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India cautioned US against selling F-16s to Pakistan
NEW DELHI - India has cautioned the United States against a decision to sell F-16 fighter aircraft to arch-rival Pakistan, Foreign Minister Natwar Singh said. "We have cautioned the US against such a decision," Singh told parliament just hours before US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was due to arrive in New Delhi for talks with the Indian leadership. "We have also conveyed that US arms supply to Pakistan would have a negative impact on the goodwill the United States enjoys in India, particularly as a sister democracy," he added on Wednesday. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf met US President George Bush last Saturday during which he said he discussed the potential purchase of the F-16 fighters. Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have fought three major wars and one snap border flareup in 2002 and any major arms deal by either country is seen as a threat by the other. The two rivals are engaged in peace talks to resolve several disputes including the core problem of Kashmir. Singh said New Delhi has pointed out that the supply of arms to Pakistan by the United States at a time when the dialogue between the two countries is at a "sensitive stage" would have a "negative impact". Pakistan reportedly wants to buy up to 25 of the F-16s, which cost around 25 million dollars each, by mid-2005 to add another squadron of such planes to its existing fleet. Musharraf has won Bush's firm alliance since he sided with Washington to oust
Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, originally backed by Pakistan, after the September
11, 2001 attacks |
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