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U.S. for enhancing Pak.'s defence capability

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD Sept. 27. Without making any concrete commitment, the United States today assured to look into the list of arms and ammunition sought by Pakistan to match India's conventional superiority.

The assurance was made at the end of the four-day meeting of Pak.-U.S. Defence Consultative Group that considered ways and means for enhancement of military cooperation.

Addressing a press conference here, the U.S. Under Secretary (Defence Policy), who led the 40- member delegation for the talks with the Pakistan military officials, said Washington was interested in ensuring that "capabilities of Pakistan are enhanced". Hamid Nawaz, leader of the Pakistan delegation and Defence Secretary, said that Islamabad had provided a "prioritised list of defence items" it wanted from the U.S.

He specifically mentioned the list included F-16s. Pakistan had paid for purchase of F-16s in the later part of the Eighties but Washington refused to supply them after the Pressler Amendment came into force.

The U.S. military aid to Pakistan was cut off in 1990 to punish it for its growing nuclear programme.

Without going into the specifics of Islamabad's "prioritised list", the head of U.S. delegation merely said the U.S. wanted to enhance Pakistan's defence capabilities and said that the U.S. would review Pakistan's defence needs. "We understand the situation. We are working together with Pakistan security forces on common security issues".

The Pakistan Defence Secretary said that India was procuring defence items from the west and the east and it was necessary for it to enhance its defence capability to maintain a balance in conventional weapons. "The imbalance in conventional weapons needs to be reduced and we expect help from friends to achieve the goal,'' Lt. Gen. (retd) Khan said.

Islamabad had high expectations from the meeting. Since Pakistan joined the U.S.-led coalition against the war on international terrorism, the Musharraf regime has been pressing Washington to release sophisticated defence equipment and spare parts.

This was one of the subjects at the summit meeting between the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf and the US President, George W. Bush, in New York in the second week of September.

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