TEHRAN A U.S. congressman said on Thursday that the U.S. sanctions against Pakistan would be lifted in the next few months.

Major Owens, who was addressing members of the Chamber of Commerce in Lahore, Pakistan, said that Pakistan was one of the close allies of the United States in the Cold War period, and that the U.S. sanctions against Pakistan are unfair.

He said the U.S. Congress recently approved the resumption of U.S. financial aid to Pakistan's eduction. He also expressed hope that other U.S. sanctions against Pakistan would be lifted soon.

The United States imposed sanctions on Pakistan in 1991 due to its nuclear programs. Such sanctions were intensified two years ago, when Pakistan conducted its nuclear tests.

Although Washington initially tried to hide its support for Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharraf, the United States resumed its aid to Pakistan a short time after the military coup in that country, when the generals took power in Islamabad. And now the U.S. is going to lift its sanctions against Pakistan dating from the pre-Musharraf era as a goodwill gesture to those who staged a coup in that country.