LAHORE, March 26: The proposed sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan has no links with the US-Iran standoff on Tehran’s nuclear programme nor the deal has anything to do with the issue, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said here on Saturday. Addressing a news conference, he said Pakistan would get the latest version of the planes (F-16 C/D), and their number would be decided according to the requirements of the defence forces. He said the US had set no limit on the number of planes Pakistan could buy. About reports that Washington had offered New Delhi cooperation in nuclear field, the minister said Islamabad had also conveyed its need to the US. “We want to maintain a credible balance of strategic and conventional weapons (in the region),” Mr Kasuri said. Surprised by the Indian reaction to the US-Pakistan deal, the minister said the maintenance of balance in South Asia was in the overall interest of the people of the region.

Mr Kasuri said the purchase of the F-16s would not amount to starting an arms race or inducting a new weapons system as Pakistan already had a fleet of these planes. However, he said, India’s decision to get Phalcon Awacs from Israel would certainly introduce new systems in the region.

He said the Indian armed forces were far ahead of Pakistan in terms of defence expenditure and sheer numbers, and thus, Islamabad was justified in getting new fighter planes from the US.

The minister said the US decision to sell F-16s to Pakistan “is also a sign of the acknowledgement by the international community of the responsible role that Pakistan is playing in the promotion of regional and global peace and security”.

He said Pakistan had a 15-year plan to strengthen its defence and “we’ll buy whatever we are able to get”.

Answering a question, the minister said parts of the centrifuges to be sent by Pakistan to the IAEA would enable the Vienna-based nuclear watchdog to determine whether they were similar to the ones available with Iran.