By IANS
Islamabad : Pakistan’s major donor Japan has warned that it may cut aid to the military-ruled country led by President Pervez Musharraf, who declared emergency Nov 3.
“I have concerns about the current situation in Pakistan. We’ve been considering increasing official development aid to Pakistan as the country was thought be in the democratisation process and was making efforts in the ‘war on terror’, but we may have to examine carefully whether to increase the amount of aid at this point while closely watching the democratisation process in the country,” Dawn News quoted Japan’s Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura as saying in the Japanese capital Tokyo.
Asked if Japan may cut its current aid to Pakistan, the foreign minister said: “We’ll consider every option”.
Military ruler Pervez Musharraf, facing a potential setback from the Supreme Court, declared a state of emergency, which he said was necessary to fight militants.
Japan said last month it was considering boosting aid to both Pakistan and Afghanistan to assist the “war on terror” after Tokyo’s military contribution, a naval mission providing fuel, was suspended due to domestic opposition.
Japan used to give hundreds of millions of dollars a year to Pakistan in low-interest loans and grants.