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House Extends Presidential Waiver Authority For Sanctions Against New Delhi and Islamabad

A P Kamath in Washington

At the urging of Congressman Benjamin Gilman and like-mined Congressional leaders, the House of Representatives voted on June 15 to extend for one year President Clinton's authority to waive some of the sanctions imposed on New Delhi and Islamabad last year.

The waivers would apply also to humanitarian projects. The sanctions resulted from the pressure by Congressman on both sides, led by Democrat John Glenn, who recently retired from active politics, after India and Pakistan conducted nuclear tests.

New York Republican Gilman, known for his commitment to India and for his strong criticism of China, is the chairman of the House International Relations Committee.

He has indicated to other members friendly toward India and Pakistan that he will work to back legislation that will follow the Senate legislation, initiated by Sam Brownback (Republican-Kansas) to suspend the sanctions for five years. Last week the legislation was passed in the Senate which means soon the House has to accept or reject the bill.

Many Congressional leaders including Frank Pallone, Jr (Democrat-New Jersey) want the ban on India and Pakistan be lifted permanently.

Pallone, speaking during the debate on sanctions, urged the United States Department of Commerce to remove immediately a wide range of Indian commercial and public sector companies from its blacklist. He said organizations which were not connected with nuclear facilities or nuclear weapon programs were being hurt by the ban.

He criticized a requirement of the Glenn Amendment that Washington opposes World Bank loans to India that do not meet the strict definition of humanitarian needs.

Asserting that World Bank projects have the ability to improve the health and welfare of Indians, Pallone said USAID projects in India have made a "huge difference for the quality of life" but since they did not fall under the strict definition of humanitarian needs, they were also blacklisted.

"We should not allow these important development projects to be held hostage to other diplomatic considerations," he added.

He is currently working on a resolution -- echoing a Senate Bill -- that asserts that export control should be applied only to those Indian firms and agencies that make direct and material contributions to weapons of mass destruction and missile programs and only to those items that can contribute to such programs.

He hoped the Administration will heed the resolution and remove the firms and agencies from the ban list.

While Pallone welcomed the emerging signs that a substantial number of Representatives, Democrats and Republicans, are getting wary of the sanctions, he also pointed out that the Senate bill, which seeks a five year relaxation of sanctions, seeks to repeal the Pressler Amendment that bans American military assistance to Pakistan because of its nuclear programs. While he supported the lift of economic sanctions against Pakistan, Pallone asserted, he was dead opposed to military cooperation.

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