Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has been holding series of consultations with the Maoist chairperson, including top brass leaders of seven-party alliance, to form an interim government immediately.

According to general secretary of the Nepali Congress Ram Chandra Poudel, premier Koirala has intensified discussions with the top leaders of various political parties in the interim parliament separately. “Koirala may form a small sized cabinet before leaving for New Delhi on April 1 to attend the 14th SAARC summit,” he said.

Koirala and Maoist chairman Prachanda held meeting today and tried to sort out the existing power-sharing dispute between the government and the Maoist while formulating an interim government.

On Tuesday, the Maoist party warned Koirala that they would resume fresh round of people’s movement against the government instead of joining the interim government if Koirala failed to form an interim government and announce the election date immediately. On Wednesday, Maoist lawmakers had also disrupted the meeting in the interim parliament and put pressure on the government in this regard.

However, today Maoist spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara said they were positive to join the interim government as Koirala expressed commitment to hold constituent Assembly election by mid-June.

US financial aid to Pakistan has skyrocketed from $9.1 million in the three years before September 11, 2001, to $4.2 billion, according to the Centre for Public Integrity. This is a whopping 45,000 per cent increase.

More than half of the new financial aid was provided through a post-9/11 Defence Department programme, the coalition support funds (CSF), not closely tracked by the US Congress. This has become a cause of concern on Capitol Hill.

"With the possible exception of the Iraq reconstruction funds, I've never seen a larger blank cheque for any country than for the Pakistan CSF programme," Tim Rieser, the majority clerk on the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, told the centre.

Before 9/11, Pakistan received less military aid and assistance from the US than Estonia or Panama, largely because of US sanctions imposed as punishment for Pakistan's covert pursuit of a nuclear weapons programme revealed in 1998.

In an attempt to hold Pakistan accountable, Democratic members of Congress are pushing legislation that would link aid to efforts in the war on terror. A resolution that was passed in the House of Representatives on January 4 calls for the US to condition military assistance to Pakistan on Islamabad "making all possible efforts to prevent the Taliban from operating in areas under its sovereign control." In the Senate, Democratic Senators John Kerry, Joseph Biden and Christopher Dodd have introduced similar legislation. The White House opposes these restrictions.

Meanwhile, the dramatic increase in the US aid has catapulted Pakistan to the number three spot on a list of countries receiving funding from the US. The top two countries are Israel and Egypt.

The investigative study was conducted using data assembled through Freedom of Information Act requests.

Pakistan received $2.3 billion of post-9/11 aid from the CSF money in fiscal years 2002 through 2004, a total that surpassed $3 billion in 2005. Pakistan's take was nearly four times as much as all other countries combined received by 2005.

This money has continued to flow despite growing US concerns over Pakistan's assistance in the global war on terror and the Congressional Research Service estimates Pakistan's total take of the CSF through August 2006 at $4.75 billion, the centre reported.

The Bush administration has requested an additional $1 billion in the CSF funding for coalition partners as part of the Defence Department's 2007 emergency budget supplemental request. Congress is currently debating the proposal. CSF's official purpose is to reimburse allied countries for costs incurred in supporting the US global war on terror.

A recent study by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies estimates that the total American aid, including military, economic, and development assistance, to Pakistan since September 11, 2001, at more than $10 billion.

Since 2001, Pakistan has allowed the US to use air bases in anti-terrorism operations, provided access to logistics facilities in Pakistan, shared intelligence, helped identify and detain citizens who may have been involved in terrorism, and tightened the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan by deploying up to 80,000 Pakistani troops.

But Pakistan's support for this war on terror is increasingly being questioned in Washington and the limitations of President Pervez Musharraf are becoming more and more evident.

In an article headlined "Pakistan: US ally, US dilemma," the Christian Science Monitor reported on Wednesday that "Having successfully argued his own indispensability, General Musharraf has reaped billions of dollars in economic aid and arms sales, while encountering little challenge from Washington over his backsliding from steps toward democratic rule."

Selig Harrison, director of the Asia programme of the Centre for International Policy in Washington, told the paper:"For too long, we've heard that the only alternative to Gen Musharraf is something worse. But the fact is we don't need him if he doesn't move towards a civilian government with broadened representation of Pakistan's people."

Islamabad, March 29
A suicide bomber struck at an Army base in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province today, killing a soldier and injuring eight others, an army spokesman said.

The unidentified suicide bomber was also killed when he exploded himself near a group of soldiers undergoing training in Khrian, 130 km from here.

"The soldiers were conducting training when the bomber walked towards them and blew himself off," Major-General Waheed Arshad said.

The injured were shifted to a military hospital in the city, he said, adding that one of them was in critical condition.

The army was investigating to ascertain the bomber's identity, he said.

The area, which has a large army base, was cordoned off by the police and journalists were not allowed to enter.

No one has claimed the responsibility for the attack but the authorities suspect “elements” opposed to President Musharraf's joining the US-led coalition might be behind it.

Suicide bombers have targeted soldiers in Pakistan in recent months with attacks being carried out in the North West Frontier Province and tribal region. But it is the first such assault against the Army in Punjab.

Over 42 Pakistani army trainees were killed and 20 wounded in a suicide attack in a military camp in the North-West Frontier Province in November last year.

President Musharraf survived two attacks in 2003 which he blamed on extremists. — PTI