Saturday, November 5 2005 13:39 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: The US today (Nov 04, 2005) said the 'rationale' of the sale of F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan still applies despite the quake disaster that had led Islamabad to postpone the purchase, asserting that the discussions on the multi-billion dollar deal will continue at an appropriate time.

"Pakistan is a major and long term partner, a non-NATO ally. We have provided them with military equipment as a part of the global war against terrorism. We had said that despite the earthquake, the rationale for the sale still applies", a senior State Department official said.

His remarks came after President Pervez Musharraf said Pakistan would postpone the purchase of the fighter jets to focus on quake relief and rehabilitation work.

"Obviously this is a decision for the government of Pakistan and we will be continuing discussions with them" at an appropriate time, the official told sources, adding, "we have an ongoing dialogue on security issues." "Before the earthquake the State Department initiated consultations with Congress on the administration's decision to sell the F-16s to Pakistan.

"The Government of Pakistan had requested last year to purchase F-16s and we had announced in March our intent to move forward with the sale", the official said.

Pakistan was planning to buy 75 F-16 fighter jets from the US at a cost of three billion US dollars.