The issue of F-16 fighter jets is an important issue but it will be dealt at right time, said Douglas Faith, US Under-secretary on Defence Policy here on Thursday. He was addressing a joint press conference here in ministry of defence along with Defence Secretary Lieutenant General Hamid Nawaz (Retd), after Pak-US defence consultative group meeting. The meeting discussed in depth the issues of defence co-operation, India-Pakistan relations, international war on terrorism and situation in neighbouring Afghanistan and Iraq.

It may be recalled that the meeting was the first since US has declared Pakistan a major non-Nato ally, in June 2004. After the declaration, it was being expected that it would ease the sale of military equipment to Pakistan.

Douglas said that Washington is still considering Pakistan's request to buy F-16 fighter aircraft. "Dialogue was held in-depth discussing the F-16 and other issues of bilateral interest", he added.

"The sale of fighter jets would remain under consideration", the senior Pentagon official said.

He said that the two sides have talked about regional security issues and had fruitful dialogue on Pakistan's relations and talks with India. "We discussed the regional defence issues. We discussed our common work together on the war on terrorism", he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Lieutenant General Hamid Nawaz (Retd) expressed hope that the F-16 issue would be resolved soon. "There is a lot of hope about acquiring the jets", he said. The defence secretary said that Pakistan had made significant efforts for acquisition of equipment.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2005