ISLAMABAD, June 19: Despite reports in Pakistani and Indian newspapers about the possible sale of F-16s to Pakistan, there appears at least for now to be no consensus on the subject among officials of the Bush administration.

There has been some speculation within top levels of the Pakistani establishment that an F-16 deal through a ‘third party’, perhaps one of the GCC countries, may be cleared by the US government. But reliable sources in Islamabad and Washington maintain that the question of America’s agreement to any sale of F-16s remains unresolved.

“Despite President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s request for a new purchase deal on the F-16s and his saying that Pakistan is short- changed, the US government may not be forthcoming on this count,” the sources said.

The issue was raised at least once during President Pervez Musharraf’s meetings with President George Bush in 2001 and 2002, but the Pakistani request was not considered.

“The United States seems quite clear about not selling any advanced weapons system to Pakistan or at least for now it is in no mood to do so,” according to an insider. The view is shared by a senior US diplomat in Islamabad, who maintains that the sale of F-16 aircraft to Pakistan at this stage is unlikely.

Officials involved in defence negotiations believe the US at the moment is too busy in trying to ‘balance’ what state department officials feel is a tilt towards Pakistan caused by 9/11. But President Musharraf, in seeking to revive the F-16 issue, can use America’s reported clearance of the Israeli sale of Phalcon Awacs (airborne warning and control system) to India to argue that the military advantage has in fact gone more in India’s favour.

Current negotiations for the Awacs, which were refused to Pakistan in the late 80s, and Arrow missiles between India and Israel are of great concern to Pakistan. Both are manufactured using primarily US technology and American concurrence is necessary in both cases since ... defence or defence- related equipment and technology supplied by the US to one country cannot be sold to a third without Washington’s clearance.

US embassy spokesman Terry White has termed a report claiming that the US defence secretary has informed Indian Deputy Prime Minister Advani of the US decision to sell F-16 aircraft to Pakistan as incorrect.

He categorically stated: “No US official provided any such information regarding F-16s to Deputy Prime Minister Advani during his visit to the United States.”

Asked if his statement implied that the US administration was not inclined to sell F-16s to Pakistan, the US embassy spokesman said: “I don’t want to get into that... I won’t say there are no chances at all, anything is possible.”

Military sources told Dawn that a list of equipment considered essential for Pakistan’s defence had been shared with the US government but no indications were available so far as to what the US was willing to give.