After India, Baloach UNHRC Representative Protests F-16 Sale To Islamabad

Baloch envoy to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the European Union has condemned the US move to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan even as Islamabad has sought 10 additional F-16s from Washington.

Mehran Marri, Baloch representative to the UNHRC was quoted as saying by DNA news daily that, Islamabad would use the fighters against the Baloch population.

"We condemn the sale of any arms and ammunition to Pakistan Government and military, especially F16 with mountainous capabilities because they're purely used against Baloch population," said Mehran.

"It is a sad and black day in the history that more weapons of destruction have been sold to Pakistani military. During Bin Laden era, America and European Union heavily armed the Pakistan military to find Bin Laden and eliminate him. But we came to know that Bin Laden was sitting in their lap in Abbottabad," he added.

The US government has formally issued a notification for the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan earlier this month.

The Indian government had summoned the US ambassador over the clearance of F-16 fighter jets by the US administration in Feb this year.

"We are disappointed at decision of the Obama administration to notify the sale of F-16 aircrafts to Pakistan. We disagree with their rationale that such arms transfers help to combat terrorism," the ministry of external affairs had said in a statement last month.

Pakistan is seeking an additional 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 52 multirole fighters from the US, IHS Janes reported last Wednesday.

A "decision in principle has been made to buy 10 more F-16s", the news website quoted a senior Pakistani government official as saying.

The earlier $699 million deal to buy eight fighters was opposed by some members of the US Congress on the grounds that Pakistan had not done enough against insurgents and terrorist groups active in Afghanistan.