WASHINGTON, July 9: The Bush administration has pushed to conclude a landmark $5 billion sale of F-16 jets to Pakistan before completing traditional consultations with the US Congress and fully answering security concerns, a congressman and other congressional sources say.

The move is being seen by some lawmakers as the latest example of the administration’s distaste for consulting Congress on security issues and they said the relevant committees would probe the deal further in the coming weeks.

Among Congress’ concerns about the deal are how Pakistan intends to ensure that its long-time defence ally China will not have access to advanced US technology and whether there has been any diversion of such technology already in Pakistani hands, several sources said in recent interviews.

“I have deep concerns about the process or the lack thereof, which the Bush Administration used to inform Congress about the pending sale of F-16s to Pakistan,” said Democratic Rep. Joseph Crowley of New York, a member of the House International Relations Committee and a leading congressional supporter of Pakistan’s rival, India.

“The administration has shown time and time again that they are not interested in congressional oversight on sensitive deals,” he said in an e-mail to Reuters.

The State Department announced last week that consultations with lawmakers had been concluded and that formal notification had been given to Congress, paving the way for the deal with US aerospace company Lockheed Martin Corp. to proceed.

But Democrat and Republican congressional sources tell a different story, and the Republican-controlled committees with jurisdiction over the sale — the House panel and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — have scheduled hearings in the next two weeks to probe the matter further.

Several sources, who spoke anonymously because of the issue’s sensitivity, said it was unlikely Congress would block the deal, which supporters say would keep open Lockheed’s F-16 production line employing 5,000 people and which may close in 2008.

But public debate over the sale could prove awkward for the administration and Pakistan, a frontline US ally against terrorism. A previous F-16 sale was halted in 1990 because of concerns over Pakistan’s nuclear programme.

In addition to selling 16 new F-16s to Pakistan and refurbishing used ones, the current deal involves an option on an additional 18 aircraft and a support package for up to 26 used F-16s, missiles and other munitions, and an upgrade package for Pakistan’s current fleet of 34 F-16s.

DEMOCRACY, NUCLEAR CONCERNS: A new report by Congressional Research Service, Congress’s analytical arm, said the single-engine Block 50/52 Falcon being sold to Pakistan is the most modern F-16 flown by the United States and may be better suited to air-to-air combat against rival India than fighting terrorists.

Crowley also expressed concern that “Pakistan has not moved forward with promises of democracy, fighting its internal extremists, enforcing human rights, or respecting minorities” and has not let US interrogators question AQ Khan, the Pakistani former head of an international nuclear black market.