10 March 2005	Thursday	28 Muharram 1426

NEW DELHI, March 9: India on Wednesday expressed concern over sales of arms to Pakistan by the United States and said it could impact the ongoing peace process between the nuclear-armed rivals.

"India's strong concern regarding repercussions of arms sales to Pakistan by the United States - including on the ongoing India-Pakistan dialogue - has been conveyed at high levels to the US government," junior foreign minister Edappakath Ahamed told parliament, according to the Press Trust of India.

Last year Pakistan earned the status of a major US non-NATO ally, a designation which is supposed to ease the sale of US military hardware. Since the 2001 attacks, Islamabad has looked to Washington to rectify what it calls an imbalance of power with its much larger neighbour India.

Pakistani officials have indicated they want to buy 25 F-16 fighter jets - worth around 25 million dollars each - by mid-2005 to add another squadron of aircraft to its existing fleet.

India strongly opposes the potential sale. The US Senate in January approved a budget which included military aid to Pakistan and Afghanistan, but has so far stalled on the F-16 issue.

Briefing parliament about the ongoing India-Pakistan peace dialogue, Ahamed said the visit of Foreign Minister Natwar Singh to Islamabad last month had taken the process "significantly" forward. -AFP