ISLAMABAD, July 18: Cash-starved Pakistan has finally decided to take the United States to the court for non-delivery of 28 F-16 fighter planes and to recover $ 658 million which it had paid to Washington nearly a decade ago for the consignment.Law Minister Khalid Anwar left for Washington yesterday to hold consultations with a legal firm and the Pakistani leadership has apparently decided to go ahead with the filing of the case as only few months are left for the expiry of the statute of limitation, media reports here said today."The Law Minister will hold final consultations with the legal firm, Patton Boggs, before a lawsuit is filed in an American court against the US Government for not performing the contractual obligations," a senior Government official was quoted as saying by The News.The decision to take Washington to the court has already been taken by the Pakistani leadership as officials and experts believe that "Islamabad has a strong case against the US Government", it said.Areport from Washington said Pakistan had hired prominent American lawyer Lanny Davis, who had represented US President Bill Clinton in the campaign finance investigations, for the case.Pakistan had paid $ 658 million in 1989 for F-16s but the delivery was held up due to the passing of the Pressler Amendment in 1990 which put a ban on the sale of arms to Islamabad for its nuclear weapons programme. The US, however, returned around $ 150 million after the amount was found to be in excess of the actually required payment.The aircraft are lying in a US warehouse for the past few years and even the US Government's attempts to sell them to a third country and recover the money for payment to Pakistan has failed."We have a strong case and a clear-cut chance of getting our money back which amounts to $ 500 million as about $ 150 million have already been returned to Pakistan after being identified as excess payments," a Pakistani official said. Pakistan has been approaching friendly countries for assistanceto meet its balance of payment requirements as it needs to meet around $ one billion of debt repayment liabilities in the first quarter of the current fiscal year till September 30, while its foreign exchange reserves have depleted to just $ 750 million after the nuclear tests.The decision to file the case against the US at this stage is very crucial in the sense that US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott is arriving here on Wednesday to discuss with the authorities about the signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. If Pakistan signs the CTBT, it may ultimately lead to the release of a crucial tranche of a $ 1.56-billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. The long-term low-interest loan was sanctioned to Pakistan last year and already two tranches have been paid but the third tranche has been held back apparently due to pressure from the G-8 countries.
