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Clinton vetoes bill, sanctions may continue

President Bill Clinton of the United States has vetoed a bill which contained a provision, authorising him with powers for one year to waive US sanctions imposed on India and Pakistan in protest against the nuclear tests in May last.

The provision was attached to an agriculture bill which the President vetoed last night because the Republican controlled- Congress reduced the allocation that his administration had made for providing relief to farmers. Along with the main bill, the waiver authority also goes.

The provision which came in the form of amendment, gave the President authority to waive any of the sanctions under the Arms Export Control Act, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945. The waiver does not apply to defence related equipment, intelligence matters and dual-use sensitive technology.

However, the administration had made it clear that it would use the waiver only in case of substantial progress in the talks that deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott has been having with India and Pakistan on the issue of disarmament. The US insists on the two countries to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty immediately and without condition.

UNI