Senator vows to halt USA’s sale of F16 to Pakistan

In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, dated February 9, Senator Bob Corker said he couldn’t allow the Obama administration to use taxpayer funds to support the sale of the jets, given that the terrorist organisations like Haqqani network that attack US troops in Afghanistan enjoy safe havens inside Pakistan, The Wall Street Journal said. 

On Tuesday, the Secretary of State in his annual budget proposed a financial assistance of $859.8 million for Pakistan, including $265 million for military hardware. “I do not want US taxpayer dollars going to support these acquisitions,” Corker was quoted as saying by the report. 

“While we’re spending tremendous amounts of US dollars and certainly tremendous sacrifice in our men and women in uniform and by other agencies, they are working simultaneously to destabilise Afghanistan,” he said.

George Holding, another Republican lawmaker on Wednesday opposed the sale of F-16s saying Pakistan has continually proven to be an unreliable and unwilling partner for the US on numerous fronts, chief among them our effort to combat the growing threat of terrorism.

Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court wondered under which law Pakistan could seek the return of the famed Kohinoor diamond form Britain, that India has been trying to get for years. It directed the petitioner to guide it on the same within two weeks. 

Petitioner Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffrey had told the Lahore High Court that Koh-i-Noor diamond was “Pakistan asset” as it is in “illegal possession” of Britain. “The British government had refused to hand over the diamond to India. Now Pakistan should lay claim on it as it is first entitled to have it. It is the Pakistani government’s duty to bring it back,” he said.