Pakistan will postpone the purchase of F-16 fighter jets from the US in order to provide more relief to victims of the Oct. 8 earthquake, President Pervez Musharraf said on Friday.
"I am going to postpone that," Musharraf told reporters when asked about the purchase of the aircraft while visiting a quake-hit region of northern Pakistan.
"We want to bring maximum relief and reconstruction effort," he said, while stressing that maintaining national security was also important.
The US said last year it was willing to sell Pakistan F-16 fighters and Islamabad was expected to buy about 80 of the fighters made by Lockheed Martin Corp.
An F-16 can cost up to about US$40 million, depending on the model and the configuration.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said there were continuing discussions with the Pakistani government.
"But in terms of whether or not the sale is going to move forward, I'd let them talk about it," he told reporters in Washington.
Pakistan is seeking billions of dollars in relief and reconstruction aid after the earthquake that killed more than 73,000 people in its northern mountains.
The 7.6-magnitude earthquake razed almost all major cities and towns in the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir, the picturesque Himalayan region that is also claimed by India, and severely affected northern parts of the country.
The earthquake, according to the UN, has affected more than 3.3 million people. Pakistan is already short of cash, as the reconstruction and rehabilitation process remains a gargantuan task. The UN has received only 25 percent of the money it has said is needed for reconstruction efforts.
Dwindling financial resources needed for earthquake reconstruction have pushed Pakistani policy makers to look for ways to lessen the pressure on the country's budget, but analysts added that the move to postpone buying the jet fighters has political considerations as well.
But Musharraf said that while the focus was on recovering from the earthquake, the planes remained an important priority.
"We should never do something that jeopardizes one or the other," he said. "So, both have their importance."
Musharraf had earlier this week said that he would not be cutting military spending. Pakistan and India have fought three wars over Kashmir in the past 58 years.
Pakistan is currently considering two options, either buying fewer than the originally planned 75 planes or importing a previous version of the aircraft from a European country, Dawn, the country's most prestigious English daily, reported on Friday.
Pakistan attaches huge importance to the F-16s, as they constitute an essential element of its air force's capabilities. Pakistan had requested a purchase of F-16s back in the mid-1980s but the US barred the sale of the fighters to Pakistan in 1990 after suspicions mounted that Pakistan was secretly producing a nuclear weapon. Pakistan tested its nuclear weapon in May 1998.
The go-ahead by Bush administration in March of this year to sell F-16s to Pakistan was seen as a reward for Musharraf's cooperation in the war against terror.
Musharraf is an ally of the US in the war against terror and has won accolades from Washington over his support of the US. The news earlier this year that the Bush administration had lifted the restriction of the sale of the fighter jets met with euphoria in Pakistan.
While reconstruction and rehabilitation is a major concern for the government of Musharraf, the announcement on Friday of postponing the purchase was also aimed at placating possible criticism within the country, analysts said.
"This is probably to get political mileage," Ayesha Siddiqua Aga, a security analyst who is based in Islamabad, said, adding that there already criticism over a recent US$1 billion deal to buy Swedish Erie Eye SAAB airborne.
"If you buy major weapon programs, you can not attract foreign aid for relief and reconstruction," Aga said.
Hasan Askari Rizvi, a defense and military analyst based in Lahore, agreed.
"I think this is a middle road that President Musharraf has adopted. He can keep the military happy because of no defense cut while deflect criticism," Rizvi said.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS