India conveys concern to US over military aid to Pakistan

New Delhi, Aug 1 (IANS) India on Thursday said it has expressed grave concern to the US over its decision to provide military assistance to Pakistan, days after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington.
India has taken up the matter with the US envoy in Delhi and with the US government in Washington through the Indian Ambassador there.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said: “We have expressed grave concern over US military assistance to Pakistan. The US side has told us that the proposed sale does not indicate any change in the US policy of maintaining a freeze in military assistance to Pakistan.”
He said the US has “publicly stated that the proposed sale is intended to enable the US to continue technical and logistics support services to assist in the oversight of the operations of F-16 aircraft in Pakistan’s inventory”.
The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement last week: “The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Pakistan for Technical Security Team (TST) in continued support of the F-16 programme for an estimated cost of $125 million.”
The Pentagon delivered the required certification notifying the Congress of this possible sale.
According to the statement, Pakistan had requested a continuation of technical support services in support of the Pakistan Peace Drive advanced F-16 programme.
Pakistan has used F-16s against India, including in the aftermath of the Balakot airstrike by India.
–IANS
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