Friday, June 10 2005 15:28 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: A powerful committee in the US House of Representatives has passed the 'State Department Authorisation Bill', which include key provisions on India to address issues like terrorism, visa backlogs and HIV, AIDS funding in the country.

The US House International Relations Committee (HIRC) passed the Bill, which contained three provisions on India mooted by the US India Political Action Committee (USINPAC), thus clearing the first step in the legislative process.

The Bill contains provisions to address the issue of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, allocation of $ 2 million for HIV, AIDS Research and Mitigation Strategies in India and providing a new Consular office for the US Embassy in India to clear visa backlogs.

The vote yesterday (Jun 9, 2005) was a giant step for USINPAC's focused initiatives to pass into law priority issues, which are of paramount concern to the Indian-Americans, it said in a statement.

Observing that the technology peddled by Pakistan's disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan originated in China, a provision in the bill mooted by Congressman Brad Sherman (Democrat) noted the "dangers" of a close military partnership between the two countries.