WASHINGTON, Sept 4: Pakistan’s military action in Balochistan will not affect a $5 billion US deal for selling F-16 fighter jets to the country, the US state department said. The department’s comments follow media reports that Pakistan has used against the rebels some of the weapons it received from the US for fighting Al Qaeda sympathisers and drug smugglers.

“The current events in Balochistan are unlikely to have any effect on the sale of F-16s to that country,” a state department official told reporters in Washington.

The official said the US administration believed slain Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti “wanted to take control of natural resources in Balochistan through violent means and this is something that the US does not condone”.