Pakistan Envoy To Press Us On F-16, Trade

Pakistani Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan, on his first visit to Washington, said on Monday he would press the United States to settle a dispute over F-16 aircraft and to play a key role in encouraging investment in South Asia.

In a speech to the Henry L. Stimson Centre, a thinktank, he expressed hope that new Pakistan-India talks could finally resolve their volatile dispute over Kashmir and renewed Islamabads push for the world to talk with the Taleban group of Moslem fundamentalists that claimed power in Afghanistan.

Khan said it was a good time for the United States and Pakistan to work on their relations because there is a new government in Islamabad, headed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and a new secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, in Washington. He meets Albright on Tuesday.

 

Khan said his governments primary concern was the economy, and encourged the United States to pay more attention to economic development in South Asia.

We believe the United States can play a leading role in directing investments toward South Asia ... I will be urging the administration to become partners with us in promoting trade and economic integration between our two countries, he said.

I invite the American corporate sector to take a fresh look at Pakistan. They will not be disappointed.

Khan made clear that Pakistan had not given up hope of getting the F-16s, delivery of which was blocked in 1990 because of suspicions about Islamabads nuclear programme.

He listed four ways to resolve the issue of the planes, for which Pakistan paid $658 million. The United States could deliver the aircraft, refund the money or sell the planes to a third country and then reimburse Pakistan. The fourth option, he said, was legal action in U.S. courts.

Khan has said he favoured the first option, although Congress would have to repeal legislation called the Pressler Amendment, which was used to cut off military aid to Pakistan.

The administration persuaded Congress to ease sanctions in 1996, but the F-16s remained blocked.

Efforts to sell them to a third country, like Indonesia, have not succeeded.

Khan also planned to brief U.S. officials on talks Sharif held with his Indian counterpart Inder Kumar Gujral earlier this month on the sidelines of a regional summit in the Maldives.

The leaders agreed to keep up a dialogue to ease tension between the South Asian rivals, both threshhold nuclear powers, by setting up working groups to discuss disputes.

Khan also encouraged Washington to take a fresh look at the Taleban in Afghanistan, saying engagement was the best way to encourage the group to moderate some of elements of its strict Islamic social code. Washington has not given the Taleban government diplomatic recognition.