Congresswoman Nita Lowey (NY) Warns Musharraf

Congresswoman Nita M. "Lowey is currently serving her tenth term in Congress. Lowey has been described as "courageous" by The New York Times, "terrific" by Newsday, and one of "New York's key Members of Congress" by the New York Daily News. The Journal News called Lowey "one of the most influential Members of Congress." She is a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, where she serves as Chairwoman of the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, and the House Homeland Security Committee." Shaheryar Azhar, moderator, The Forum






Nov 2007: WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-Westchester/Rockland), Chair of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, today released the following statement condemning President Pervez Musharraf's effective house arrest of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, mass arrests, and continued violent crackdown, and warned him that his actions threaten to make a restructuring of aid to Pakistan inevitable.

"Continued mass arrests constitute a dangerous escalation of President Musharraf's deliberate and calculated clampdown on Pakistani civil society. President Musharraf's desperate tactics to preserve his own power come at the expense of the Pakistani people and inhibit his ability to be an effective partner in the war on terror. His continued arrests, imprisonments, and suppression of civil society are threatening to bring the situation quickly to a point of no return.

"Unless there is an immediate halt to President Musharraf's crackdown and a dramatic reversal in course, the restructuring of foreign assistance to Pakistan by the U.S. Congress will become inevitable. I call on the Administration to suspend immediately cash transfers to Pakistan until President Musharraf ceases his violent crackdown. Once again, I call on Musharraf to free the political prisoners that he has arrested, to restore the Constitution and independent judiciary, and to release his stranglehold on Pakistani civil society. Failure to take these steps immediately is sure to come at a steep cost."