WASHINGTON, July 21: Pakistan is likely to get congressional approval for the proposed $5.1 billion arms package, including F-16 aircraft, despite the battering it received at a panel hearing on the deal.

The 18-member House of Representatives International Relations Committee also mauled the Bush administration for failing to give Congress enough time to review the proposal.

But the administration’s strategy, coupled with a strong defence of its decision to sell the aircraft to Pakistan, worked.

“Your job is to...make sure that nothing that comes from Congress affects this deal in any way and you’ve done it spectacularly well,” acknowledged Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman.

John Hillen, Assistant Secretary of State for Political-military Affairs, defended the proposed sale to Pakistan, saying the fighter jets would help shore up America’s ties with its key ally in the war on terror.

“The sale will send a very clear signal of our commitment to a long-term relationship with Pakistan ... and it will strengthen the hand of President Musharraf and his government in supporting us in the war on terror and in continuing to make other politically difficult, yet strategic choices,” Mr Hillen said.

“This sale is a presidential priority and a key element of the administration’s South Asia strategy unveiled in March 2005,” he told the committee.

He said the F-16s for Pakistan would not be capable of carrying nuclear weapons, although he acknowledged they could be modified.

Senior committee Democrat Tom Lantos agreed with the administration that the sale would help Pakistan meet its legitimate security needs, but warned: “Pakistani export controls are so lax as to have allowed A.Q. Khan to provide the crown jewels of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons development programme to states such as North Korea and Iran.”