New Delhi has indicated to Washington that it would be sending ‘‘wrong political signals’’ if the US goes ahead with plans to sell offensive-capability platforms such as the F-16 aircraft to Pakistan. It’s learnt this message was conveyed by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani to US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at a meeting in Washington on June 8. Advani is not the only one to object to the F-16 sale to Pakistan because last year India had conveyed to the highest levels in Washington that ‘‘all bets will be off’’ if such a deal were to take place. Essentially, India has made it clear that it would be difficult to make progress in key areas of defence and security if Washington were to arm Pakistan with offensive capability. Quoting highly placed Washington sources, the Defence and Foreign Affairs Daily today reported that Rumsfeld broke the ‘‘disappointing news’’ of the proposed F-16 sale to Pakistan to Advani during a ‘‘very private meeting’’ on June 8. The report says that the deal will be announced during Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s visit to Washington on June 24. Musharraf’s visit to Camp David is significant because it indicates the US is firmly behind the Pakistan President. While New Delhi is tightlipped about the affair, it’s learnt that Advani categorically told Rumsfeld that selling of the Lockheed Martin F-16 multi-role fighters to Pakistan would send a ‘‘politically wrong signal’’ to the Indian nation. Without going into technical details, Advani signalled to the Rumsfeld that the planned deal would lead to instability in the sub-continent. Apparently the F-16 deal that Musharraf is looking for envisages sale of 60-70 highly advanced offensive platforms to Pakistan. Before the US embargo on Pakistan in 1992, Islamabad was on the verge of procuring 28 F-16 aircraft from the US and had placed orders for another 43. But due to the embargo, Pakistan was later compensated by the US. It’s understood that Rumsfeld told Advani that Pakistan had been asking for the F-16s for quite sometime. And that Defence analysts in the Bush Administration had now come around to say that sale of F-16s to Islamabad would not disturb India-Pakistan parity. The Indian logic is that given Pakistan’s first-use nuclear policy, it would not be correct for US to give nuclear delivery capable F-16s to Pakistan. New Delhi’s argument for seeking close cooperation with US on trinity issues — dual use, civilian nuclear energy and space — is that it is for building defensive capability rather than exhibiting any offensive intent. Analysts here feel that announcement of the F-16 deal during Musharraf’s visit to Washington would not only give a boost to the Pakistan President domestically but also signal that the US is applying no pressure on Islamabad on the issue of cross-border terrorism. There is another opinion: Musharraf will get the F-16s but there will be strings attached.
