were quelled when Senator John Kerry and Representative Howard Berman, who head committees handling foreign relations in Congress, gave Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi a document stating that the plan did not impose conditions or infringe on Pakistani sovereignty.

Qureshi, after huddling Wednesday with Kerry and Berman for the third time since last week, hailed the document as "historic" and "a step forward in our relationship."

"I am going back to Pakistan to tell my parliament and conclude the debate on the note that our relationship can move forward -- we will deepen it and we will strengthen it," Qureshi told reporters.

The lawmakers' statement said the aid was meant "to forge a closer collaborative relationship between Pakistan and the United States, not to dictate the national policy or impinge on the sovereignty of Pakistan in any way."

"Any interpretation of this act which suggests that the United States does not fully recognize and respect the sovereignty of Pakistan would be directly contrary to congressional intent," it said.

Obama signed the bill hours after militants unleashed coordinated attacks on Pakistani police in which 40 people died, storming offices in Lahore and bombing a northwest station to escalate 11 days of carnage.

The coordinated assaults underscored the power of armed radicals to strike in the heart of Pakistan, and the weakness of poorly equipped security forces, despite promises of a new offensive against the Taliban.

Pakistan is reeling from two years of Taliban-linked attacks that have escalated such that over 160 people have been killed since October 5.