NEW DELHI, July 25: A decision by the Pentagon to resume military sales to Islamabad after a 12-year suspension is likely to aggravate already simmering tension between Pakistan and India, an Indian government source said on Thursday.

India will voice its objections to the decision, the source said, without elaborating whether the issue would be raised when US Secretary of State Colin Powell visits New Delhi this weekend.

“The offensive military capability by Pakistan and posturing is always an issue we take note of seriously and monitor very closely because of Pakistan’s behaviour and approach in promoting aggression against India,” the source said.

“Any military addition by Pakistan affects us and therefore we are vocal about it. No doubt our concerns on this will be conveyed to US,” the source added.

The Pentagon announced last week that it was planning to sell six heavy-duty C-130 aircraft to Pakistan in a deal worth 75 million dollars. Congress has until mid-August to approve the sale.

Defence hardware sales were halted under military and economic sanctions imposed by Washington in Oct 1990 when it was unable to certify that Pakistan did not have nuclear explosives.

India says that although Pakistan has joined the US as an ally in the global “fight against terrorism”, it is yet to fulfil its pledge to stop “infiltration of militants” into occupied Kashmir.

“Obviously Pakistan is not honouring these commitments because Pakistan does not want to honour these commitments,” the Indian government source said, adding that Islamabad could easily “turn off the tap” if it wanted to.

Indian officials said they would stress to Powell that no peace moves with Pakistan were possible until the flow of guerillas into the held state were halted.—AFP