India 'disappointed' at US decision to sell 8 F-16s to Pak, US envoy summoned to South Block

On Friday, the Obama Administration notified the US Congress about the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan worth almost $699 million

In a development unprecedented in recent years, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar on Saturday summoned US Ambassador Richard Verma to South Block to express India’s disappointment at the Obama Administration deciding to sell eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.

The last time a US envoy was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs was in the wake of the handcuffing and strip search of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York in December 2013.

In a statement issued today morning, the Ministry of External Affairs said: “We are disappointed at the decision of the Obama Administration to notify the sale of F-16 aircrafts to Pakistan. We disagree with their rationale that such arms transfers help to combat terrorism. The record of the last many years in this regard speaks for itself.”

It said, “the US Ambassador will be summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs to convey our displeasure.” Following which Verma was summoned to the South Block for a meeting with the Indian Foreign Secretary, who lodged India’s protest at the US government’s decision to sell the fighter planes to India’s neighbour.

On Friday, the Obama Administration notified the US Congress about the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan worth nearly $699 million.

The Pentagon’s Defence Security Cooperation, responsible for foreign arms sales, said the F-16s would allow Pakistan’s air force to operate in all weather conditions, including at night. It said the fighter jets will improve its self-defence capabilities and help with its counter-terrorism operations. The Congress can block the sale within 30 days, but such a course of action is rare as such decisions are taken after extensive consultations.

But the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Bob Corker, has notified the Obama Administration that he would block the sale of the jets through the foreign military financing programme of the US. This would mean that Pakistan would have to cough up the money for the jets, instead of the US providing nearly half of the cost of the F-16s.

Corker, in a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry, said he had concerns about Pakistan’s links with the Haqqani network. The terror group has been responsible for several lethal attacks in Afghanistan in the past. Corker said he might reconsider his position if Islamabad were to take effective action on the terror outfit.

News agencies quoted an unnamed US State Department official defending the decision of the US Government to sell the F-16s to Islamabad. The official said the F-16s, the US Government strongly believed, have contributed to the success of several counter-terrorism operations.

Instances of the Ministry of External Affairs summoning an American ambassador are extremely rare. The last such instance was after Indian diplomat Khobragade was handcuffed and strip searched in New York in December 2013. Relations between the two countries had hit a low during the time, as India protested the treatment meted out to the Indian diplomat.

Later in the day, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said that the singular achievement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy was that both the US and Russia were now “major arms suppliers” to Pakistan.