Tuesday, July 12 2005 15:25 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: In an apparent balancing act following concerns expressed by Pakistan over the recently signed 10-year defence pact between India and US, Washington has offered to sell its Hawkeye-2000 surveillance planes to Islamabad.

The American offer to sell the planes was made during a briefing held for top Pakistani defence officials on board US aircraft carrier Nimitz, currently anchored 171 km off Karachi coast yesterday (July 11, 2005), a Pakistan TV network reported.

Two Hawkeye aircraft were also flown to Pakistan Navy station PNS Mehran in Karachi yesterday to display them for Pakistani defence officials.

The commander of Nimitz, Rear Admiral Peter H Daley, on board the warship for the delegation, also held a special demonstration of the planes and their features of Pakistan defence officials headed by Defence Secretary Retd General Tariq Wasim Gazil, Geo TV reported.

US had earlier offered to sell surveillance aircraft, being used by US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to spy on the movements of the terrorists, to Pakistan, it quoted the American officials as saying.

Hawkeye-2000 is operated on ground and on board the US warships. Besides attending the briefing, Gazil also inspected the F-18 jets during the visit of the US naval ship.

The Pakistani Defence official's team that visited the ship included officials from Army, Navy, Air Force and Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency.