Pak should use US weapons only to fight al-Qaeda, India to US

New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI) Voicing concern over America's
reported decision to supply sophisticated weapons to Pakistan,
India's Defence Minister A K Antony Thursday said the US
should ensure that the "latest tranche of military aid" is
used in fighting al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists and not
against India.
"Given our bitter past experience of how Islamabad
used such aid against India, Washington should ensure that the
latest tranche of military aid is used only for the purpose of
countering al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists and not against
India," he said in a statement here.
According to reports, the United States has cleared
the sale of a whole array of sophisticated weapons such as
Laser Guided Bomb kits, surveillance drones and latest-model
F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan to boost its forces capability
to strike in remote tribal areas to take on Taliban and al-
Qaeda militants.
With this new arms aid, US counter-insurgency assistance
fund for Pakistan is slated to increase to USD 1.2 billion in
fiscal year 2011 from USD 700 million in the current fiscal.
Pakistan's military inventory comprises a significant
chunk of US weapon systems and platforms including C-130
transport aircraft, F-16 fighter jets and Cobra gunship
helicopters.
Pakistan has been operating the F-16 fighters since
mid-80s and recently, the US had agreed to upgrade them to the
Block-50/52 level. PTI