WASHINGTON, April 12: The United States has refused to link the F-16 deal with Pakistan to the indictment of a Pakistani businessman for allegedly trying to buy nuclear-capable equipment from this country. At a Monday afternoon briefing in Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher refused to be dragged into a media debate that started on Friday when US prosecutors unsealed an indictment before a federal jury. The jury was told that a Pakistani businessman, Humayun A. Khan, had tried to buy equipment from the United States that had both military and medical use.

Since then several US newspapers have stipulated that the indictment could jeopardize the US offer to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan. Pakistan has already rejected the allegations as “malicious and unfounded,” saying that the Pakistani government never tried to purchase such equipment in the United States, “directly or indirectly.”

“I’m not quite sure who you’re talking about, frankly,” said Mr Boucher when the reporter asked if the indictment could lead to cancellation of the F-16 deal. When the reporter asked whether the Bush administration wants to bring Mr Khan to the United States for trial, the spokesman said: “You would have to check with the Justice Department on extraditions and fugitives, if that’s what this gentleman is.”

“The question on, you know, speculating on this, that and the other, nuclear weapons and F-16s and all that, I’d leave it at what we said at the time,” he added.

“We’re involved in two very important relationships with the United States: one we have with India and one we have with Pakistan. There are many aspects to both those relationships,” he added.

Another official has said that the decision to sell F-16s was taken from a “business point of view”.