NEW DELHI, 26 March 2005 — US President George W. Bush telephoned Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday to tell him that the United States had decided to allow the sale of F-16 fighters to Pakistan, a spokesman for Singh said.

“The prime minister expressed India’s great disappointment at the decision which could have negative consequences for India’s security environment,” Sanjaya Baru, spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office, told Reuters. Washington blocked sales of F-16s to Pakistan in 1990 as a sanction against its nuclear program.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited both India and Pakistan earlier this month. During her trip, Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh expressed misgivings about the possible sale of the fighters to Pakistan.

Congressional and diplomatic sources in Washington have said that the US government was considering selling F-16s to both Pakistan and India, though it was not clear whether New Delhi would go through with the purchase.

The sale of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-16 fighter jets to one or both of the South Asian nuclear rivals would be a major US policy shift and a step toward tacit acceptance of both countries’ possession of nuclear weapons.

Manmohan and Musharraf to Watch Cricket Together

Taking Indo-Pak cricket diplomacy to a new height, Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf are expected to watch their teams play on April 17 at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here.

The two leaders will also jointly meet their cricket teams at the ground when the last one-dayer is played and watch the game together for some time, sources said.

Musharraf will be here on April 16. The prime minister will be hosting a meal for Musharraf. The Pakistani leader will also call on President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

When Musharraf last visited India for the much-hyped Agra Summit, there had been no meeting between him and the then President K.R. Narayanan. This time, New Delhi is also open to the idea of a meeting between Musharraf and UPA chairperson and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.

Musharraf’s New Delhi visit will be taking place within a few days of Indo-Pak ties gaining a new impetus with the launch of the much-awaited Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus link on April 7.