Entire country is agitated at the Kerry-Lugar Bill. Media, opposition parties and the opinion makers are all calling the bill a grand attack and an infringement of the sovereignty of Pakistan. But the conditions dubbed as infringement of the sovereignty are in fact officially stated positions of Pakistan. For instance, that Pakistan should not fan militancy in its border is the stated stand of the present and past governments. The clause asking Pakistan to check nuclear proliferation is also a direct corollary of the 'A.Q. Khan confession and Pakistans subsequent resolve to take measures to check any proliferation in future. As for the commitment of taking action against militants and weeding out elements sympathetic to Taliban from our security apparatus. Musharraf had accepted that allegation several times during his tenure and had even suspended some official from the Army. If the Americans are asking us to do so in future what is wrong with it? In fact, it is in our national interest to purge our security forces of such elements. No Pakistani would disagree with the condition that armed forces must be subservient to the democratically elected government. Monitoring the spending on civilian projects, involving some NGOs, should not unduly alarm any quarter either as this would help the poorest of the poor at grassroots level where, generally, the NGOs rather than any government agency, has a presence. This is especially true of the far-flung areas. The myth that spending though the NGOs would raise incurring costs is not true. The donors themselves do not fund any NGO whose recurring costs exceed 20 to 30 percent maximum. In my view, every opposing stakeholder has its own vested interest; the opposition parties are attacking the bill because doing opposition of the government is a bread-n-butter thing for them. According to media reports, the top military brass is also opposed to some conditions of the bill. Media also seems bent upon scaring the people and is doing nothing except adding fuel of polemic to the fire of public rage. In my view all of the above as well as all those beholden to abstract concepts of 'national self-esteem and self-sufficiency and are rejecting the 'wretched bill on that basis, are no friends of the people of Pakistan. They want to see the country go bankrupt so that they can later cry hoarse that the PPP failed democracy. -GULSHER PANHWER, Dadu, October 7.