N-deal will boost US security, economy: Lugar

October 13th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - US Senator Daniel Inouye has rebuffed Pakistani concerns over certain clauses in the Kerry-Lugar Bill, saying the US has no intention of influencing any institution in Pakistan, but only trying to help it. His statement came after Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari told him that were concerns being expressed in certain quarters about some of the provisions of the Kerry-Lugar Bill and that the USA and Pakistan need to work together to alleviate these concerns.

October 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Worried by the wide scale criticism of the Kerry Lugar Bill in Pakistan, US Vice President Joe Biden has said that Washington is considering Islamabad's reservations on the aid Bill. Biden met Pakistani ambassador-at-large Raffat Mahmood in Washington and told him that the Obama Administration is aware of Pakistan's concerns and is examining them, The News reports.

October 9th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has reiterated that it is not bound to accept the 'stringed' Kerry Lugar Bill and is expecting that the US would make suitable amendments in the Bill in view of the large scale criticism it has received in the country. ddressing media persons during a regular press briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul Basit said the Kerry Lugar Bill was not a bilateral agreement, so it was not necessary for the Pakistan government to agree with all of its clauses.

October 8th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has termed the controversial Kerry-Lugar Bill as a 'triumph for India'. Addressing party leaders here, Hussain said the bill cannot be accepted in its current form as it has several controversial points regarding the Army, Pakistan's nuclear programme and security agencies.

October 8th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Information and Broadcasting Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira has rejected reports regarding a rift between the government and the Army over the Kerry Lugar Bill issue. Responding to queries about altercations between the government and the Pakistan Army over the 'severe' terms and conditions attached with the US aid bill, Kaira said: "There is no clash between the government and Army." Kaira said Pakistan was not bound to accept the terms and conditions in the bill, as it has not inked any deal with the US in this regard.

October 8th, 2009 KARACHI - The Pakistan Army's top brass, while objecting to the terms and conditions attached with the Kerry Lugar Bill, has also raised apprehensions regarding the presence of some persons within the Gilani government who are trying to weaken the nation's Armed Forces and the premier intelligence agency, the Inter State Intelligence (ISI), The News reports. According to sources, the Army has substantial evidence regarding the presence of some 'elements' in the government who lobbied heavily for the inclusion of anti-military and anti-nuclear programme clauses in the controversial Kerry Lugar Bill.

October 6th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had conveyed his party's objection over certain clauses of the Kerry-Lugar Bill to the US Ambassador Anne Patterson. The Daily Times quoted a press statement issued by the party, as saying that the party objected to the insertion of a clause "regarding the alleged presence of terrorists in Muridke and Quetta," in the bill "on the behest of the Indian lobby" active in the US.

October 6th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira has admitted that the American security aid promised under the Kerry-Lugar Bill has "some strings," but they are in line with government policies. The Daily Times quoted him, as saying that the checks on the assistance promised for the armed forces were in line with the government's policies, as the government wanted a strong check on nuclear-proliferation and did not want Pakistani territory to be used to stage terrorist activities in foreign countries.

October 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan's envoy to the US, Hussain Haqqani, has said the Kerry-Lugar Bill has no provision to restrict Islamabad's nuclear programme. However, he added, that the bill prevents Pakistan from being part of any outward proliferation.

September 28th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid has termed the Kerry-Lugar economic aid bill as an "insult to Pakistan", demanding an explanation from the government on how it has accepted the language of the bill that weakens Pakistan's position on the international front. The Daily Times quoted PML-Q legislator Marvi Memon, as saying that "asking Pakistan to cease support - including by any elements within the military or intelligence agencies - to extremist and terrorist groups" in the text of the Kerry-Lugar bill was insulting and sent a wrong message to the world.

August 29th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Kerry-Lugar Bill would be approved by the American Senate by September, the coordinator of the non-military aid to Islamabad has said. The Dawn quoted Rabin Raphael, as saying that his appointment for managing the affairs in Pakistan pertained to oversee a coordinated disbursement of aid supplied to Pakistan under USAID and Kerry-Lugar schemes.

June 21st, 2009 Lugar: Possible 'very brutal' end to Iran chaosWASHINGTON — Sen. Richard Lugar says Iran's supreme leader has pushed the conflict there toward a "very brutal outcome." The Indiana Republican, one of the Senate's most respected voices on foreign affairs, says Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has put himself in the center of the postelection uprising.

June 21st, 2009 Lugar says US should meet with IranWASHINGTON — A top Republican senator says the United States should still sit down with Iran, despite postelection turmoil in Tehran. Sen. Richard Lugar says the U.S.

May 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Republican Senator Richard Lugar has asked the Obama admisitration to apply Nunn-Lugar Bill to Pakistan, like it did with the former Soviet Union, to safeguard Pakistan's nuclear weapons. Nunn-Lugar funds were committed for the first time outside of former Soviet territory to destroy 16 tons of chemical weapons in Albania.

May 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An influential US senator has asked President Barack Obama to press Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to accept more US help in securing his country's nuclear arsenal and raw materials for chemical or biological weapons. 'He must convince President Zardari to accept more assistance and embrace cooperation,' said Richard Lugar, top Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a statement Wednesday.